Search - Sealab 2021 - Season 4 on DVD

Sealab just couldn't stay afloat.

Arkham | Seattle, WA USA | 08/18/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Note : Extra Content overview and final call at the end of review.

Many much like myself have enjoyed the laughter that many of Sealab moments have brought on through the course of it's few seasons. Such a great idea to resurrect a well aged cartoon targeted to kids and putting a new spin on it by voicing a great cast, aiming the content more upwards towards an adult audience with it's crude humor, unexpected antics and it's references to pop culture in such a small, but easily attention kept time frame, it was surely a refreshing thing to watch and well to the naysayers, if you didn't get it...you just didn't get it. Us fans sure did though.

Unfortunately there is a reason this was the last season, and even though with a heavy heart we end a "Legacy of Laughter", it was for the best to put her out of her misery before she made anymore suffer. The point is to put it plainly was this was the worst season of the series. Although I can appreciate the trial and error it was, simply it was dragged on through the mud and lost a lot of that genuine quick pop to noggin with it's slapstick humor was replaced with longer unfunny drawn out cracks and personal jokes that plagued the series with seeing more sharks, senseless violence, sharks, ill attempts to offend, and even more sharks. I even personally was let down when Michael started using his real voice for Tornado half way through the season and even though much of the character wasn't recieved well, the homage he was paying to his father and what he brought to the character voice wise was extremely well, unfortunately the writing wasn't top notch to let him really shine.

Some say that perhaps it was an inevitable thing that this show was going to crash down with the loss of the great voice talent that was Harry Goz playing Captain Murphy. Although nothing can replace that man and Murphy respectively, I still believe the actors burrowed on quite professionally, still doing a great job playing their parts and attempting to really salvage this show. Perhaps it was just too much too soon. Perhaps a break was needed rather to rush into more episodes, regardless of fanfare pushed towards them. I have to say the decision to end it was the right one...but I still anticipate we might see some sort of homage paid later in the future, let's just hope it's not tommorow guys. If anything can be said regardless of whichever season it was or any specific moment in time that would set off a series of events that would lead us to this point, it is that we can't take anything away from this show as a whole. It was a great show with some great smart humor, even if people thought otherwise and I would bet on it with whatever little money I have, that those who may have lambasted it, also were the ones silently standing in the back of the room, chuckling to themselves and thinking...well...now i get it.

Extra Content and DVD Packaging as a whole...

The package is very simple, slim and clean in a very nice keep case which is different from the other sets. Even better, I was surprised at the menu to be a compelling change, a half way serious pictorials of old time sea diagrams, it in itself was a refreshing change of pace and nice to see. Unfortunately the studio fails to deliver. They could have easily stuck with one disc instead of wasting expenses on two and upping the price (which in fair honestly, is repulsive compared to the quality and quantity). All that aside, this approach is nothing new. What's worst is the extra content on the disc. These are the only things you'll find, as much as it was searched, there were no easter eggs on either disc, unfortunately this is it.

Shrabster Forward
- Completely the same as the Shrabster episode, expect put in chronicle order, which personally was more entertaining to me than the original. I suppose the writers thought it would be more funny to switch up the parts and add to chaos that the show was spiraling into anyways. I would say if you liked the episode to begin with, you'd likely like this better.

Legacy of Laughter (with alternate ending)
- If I recall, this was pretty funny. I believe the alternate ending instead of shooting to the black and white font explanation of Sealab officially ending, it cut to an audience member asking what they would do now that Sealab has ended, Dr. Quinn repeats the question unsoundingly just finding this out for the first time and then it cuts to a video of one of the voice actors (although I don't recall who) in the studio during their session being informed that the show will be ending and him retorting in uproar that he just bought a house. It was actually pretty funny, but short.

Joy of Grief (deleted scenes)
- Nothing really specially, you can see where they rehashed the other scenes, reusing jokes such as Stormy in the classroom saying Hesh's lines about when he woke with a roll of quarters in his you know where, which was different, but ultimately unfunnier than Hesh's version of the scene.

Sunken Treasures (Best of Sealab)
- Hosted by the trees Matt Maple and Pat Poplar found on Happy Funtime Island in the episode of Isla de Chupacabra, this was 16-minute episode if you will, looking back at some of the best moments on Sealab 2021. Just as stated, it's some of the best moments, but leaves out a lot of the most funniest moments and drags on a bit too long, including all be it a little too much from this season. The banter between the hosts is occassionally funny, but nothing sound.

Nightshift
- Pretty worthless in my opinion. A less humorous look not so much detailing to people who keep Sealab running, known as the Night Shift in their own episode. You'll get perhaps one or two chuckles out of this and although it's sort of nice to see more clips from the old show featuring characters you wouldn't normally see, the dialogue is funny and just resorts to them having trouble ordering pizza. Bore.

Overall, the extra content is lacking...they didn't even include commentaries on any episodes on this set...although that may be a good thing considering the riddiculously boring audio tracks they put over previous sets, they definately didn't go all out for this one...heck, I was even expecting some sort of ode to Harry Goz, considering there wasn't one on the previous, and that would have made it much better seeing some intimant moments with the real actor, but perhaps they just wanted to get this out and over with as quick as possible. The finaly call in my opinion is to pass on this set, even if you are a big fan. I'd rather try and catch some of the more funny episodes on the tube and record them from there than to shell out money for this overpriced set. I believe only hardcore, destined to must have every episode and extra feature pushed your sort of fans will only have a need to buy this (although i did enjoy several of the different versions of the main theme song at the end of many of the episodes). I'll never forget what joy this series brought me, but I am in no way rushed to get this set and complete the other three i own, unless it's an absolute steal...or free. Like I said, buyer beware."

Finish Your Sealab Collection

N. Smith | Conway, AR | 05/25/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Sealab 2021" was a great show. The fifteen minute episodes regularly managed to pack in twice as many laughs as your run-of-the mill half-hour sitcom-- it was fast-paced and hilarious.

As for this season itself, however, the show had started going downhill slightly (I think) during the episodes found on the Season 3 set (although "Red Dawn" and "Craptastic Voyage" are still a couple of my favorites). The (final) episodes on these Season 4 DVDs continued this trend, and the show was just not quite as good for its last few episodes. However, this one does have some good stuff-- I liked "Shrabster" a lot, though I don't think all my fellow fans agreed on that one. We all agree, however, on "Cavemen." And, of course, none of the episodes are as bad as "Der Dieb" (probably the least funny episode of the series).

If you haven't seen "Sealab 2021" yet, do yourself a favor and pick up Season 1 first-- it's the best; you'll laugh your head off through "Stimutacs." This one's for completists, but they'll be completing a great show-- ya gotta love "Sealab." Fignuts!"

The end

N. Durham | Philadelphia, PA | 12/24/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Many fans of Adult Swim's underrated Sealab 2021 will say that the show declined in quality after fan favorite Harry Goz (voice of Captain Murphy) died, and they'd be mostly right. Throughout many of the episodes found here in the fourth season of Sealab 2021, many episodes are hit and miss. Case in point is when the crew visits an island filled with Chupacabras, as well as "Joy of Grief" featuring a homicidal grief counselor picking off the crew one by one. However, there are some bright shining moments which are hilarious, including the return of Marco (Erik Estrada), as well as "Casinko" where Sealab is turned into a Native American casino, "Shrabster" which tells a deliciously funny tale in reverse, and the final episode, "Legacy of Laughter". This episode sums up the whole series (and even throws in some great in-jokes), and is a bittersweet end for an underrated series. All in all, the fourth season of Sealab 2021 is certainly not the best season in the series, but you could do far, far worse."

If you didn't like the second half of the third season

Grant Mcdonald | Melbourne, Australia | 01/04/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"If you felt the quality really dropped off in the second half of the third season, you ain't seen nothing. The forth season shows a complete disregard to the elemements that made Sealab wonderful in it's prime.... it always had the veneer of cohesion that made it worthwhile. Season four is just stoner trash, and hey, speaking as a stoner........ it's bad s&*t man."