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STUDIO: Cartoon Network
MSRP: $69.98
RATED: Not Rated
RUNNING TIME: 1200 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Tribute to Harry Goz
Commentaries
Featurettes
The Pitch
A gang of wacky scientists cause trouble under the sea.
The Humans
Harry Goz, Erik Estrada, Ellis Henican, Bill Lobley and Kate Miller
The Nutshell
Captain Hank Murphy is desperately trying to keep Sealab running. He declares Martian Law, heads to the Pro Shop and discovers a Gloop. Erik Estrada also shows up as the token Latino. There are other folks, plus MC Chris shows up every once in awhile. He’s the little guy named Hesh that wants sex. So, there’s that.
The Lowdown
Season 2 was this show’s pinnacle. Sure, the latter half of the episodes collapsed under a column of weird vs. a pillar of self-referential humor. The show became more friendly to its Hanna Barbara roots and started to play around with a lot of those old concepts. There’s jokes about Challenge of the Superfriends, The Herculoids and Wally Gator. But, what really sells this show?
Sealab 2021 was one of the first Adult Swim shows to perfect the fifteen minute block of programming. Cold openings that lead into absurd set-ups that end with quick finales were the status quo. The humor was quick and there were so many non-sequitors that you couldn’t keep up. But, if you were a buzzed college student…it was the funniest thing since whatever aired before this show. Everyone could find a character they liked on the show, but most people loved Captain Murphy.
The best episode has to be Hail, Squishface. Captain Murphy has discovered a litter of Gloops in one of the Sealab pods. Murphy takes a parental shine to the little creatures and he decides to befriend them. Watching Goz perfect Murphy’s timing and vocal nuance is amazing. I know that sounds really snooty to stick into coverage of an Adult Swim program, but Goz was delivering gold here. It’s just a shame that he’s no longer around.
The second season also sported the Tinfins episode, which began the long-line of show-within-show jokes that came to a head in the final season. The whole bit with Grizzlebees was fun until it became a retread for every following season. The last half of this season also sported the blackout episode and everyone abuses Affirmative Action. Jokes are had and then they manage to squeeze in a fake behind-the-scenes episode. That episode gets a pass, since they squeeze in a dolphin boy joke.
The Package
The two-disc release for Season 2 comes packed with a ton of commentaries and featurettes. The cast take some questions and you get a wonderful tribute to Harry Goz. Goz died of cancer between the second and third seasons. Some people place the show’s shark jumping on his departure. Honestly, I don’t see how the humor could’ve been stretched that much longer. Oh well, it’s still what it is.