Sealab is a great parody of Hannah Barbara's Sealab 2020 using new voices and animations to turn a mundane show into somewhat of a underground classic. This show takes the crew of a underwater research station and puts them through ridiculous scenarios and is one of the funniest shows of this generation. If you aren't a fan of random comedy and animated humor then this show isn't for you and I wouldn't advise you to try it without at least a sample, but if you do like animated humor then purchase these DVD's now.
It's like a Koala Bear crapped a rainbow in my brain.
A series originally pitched by using recycled Sealab 2020 footage that ex-Cartoon Network employees had absconded with in the mid 90s, 2021 is painfully FUNNY and gleefully subversive on many levels.
It has several elements that when mixed with care, almost always equal quality television. Chief among those would be the superb writing which really evokes a sense that the characters don't just know their boundaries... they deliberately explode them on a regular basis, for fun and for profit. The results rarely fall short of the high water mark set by the first episode "I Robot."
Having these episodes on DVD, especially with the Play All option is a great way to revisit the madness of this debut season. Having it completely uncensored would have been nice, but as is illustrated by the alternate, less bleeped out ending of Radio Free Sealab, sometimes the bleeping makes it funnier.
The other extra features are brief but fun to watch, even the Pitch Pilot which is not NEARLY as funny as the actual show, but the creators acknowledge this copiously which is in fitting with the overall feeling of the universe created by the writers and the cast. In fact the voice cast pretty much MAKES this entire show. Especially Harry Goz as "Hank" Murphy. The timbre, the cadence, the delivery... all perfect and consistently laugh-out-loud funny. He upstages Erik Estrada and the rest of the stellar crew regularly, but every character (seriously) is a winner and brings something to the overall ridiculous mix of surreal retro-twisted animated entertainment.
The case is nicely designed and sturdy, especially for the value of this set. Clear slip case with a tri-fold, illustrated box. Cool presentation.
Sealab 2021 is certainly not for everyone, but if you find this even remotely funny:
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Captain Murphy: Until we find the thief, I am declaring Martian law!
Sparks: Um, I think its martial law.
Captain Murphy: Silence! Under Martian law... uh... what are my powers, exactly?
Sparks: Under martial law, you could suspend habeas corpus, empower a posse comitatus...
Captain Murphy: That's crap. Mars is wild, untamed. I'm forming a cadre of Martian knights charged with enforcing Martian law.
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Then you'll probably like this show.
Another great Adult Swim show
Sealab 2021, a show making fun of a short lived show back in the 70s, is like Cartoon Planet but with Sealab. A show that lasted for 4 years and passing the number of episodes of the original show. This and the second season were the best (and I never saw any episodes in the 3rd, 4th or 5th seasons) ones. Who couldn't forget the great, psychotic and racist Captain Murphy? or the innocent Dr. Quinn? or the idiot known as Stormy Waters? This had great episodes like Happy Cake Oven or When Captain Murphy was crushed and trapped under a soda machine and having a scorpion as a pet and giving him venom to live. also includes I, Robot, the episode where everybody except Dr. Quinn talk about being a robot, and Stimutacs. Recommended for Adult Swim fans and anybody else.
The second season of Sealab 2021, the Cartoon Network's certifiably bizarre reworking of Hanna-Barbera's earnest 1972 animated series Sealab 2020, surfaces in a two-disc set that includes an unaired episode and supplemental features that place a strong emphasis on "mental." For series devotees, season 2 is a must-have, thanks to its lineup of memorable episodes, including "Stimutacs," which fans voted as the series' best episode; the behind-the-scenes chaos of "Swimming in Oblivion"; "Hail, Squishface," which tosses jabs at Star Trek's "Trouble with Tribbles" episode; and the aptly named "Bizarro," which pits the Sealab crew against their evil doubles.
As with most Adult Swim programming from Cartoon Network, viewers will either "get" Sealab... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Adam Reed (III) - Matt Thompson (III) DVD Release Date: Released the 01 February 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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It's almost too dramatic to say that the third season of Cartoon Network's supremely silly animated series Sealab 2021 was controversial, but there's no denying that it's a hot-button issue for the show's legion of devoted fans. The crux of the problem is the untimely death of voice actor Harry Goz, who played Sealab's questionable "leader" Captain Murphy; without Goz's contributions to anchor the show's free-wheeling and frequently surreal adventures, the third-season episodes were deemed by fans to be in a freefall, and Murphy's replacement, ex-football coach "Tornado" Shanks (voiced by Goz's son Michael), was greeted with something less than enthusiasm. Regardless of which side you choose in the great Sealab debate, there are still laughs to be had in the 13 episodes... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Adam Reed (III) - Matt Thompson (III) DVD Release Date: Released the 12 July 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Of all the "re-imagining" wreaked upon the Hanna-Barbera animated catalog by Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programs, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law is probably their most deliriously creative effort. The series revives second-string '60s avian hero Birdman, and via a combination of old clips and new animation, recasts him as a crusading lawyer (voiced by Gary Cole) who defends the rights of other cartoon characters. That Harvey is pitted in the courtroom against old supervillain foes, who have followed his lead and become prosecutors and judges, is one problem--but even more challenging are the pickles his fellow Hanna-Barbera creations find themselves in: Harvey must clear Fred Flintstone of organized crime charges ("The Dabba Don," perhaps the first season's... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Robert Renzetti - Vincent Waller - Richard Ferguson-Hull - Ben Jones (III) - J.J. Sedelmaier DVD Release Date: Released the 12 April 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Sealab 2021 fans still reeling from the untimely end of the Adult Swim animated series in 2005 can relive every demented moment from the show with this double-disc set, which compiles the show's final episodes, including its retrospective finale, "Legacy of Laughter." Story-wise, it's business as usual for the crew of Sealab, with new captain Tornado Shanks (Michael Goz), who replaced Hank Murphy (Goz's father Harry, who passed away during the previous season), shepherding the team into all manner of disasters, including the mutant shark/human son of the late Marco (Erik Estrada) in "Joy of Grief" and "Sharko's Machine"; an attempt to rescue the Sealab by turning it into a Native American gambling parlor ("Casinko"); fan favorite "Shrabster," which unfolds in reverse; and the... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Adam Reed (III) - Matt Thompson (III) DVD Release Date: Released the 08 August 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
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If Jonny, Haji, Race Bannon, and the rest of the Jonny Quest gang were idiots, their animated adventures might play out like The Venture Bros., a consistently funny spoof on '60s adventure cartoons from the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming. The premise should be immediately familiar and nostalgic for any Saturday morning TV aficionado who grew up in the '60s and '70s: Dr. Venture (James Urbaniak from Henry Fool) is an inventor, while sons Hank and Dean's insatiably curiosity lands them in hot water with supervillains, robots, magicians, and the like. Brock Sampson (voiced by the very funny Patrick Warburton of The Tick) is the good doctor's right-hand man, who rescues the boys with good old-fashioned manpower. The twist in The Venture Bros. is... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Christopher McCulloch DVD Release Date: Released the 30 May 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
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