First season main characters
Captain Nathan Bridger
Captain Nathan Hale Bridger (Roy Scheider; main seasons 1 & 2, recurring season 3) is the commanding officer of both UEO submarines named seaQuest DSV and the designer of the boats in the show's first two seasons. Scheider became displeased with the direction of the series during the second season, as well as the "episodic" nature of the series (he believed that the show should contain long-running story and character arcs) and chose to exit the series at the end of the second season. [1] For season 3, he was replaced by actor Michael Ironside, who portrayed Captain Oliver Hudson, although he continued to appearas a guest in season 3. "Good Soldiers", which was the character's last appearance, originally did not include Bridger at all; Scheider's character was written into the script in order to fulfill contractual obligations. [2]
Dr. Kristin Westphalen
Dr. Kristin Westphalen (Stephanie Beacham; season 1) was a Physical oceanography and the Chief Medical Officer of the seaQuest and leader of the science team aboard the ship. Before joining seaQuest, Dr. Westphalen had attempted to contact Nathan Bridger in the name of scientific research, however, she was informed that he was incommunicado. The two of them did not meet on the best of terms as Bridger, still in civilian clothing, snickered at her diatribe against Commander Ford, leading her to accuse him of being a stowaway. The two gradually formed a working relationship as Bridger assumed command of the vessel and put emphasis on the scientific mission of the seaQuest over the military one. [3]
Lucas Wolenczak
Lucas Wolenczak (Jonathan Brandis) was born in Danbury, Connecticut, USA and afterwards his family moved to Buffalo. Lucas was a highly intelligent teenager who graduated magna-cum-laude with a degree in Applied Science of Artificial Intelligence from Stanford University, [4] achieving a GPA that has been unbroken. [5] When his parents divorced, Lucas' father, Dr. Wolenczak, one of the world's most valued scientists, was able to pull some strings allowing Lucas to serve aboard the seaQuest DSV as part of the boat's scientific contingent. After the events with the space war and Captain Bridger leaving to be with his grandson, Lucas was not welcome as a civilian on the SeaQuest under the new Captain so he chose to enlist in the Navy to become a UEO officer. He is referred to as Ensign (O1 rank) throughout the final season of the show.
Commander Jonathan Ford
Commander Jonathan Devin Ford (Don Franklin) comes from a very financially well off family, his father owning "Ford Freeport: Aquacultural Engineering", one of the largest undersea farming companies in the world. He had a bad relationship with his father and brother. In 2022 a sharp raise in the temperature of the water in the South Atlantic, caused by an undersea mining operation, a deinosuchus (gigantic prehistoric crocodile) thawed out and was threatening the local ecosystem and the life of the local people. With the help of his family they stopped the creature and settled their differences. Ford's father decided to take a year off from work and give Jonathan's younger brother Ben the run of the company. [6] His mother is deceased. [7]
The character of Ford was originally supposed to have a far different background, originally having him been a poor kid from Chicago who joined the navy to get away from his gang life after witnessing the death of his older brother. [8] Since this was never established in the first year (except for the novelization of the pilot episode and non canon sources such as the others novels and an issue of the comic) it was disregarded for the rest of the series.
Lieutenant Commander Katherine Hitchcock
Lieutenant Commander Katherine Hitchcock (Stacy Haiduk; season 1) was the Chief Engineer of the seaQuest DSV 4600 following her refit in 2018. While at the naval academy, she, along with Benjamin Krieg, were top of their class, and were eventually wed. However, the marriage only lasted a year. Being Chief Engineer, Hitchcock was also third in command aboard the seaQuest and was placed in command in several occasions, such as the Liberté space station incident where Commander Ford had been infected with an unknown virus and was unable to perform his duties. [9]
Lieutenant Benjamin Krieg
Lieutenant Benjamin Krieg (John D'Aquino; main season 1, guest season 3) served as seaQuest`s supply and morale officer. He had previously attended the naval academy with Captain Bridger's son Robert and with Katherine Hitchcock, whom he was later wed to for a year. While at the academy, he painted the homecoming mule pink, something that Captain Bridger later found amusing. Krieg had aspirations of a command at sea, but, he never was able to fulfill that dream. Krieg was involved in a few minor transgressions during his tour of duty, such as attempting to extort an Arctic research outpost by selling them thermal underwear at an inflated price, as well as sneaking two pounds of outlawed ground beef aboard the boat with the intention of making a real cheeseburger.
Lieutenant JG Tim O'Neill
Lieutenant JG Tim O'Neill (Ted Raimi) was the communications officer of the seaQuest DSV 4600 , originally serving under Captain Marilyn Stark. He remained aboard the boat after she had been relieved of duty and the seaQuest was refitted to serve as more of a research vessel. O'Neill specialized in foreign languages, was fluent in at least a dozen and could adequately speak several others. He also shared some sort of unknown psychic link with Darwin which allowed him to sense when Darwin was ill. [10] A religious man since childhood, O'Neill was taught to believe that evolution topped out with mankind and had a difficult time believing in intelligent life on other planets, although, secretly wished that it existed. [11]
The character of O'Neill was originally supposed to be a character named Garry Stephen Bachmann from Ottawa, Canada. This was then changed to be a woman named MacKenna O'Neill, then the character was changed back to a male and renamed "Mack O'Neill". [12] This name was used right up until filming was to begin, name tags designed for his uniforms that read "M. O'Neill" are known to exist before it was ultimately changed to "Tim". [13]
Chief Manilow Crocker
Chief Manilow Crocker (Royce D. Applegate; season 1) was on the brink of retirement when Admiral Noyce personally asked him to sign aboard seaQuest when it was put back to sea in 2018. Crocker had served together with Captain Bridger before and, as a result, didn't regret his decision to serve one more tour with his old friend. As Chief of Security aboard seaQuest, Crocker was responsible for the safety of all aboard. On more than one occasion, he was ordered to board enemy vessels and colonies to take the occupants into custody. Crocker was also the first Human being to lay eyes on an actual alien when the seaQuest found an ancient alien starship entombed in an underwater rock face. The alien fired at Crocker, but, it was merely a method of transportation which moved Crocker to a holding area aboard the alien ship, before finally returning him to seaQuest.
Sensor Chief Miguel Ortiz
Sensor Chief Miguel Ortiz (Marco Sanchez; seasons 1 & 2) was a member of seaQuest's original crew under Captain Stark. After she was relieved of duty, he stayed on, serving again under Nathan Bridger's command. As the Sensor Chief, Ortiz was responsible for controlling the boat's WSKRs (Wireless Sea Knowledge Retrieval Satellites) and was also involved in various away missions. He could understand Spanish and had a knowledge of Greek mythology, particularly that of Atlantis. He was eventually killed when the Seaquest‘s crew got involved in the Hyperion civil war.
The character that ultimately became Ortiz underwent two radical changes before becoming what it did. First he was a man named Drew and then was changed to being the son of a rich Vietnamese family named Ngyuen Ky before settling on making him Cuban, the name originally being Mundo Ortiz. [12]
Darwin
Darwin is a dolphin. He is able to communicate to the crew through the assistance of a translation device known as the vo-corder, and to navigate throughout the Seaquest via a series of water-filled access tunnels leading to the ship's moon pool openings, where he could interact more directly with the rest of the crew. Before accepting command of the Seaquest, Nathan Bridger, while living on an island, befriended and began working on communicating with and training Darwin, using hand-signals to communicate. The two were close friends, and even in his capacity as captain, Bridger often referred to him as "My dolphin", treating him at times like a very fond pet, and at other times like an equal, even diverting the ship from a research mission in order to seek medical assistance when Darwin became sick, citing that he was a member of the crew just as much as anyone else.
Second season main characters
Dr. Wendy Smith
Dr. Wendy Smith (Rosalind Allen; season 2) came aboard the seaQuest DSV 4600 II in 2021 after the first seaQuest had been destroyed by Captain Nathan Bridger the previous year in an attempt to seal a lava pool that threatened to melt the world's polar caps. [14] When Dr. Kristin Westphalen elected not to sign aboard the new seaQuest, Dr. Smith won the most coveted medical position in the UEO, that of the Chief Medical Officer of the flagship. She was a licensed parapsychologist and had ESP. Smith was eventually killed when the Seaquest‘s crew got involved in the Hyperion civil war.
The character of Dr. Smith was originally two different characters; Diane Page, a 35 year old African American Ph.D and Wendy Woo, a 25 year old M.D. The producers of the show originally wanted Tamara Tunie and Kelly Hu respectively. [15]
Kathy Evison originally auditioned for the role of Dr. Smith. Although she didn't get the role of Smith the shows Producers liked her enough to hire her and created a new character, Lonnie Henderson, for her to play.
The episode "Alone", which focused extensively on Dr. Smith's powers, infuriated actor Edward Kerr (Brody) to the point that he stormed off the set and did not appear in the episode.
Lieutenant James Brody
Lieutenant James Brody (Edward Kerr; seasons 2 & 3), at the age of three, was involved with his mother in a murder cover-up at the (accidental) hands of Franklin Thomas. Contracting the P-Core A virus, Brody's mother was place in cryogenic suspension and he was sent to live with his grandparents, who "let (him) get away with murder. [16] After joining the navy, Brody led a stealth invasion during the North Korean Crisis in 2010, which Captain Bridger considered to be a "nifty piece of work". At some point in his life, Brody sired a son with a woman. However, being a career-military and a private man, Brody never told any of the seaQuest crew of that aspect of his life. He himself only found out about the then 10 year old boy after the ship returned from Hyperion and the mother of the boy decided to contact him after one of her parents had recently died.
Brody ultimately died later that year in a rescue mission to save Lieutenant Henderson from a Macronesian death sentence. His last words were "With your shield or on it." The two actors originally considered for the role of Brody were Dan Gauthier and Paul Gross. [15]
Warrant Officer Anthony Piccolo
Anthony Piccolo (Michael DeLuise; seasons 2 & 3) first boarded the seaQuest as a Seaman in the episode Daggers, the first seaQuest DSV episode of the Second Season. He was an experimental ex con, let out from prison on an early release program where they conducted science experiments on volunteers. Piccolo was offered and then received a pair of genetically altered gills, allowing him to breathe underwater like a fish. He was put on seaQuest because that's where the parole board thought he would be most useful. One of Picollo's most important aspects, according to Producer Carleton Eastlake, is "he's also the most human of the whole crew, because he's really very unsophisticated." [17]
Lieutenant JG Lonnie Henderson
Lieutenant Lenore "Lonnie" Ellen Henderson (Kathy Evison; seasons 2 & 3) signed aboard the seaQuest DSV-II as a helmsman in 2021. As a first generation naval officer, she was a bit rough around the edges in terms of proper protocol. She successfully was able to smuggle her stuffed bear Addison aboard seaQuest, much to the consternation of Commander Ford. Henderson initially showed an interest in Lieutenant O'Neill and the two spent some shore leave together. However, O'Neill was uncomfortable dating someone he served with and the two remained just friends. She also offered herself to Lucas Wolenczak when it was believed that he was going to die in a cavern.
Dagwood
Dagwood (Peter DeLuise; seasons 2 & 3) was the prototype G.E.L.F. He originally did not have a name, but, adopted the name "Dagwood" a joke, since G.E.L.F.s were also known as "Daggers". Dagwood was the imperfect prototype Dagger, intended as supersoldiers, but, he was reassigned to custodial duties, eventually being placed aboard the new seaQuest DSV in 2021. He proved his worth to the seaQuest crew almost immediately when he saved Lieutenant O'Neill's life when a large turbine collapsed on top of him, lifting the immense vent off of him. He was also able to convince Mariah, leader of the G.E.L.F. uprising that the G.E.L.F. baby was in fact a human.
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