Dead End (seaQuest DSV)

seaQuest DSV episode
"Dead End"
Lucas is condemned to death in "Dead End."
Episode no.	33
Prod. code	211
Airdate	18 December 1994
Writer(s)	Carleton Eastlake
Director	Steven Robman
Guest Starring	Gregory Paul Martin
Year	2021
Episode chronology
Previous episode	"Special Delivery"
Next episode	"Meltdown"

"Dead End" is the eleventh episode of seaQuest DSV`s second season. It originally aired on December 18, 1994.

Lucas, Brody, O'Neill and Henderson are pulled beneath the Earth's surface into an underground maze of tunnels. With not enough air for them all to return to the surface, they must take their chances in a lottery. When Lucas comes up short, he must come to terms with being condemned to death.

Plot

While returning to the seaQuest after a week long seminar, a seaLaunch containing Lucas, Lieutenant Brody, Lieutenant O'Neill, and Lieutenant Henderson responds to a distress call coming from beneath the ocean floor. Their shuttle is drawn into a massive sinkhole which pulls them into a series of underground caves where they find Marcus Rawlings, a UEO scientist also pulled into the caverns and whom sent the signal.

With their launch severely damaged, the seaQuest crewmembers set to work on outfitting Rawlings' dive pod with the shuttle's thrusters. However, in the process, they are attacked by a massive dragon-like worm which destroys the launch's oxygen regenerator, leaving only the emergency air masks of which there are only four for five people.

The group realize that one of them must remain behind in order for the others to attempt to escape. Forced to draw straws, Lucas draws the short one and is to be left behind. In attempt to comfort him, Henderson and Lucas fall asleep together, which allows Dr. Wendy Smith back on seaQuest to enter Lucas' mind and help them locate their people. Meanwhile, the underwater pressure begins to build, forcing the group to make their escape. However, Rawlings allows Lucas to take his place, admitting that he lured them into the caverns to save him, even though he knew they'd be trapped with him.

The dive pod rushes to the surface with the seaQuest group running out of air. As they enter open waters, seaQuest is able to grapple them and reel them into the launch bay. However, once back onboard, Lucas steals the Stinger and sets back down into the drainhole in an effort to rescue Rawlings. He is able to get him into the Stinger, but, ends up pursued by the dragon worm, which chases them back to the surface. Fortunately, however, seaQuest is able to destroy it with their laser banks, saving the entire group.

Background

At one point in the episode, Brody asks Lucas if he'd even designed a submarine before. In "The Stinger", he and Lt. Commander Hitchcock design the seaQuest`s one man high speed submersible known as the Stinger, which also played an important part towards the end of the episode.

This episode shares similar plot elements to the seaQuest DSV original novel "Fire Below", which was written during the first season, specifically the giant monster/creature aspect and the stranded crewmen in peril aspect.^[1]

Kathy Evison (Henderson) claimed in an interview that this was her favourite episode.^[2]

The song Lucas, O'Neill, and Brody were singing in the seaLaunch in the cold opening, much to the chagrin of Henderson, was Do Wah Diddy Diddy written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich.

References

1. ^ seaQuest DSV "Fire Below", written by: Michael J. Costello
2. ^ Smith, Darren; C.J. Cookson. "Kathy Evison Interview". Kathy Evison Online (fan site). http://website.lineone.net/~birkoff/kathyevison/interview2.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-25. 

External links

• "SeaQuest DSV" Dead End at the Internet Movie Database

Preceded by: "Special Delivery"

seaQuest DSV episodes

Followed by: "Meltdown"