Sealab 2021 (seasons 3 & 4)
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 Right out of absolute nowhere, Sealab 2021 just ended up hitting seasonal rot. Some would argue that this was where Adam Reed and Matt Thompson lost their talent until they gave us Archer. And if you thought Sealab 2020 was bad, you might reconsider your thoughts after watching these seasons.
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Sealab 2021 is an American adult animated television series created by Adam Reed and Matt Thompson for Cartoon Network's late-night programming block Adult Swim. Cartoon Network aired the show's first three episodes in December 2000 before the official inception of the Adult Swim block on September 2, 2001, with the final episode airing on April 24, 2005. Sealab 2021 is one of the four original Williams Street series that premiered in 2000 before Adult Swim officially launched, the others being Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Brak Show and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law.
Much like Adult Swim's Space Ghost Coast to Coast, the animation used stock footage from a 1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoon, in this case the short-lived, environmentally themed Sealab 2020, along with original animation. The show was a satirical parody of both the original Sealab series and the general conventions of the 1970s animated children's series. While there was initial resistance from several of the original series' creators to the reuse of their characters, production moved forward on the series. Sealab 2021 was produced by 70/30 Productions.
Why These Seasons Should Be Buried in the Sea
- These seasons ruined everything that made the first two seasons enjoyable. Especially since the crew was starting to run out of ideas. And season four is the overall worst season of the show, being the one season with barely any good episodes.
- There was a shift in humor to being more mean-spirited.
- While the show was already pretty mean-spirited to begin with, these seasons took it way too far. In fact, these seasons have such a cruel and downright nasty tone to them, they make the first two seasons look like Care Bears in comparison.
- The characters have since became flanderized:
- Quinn became just about as childish and dumb as Stormy.
- Stormy became dumber than usual.
- Debbie DuPree became just a sex symbol.
- Marco became more of a pervert.
- Sparks became even lazier than before.
- Dolphin Boy was made into an even bigger butt-monkey.
- In fact, just about all of the characters are extremely sadistic in the fourth season, up to the point where they look like absolute angels in the first season.
- The sudden death of Harry Goz during production, leading to Captain Murphy being written out of the show in favor of Captain Tornado Shanks (voiced by Michael Goz, Harry Goz' son). While he isn't the show's worst character, he just isn't as funny or charming as Captain Murphy.
- These seasons relies more on gross-out humor and visuals.
- A lot of terrible episodes (especially for season 4):
- Tornado Shanks (which started the fourth season on a sour note)
- ASHDTV (which showcased the worst qualities of the show's decline)
- Joy of Grief (the overall worst episode of the show)
- Return of Marco
- Casinko
- Monkey Banana Raffle
- Shrabster
- Cavemen
- A Legacy of Laughter (a horrible way to end the show)
- Tons of unfunny racist jokes.
- These seasons jab at other fans' criticism, which shows that Reed and Thompson cannot take criticism. Does this sound familiar?
- These seasons also insult pretty much everyone, including fans, fans who dislike these seasons, fans who dislike Tornado Shanks, and even anime fans.
- Speaking of insulting, these seasons also jab at people who dislike Sealab 2021 as a whole, and the musical segment "We're Only Joking" from the episode "Casinko" takes the cake when it comes to this while also trying to make stuff like racism and sexism seem funny (as mentioned in WTSSBBITS#8).
- Sharko is a very unlikable character who is unfunny and pointless.
- There are moments that are very disturbing (especially in the fourth season), even by adult cartoon standards.
- Dolphin Boy continuously getting shot in the head by other characters, which is child abuse.
- Dolphin Boy getting eaten by chupacabras, leaving only his skeleton and a few pieces of his jumpsuit.
- White Debbie getting churned into butter and Stormy eating her, which is cannibalism.
- Marco having sexual relations with a shark (which lead to the birth of Sharko). This makes Marco a zoophile, luckily this was off-screen.
- Dolphin Boy doing a Hitler solute and later turning himself into a skinhead, which is horrifying since he's only a child. WE ARE NOT JOKING!
- Captain Shanks dropping his Southern accent due to not wanting to sound gay is a very homophobic joke.
- It came out at the wrong time. This was out when Adult Swim was a brand-new channel and was at the height of the block's popularity. Sealab 2021 wasn't even 5 years old yet, and yet it was when the writers were really running out of ideas.
Redeeming Qualities
- There are still some good episodes such as:
- Chalkboard Jungle
- Craptastic Voyage
- Let 'Em Eat Corn
- Neptunati
- Green Fever
- Moby Sick
- Tornado Shanks can be funny sometimes.
- The voice acting is still great.
- The animation, despite no longer looking like Hanna-Barbera, is still great.
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