SEALAB 2021 - SEASON 3 (2000)

Sealab 2021 - Season 3 (2000)

Starring: Harry Goz, Erik Estrada
Director: Matt Thompson (III), Adam Reed (III)
Encoding: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only)
Format: Color, Closed-captioned
Run Time: 145
Number of discs: 2

DVD Features: Audio Commentary: On four episodes, all on Disc 1.Easter Eggs: Interviews: Stormy Waters, Policy Wonk - an Interview with the real voice actor for Stormy. Other: The Gert Pilot - the original pitch for Sealab 2021 made to and rejected by CN execs Quinnmas - a never-before-seen episode Dearly Beloved - another never-before-seen episode Kitty Fun-Fun - talking puppet promos

Movie: * * ½
Disc: * * *  

“Why watch it for free when you can pay for it?” the Sealab 2021 DVD asks.

Indeed, especially since Sealab 2021 is a spoof of an old 1972 cartoon which you can catch late nights — usually after 10:30 p.m. — on the Adult Swim slot on the Cartoon Network. That is, if you live in the States. Spoof isn’t the right word for Sealab 2021 though. (The show it “spoofs” was a kiddies’ show titled Sealab 2020 about a group of people living in an underwater complex as part of an experiment). Instead the show rather uses the original show’s character designs to create a broad South Park-style comedy show.

Sealab 2021 is a very adult show and filled with profanities, so don’t go accidentally buying this for your kids or anything!

Think South Park, except not as funny, and then you’ll have a good idea what Sealab 2021 is like. To be fair, the humour doesn’t always rely on potty mouths and poop jokes and sometimes features some rather clever cultural references. In fact, the best episode on the disc is one in which a communist regime is imposed on the Sealab’s crew and a new Cold War erupts — don’t ya just miss all that commie rhetoric about the bourgeoisie, the proletariat, and so on?

THE DISCS: This box set gets our vote as the funniest DVD design packaging of the year. Actually the box’s design is funnier than anything inside. Kudos for whoever thought it all up.

WORTH IT? In general the humour in Sealab 2021 is too juvenile and just plain unfunny at times.

RECOMMENDATION: Fans of MTV’s Robot Chicken would be crazy about this show and they ought to either stay up for it one evening, set the VCR or fork out some cash for this DVD. If you’re easily offended though then give Sealab 2021 a skip.