Boobirt Stylish but barely mediocre overall

BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Asad Almond A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

raysond The short-lived action/adventure animated series "Sealab 2020" was very distinguished from other Hanna-Barbera produced cartoons of the early 1970's by its exceptional and quite unique for its production design of that era. This was a show that was in fact part "Jules Verne",part "Ivan Tors",and part "Irwin Allen" The animated designs for this series came from the great Alex Toth who did many production designs for several Hanna-Barbera cartoons(and Toth was responsible for bringing a lot of Hanna-Barbera classic characters from the 1960's including "Jonny Quest","Dino Boy In The Lost Valley","Birdman!","Space Ghost","Mighthor","The Herculoids",not to mention was the designer behind another great H-B cartoon of the 1970's..."The Superfriends")."Sealab 2020" was a surprisingly interest,with its mix of action and adventure with a lot of science fiction thrown in plus it was well balanced in the educational and creative aspect as well. About this show. "Sealab 2020" had a very short run of 13 episodes. It originally first aired as part of NBC-TV's Saturday Morning schedule from its premiere on September 9, 1972 until December 2,1972. During its first season only 13 of the original episodes ran from September 9, 1972 through December 2, 1972(which included three episodes that never aired during its original broadcast on NBC). Repeated episodes(all 13 episodes were rebroadcast)ran from January of 1973 until September 1, 1973.The concept of this show was fascinating beyond belief. A team of scientists working at a large research base under the sea.....250 people who were researchers and biologists worked here under its research facility under the sea,lead by Dr. Paul Williams(voiced by Ross Martin of "Mr. Lucky",and also "The Wild,Wild West" fame)and was conducted by a team of expert team members who were associated with Dr. Williams. Mike Murphy was the Captain of the facility(voiced by Hanna-Barbera stock player John Stephenson,and later on in some episodes by H-B voice-over regular Mike Road). Other team members were Captain Murphy's children,teenage daughter Sally(Pamelyn Ferdin),and her little brother Bobby(Josh Albee). Sparks(William Callaway)was the communications officer at the research facility,while Hal(Jerry Dexter), Gail(Ann Jillian),and Ed(Ron Pinkard)were the divers and biologists who worked aboard the facility and each day the team faced new challenges in just every episode as they faced the dangers and discoveries along the depths of the sea. Other voicework for this series came from other Hanna-Barbera stockplayers including Casey Kasem, Mike Road, Henry Corden, Janet Waldo, Joan Gerber,and Paul Frees just to name a few.In some perspectives,the show had a different tone than most of the Saturday Morning cartoons that were all over the place during the 1970's. During that decade,the violence was eliminated for all Saturday Morning TV,and with the case of "Sealab 2020",it was part science fiction and not to mention part educational as well....teaching kids about the various sea creatures and information about the ocean environment. Some episodes were good while others were just as boring and dull in a perspective. For one,it lacked the sense of adventure of "Jonny Quest" or the other H-B superhero shows of the period("Sealab 2020",was the next to last of the action adventure shows Hanna-Barbera produced during the 1970's),but let's face it...it's wasn't another knockoff of another repulsive and annoying sequel to "Scooby Doo","Yogi Bear",or "Flintstones" spin off,that were all over the place during the 1970's when Hanna-Barbera continued to make spin-offs of their original shows. When the show ended its original run on NBC,cable's USA Network brought it back in the mid-1980's as part of its "USA's Cartoon Express" program in reruns,and most recently after a 20 year hiatus,repeats have ended up on Cartoon Network's Boomerang channel,and "Sealab 2020" will celebrate its 40th Anniversary come 2012.

Webslinger48 I've actually watched several episodes from this series recently, and was surprised to discover that -- far from horrible -- it's actually a serviceable bit of Saturday morning nostalgia.First airing on Saturday morning in September of 1972, the show had a very short run of 13 episodes. Going in, I was hoping for excitement and adventure reminiscent of Jonny Quest (far and away Hanna-Barbera's finest moment, in my opinion). Alex Toth, who designed many of H-B's most popular classic characters (Space Ghost, Herculoids, etc.) did many of the designs for 2020, which lends it a cool comic-booky look not unlike Quest.Alas, the show has a very different tone -- perhaps because of the prevailing attitude of the early 70's that cartoons should abstain from violence. The result is an almost educational show, teaching kids about the various sea creatures and rudimentary information about the ocean and diving. And initially the show comes off as very boring because of this. But I have to admit that after being bored by the first 2 episodes, I found myself becoming more and more interested in the next two. The show has some good messages, such as overcoming handicaps and preserving the environment, and deals with some decent issues most cartoons would never touch.In some weird way, the stories and scripts are more reminiscent of live action programs than a cartoon. They are fairly adult and lack the zaniness one might expect from this era of Hanna Barbera (i.e. Funky Phantom, anyone?). In other words, it is a perfect counterpoint to the new Sea Lab 2021, which goes for sheer laughs.I think that the other reviewers that gave 2020 negative reviews have never actually seen the show. When you think about the time period when this show was made, it's probably one of the better H-B shows. While we'll never have another Jonny Quest again, 2020 was an interesting project that will probably, like Quest, never be duplicated.

BadWebDiver This is one of my fav tv shows as a kid, because it was very entertaining and intelligent at the same time.It comes from the days when tv could make interesting shows that were very well balanced in the creative and educational aspects; like Sesame Street, the Ludvik Von Drake and Goofy cartoons on The Wondeful World of Disney, and some broadly educational music and science shows like the British Vision On and the Australian Curiosity Show, and folks like Leonard Bernstein and Prof Julius Summer Miller.I remember the episode on Sealab when Vincent Van Pattern did a guest role as the voice of a boy in a wheelchair, as well as the episodes of a shark plague, and when Bobby runs into a toxic chemical spill. Considering this comes from Hanna Barbera - the creators of THE JETSONS and THE FLINTSTONES , among other things, this is pretty good stuff.

ericalm Sealab 2020 is is distinguished from other Hanna-Barbera toons of the early '70s by its exceptional and fairly unique (for a toon) design. The character looks are typical of the work Alex Toth did for HB during the period and the animation is about par with Super Friends. The vessels and architecture actually show influences from Loewy, Neutra and other modern and futurist designers.The show's concept, a team of scientists working at a large undersea research base, seems interesting enough, but the episodes themselves were fairly dull.It lacked the sense of adventure of Johnny Quest or the HB superhero shows of the period. At the very least, it wasn't another Scooby Doo or Flintstones knock off.Fortunately, the show provides plenty of fodder for the Sealab 2021 parody that runs on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block of programming. Using remixed original footage from the show, animators have created a hilarious, original, and definitely adult-oriented program featuring some known actors (Erik Estrada) doing the voices.