List of recurring characters on seaQuest DSV
This is a list of the recurring characters featured on the television series seaQuest DSV. This list does not include characters listed in the main titles of the show or characters introduced in seaQuest 2032. (Those can be located at Characters of seaQuest 2032.)
UEO Personnel
Admiral/Secretary General William Noyce
Ranked as admiral in the UEO navy, Noyce had served with Captain Bridger for many years prior to his appointment to seaQuest. Noyce was usually seaQuest`s liaison to UEO Headquarters and often relayed mission orders and other commands to the ship. Noyce had met future UEO secretary general Andrea Dre at Woodstock when his own car broke down. They remained friends for years afterwards. However, when Dre had plotted to assassinate the leaders of the various UEO confederations, Noyce had her arrested, impeached, and eventually, was appointed as acting secretary general. Originally stationed at the UEO naval base at Pearl Harbor, Noyce eventually transferred to New Cape Quest when UEO Headquarters was relocated there in 2021.
- Admiral Noyce was portrayed by actor Richard Herd.
Secretary General Arthur McGath
Replacing William Noyce as the Secretary General of the UEO, McGath was frequently in contact with the seaQuest to issue new orders and missions. Possessing a high amount of respect for Captain Bridger, McGath refused to relieve him of command when a gold helmet believed to be from Atlantis cursed Bridger and caused him to behave irrationally, claiming he did not want the last thing on the captain's record to read "relieved of command by the Secretary General."
By 2032, McGath was still Secretary General as the UEO faced the threat of the expanding Macronesian Alliance under the leadership of President Alexander Bourne. When Captain Oliver Hudson assume command of seaQuest, McGath often found himself at odds with him, however, believed that he was a very capable ship captain. When the UEO constitution came up for renewal later that year, Hudson informed McGath that half of the people in the world believed him to run the UEO like a police state and the other half believed him to be "a big wimp". President Bourne and Larry Deon had attempted to assassinate McGath, however, their plans were foiled, the UEO constitution was renewed and he remained Secretary General.
- Secretary General McGath was portrayed by actor Michael Costello. He was not given a first name during the series, but, the unproduced episode "Depths of Deceit" name him as "Arthur."
General Francis "Frank" Gideon Thomas
A General seen in the US Army in 2019, then in the UEO Army as of 2021. Thomas was involved in a murder cover-up in his early adulthood involving Alison Brody resulting in the death of her friend. Realizing that she would be able to testify against him, Thomas conspired with a corrupt doctor to infect her with a fatal virus so that she wouldn't be able to incriminate him.
In 2010 during the "Korean Crisis", Thomas was captured along with three of his men, but was able to negotiate for his release.
In 2019, Thomas ordered Captain Bridger to destroy the perpetrator who had been sinking whaling ships. When Bridger refused to hunt down someone and kill him, Thomas assured Bridger that if he didn't obey his orders, he would ruin the careers of the seaQuest crew. In 2021, Thomas was captured by a group of G.E.L.F.s who used him to gain access to the Ronald Reagan Memorial Laser Space Base, which they used to destroy the air exchange plants in attempt to suffocate the human race. Fortunately, seaQuest was able to stop them and Thomas was released.
Later that year, when a group of peaceful aliens made first contact with the human race, Thomas plotted to hold them hostage if they did not provide the human race with advanced information and technology, to the point of ordering seaQuest to fire on their ship as it left the planet. The aliens proved to be too quick for him, however. (Although, due to the aliens' technology, time reversed itself and none of these events actually took place in the new timeline.)
Several weeks later, Alison Brody, who had been in cryogenic stasis since her infection, emerged from her sleep. Worried, Thomas had her kidnapped and planned to kill her once and for all. Fortunately, Lieutenant James Brody, her son and member of the seaQuest crew, was able to intercept the general and rescue his mother. Although Thomas' fate is unknown, it can be inferred that he was likely discharged from the military due to his actions and sentenced to prison.
- General Thomas was portrayed by actor Jesse Doran.
seaQuest Crewmembers
Chief Carleton
One of the Lead helmsman aboard seaQuest, Carleton came on board after Stark was removed from command but before Bridger assumed command. He was a main fixture on the bridge from 2018 to mid 2019.
He was on duty when the boat was heavily damaged after a lightning bolt struck the ship's communication's buoy. He, along with the bridge crew, was able to reroute power from one of the ship's WSKRs, operate the vessel, and save a downed French submarine. Carleton eventually left the ship and was replaced in 2019 by Chief William Shan.
- Carleton was portrayed by actor Dan Hildebrand.
Lieutenant Dalton Phillips
One of the weapons officers aboard the seaQuest, Phillips had served under the command of Captain Marilyn Stark prior to her dismissal as captain of the ship. When Bridger assumed command of the boat, Phillips remained on board.
Friends with Lieutenant O'Neill, Phillips joined him for coffee in the mess hall on occasion. Dubious as to the abilities of Lucas, Phillips was reluctant to allow him access to the weapons console on the bridge until Lieutenant Commander Hitchcock allowed him to.
When Capt. Bridger, Lucas, and was attending a conference Dr. Young was brought aboard when his magma buoy resurfaced. Commander Ford and several other members of the seaQuest crew and a group of civilians were on the island during a volcanic eruption. Westphalen and Chief Crocker, both people he outranked (he was the highest-ranking officer on the bridge at the time), decided to torpedo the base of the island to allow the magma to flow out into the ocean and saved the team by preventing the eruption. It is possible it was because of these actions that he soon after left the ship. Whether or not it was by choice was never mentioned.
- Lieutenant Phillips was portrayed by actor Mark Fauser. Early scripts had his name listed as "Matthew Phillips" instead of Dalton. Phillips was also the only recurring character from the show (besides Admiral Noyce) to be featured in the novels.
Dr. Joshua Levin
A member of the seaQuest`s science and medical team.
Assigned to the Aqua Sphere 7 outpost later that year, Levin, as well as the rest of the away team became infected with an unknown virus spread to the station by the sunken French space station Liberté. He, along with the rest of the away team were eventually cured and he remained onboard seaQuest for the rest of the year.
Levin was well versed in ancient superstitions and beliefs which made him a valuable asset to the away team sent over to the sunken ship RMS King George when it was believed to be haunted. Levin also educated the military crew as to the effects of karstification while attempting to search for a downed French submarine in 2018.
- Dr. Levin was portrayed by actor Timothy Omundson.
Chief William Shan
One of the helmsman of the seaQuest, Shan was born in Brazil in one of the favelas prior to the newly formed Amazonian Confederation and is a descendant of Vietnamese boat people. He possesses extensive knowledge of his people's background and speaks Portuguese. A capable combat officer, Shan was often part of Chief Manilow Crocker's security teams.
When an accident at World Power threatened to heat ocean temperatures and flood the polar ice caps, Shan disobeyed Captain Bridger's orders to abandon seaQuest, electing to remain onboard with his captain and Commander Jonathan Ford. Together, they were able to steer the seaQuest into a gaping lava well, detonate the ship's nuclear warheads, and plug the hole, effectively saving the world.
- Chief Shan was portrayed by actor Dustin Nguyen. He was added to the series during the middle of the first season, and was intended to become a major character, but when the series relocated to Florida for production of the second season, Nguyen and several other cast members elected to leave the show rather than move.
Helmswoman Tyler
One of the helmsman of the seaQuest, Petty Officer Tyler joined the crew in early 2022, replacing Helmswoman Mackay.
She faced some difficult situations during her tour on the ship. She was on duty when the UEO was being threatened by a powerful psychic, known as the Avatar, she was able to overcome the side effects caused by the "psychic battle" between Smith and the Avatar and keep control of the helm. After Tony Piccolo "borrowed" a prototype personal cloak suit, Lucas made using cloned data from a classified South American project that the UEO shut down, the suit fritzed out when he snuck into the women's shower and locker room. When she caught him and (along with some of the other female personnel present) stripped him down and sent him running back to his room naked instead of reporting him. She was one of the helmsman on duty when a large barrier mine hulled the seaQuest after the ship had been forcibly abducted from Earth and taken to the distant water world known as Hyperion.
- Helmswoman Tyler was portrayed by actress Dorian Field.
Scientists
Malcolm Lansdowne
A long-time friend of Nathan Bridger's (whom nicknamed Lansdowne "Downy"), Malcolm Lansdowne maintained a dolphin research facility in the Caicos Key. When Darwin took ill during a mission to investigate a black smoker, Lansdowne was able to eventually determine that it was the bacteria in the smoker that had infected him in the first place.
When Max Scully had attempted to thwart the efforts of whaling ships, he borrowed an extensive amount of money from Lansdowne in order to purchase an old-style Foxtrot class submarine to combat the whalers.
Lansdowne had developed an attraction to Dr. Kristin Westphalen and invited her to his home in order to experience a virtual reality simulator that makes the user believe they are swimming with a pod of dolphins. Bridger, however, did not necessarily approve of Lansdowne's attraction to Westphalen, harboring feelings for her, himself. However, Lansdowne's advances towards Kristin were interrupted by deposed dictator Milos Tezlov attacked his house and held he and Westphalen hostage. Planning to train his dolphins for militaristic purposes, Westphalen noticed that Tezlov's autistic son Caesar was fascinated by the dolphins and struck a deal with him to spare Lansdowne's life in exchange for passage aboard seaQuest. When Tezlov eventually agreed to turn himself over to his enemies to spare seaQuest from destruction, Westphalen implored Lansdowne to care for Caesar as he had the time and the dolphins, to which he ultimately agreed.
- Malcolm Lansdowne was portrayed by Robert Engels, who was also a co-executive producer on seaQuest DSV.
Martinson Hologram a.k.a. "The Old Man"
Although not really Bridger's friend, the holographic representation of Professor Martinson was designed to offer a sounding board to the ship's captain in the event of a crisis. Although the navy refused to install the program, Lucas brought him on-line nevertheless. During his first year as captain of the seaQuest, Bridger confided in Martinson frequently and the hologram was able to provide invaluable information as well. When environmental extremists captured seaQuest, Martinson was able to adequately distract one of them, allowing Lieutenant Krieg to lock him inside Bridger's quarters.
For a long while, Bridger did not consult the Martinson hologram, something he became aware of. While the hologram wasn't really a person, he did sometimes "remember what life was like." The final time Bridger consulted him, Martinson concluded with "God be with you, Nathan. I'll be thinking about you." Afterwards, Bridger consulted several other holograms, such as a psychiatrist and a priest.
According to the script of the season 2 episode "The Sincerest Form of Flattery", the hologram was an attempt to preserve the life of Martinson after the real professor had died.
- The Professor was portrayed by actor W. Morgan Sheppard.
Dr. Raleigh Young
A specialist in underwater volcanoes, Dr. Raleigh Young had developed a special "magma buoy" which could be launched into an undersea volcano and remain functional, despite the intense heat, which would allow researchers to know in weeks what originally would have taken years. Somewhat hypersensitive, Dr. Young could not understand why Captain Bridger would choose to worry about a sick dolphin rather than his important research. However, he soon came to understand Bridger's reasoning and implored him to seek a cure for his ailing friend. His magma buoy was eventually launched.
Months later, the buoy rocketed out of the volcano and crash-landed on a deserted island where a group of fortune hunters searching for Stede Bonnet's desk. The hunters, believing the UEO to be encroaching onto their treasure, refused to believe Dr. Young when he told them that the island they were on was about to be destroyed by a volcanic eruption. With further convincing, they agreed to leave the island, but before they could depart, one of the treasure hunters destroyed the seaLaunch, stranding the fortune hunters, Dr. Young, and Commander Ford on a doomed island. Attempting to ease their fear of death, Dr. Young informed the group that there wouldn't be time to feel pain, as the lava would wash over them like a sea of fire. However, aboard seaQuest, Dr. Westphalen theorized that if enough torpedoes were fired at the vent of the volcano, it would ease the eruption. Her plan worked and the group was spared.
- Dr. Young was portrayed by actor Roscoe Lee Brown.
Commander Scott Keller
Commander of the space shuttle Wayfarer, the first manned Earth vehicle to reach Mars and back, Scott Keller had attended the naval academy with Nathan Bridger, with whom they remained competitively friendly. One night, as a favour to Bridger, Scott ate a dozen and a half of Organa Watt's, the woman who ran the women's dorm at the academy, terrible cookies so Bridger could sneak a girl out the back. However, while Keller opted for outer space, Bridger opted for inner space. Bridger and seaQuest eventually rescued Scott's Wayfarer capsule after an accident during re-entry forced them to splashdown near the Montegnard Confederation.
Later that year, when seaQuest discovered a million year old alien ship entombed in a rock face, Keller joined the seaQuest away team over to the vessel where they discovered holographic projections still active even after a million years. With the aliens seeking peaceful relations with the human race, Lucas allowed Scott to send the message to their homeworld inviting them back. However, Scott gave the honor to Bridger who said, "You've shown such great patience. Now, hurry."
Their message was quickly received by aliens, who arrived on Earth in 2021. Ever curious about interstellar technology, Scott took a seaCrab over to their ship to take a look at their cockpit. However, following their encounter with the human race, the aliens reversed time. In the altered timeline, it was if the aliens "got spooked" and decided not to land on Earth.
When a comet believed to contain absolute matter prepared to splash into an ocean, Scott once again came aboard seaQuest to help recover it. With the help of Professor Tobias LeConte, one of Scott's oldest and dearest friend's, tracking sensors, seaQuest discovered that the comet had traversed the entire known universe in only six weeks. Unfortunately for Scott, the comet seemed to burn itself out before he could study it. As it turns out, the comet was in fact, a hatchery for an alien predator that impregnated itself aboard seaQuest and began to attack the crew. Looking for Tobias, the alien "Stormer" tracked him to his university. Rushing to his friend's aid, Scott was shocked to find that Tobias was an alien as well. Upon the death of the Stormer, Tobias knew he could not remain on Earth and invited Scott to join him on an interstellar voyage to find new worlds. Scott departed the Earth, leaving Lucas and Bridger to wonder if he would ever come back.
On May 14, 2022, a starship from Hyperion forcibly drew seaQuest from the water and inside their vessel where they returned to their homeworld. The crew, led to believe that they were needed to help defend their rebellion against the KrayTaks, the overlords of the planet, destroyed an alien submarine thought to be attacking them. When the seaQuest investigated the wreckage, they found Scott among it, barely alive. Scott was able to inform them that seaQuest had been fighting for the wrong side and that they must destroy the KrayTak mothership to ensure the safety of both the rebellion and Earth. Joining the away team, Scott and the crew were able to destroy the alien ship, only after seaQuest had appeared to be destroyed and the crew had been killed. Although the seaQuest and the crew were returned to Earth, Scott's fate remained a mystery.
- Commander Keller was portrayed by actor Kent McCord.
Professor Tobias LeConte
Blinded by the magnificent light of a comet, Tobias was a child prodigy. At seven years old, he pinpointed the exact moment the universe was born. By age fourteen, he held Isaac Newton's chair at Cambridge. However, he was not fully human. Born on the planet Hyperion, eleven million light years away from Earth, Tobias sent out a message of peace on a planet of conquest. His anti-expansion philosophies branded him a traitor for which he was sentenced to death. He fled to Earth and melded with the real Tobias LeConte, essentially giving the child life as the comet that blinded him, also would have given him cancer, which his alien physiology was able to naturally fight off.
When a Stormer traveled to Earth to kill him, Tobias had no choice but to reveal his identity to his long-time friend Scott Keller and to leave Earth in order to save the planet from Hyperion conquest. Taking Scott with him, the duo set off in a starship he had secretly constructed in search of new worlds. However, they did eventually return to Hyperion where they joined the rebellion against the militaristic KrayTaks. On a mission to destroy the KrayTak mothership, Tobias was captured and had his memory drained so a Stormer could impersonate him. This Stormer-clone was sent to seaQuest, which had been captured by the KrayTaks and brought to Hyperion, in order to convince the crew to fight for their side. Fortunately, Scott, along with the seaQuest crew was able to free Tobias and destroy the mothership.
With Hyperion safe for the moment, Tobias and some of his rebel friends were able to liberate some rescue pods and return the majority of the seaQuest crew, who had been in a form of stasis since the destruction of the mothership, and the seaQuest itself back to Earth; a process which took ten years to complete.
- Tobias LeConte was portrayed by actor Mark Hamill.
Adversaries
Maximilian "Max" Scully
A radical environmental activist who faked his death in the year 2011 after being disfigured by a bomb explosion he intended to use himself. By the late 2010s, Scully had borrowed money from Malcolm Lansdowne to purchase an old Russian Foxtrot class submarine which he and his crew originally used to monitor the movements of illegal whaling ships. Convinced that the UEO wasn't going to do anything about the whalers, Scully took matters into his own hands and began firing live torpedoes at the whalers. Unfortunately, during one such instance, a torpedo missed its intended target and sank a cruise ship accidentally. His crew abandoned him and Scully eventually was apprehended by the seaQuest. Rather than be taken into custody, Scully launched himself out of a torpedo tube, leaving Captain Bridger to destroy his abandoned vessel. Scully was believed to be all but dead considering that he was nowhere near any land masses and had no choice but to swim to save himself.
Somehow, Scully was able to survive and developed an undersea colony dedicated to the preservation of the Earth called "Ecotopia." Although he was still wanted for the deaths of the passengers of the cruise ship, the UEO granted him a full pardon when Ecotopia became a member of the UEO in 2032. Scully's ideals still had not changed as he took advantage of his tour of seaQuest to tap into the main computer of the sub. From Ecotopia, he was able to disable the ship's life support system and directed seaQuest`s pulse lasers at an underwater nuclear waste dump - the intention being to destroy the Human race, save for those within Ecotopia, whose descendants would return to the surface of the Earth generations later and protect the planet's environment, rather than ravage it. Fortunately, Scully was defeated by Captain Hudson, Lucas, and Elaine Morse, his plans thwarted, and a nuclear holocaust averted. Lucas hoped though that the peaceful Ecotopia colony was Scully's legacy, not his lunacy.
- Max Scully was portrayed by actor Jonathan Banks. Before returning in the third season as Scully, Banks was on the short list to take over for Roy Scheider as the new star of the series.
Mariah
Leader of the G.E.L.F. colony uprising, Mariah sought freedom for her and her people on their twenty first birthday in 2021. First seizing control of the colony, she led a group of daggers to UEO Headquarters in New Cape Quest. Once there, she captured General Thomas and a fully armed Navis-18 UEO submarine. Using Thomas' military command codes, she was able to gain access to the Ronald Reagan Memorial Laser Space Base where she plotted to destroy enough the world's air exchange plants, which would suffocate the human race, leaving the G.E.L.F.s as the only sentient life on the planet. She halted her plan when she realized that the G.E.L.F. baby that had recently been born at the colony was more human than her parents were due to spontaneous evolution and that destroying the human race would result in the ultimate destruction of the G.E.L.F.s as well. She released General Thomas and was imprisoned in a UEO detention facility.
Months later, a group, apparently being led by Commander Ford, broke Mariah out of prison and took her to an underwater complex run by disgraced scientist Dr. Russ Ketchum, AKA "The Marauder." Dr. Ketchum had intended to destroy seaQuest in order to freely mine "Marauder Reef" for prehistoric insect fuel, which he believed to be the missing element in cold fusion and intended to use Mariah's desire for revenge against seaQuest to serve his own interests. Giving Mariah a fully armed and automated submersible, she captured Lieutenant O'Neill, who had taken thirty days of shore leave, and used him to gain access to seaQuest`s stealth codes. She fought a pitched battle with seaQuest, but, ultimately ran out of torpedoes. Commander Ford agreed to allow her to escape for the return of O'Neill, to which she agreed, although Ford promised that seaQuest would eventually catch up to her again.
- Mariah was portrayed by actress Sam Jenkins.
Others
President Hoy Chi
President of the Montagnard Confederation, Chi had wished his state to remain a peaceful and supportive member of the UEO, but, also an important player within it. When the Wayfarer, the first manned space shuttle to reach Mars crash-landed in his confederation's waters, he ordered his fleet to attempt to locate them before seaQuest could, but, not to interfere with them if they found it first. Unfortunately, Chi's general, Tran, had other ideas, and planned to hold the astronauts (as well as two members of seaQuest`s crew) hostage. Chi was able to thwart Tran's plans, though. Shortly thereafter, Chi, along with other leaders of various confederations, as well as Lucas Wolenczak, were held hostage by Secretary General Dre, in an attempt to declare martial law over the UEO. Due to Lucas' and Bridger's quick thinking and action, Chi and the other hostages were eventually freed.
- President Chi was portrayed by actor James Shigeta.
Julianna
A member of the Node Three team, Julianna, AKA "Red Menace", was a brilliant computer hacker who worked alongside Martin Clemens (AKA "Mycroft") and Nick (AKA "Wolfman") in an attempt to make right the perceived wrongs of the world by diverting stolen funds from corrupt governments into places where they would be better served, such as hospitals. Julianna and Nick knew Lucas (AKA "Frankenstein") only through the Internet and the "Internex", via chat rooms and online games, but sent a message to seaQuest asking for him to come to Node Three to meet with them. Once there, Lucas, Julianna, and Nick were able to hack into the World Bank account where Clemens believed they would be able to make the world better. In actuality, Clemens was seeking a way to clear his own conscience after his computer hacking led to the death of a man. While at Node Three, Lucas and Julianna became attracted to one another. When Lucas returned to seaQuest, Julianna was sad to see him go.
Several months later, a mutual friend named Biff Pickering, invited both Lucas and Julianna to a secret party being held at the Sanger Institute. Biff led Lucas to believe that Julianna wanted to "go all the way" with him, but when they finally met up at the party, alone in a room with a bed, both felt that they weren't ready for sex and agreed not to go through with it.
- Julianna was portrayed by actress Sarah Koskoff.
Navy Quartermaster Bickle
Serving as a navy quartermaster, Bickle was used to dealing and trading with Lieutenant Ben Krieg and had formed somewhat of a sarcastic relationship with him. While Bickle was highly qualified at his work he had an acrimonious relationship with his wife. Krieg had promised to turn him onto a good divorce lawyer, but Bickle was less than convinced since Krieg had to salute his ex-wife, Lieutenant Commander Hitchcock.
- Bickle was portrayed by actor Denis Arndt.