List of seaQuest characters
This is the complete list of the characters of "seaQuest DSV, renamed seaQuest 2032" during its third and final season. The series went through significant cast changes after every season it was on the air. First season main characters. Captain Nathan Bridger. Captain Nathan Hale Bridger (Roy Scheider; main seasons 1 & 2, recurring season 3) is the commanding officer of both UEO submarines named seaQuest DSV and the designer of the boats in the show's first two seasons. Scheider became displeased with the direction of the series during the second season, as well as the  episodic nature of the series (he believed that the show should contain long-running story and character arcs) and chose to exit the series at the end of the second season. For season 3, he was replaced by actor Michael Ironside, who portrayed Captain Oliver Hudson, although he continued to appearas a guest in season 3. "Good Soldiers", which was the character's last appearance, originally did not include Bridger at all; Scheider's character was written into the script in order to fulfill contractual obligations. Dr. Kristin Westphalen. Dr. Kristin Westphalen (Stephanie Beacham; season 1) was a Physical oceanography  and the Chief Medical Officer of the seaQuest and leader of the science team aboard the ship. Before joining "seaQuest", Dr. Westphalen had attempted to contact Nathan Bridger in the name of scientific research, however, she was informed that he was incommunicado. The two of them did not meet on the best of terms as Bridger, still in civilian clothing, snickered at her diatribe against Commander Ford, leading her to accuse him of being a stowaway. The two gradually formed a working relationship as Bridger assumed command of the vessel and put emphasis on the scientific mission of the "seaQuest  over the military one. Lucas Wolenczak. Lucas Wolenczak (Jonathan Brandis) was born in Danbury, Connecticut, USA and afterwards his family moved to Buffalo. Lucas was a highly intelligent teenager who graduated magna-cum-laude with a degree in Applied Science of Artificial Intelligence from Stanford University, achieving a GPA that has been unbroken. When his parents divorced, Lucas' father, Dr. Wolenczak, one of the world's most valued scientists, was able to pull some strings allowing Lucas to serve aboard the seaQuest DSV" as part of the boat's scientific contingent. After the events with the space war and Captain  Bridger leaving to be with his grandson, Lucas was not welcome as a civilian on the SeaQuest under the new Captain so he chose to enlist in the Navy to become a UEO officer. He is referred to as Ensign (O1 rank) throughout the final season of the show. Commander Jonathan Ford. Commander Jonathan Devin Ford (Don Franklin) comes from a very financially well off family, his father owning "Ford Freeport: Aquacultural Engineering", one of the largest undersea farming companies in the world. He had a bad relationship with his father and brother. In 2022 a sharp raise in the  temperature of the water in the South Atlantic, caused by an undersea mining operation, a deinosuchus (gigantic prehistoric crocodile) thawed out and was threatening the local ecosystem and the life of the local people. With the help of his family they stopped the creature and settled their differences. Ford's father decided to take a year off from work and give Jonathan's younger brother Ben the run of the company. His mother is deceased. The character of Ford was originally supposed to have a far different background, originally having him been a poor kid from Chicago who joined the  navy to get away from his gang life after witnessing the death of his older brother. Since this was never established in the first year (except for the novelization of the pilot episode and non canon sources such as the others novels and an issue of the comic) it was disregarded for the rest of the series. Lieutenant Commander Katherine Hitchcock. Lieutenant Commander Katherine Hitchcock (Stacy Haiduk; season 1) was the Chief Engineer of the "seaQuest DSV 4600" following her refit in 2018. While at the naval academy, she, along with Benjamin Krieg, were top of their class, and were  eventually wed. However, the marriage only lasted a year. Being Chief Engineer, Hitchcock was also third in command aboard the "seaQuest" and was placed in command in several occasions, such as the "Liberté" space station incident where Commander Ford had been infected with an unknown virus and was unable to perform his duties. Lieutenant Benjamin Krieg. Lieutenant Benjamin Krieg (John D'Aquino; main season 1, guest season 3) served as "seaQuest"`s supply and morale officer. He had previously attended the naval academy with Captain Bridger's son Robert and with Katherine Hitchcock, whom he was later wed to for  a year. While at the academy, he painted the homecoming mule pink, something that Captain Bridger later found amusing. Krieg had aspirations of a command at sea, but, he never was able to fulfill that dream. Krieg was involved in a few minor transgressions during his tour of duty, such as attempting to extort an Arctic research outpost by selling them thermal underwear at an inflated price, as well as sneaking two pounds of outlawed ground beef aboard the boat with the intention of making a real cheeseburger. Lieutenant JG Tim O'Neill. Lieutenant JG Tim O'Neill (Ted Raimi) was the  communications officer of the "seaQuest DSV 4600", originally serving under Captain Marilyn Stark. He remained aboard the boat after she had been relieved of duty and the "seaQuest" was refitted to serve as more of a research vessel. O'Neill specialized in foreign languages, was fluent in at least a dozen and could adequately speak several others. He also shared some sort of unknown psychic link with Darwin which allowed him to sense when Darwin was ill. A religious man since childhood, O'Neill was taught to believe that evolution topped out with mankind and had a difficult time believing in intelligent  life on other planets, although, secretly wished that it existed. The character of O'Neill was originally supposed to be a character named Garry Stephen Bachmann from Ottawa, Canada. This was then changed to be a woman named MacKenna O'Neill, then the character was changed back to a male and renamed "Mack O'Neill". This name was used right up until filming was to begin, name tags designed for his uniforms that read "M. O'Neill" are known to exist before it was ultimately changed to "Tim". Chief Manilow Crocker. Chief Manilow Crocker (Royce D. Applegate; season 1) was on the brink of  retirement when Admiral Noyce personally asked him to sign aboard "seaQuest" when it was put back to sea in 2018. Crocker had served together with Captain Bridger before and, as a result, didn't regret his decision to serve one more tour with his old friend. As Chief of Security aboard "seaQuest", Crocker was responsible for the safety of all aboard. On more than one occasion, he was ordered to board enemy vessels and colonies to take the occupants into custody. Crocker was also the first Human being to lay eyes on an actual alien when the "seaQuest" found an  ancient alien starship entombed in an underwater rock face. The alien fired at Crocker, but, it was merely a method of transportation which moved Crocker to a holding area aboard the alien ship, before finally returning him to "seaQuest." Sensor Chief Miguel Ortiz. Sensor Chief Miguel Ortiz (Marco Sanchez; seasons 1 & 2) was a member of seaQuest's original crew under Captain Stark. After she was relieved of duty, he stayed on, serving again under Nathan Bridger's command. As the Sensor Chief, Ortiz was responsible for controlling the boat's WSKRs (Wireless Sea Knowledge Retrieval Satellites) and was also  involved in various away missions. He could understand Spanish and had a knowledge of Greek mythology, particularly that of Atlantis. He was eventually killed when the "Seaquest"‘s crew got involved in the Hyperion civil war. The character that ultimately became Ortiz underwent two radical changes before becoming what it did. First he was a man named Drew and then was changed to being the son of a rich Vietnamese family named Ngyuen Ky before settling on making him Cuban, the name originally being Mundo Ortiz. Darwin. Darwin is a dolphin. He is able to communicate to the crew through the  assistance of a translation device known as the vo-corder, and to navigate throughout the Seaquest via a series of water-filled access tunnels leading to the ship's moon pool openings, where he could interact more directly with the rest of the crew. Before accepting command of the Seaquest, Nathan Bridger, while living on an island, befriended and began working on communicating with and training Darwin, using hand-signals to communicate. The two were close friends, and even in his capacity as captain, Bridger often referred to him as "My dolphin", treating him at times like a very fond  pet, and at other times like an equal, even diverting the ship from a research mission in order to seek medical assistance when Darwin became sick, citing that he was a member of the crew just as much as anyone else. Second season main characters. Dr. Wendy Smith. Dr. Wendy Smith (Rosalind Allen; season 2) came aboard the "seaQuest DSV 4600 II" in 2021 after the first "seaQuest" had been destroyed by Captain Nathan Bridger the previous year in an attempt to seal a lava pool that threatened to melt the world's polar caps. When Dr. Kristin Westphalen elected  not to sign aboard the new "seaQuest", Dr. Smith won the most coveted medical position in the UEO, that of the Chief Medical Officer of the flagship. She was a licensed parapsychologist and had ESP. Smith was eventually killed when the "Seaquest"‘s crew got involved in the Hyperion civil war. The character of Dr. Smith was originally two different characters; Diane Page, a 35 year old African American Ph.D and Wendy Woo, a 25 year old M.D. The producers of the show originally wanted Tamara Tunie and Kelly Hu respectively. Lieutenant James Brody. Lieutenant James Brody (Edward Kerr; seasons  2 & 3), at the age of three, was involved with his mother in a murder cover-up at the (accidental) hands of Franklin Thomas. Contracting the P-Core A virus, Brody's mother was place in cryogenic suspension and he was sent to live with his grandparents, who "let (him) get away with murder. After joining the navy, Brody led a stealth invasion during the North Korean Crisis in 2010, which Captain Bridger considered to be a "nifty piece of work". At some point in his life, Brody sired a son with a woman. However, being a career-military and  a private man, Brody never told any of the "seaQuest" crew of that aspect of his life. He himself only found out about the then 10 year old boy after the ship returned from Hyperion and the mother of the boy decided to contact him after one of her parents had recently died. Brody ultimately died later that year in a rescue mission to save Lieutenant Henderson from a Macronesian death sentence. His last words were "With your shield or on it." The two actors originally considered for the role of Brody were Dan Gauthier and Paul Gross. Warrant Officer  Anthony Piccolo. Anthony Piccolo (Michael DeLuise; seasons 2 & 3) first boarded the seaQuest as a Seaman in the episode Daggers, the first seaQuest DSV episode of the Second Season. He was an experimental ex con, let out from prison on an early release program where they conducted science experiments on volunteers. Piccolo was offered and then received a pair of genetically altered gills, allowing him to breathe underwater like a fish. He was put on seaQuest because that's where the parole board thought he would be most useful. One of Picollo's most important aspects, according to Producer Carleton  Eastlake, is "he's also the most human of the whole crew, because he's really very unsophisticated." Lieutenant JG Lonnie Henderson. Lieutenant Lenore "Lonnie" Ellen Henderson (Kathy Evison; seasons 2 & 3) signed aboard the "seaQuest DSV-II" as a helmsman in 2021. As a first generation naval officer, she was a bit rough around the edges in terms of proper protocol. She successfully was able to smuggle her stuffed bear Addison aboard "seaQuest", much to the consternation of Commander Ford. Henderson initially showed an interest in Lieutenant O'Neill and the two spent some shore leave together. However, O'Neill was  uncomfortable dating someone he served with and the two remained just friends. She also offered herself to Lucas Wolenczak when it was believed that he was going to die in a cavern. Dagwood. Dagwood (Peter DeLuise; seasons 2 & 3) was the prototype G.E.L.F. He originally did not have a name, but, adopted the name "Dagwood" a joke, since G.E.L.F.s were also known as "Daggers". Dagwood was the imperfect prototype Dagger, intended as supersoldiers, but, he was reassigned to custodial duties, eventually being placed aboard the new "seaQuest DSV" in 2021. He proved his worth to the "seaQuest" crew almost immediately  when he saved Lieutenant O'Neill's life when a large turbine collapsed on top of him, lifting the immense vent off of him. He was also able to convince Mariah, leader of the G.E.L.F. uprising that the G.E.L.F. baby was in fact a human. Third season main characters. Captain Oliver Hudson. Captain Oliver Hudson (Michael Ironside) was the third commanding officer of the "seaQuest" after Captain Marilyn Stark and Captain Nathan Bridger. Hudson assumed command of the boat in 2032. After the "seaQuest" mysteriously disappeared off the face of the Earth in 2022, Hudson began a ten year search for  the missing ship and crew while in command of a slow-moving, long-distance hauler, which he believed would give him the best chance of finding it. Hudson replaced Roy Scheider's Nathan Bridger as the star of the series for season 3. The producers wanted a character different from Bridger, so instead of being the relaxed fatherly figure Hudson had more of a military personality. Using some unused aspects from Bridgers original character profile in the season 1 writers bible Hudson enlisted in the US Navy as a way of rebelling against his father, the only onscreen evidence of  this was an enlisted Good Conduct Medal on his ribbon bar. The aspects concerning his father would have been dealt with had the series not ended, in what would have been the 15th episode of the season, "Depths of Deceit". Lieutenant J.J. Fredericks. Lieutenant J.J. Fredericks (Elise Neal) had served with Captain Hudson aboard the hauler he commanded prior to both of them signing aboard "seaQuest." Hudson considered her his best student and believed that she dedicated her whole life to her duty. While training to pilot a Spectre-Demon class subfighter, Fredericks accidentally crashed it, almost drowning in the  process. She became extremely fearful of ever piloting it again and since the UEO had invested so much in her training, they convinced her to wear a "psyche-implant"; a device that literally "programmed the scare out of her". The device also gave the UEO 24 hour access to every feeling that she had, but, she was willing to deal with the inherent humiliation in order to become the best subfighter pilot in the UEO. Unfortuntely, Larry Deon and President Alexander Bourne were able to gain access to her psyche-implant and reprogrammed it to coerce her to assassinate UEO  Secretary General McGath. Thanks to the efforts of Lieutenant Brody and Ensign Wolenczak, Fredericks was able to fight against their programming and McGath's life was saved. Unfortunately, During the "Seaquest"‘s crew’s fight against the Chodai, Fredericks’ life was lost when her subfighter was destroyed.