“What if the tomorrow we presented wasn’t dark and hopeless?
Sure, there would still be plenty of challenges and dangers, many yet unresolved from the 1990’s, but at its core, its heart, the story that excited us wouldn’t be a pessimists view of where humanity was headed –
it would be a saga of of how we are at our best when our reach exceeded our grasp…”
– Rockne S. O’Bannon, Creator, seaQuest DSV
Cast Stories
Micah May
“I’ve been in the film biz for 20-something years now and seaQuest was my first real job so it is very close to my heart. Casting only picked 10 of us out of about 400.
Roy Scheider was a pretty cool guy… I was opening a scene with him (as background) and he asked about me, where I’m from, all that stuff so I told him he was my moms Free Card. He laughed and said ‘Please call her and give her my love and that I said hello’ – so a while later I called my mom collect from the stage phone, Roy walked by and realized it was my mom on the phone so he grabbed it and said ‘Hello, This is Roy….Micah is working very hard with us over here and I wanted to say thank you so much for your support and letting us keep him’ – once he gave the phone back to me my mom said ‘How could you do that to me…?? I don’t even have my makeup on!’ – so funny.
Roy would talk about a young Steven Spielberg sitting in a dingy floating just offshore with his face in his hands just shaking his head saying ‘How am I going to do this..??’ on Jaws. Roy would have a party at his house at least once a season that he and his wife would put on. I always enjoyed being around Roy.
Michael Ironside…Oh man. That guy can be scary! He’s a marine so that says a lot. Michael made a lot of changes to the show, it was his first starring role so he wanted it done right. Everyone was to ‘walk with a purpose’ – we all had to put on glycerin every morning and it basically gives you hot flashes all day. He wanted to be IN the action where Roy didn’t want to ever hold a gun or hit but the larger demand that he said out loud quite a bit was – ‘I never want to interact or see that fu#%’in Dolphin!’
From what I heard Roy wanted to become writer on the show aswell and when they said no he told them he was going to walk – seems like they didn’t mind that. Ironside was also very funny….he would fart and tell jokes all the time. To make a long story short he slapped me while filming the bit opening scene of why he was the captain and not Roy, you can see me just over his right shoulder for that whole scene but he spent the rest of the season making it up to me…I was the message and that was that…
Jonathan Brandis was a quiet guy until he was comfortable with you. Very nice and kind but when people were around he was guarded. After being so famous so young it changes you a bit. However once you stepped in the group he put you under his wing. I used to buy him beer before he was of age, our birthdays were close so we had some good times. All the cast would come to my house before we hit the town –
I had long hair like his when I first started and there was a day when Ironside decided that JB needed a haircut because in the storyline he officially was a crewmember and in the military now so JB and I were sent to the hair trailer – but he made me go first and I got a high and tight, I walked out and JB looked at me shaking his head saying: No Way!! I thought we were partners so I looked him saying: dude that’s not fair at all! He did get a haircut but not quite like I got. He really fight with that new haircut for a couple weeks because he loved his hair.
He had depression for sure. He and I were outside the stage having a smoke when the entire cast and crew came outside, we looked at each other saying “what’s going on” they maybe the announcement that we had just been canceled. JB’s face dropped but what hit him the hardest was that he was set to direct the next episode (or an up coming one) and now that dream was gone. It was a very sad night.
I worked on CSI: New York the first few months and Michael DeLuise and Marco guest stared on one episode and as cool as it was to see them it was shortly after JB took his life. They just didn’t get why he didn’t reach out but we all shared some good JB stories. Michael and Peter by the way are two of my favorite people on the planet. We would hang at Ted’s house – remember, they were there on location so it was a tight group and after working 14 hour days for months you get close. He was a very happy, funny, creative guy. I would say he was everyone’s friend.
I didn’t have my SAG card at the time but we looked so much alike I couldn’t be on the same side of the bridge as him. I did all his photo doubling though, anytime you see his hand, arms or that type of stuff that was me. I also did the same for Roy and Michael. When Ted/O’Neill quit in an episode and Roy corrected his spelling then signed the letter….that was me on the close-up, I still have the letter –
Ed Kerr is Freek’in awesome!! What a cool guy! Funny and always happy, he was always up for a good time. I have run into him on set a few times over the years, I’m always rooting for him. Darwin….only once in All of seaQuest-dom was there a real dolphin. We shot at Epcot Center for a lot of our futuristic looking locations and there is a huge water tank there – so, Peter (Dagwood) was mopping the floor next to this tank and they trained a dolphin to swim down next to Peter and then swim away BUT…Peter put his hand on the glass and that dolphin put his nose right to his palm and just stayed there for a minute before swimming away. This was an amazing moment and the first and only take of that shot and the only real dolphin. It was like watching a miracle. When we cut Peter looked down at all of us and said: WOW!!
We had a great time. Some days we would go into Universal from the backlot while in our wardrobe and do some rides. People would take pictures and we had a lot of fun with it…the Tram was also a constant, we were a part of the tour when we sat outside. I did see Spielberg when he was there, he was on a family vacation with his friend George. Lucas. Some episodes got so bad that the crew would openly make fun of them.
Just something that JB and Ironside put on for the cast & crew. My wife and I were standing beside the dance floor when Ironside was dancing next to us and as he saw me he put on his serious face, walked over to me, but his face right up to mine, and said: Go out and dance! very stern and serious but then gave me a wink. I really liked Michael.
I drove Mark Hamill to his hotel after the party, we talked for three hours in the cab of my truck. It was amazing.
These are the “Sides” for the day that JB had, not sure why I got them. This is the script pages for the days work. I have a butt load of scripts that I’ve thrown away. Also, that front page is the Call Sheet, it’s the description of the scenes, cast, day or night, props needed and so on…a must have on a set –
On days off I would come in and be the makeup text dummy…that’s what it would say on the call sheet too. I would sit in the chair for hours and when I looked up I didn’t recognize the creature looking back at me. It was a very neat experience…”
MM
Mychal Wayne
Actor Mychal Wayne was a cast member on seaQuest 2032 and spent much of his screentime on the Bridge set. The gallery below is his scrapbook from his time on the show taken from his facebook page. Among the familiar faces pictured with Mychal are Michael Ironside, Jonathan Brandis, Don Franklin, Kathy Evison, Peter & Michael DeLuise and Julia Nickson.
‘Melissa’
This amazing set of images taken in and around the Universal Orlando lot were found on the facebook profile of somebody named ‘Melissa’ who apparently was an extra for the second and third seasons. The images are dated between July and November 1995 and show Melissa on the Bridge and Maglev set and in the company of other background artists and stars such as Michael Ironside and Jonathan Brandis. Melissa evidently appeared in the seaQuest 2032 Episode ‘In the Company of Ice and Profit’ alongside first season star John D’ Aquino. Melissa if you are out there please get in touch to share your experiences..!
ML