We’ve covered the stars, Directors, Producers and even the Designers for the first season of seaQuest and now the SQV resumes its mission to bring you the full and complete history of the show as we plunge into the first of the supporting cast interviews. Presented above is the first of two vintage features on Ted Raimi – or Lieutenant Mack O’Neill as we knew him.
What’s that? Mack O’Who?
Bad enough that what would become one of the series stalwart characters (staying aboard for all three seasons) is referred to here as ‘seaQuest’s Uhura’ but at the time of printing, the show was well into its first season where the character of Tim O’Neill was already a fan favourite.
So how did the mistake come about? In fairness to Bill Warren and Starlog Magazine, chances are the name change had yet to happen as ‘Mack’ would be referred to in not only the pilot script but the first few episodes. The reason for the change is still not known to date (a tweet to Mr. Raimi to clarify might work) but in any event, the right moniker won out.
Indeed, Raimi himself already had a colourful history before gaining notoriety in seaQuest and solidifying his cult status later as Joxer in Xena: Warrior Princess. Still very much active today, Theodore Raimi, brother of Director Sam has always spoken very fondly about his time aboard seaQuest. As for what he had to say about season 2 back in the day, however, look out for the next post…
ML