Rescuing “Junior”

 

 

 

“The bottom line was that I was after this impressionistic look.

  I wanted the feeling of water and the sensation and trying to create that illusion as much as possible in a technology that has to be ‘de-tuned’ in a way. 

Computers have a tendency to make everything so perfect that you have to do things to them to take the perfectness out of it…”

 – James Lima, Art Director

 

 

History

 

 

“We used to call them Roving Periscopes…”

An integral part of the seaQuest’s operation and notable for not being part of Nathan Bridger’s original design – the three WSKR’s (wireless Sea Knowledge Retrieval Satellites) became yet another iconic aspect of the show during its run.  Seen mostly as CG-Rendered (see image above) specks of light dancing around the colossus of the Sub, the WSKR’s would always be first on scene to alert the crew to danger and drive the plot forward during the undersea adventures.

So critical were Mother, Junior and Loner to saving the day that Junior starred in its own episode, having been physically brought aboard to use as an emergency generator when lightning on the surface shorted out the seaQuest’s power.  For Bad Water, Junior was opened up and powered the stations on the Bridge one at a time.  As this scene could not be achieved with CG, a 1:1 scale prop (see image below for the blueprint) had to be built with an elaborate detailed interior of electronic hardware.  At over six feet across and encased in a spherical ‘metal’ frame, the prop was utterly convincing as a genuine piece of futuristic military hardware…

 

 

The detailed blueprints of ‘Junior’ in its stripped down configuration as featured in the season 1 episode ‘Bad Water’

Photos taken during filming on the Bridge set on Universal’s Stage 28 show the staggering amount of mockup components forming the electronic ‘guts’ of the WSKRS (Images courtesy Fred Tepper)

 

 

The Restoration

 

 

Say Hi to Junior!

This big boy has been sitting in the Planet Hollywood warehouse for the last 31 years, just minutes from my house! I happened to do a short job for PH at their warehouse getting props ready for an upcoming auction. I happened to ask if they had anything from SQ, and they showed me the ONE item they had; I knew what it was before even looking in the crate! Long story short, I made a deal to buy this thing and it was delivered to me today…!

 

 

The last time we saw this guy, he was in an Iowa cornfield (s3, Brave New World), and the last time I saw this was at the auction in 1995. This was my favourite prop from the show and its been nearby all this time!
It’s the same prop as the one used to show the internals as seen in Bad Water (s1), that were dressed out on set but were not actually permanently housed inside the prop shell. When the show moved to Florida the prop came out with everything else in the crate you see. It mostly sat in our ‘boneyard’ with other leftover set pieces until it was used for that one shot in season 3 (that was my idea btw!)
The composition is wood for the outer ribs, and an acrylic plastic sphere inside. The clear ‘eyes’ are several sizes of acrylic hemispheres with various metal gadgets and camera lens housings mounted inside.  Its in rough shape while still being intact, so some restoration work is in order – I’m currently taking it apart to see what can be repaired – 
Click on the image above for a video narrated by Mark showing you the prop as it looks now in his workshop where he talks about its current state and what he intends to restore in the future..!