Created by Adam Reed and Matt Thompson, the duo behind Frisky Dingo and Space Ghost, comes a third installment of Sealab 2021. Sealab 2021 is also a big part of the adult-oriented Adult Swim family (Robot Chicken, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The BrakShow). A parody of Sealab 2020, the early ’70s Hanna-Barbera toon, this irreverent series revolves around a team of sea-dwelling colonists.
As in their previous work, Reed and Thompson poke fun at stereotypes—the crazy megalomaniac sea captain, the tough-talking African-American woman, and the blonde, blue-eyed ex-cheerleader, to name just a few—and expand them to they are ready to explode. It’s kind of funny and, as I’ve said before about his work, it’s very silly and sometimes completely crude. And I mean that in a good way.
There are plenty of extras including the original speech Reed and Thompson intended to make for Cartoon Network, an episode based on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and a series of charming made-for-show commercials featuring the excellent sock puppet from Low Tech Kitty. Fun-Fun and some of Atlanta’s “housing challenged.” The voice talent features former Chips star Erik Estrada as the hilariously dodgy Marco Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar Diego García Márquez.
If you’re a fan of Reed and Thompson’s earlier work, this is another one to add to your favorites list. But if you’ve never seen any of this before, I recommend you do. It’s quite a fun thing.
Available through Madman Entertainment.
