# Sealab 2021 (2000)

> A trillion-dollar undersea research station in the year 2021 is run by a crew of misfits who mostly bicker and goof off while collecting hazardous-duty pay.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/310

## Facts

- Seasons: 5
- Episodes: 52
- Episode runtime: 12 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: animation, comedy
- Created by: Adam Reed, Matt Thompson
- Network: Cartoon Network, Adult Swim
- Cast: Erik Estrada, Harry Goz, Kate Miller, Brett Butler, Ellis Henican, Bill Lobley, MC Chris, Michael Goz
- TMDB rating: 7.8/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0278877/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: mild
- Tone: irreverent, deadpan, absurdist, crude, lazy

## What critics say

Audiences generally regard the series as a positive, absurdist workplace comedy with a loyal cult following for its crude humor and offbeat characters.

## Synopsis

Sealab 2021 (2000-2005) is an American adult animated comedy series created by Adam Reed and Matt Thompson for Cartoon Network and its late-night block Adult Swim. Set in the year 2021, the show follows a multinational undersea research compound whose crew of malcontents and screw-ups, unfit for private-sector work, have manipulated their luckless leader, Captain Murphy (voiced by Harry Goz), into submission. Erik Estrada voices Marco, Kate Miller voices Debbie, and Brett Butler voices Quinn, and their bickering, slacking, and ludicrous side projects fill its roughly twelve-minute episodes. Across five seasons and fifty-two episodes, the engine of the show is simple: the crew wants to coast on the government clock, and nothing they attempt ever gets research done. The format is episodic, with each installment a self-contained burst of absurdist, crude workplace humor. Its tone is deadpan, irreverent, and lazily surreal, with a heavy dose of futility and cheerfully dim-witted dialogue. The grandiose high-tech setting contrasts sharply with the squalor of its inhabitants. Fans of Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law will find a familiar kinship in its irreverent Adult Swim sensibility.

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