Sealab 2021 is an American adult animated television series created by Adam Reed and Matt Thompson for Cartoon Network's late-night programming block, Adult Swim. Cartoon Network aired the show's first three episodes in December 2000 before the official inception of the Adult Swim block on September 2, 2001, with the final episode airing on April 24, 2005. Sealab 2021 is one of the only four original Williams Street series that premiered in 2000 before Adult Swim officially launched, with the others being Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Brak Show, and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. Much like Adult Swim's Space Ghost Coast to Coast, the animation used stock footage from Hanna-Barbera's short-lived, environmentally themed animated series Sealab 2020, along with original animation; Hanna-Barbera was not involved in the production. The show was a satirical parody of both the original Sealab series and the general conventions of the 1970s animated children's series. While there was initial resistance from several of the original series' creators to the reuse of their characters, production moved forward on the series. Sealab 2021 was produced by 70/30 Productions.

Episodes

Production

Adam Reed and Matt Thompson, the creators and writers of Sealab 2021, came up with the idea for the show in 1995 while they were production assistants for Cartoon Network. They stumbled on a tape of the show Sealab 2020, and wrote replacement dialogue. Cartoon Network passed on the show because it did not believe it was funny. Five years after quitting Cartoon Network, the two went back to the original tape, this time making the characters do what they wanted. Cartoon Network bought the show, coincidentally around the same time that Adult Swim was created. The original "pitch pilot" is available on the Season 1 DVD as a special feature. Very few of the episodes of the series share any continuity or ongoing plot. For instance, the entire installation is destroyed at the end of many episodes, and crew members are often killed in horrible ways, only to return in the following episode. There are occasional running gags, such as the "Grizzlebee's" restaurant chain, a parody of Applebee's and Bennigan's, the character of Sharko, and Prescott, the half-man, half-tentacle monster "from the network". It contains many references to the pop culture of the 1980s–2000s and makes use of other cartoons from the 1970s besides that on which it is based, such as 1973's Butch Cassidy for the on-screen appearances of the Sealab writers, and various one-off appearances of other characters.

Characters

International broadcast

In Canada, Sealab 2021 currently airs on the local version of Adult Swim. It previously aired on the former Teletoon at Night program block on Teletoon in English Canada.

Home media and streaming

The series has been available on HBO Max since September 1, 2020.

Reception

In January 2009, IGN listed Sealab 2021 as the 79th best in the "Top 100 Animated Series". In 2013 IGN placed Sealab 2021 as number 22 on their list of top 25 animated series for adults. Paul Di Filippo of the website Sci Fi Weekly, in his review of the Season 3 DVD, felt that general fan opinion of the show declined sharply following the death of Harry Goz (the voice of Captain Hazel Murphy) during Season 3. In 2021, upon the 20-year anniversary of Adult Swim, Nerdist stated of the series, "It's one thing to imagine Sealab 2021. It's another getting it on the airwaves." Boston's Rock 92.9 published an article calling it "Another masterful reworking of old cartoon footage."