Sealab 2021 (seasons 3 & 4)

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 four original Williams Street series that premiered in 2000 before Adult Swim officially launched, 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 a 1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoon, in this case the short-lived, environmentally-themed Sealab 2020, along with original animation. 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.

When the show first came out, it was an instant classic. However, by the time season three came along, it started to go downhill, especially following the sudden passing of Harry Goz in 2003. Season four was where the show started to become really bad.

Why These Seasons Should Be Sent to the Bottom of the Sea

 * 1) These seasons ruined everything that made the first two seasons enjoyable, especially since the crew was starting to run out of ideas. Season four is the overall worst season of the show, being the one season with barely any good episodes.
 * 2) There was a shift towards more mean-spirited humor.
 * 3) *While the show was already pretty mean-spirited to begin with, these seasons took it way too far. These seasons have a very cruel and downright nasty tone to them, up to the point where they make the first two seasons look like Care Bears in comparison.
 * 4) The characters have been heavily flanderized:
 * 5) *Quinn is just about as childish and dumb as Stormy.
 * 6) *Stormy is straight-up incompetant.
 * 7) *Debbie DuPree is a one-note sex symbol.
 * 8) *Marco's singular defining trait is his perverted nature.
 * 9) *Sparks has become even lazier than before.
 * 10) *Dolphin Boy is an even bigger butt-monkey.
 * 11) *In fact, just about all of the characters are extremely sadistic in the fourth season, so much that they look like absolute angels in the first season.
 * 12) The sudden death of Harry Goz during the production of Season 3 led to Captain Murphy being written out of the show and replaced by Captain "Tornado" Shanks (voiced by Michael Goz, Harry Goz' son). While he isn't the show's worst character, he just isn't as funny or charming as Captain Murphy.
 * 13) The animation got worse as it went on, likely due to Adam Reed taking over on character designs and animation and removing the cels edited from Sealab 2020 (the original Hanna-Barbera cartoon), causing the character designs to look uncanny, unappealing and even more off-model than ever to the point of looking nothing like Hanna-Barbera characters at all. Luckily, his art style improved in shows like Frisky Dingo and Archer.
 * 14) Relied more on gross-out humor and visuals.
 * 15) Had a lot of terrible episodes.
 * 16) *"Tourist Season"
 * 17) *"Meet Beck Bristow"
 * 18) *"Tornado Shanks"
 * 19) *"ASHDTV" (which showcased the worst qualities of the show's decline)
 * 20) *"Joy of Grief" (the overall worst episode of the show)
 * 21) *"Return of Marco" (which ended the fourth season on a sour note in production order)
 * 22) *"Casinko" (which started the fifth season on a sour note in production order)
 * 23) *"Monkey Banana Raffle"
 * 24) *"Shrabster"
 * 25) *"Cavemen"
 * 26) *"Moby Sick"
 * 27) *"A Legacy of Laughter" (a horrible way to end the show)
 * 28) Tons of unfunny, racist and sexist jokes.
 * 29) These seasons take numerous, heavy-handed jabs at criticism from critics and fans, which shows that Adam Reed and Matt Thompson cannot take criticism. Does this sound familiar at all?!
 * 30) *These seasons also insult pretty much everyone, including fans who dislike these seasons, fans who dislike Tornado Shanks and even anime fans.
 * 31) *Speaking of insulting, these seasons also jab at people who dislike Sealab 2021 as a whole, and the musical segment "We're Only Joking" from the episode "Casinko" takes the cake when it comes to this, while also trying to make stuff like racism and sexism seem funny (as mentioned in WTSSBSTTBOTS #8).
 * 32) Sharko is a very unlikable character who is unfunny and pointless.
 * 33) Similar to another Adult Swim show that would air nine years later, there are many moments that are very disturbing (especially in the fourth season), even by adult cartoon standards.
 * 34) *Dolphin Boy continuously getting shot in the head by other characters, which is child abuse.
 * 35) *Dolphin Boy getting eaten alive by chupacabras, leaving only his skeleton and a few pieces of his jumpsuit.
 * 36) *White Debbie getting churned into butter and Stormy eating her.
 * 37) *Marco having sexual relations  with a shark  (which led to the birth of Sharko), which makes Marco a zoophile.
 * 38) *Dolphin Boy doing a Hitler salute and later  turning himself into a skinhead , which is outright horrifying since he's  only a child .
 * 39) Captain Shanks dropping his Southern accent due to him not wanting to "sound gay" is a very homophobic joke.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) There are still some good/decent episodes in Season 3, it being good up until Captain Shanks' introduction. Sadly, season 4 did not make up for any of them:
 * 2) *"Red Dawn"
 * 3) *"Frozen Dinner"
 * 4) *"Splitsville" (which started the third season on a decent note in airing order)
 * 5) *"Craptastic Voyage" (which started the fourth season on a decent note in production order)
 * 6) *"Neptunati" (which ended the third season on a decent note in airing order)
 * 7) Tornado Shanks can be funny sometimes.
 * 8) The voice acting is still good.