Transcript
Speaker: Martin Lakin is a UK-based science fiction fan and writer. In 2018, he created the website Sequest Vault, adding to his successful run of websites dedicated to franchises including Flash Gordon and the Superman movies.
Speaker: Martin is known in the Sequest community as one of the most passionate of Questies, amassing an impressive collection of uniforms, props, autographs and memorabilia, creating a virtual museum or, as his website states, a vault to all things Sequest.
Speaker: Welcome, Martin. Welcome. Thank you, ladies. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. What a fantastic introduction. That makes me out to be far more important than I actually am, but that's that's really, yeah really gratifying to hear.
Speaker: Well, you know, we get to shine the spotlight on a lot of the things that you do. And ah being a part of the group, we get to see the vaults, but there's just so much more. and I'm kind of excited that we get to tap into that.
Speaker: How did you first discover Sequest being being in the UK? Yes, and you're quite right. You say it like it is a third world country and you'd be right. But back in the day, there was, I remember distinctly,
Speaker: ah there was a tiny newspaper report and I was working in a dead-end job at the time at a university. And i remember sitting around like a dinner table with all these idiots that i was working with. And I just read a blurb in this newspaper that said, upcoming TV series by producer Steven Spielberg and starring Roy Scheider.
Speaker: And I threw my lunch up in the air because like this was the best thing. What what a great concept. Just that. that was That enough... the The idea of Spielberg, the idea of Scheider together again ah after, you know, obviously Jaws.
Speaker: um And with a science fiction premise, i it just, it read so well. So from that point on, I mean, it was at least another year before the series were premiered.
Speaker: And it's kind of well documented that ITV, the station that showed it in the UK, ah made such a complete dog's dinner of how the the show was both promoted and broadcast.
Speaker: And the only thing that we had in advance, I think it had already premiered in the States. We were a few weeks down the line. But I remember the the commercials on TV were kind of these jokey-themed things that were saying, there's a shot of of Bridger on the beach.
Speaker: And the blurb started it off with, just when this man thought it was so to go back in the water, and a few random shots of the show. And I was like, even back then, I thought, this doesn't look like it's representing what's actually going on in in this show.
Speaker: And then we had, there was a magazine around at the time called TV Zone, and the Secrets had a cover on that magazine, and it stated that 20 minutes had been cut from the pilot,
Speaker: And so we were all we were on the back foot from the outset, in this country anyway. It didn't have a chance because it had been... the edit had been butchered the advance word from the u.s wasn't good and it never they showed it sporadically they showed it on set afternoons i think to begin with and then it just kind of tiled off halfway through the first season we didn't even see the latter half of the of this of the first season i think we even saw the beginning of season two before we saw the end of season one and so nobody really kind of had the uh the opportunity to
Speaker: ah absorb it and and kind of develop any kind of affinity for it, except for me, who just looked with the concept from the outset. And so was determined, absolutely determined to to give you a chance and and to see how things developed.
Speaker: And, i you know, for all the flack that it got initially, I know there's this huge stigma in the US, I don't know why, about Spielberg and and his endeavours on television.
Speaker: that's That's not a thing over here, by the way. if just We didn't know what you were talking about. we knew about Amazing Stories. We'd seen that too. We thought it was perfectly fine. i mean, I'm speaking as if I'm representing the entire country. That's kind of perception of it.
Speaker: And yeah know we just didn't have an issue with it. And so why you know the critics were so savage about it, especially considering the the the pedigree and the you know the effects and you know everything that was...
Speaker: that went into creating it. And and you know one of ours, Stephanie Beaten, was in the cast as well. I mean, all the ingredients, and i've said this so many times, all the ingredients were there to make you know what they were calling the television event of of the year.
Speaker: And it was the television event of the year. i don't think it was it met expectations in terms of being a revelation, but it was certainly a a TV event because it was It introduced you to such a bold, at least the concept was bold, and that was about man's future and not his 300-year future like Star Trek was. This is fairly immediate. I mean, we're going back to 1993. We're now in 2025.
Speaker: And what I find is is that so much stuff, this is probably another question down have the line, but so much stuff that was concept-wise introduced by this show has come to pass in this day and age. And I think that I'm tickled by that.
Speaker: I think every time that Sequest does something right, as we say in the group, um which I just kind of go around and know say, ha! See, knew it. He condemned it at the time, but it told the truth.
Speaker: That's very true. It's interesting to me to hear how differently the show was marketed ah in the UK. What choices would you have made differently that you think would have captured more British attention for the show?
Speaker: Oh, gosh. Well, yeah in the same kind of fashion. I mean, the early 90s were kind of... yeah I don't think it had a chance to kind of stand out amongst everything that was going on because the early 90s, we were being battered by so many like successful genre kind of projects. I mean, Next Gen was, I think, entering its final year.
Speaker: um What a successful run that was. But again, that had a terrible first season too. It's just that it was given the opportunity to breathe and develop, which sequence never got, in my opinion. But um I just think it got lost in the shuffle. and And I think by declaring itself as the the television event of the of the year.
Speaker: I think that kind of annoyed people. It's like, well well, we'll tell you what the television event of the year is. You don't get to tell us. So there was already resentment there kind of thing. And British audiences, you know, they during the 80s, and I can speak personally at least because, you know, I'm 52 now, so I've been ah kind of around for all of it since I kind of...
Speaker: meet the demographic right smack in the middle. Everything that was being made in the 80s through the 90s was squarely aimed at... It felt like me, to be honest, but um stuff that didn't do so well over there really did well over here.
Speaker: So let's go back to Knight Rider. that that That was around from 1982. And that was a big that was a big deal in the US, but over here, it was huge.
Speaker: And then followed by Street Hawk. Again, 12 episodes, didn't get the recognition or the development it deserved in the US. Absolutely adored over here.
Speaker: And so, you know, you just got to give the shows a chance. I mean, even V, the TV series, that was buried in the schedules. That was on at like two o'clock in the morning over here.
Speaker: And I remember, God, I was at high school at the time and there was ah there was a kid who was obsessed with it as I was and he'd tape it. And then we'd watch it on the under lunchtime the following day. And in the UK, we do adore all of this stuff.
Speaker: Well, we did adore all of this stuff. um But it was never it was never put on a plate for us. We had to chase it. you know We had to find in the scheduling. We had to kind of... The affection that we developed for it was kind of the fact that it was kind of kept from us in a way.
Speaker: We had to go look for it. It didn't it didn't come to us. And so with Sequest, I think, because they've done such a whole poor, poor job of putting it out there and definitely publicising, it was virtually nothing to say other than the TV advertising, which was half-assed at best, that it was never going to be um what it should have been.
Speaker: So, yes, I mean, that that's so that's as much as I can tell you about this country. that Things that develop court followings here tend to be stuff like Doctor Who, which has been running since the 60s and his beloved.
Speaker: Stuff like Blake 7, which was kind of a semi-spin-up of Doctor Who, which had a much shorter run, but that was still beloved with stuff like Sapphire and Steel all and The Saints, all this kind of stuff that came out in the 70s.
Speaker: um You know, guys my age, still talk about that to this day, still very fond of it, and and the devotion for it is pretty much unending. It's just that this particular show, I think, thank yeah it needed another of the year's development, and that's not coming from me, that's coming from everybody that I've spoken to that worked on the show in relation to that question.
Speaker: he needed another year to stephenn It needed another year for for... I mean, we'll probably talk about it Phil Seagull anyway, but the producer, Phil Seagull, he needed another year. Everybody needed another year.
Speaker: And, you know, hindsight is ah is a beautiful thing, isn't it? But I really think it would have made all the difference with this with this show. Yeah, I think that every season sort of felt almost like a clean slate, right? They tried one thing and it just needed some time to ah get out there for people to fall in love with it. But then they scrapped something and then jumped onto the new thing to try that. And when that didn't work as quickly as they wanted, it seemed like, okay, we're scrapping that. We're going to try something new instead of just taking the opportunity to let it breathe, let the story develop, let it...
Speaker: you know grow into what it's going to be before. Absolutely. Absolutely. And so here's the thing. So my biggest kind of breakthrough since started the site in 2018, incidentally, um because I got to the point where the there was nothing on the web devoted to ZQuest as far as I could see.
Speaker: And you know the the final of the the last of the kind of message boards had finally ah gone under two. And so I kind of felt ah ah kind of felt obliged to to step in because I was like i couldn't believe that you know you guys ah in the US hadn't kind of run with it and you know made a website of your of your own.
Speaker: And so I was like, you know what, if if this isn't going to happen, then I'm going to bloody well do it because I've got everything that I need to ah to go ahead with it. Originally, i wanted to do a book, you know, that's what I wanted to do. And that's where the name came from, because at the time,
Speaker: There was all this kind of stuff, you know in the Foul Star Galactica vaults, you know, but rogers but all this kind of stuff was hidden shelves. And I was like, you know what, there's never going to be a sequence, what is this? so And I've got too much material to put in a book.
Speaker: So, you know, why not just put it all online? But the prime consideration for the website was to kind of tell the story in a linear way. In other words, I wasn't just going to dip and pick and choose and kind of do the whole series sporadically. I was going to start at the beginning, tell the story from the making of to pre-production all the way through to the broadcast of the show, the response to the show, the interviews with the show, and push through with that. And along the way, I have been so, so lucky to speak to people that were involved.
Speaker: And Philip Segal, producer or Actually, let's be straight about this. He was the creator of the show. If you listen to the conversation I had with him, where he blatantly talks about the fact that they were looking to remake Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and went through whatever reason that didn't work out.
Speaker: Sequest BSV was created as kind of kind of a counter to that. um When you go back to that and find that all of Phil's concepts for the show The only thing they didn't have was a writer. And he he admits that was ah a critical error because in absence of that, we were going to be floundering. We were going to be floundering from day one because it was we were always going to be in such a position where we're going to try and write ourselves out of a corner as opposed to knowing what was going to happen next.
Speaker: So but you when you refer to the the the state of the seasons and wiping the slate clean and starting over, That was the biggest mistake, in my opinion, that they could have made because in doing so, they alienated the fans of, let's face it, the first season is is the best by a country mile.
Speaker: And the reason for that is is that that original concept, there was nothing wrong with it, nothing wrong. The only thing that was wrong was the fact that some of the scripts were not as strong and they didn't carry that concept through or didn't follow it through enough.
Speaker: So to change that, And when you move to Florida and you take on this whole new concept of about where, you know what sequels should we do and how it should be a science fiction-based show, you you take everything that was good about what you'd established already and you go, yeah, you know what, this let's do it this way instead.
Speaker: And so you've already lost your audience, really. And again, people knew that was happening. Fans definitely knew it was happening because that's when the letter writing campaigns began. So talking to Philip was such a breakthrough for me because it kind of confirmed everything that I'd kind of come to the conclusion of already. i mean, there's loads of fun behind the scenes, politics and stories anyhow, concerning, you know, the actors and the writers and the producers. That's all that's all its own thing.
Speaker: But it was the concept, and the concept was, I think, rather rather elegant, actually, because it does talk about the ah the ocean itself. as another frontier. I think there's a fascination with that. There's a fascination with the water.
Speaker: There's a fascination with the fact that only a small percentage of the of the ocean has been explored anyhow. And so, you know, what a what a beautiful concept because it's so bold because anything can happen down there.
Speaker: You can't disprove that anything could happen down there because we've we've only covered a small percentage of it. So, you know, so to limit yourself, And to you know to to go in silly directions as opposed to you know all the all the real life stories that you know you could look into and spin off from that just seemed like such a waste.
Speaker: And again, a little bit tangentially, I think that's what were the problem that Roy Scheider had with it is what I've been able to kind of deduce is that I think he was sold what I've just described.
Speaker: as opposed to what actually went ahead. And that is kind of the reason for some of his vitriol with it, because it was never, I don't think, what he had been kind of invited in to do. I think he had a very specific idea about which which direction he wanted things to go.
Speaker: And I think from the the the point that they started filming when the first script was delivered, he kind of said, well, hang on, this isn't this isn't what we talked about. that is This is kind of, this is this is all well and good, but it's all kind of fairly standard episodic television fare.
Speaker: And I thought we were doing something new. So, you know, again, you you could see where where it was coming from. But yes, speaking to Phil Seagal about the whole thing really did map it out for me in terms of,
Speaker: how this thing, how this show kind of started so strong, floundered. ah and you know Having said that, I think some of the best episodes are towards the end of the first season.
Speaker: And so yeah to to go back and and go, you know what, we're goingnna we're going to be thinking, it just seems ridiculous to me. so that's where the stage where I am now. I want to know exactly what the thinking was that made them that made them go so so drastically opposed to what the original concept was. Would you agree with that? i Yeah, I would agree with that.
Speaker: I think it's interesting the um idea of the last unexplored region on Earth, the ocean, and the possibilities of that that new frontier, the undiscovered, the um you know creatures we've never experienced before.
Speaker: Do you think that that's part of what made you fall in love with the show? Or despite its rocky start, what was it that captured you and has kept you going all this time? What made you fall in love with it? you You described that so much better than I did in like so economically in about four or five words.
Speaker: And I just rambled on then. never and That's what you described then about the undiscovered frontier. that That's what I meant. Yes. Yes. um i'll tell you exactly what what did it for me. Because, you know, I was, as much as I was entertained by the show, and I was a Roy Scheider fan first. i would I'd been following his career avidly. And there was a film he did called Blue Thunder in 1983.
Speaker: And that made a huge impression on me. I was about 13 at the time. And I just thought he was so, so cool in that. So everything that he did. But he was 61 at this point, I think, when he started Sequest. And I was like, when's he going to be in something cool When's he going to be something cool again? And when this came along, it was just like, you know, somebody had just kind of gone, you know what, let's let's give the kid what he wants and let's let's put this out there.
Speaker: And it was just, it felt like it was aimed squarely at me because, know, i'm having a good look for the ocean myself, um being interested in all that kind of its exploration some things and your favorite film star and your favorite director in there i mean you know what could possibly go wrong but um so that's one thing so that that's kind of that's viewership and fandom if you like so it was always going to be captured uh from that point and you know, as the episodes were getting better and throughout the first season, I was like, wow, this is, you know, this is everything that I wanted it to be. I didn't understand why other other people weren't getting it.
Speaker: I didn't understand why, because there was so much rot out there. Besides, you know, if you wanted to watch Jump, there was plenty available. But this was trying to be a bit more cerebral than that. This was trying to say, look, this is this is actually out there.
Speaker: this You know, the what's going on here? there' There's a possibility that this might actually all come to pass. So I was riveted from that point. But what really solidified for me is that we went out to Florida in, God, when was it?
Speaker: Early 2000s. And we decided we were going to take a drive. And we headed out towards the yeah the coast, the west coast.
Speaker: And... as we were driving by, just for a day out, as we were driving by, we drove past the St. Pete's Pier. And as soon as I saw that, I was like, oh, my God. And i kind of like, you know, I nearly caused a car to crash. This was like, Dad, Dad, can stop here. We have stop. We have to stop.
Speaker: And he's like, he throws up a heart attack or something. was like, we have to stop. And he's like, well, what is it? And I said, that's what it is. Over there, we have to go there. I didn't know what was. i didn't It was just a building.
Speaker: And so we spent the day at you know what turned out to be Newt Cape Quest. And you know it was still it looked exactly as it did in the show. And i kind of... like I mean, the whole family was there, so I kind of separated myself. And I went to the the location where they shot Bridger on his motorcycle, looking out ah across the water to the boat in the ocean.
Speaker: And I just thought, God, that actually happened here? and You know, I'm not so detached that, you think for a second that that anything anything is all fiction.
Speaker: But he actually, for a moment, felt like that this was the same world. And so from that point on, I kind of never looked back, really, because I was completely absorbed then. It's like not only I fan of the show, but I've been to where it was shot.
Speaker: And I've seen what he's seen. And it feels very real to me all of a sudden. And then you look out upon the ocean. it I don't know. It just kind of really captured my imagination.
Speaker: And the fact that that building was there and so New Cape Crest was real and, you know, the folk departs from here, it just gave it a reality. In fact, the my kind of internal a vision of it is probably what's kept me going for all this time, more than the show actually did, because the show went in all kinds of different directions. There's some of it that didn't like.
Speaker: But you know my version of it, which is kind of like you know the the season one going into season two, um was you know you could you could do no wrong with that. that that was That made it absolutely real for me. So ever since then, I've been trying to kind of put that across, and i ah probably not being too I'm not being very eloquent about it now, but it's just a feeling that you get when something that you see becomes some basis in reality.
Speaker: And you can imagine what that was like. And more importantly, want to be part of that world. And I really wanted to be part Sequest world. Yeah, I lived in Florida, actually, for um a little bit of time. I went to college there. And i was already obsessed with Sequest at that point. ah But I almost did what you did. Like, we'd be driving places and I would see something. And I'd be like, stop, stop, stop. that That's the... um ah the hall where they filmed X, Y, and Z. And actually they filmed ah several scenes on my college campus. So I'm sitting in the auditorium and I'm like, oh, this is the same auditorium where the psychic um killer comes in to kill the, press or go after the professor. And Wendy Smith comes in this way. And I think having, you know, instead of being all green screen and CGI and things that we have accessible to us, I think part of the connection is that these are physical places. They use practical effects in a lot of it, ah practical locations. And at least when they were in Florida, they took advantage of some of the really cool and beautiful um ah things around the city and made them to something else. But it was almost like stepping through a doorway of, I'm i'm a part of Sequest just a little bit because I'm standing here. This is so cool.
Speaker: Again, you've you've managed to answer the question better than I did. that's the That is exactly what I'm trying to say. And I suppose I should mention um that the second time we came out to Florida is when i went to visit John Kachmar's museum.
Speaker: And if you don't know about that, that was the guy. he's He's long gone now, sadly. But John was the owner or the curator, should say, of the Seacrest Museum, which was in fact his front room.
Speaker: But ah he had bought, at the auction in 1995, he had actually bought most of the costuming and a lot of the props when they were auctioned off from the show.
Speaker: And again, that same kind of feeling as soon as I walked in there, because he obviously set it all up for visitors in advance. And I walked into there and imagined being surrounded by all of the costumes from all three seasons and going, oh wow, i've just...
Speaker: look at Look at this. yeah Again, it it just made it into a real thing for me. And I spent all day there and I was you know the ins and outs of a duck's backside with all of the costumes, just trying to find out all of the...
Speaker: intimate details about them all. um Finding out that, you know, Shida had like two inch thick foam ah aye soles on his shoes to give him more height. um The fact that the t-shirts were all kind of the colors of the t-shirts had cuts in the back of them. So you could put like Velcro pads to to make them form fitting and lap them around the neck. all these All these little quirks that all these things had.
Speaker: And it was just absolutely fascinating. And so, you know, I've been so lucky with, you know, obviously, I don't know how long the museum lasted after rare I went there. I know that Diane, his wife, um who's a member of our group also, ah you know, when when did when John passed, she inherited the entire collection. And so, you know, i think she was just as passionate about the show as he was. And, you know, I was really, really pleased to be, you know,
Speaker: to be a little part of that. And, uh, she'd written, uh, Diana written, uh, Roy's, Roy Sharder's biography, actually. And, uh, years later when she published it, um, she sent me a copy and, uh, John had inscribed in the front page, he said to the son I never had.
Speaker: And was like, wow, that's a, that's a big deal, isn't it? For a guy to say that, you know, I'd met him for the day, you know, and I'd go around his, and he could, obviously I must've been like, uh,
Speaker: a wide eyed child and they're going around looking at all the stuff, but you know, for, for, you know, just for spending the day, that's a pretty bold statement. I thought, so God bless him. Oh my goodness. He was, he was a nice character.
Speaker: I think he recognized the passion that you had. You had the same level of passion that he had, um, for the show. ah I remember hearing about, ah his Sequest Museum back in the day. um And i I wished I could have visited it. I mean, all the way in New Jersey. So that never happened.
Speaker: um So it's great that you were able to experience that and to really take it all in and and be there for that. Yeah, I remember being in such trouble because, like, I mean, this was but really early internet days as well. And, like, we' all we had were those maps that you could get from Disney and stuff. And I kind of picked out where he was. And I think he was, where was he? God, he was in West Palm Beach, I think it was.
Speaker: And that was only two inches on the map. So i was like, hey, Dad, this this can't be far. And it was its like 200 miles. He was not happy with me, but yeah.
Speaker: allver Well, I have you beat. I was um at the time I lived in Seattle. So, you know, Jersey to Florida is one thing, but Seattle to Florida is is just impossible. That was never going to happen. I was never. Yeah, it's just I actually bought a few things from John at one point um because that was when I started trying to figure out how to collect merchandise. Because, again, I'm stuck in New Jersey and i think I bought the novels from them and some of the bookmarks, if I remember correctly.
Speaker: Yeah. And then i I remember emailing him and being like, asking for like a deal on something. I don't know if it was the journal or something. And he was like, I can't, I don't think he knew how old I was. I was like 16 or 15 or whatever at the time. And he was like, yeah, oh no, i I can't come down on the price on that. You might want to check eBay. And I was kind of taken aback, but i was like, what? I'm like, you know what? Fine. I'm going to go check eBay. And I haven't really looked back since. Yeah. That that sounds a lot like him to be honest. He was there.
Speaker: he was ah He was a dealer. He he definitely was. But that's another thing about the merch as well. I mean, that's a whole other topic with the merch because we got... The one thing that we got over you guys in the States was the official publication of the series, which was there the softcover book, which is all about the making of It was never released. I don't think States are. No, it wasn't. um And of course, I snapped multiple copies of that thing up because was like, wow, finally.
Speaker: And then the figures drifted over and... i was like, well, where's the rest of them? You know, because there was only a, if the initial, we didn't even get, for example, I mean, this is getting really kind of fanboy right now, but we only got the first, we didn't get Dr. Z and we never had Darwin. Wow. They were never released in this country.
Speaker: Yeah. can you imagine that? Can you imagine? So, and, you know, me being me and obsessed with this thing, i was like, well, I simply have to have them. And, you know, I couldn't find them on eBay. They didn't, for some reason, they just hadn't popped up on there.
Speaker: And so, i mean, the next time we went to Florida, got we my mom is obsessed with Disney, so we go out there a lot. yeah And there was there was a store in Orlando called Intergalactic Trading, I think it was. oh And spent we spent all day looking for this damn thing. And we found it at the end of International Drive.
Speaker: And again, i was just aghast because i just were the sole purpose of finding it was just to get this damn Dr. Z figure. which I found covered in dust at the corner. They couldn't believe that people were buying it, but I went in and grabbed it. So yes, here it is. I've got it.
Speaker: In the meantime, my girlfriend, now wife at the time, she was going through, there there was a t-shirt rack right in the middle. I remember this so vividly. It was a t-shirt rack right in the middle of the shop. And she was just wifling through, oh, look, Star Wars, and look, this, and look. And then she held this thing up. She held this t-shirt up. She goes, have got this?
Speaker: And it was um it was a crew ah shirt. You know, the grey ones with a um the the sharp, the hammerhead triangle on the front. Oh, wow. It was a genuine screen used one. She was holding it up. She goes, have you got this?
Speaker: was like, and I just, I just i've got the figure that I'd traveled thousands of miles for and I just dropped but underground and it and I ran over to her and I said, where did you get this from?
Speaker: And she said, it was just here. And as I was i i was going through this this t-shirt rack, I found more t-shirts, crew t-shirts. I found a UEM guard uniform and it was just randomly hung amongst all of this stuff.
Speaker: They've got to ah bear in mind that comic shops in this country, i mean, that all they've got is reprints of, you know, oh old DCs and Marvels and because it just full of junk. But this actually had screen-used material just hanging around randomly. And so I bought everything.
Speaker: I bought absolutely everything. I would have done the same. I would have done the same. And I just i just had this big part and I hunted onto the counter. And I remember the guys, just the the guys that were working in the shop, they were they were completely distracted. One of them just bought one of those... um remote control R2-D2s. And they were having great fun with that. And I came along with all this stuff and they kind of looked at me and said, you know, man, we're we're we're having fun here.
Speaker: We're partnering with us with all this stuff from this cancelled show that nobody cares about. But, you know, we'll take your money. So what a date that was. that was and ah And it's because of these kind of serendipitous moments that I've had throughout my entire life.
Speaker: when it comes to Sequest, that I kind of think that, you know, I'm being kind of shunted in this direction where, you know what, if nobody else is going to celebrate this thing, if nobody else is going to be a champion for it, then I will.
Speaker: You know, I will do that because I loved it and I think there's so much more in there for, you know, for folks that they've not been aware of. And I'm going to i'm going to keep pushing this and I'm going to celebrate it for what it is. I'm going to get as many people involved as I possibly can because I don't think it got a fair shot.
Speaker: And it's just this kind of, you know, these are kind of anecdotes that kind of happen to me along the way. But the overriding message was clear. I mean, that's how it's that's how it's affected me. That's how, you know, it's just, it's a joyous thing. You know, that there's no kind of, there's no negatives about it. I mean, it's it's history now anyway.
Speaker: it's It's just something that, you know, other stuff gets loaded with fandom. And that's terrific. You know, be a Ghostbusters fan. I love that stuff. Be Star Wars. Just, inhabit it and and celebrate it. It's a shame there's not, you know, it's a shame not a bigger community. I mean, I think we're up to nearly 2,000 members on Facebook now. So we did touch a lot of people, but I think it's one of those polarizing things where it's like, you know what, do I admit to liking this or not?
Speaker: Is this something that I'm going to be tacitized for? So you know what, I was a Sequest fan. ah i don't Those days are over. I think that kind of geekdom and all the kind of shame associated with, you know, liking something,
Speaker: is a thing of the past and rightly so because these days when there's so much ill in the world you have to put something out there that's of you know of use to people and and you can celebrate mutually.
Speaker: You have to find the joy where you can. i have to say I am very grateful for your vault site because ah You say that no one in the US was doing it. Ironically, for years, I sat on a domain hoping to create a site. I did. i i think I had two of them, Sequest DSV online and Sequest DSV something.
Speaker: And I eventually let like go the domains because I didn't know how to create a website. And I was like, someday I'll do it. I'm like, you know what? I'm never going to do it. And then I found your site. And i'm like, oh thank goodness somebody did it. Somebody archived everything and is continuing to preserve it.
Speaker: I was a total novice. I had absolutely no idea what I wanted. But I just knew what I wanted to do. As I say, I had a ah strict plan about kind of going back to the very beginning and doing it in ah in a time-ordered fashion. But as far as, you know, I'm still not technically sound. I know what I like in terms of ah visuals and stuff like that.
Speaker: I've been a writer for years, so I knew exactly how to put points across so wanted to. But without the help of people like, you know, I mean, Mark Bradley, who we spoke about, um and John James, who's just an absolute darling of a bloke.
Speaker: ah And all these help all along the way from people that once the site was up and established, once it was running, And people saw that I wasn't giving, you know, that I really was into this and I wanted to celebrate it. That's when, you know, folks like Ingrid Price, the costume designer, came forward. Fred Tepper, who was lovely, he was in charge of the VFX.
Speaker: And yeah I just, I couldn't believe it. Yeah, and i still can't believe it, that people want to come forward and share the stories. It's what's kept me going because, you know, you There is actually, in fact, very little material regarding this show out there. I think it exists, but attaining it is one thing. And I've spent an absolute fortune over the years trying to, you know, accumulate everything just so I can photograph and catalog it and have it out there to say that, yes, actually, this stuff did exist. I mean, that bloody board game, for example, that Spanish board game that nobody knew existed, it got from Diane.
Speaker: um Oh, really? yeah Yes, yes, I found it. I don't know where she's been keeping it all these years. but Wow, so he had it. Wow. So he had it, yes. Most things lead back to John. yes And there are a set of English instructions. He went to the trouble of actually having that translated, the instructions. So I do have a copy of that, which I'll post up.
Speaker: But yeah, yeah. ah I've been really lucky. I mean, even now, people like Frank Hoftring, you know, he he made short videos for me. He's doing work for me now. um Really, really exciting stuff.
Speaker: ah Just kind of bringing the whole Sequest visual back to life. um So it's it's lovely to to have it in this, you know, to keep kind of finding fresh stuff and presenting it because that's how you're going with it with the site. If you ever go dry and you run out of material, then you know it just becomes literally the vault as opposed to something which is covered.
Speaker: So is that generally how it works? Somebody reaches out to you and says, hey, I have this really cool thing. Have you seen it before? Or it seems like it is ah very much a collaborative project. How does that work? It's exactly has you as you describe pretty much. Like i say, once once people see the site,
Speaker: and go, what, worked on that. I remember all that kind of stuff. Then they actively get in touch and want to contribute. And I'm like, wow, fabulous. Throw me everything. And then there are kind of passive fans that, you know, their brother might have been an extra and like, you know, they don't really think their story's worth telling, but they'll get in touch anyway and say, oh, I've got this, you know, a continuity Polaroid or I've got a hat or I've got an autograph.
Speaker: And I'm like, yep, I'll take it. You know, it's it's anything like that is what is what's kept me going for the for the longest time. I mean, I'm still, because I'm im literally a one-man operation, by the way, I don't really have anybody...
Speaker: working on the site. and the sole kind of proprietor of it. So I count on all of this ah to to keep me going. um And I've got stuff accumulating now to to go on it when I can get the thing back up, which shouldn't be too long, hopefully.
Speaker: and I might even have to move moot providers, but we'll see. But it will be back, and it'll be back better and bolder than ever. So stay with me. Oh, we will. What do you envision? What do you want the site to become if you had everything that you could? Do you know what? i That's a good question, but i it's been so good to me already.
Speaker: And it's been such a lovely kind of, I mean, this, what we're doing right now, for example, it's been such a great outlet. I mean, I mean, you girls have have got in touch and, you know, you want to talk to me about it.
Speaker: That's, And, you know, as I said, people like Mark and people like John. And John's run off with his own thing and created, ah you know, he's so talented that he's been able to create a whole new series of mer merch, much better than what came around the first time in in my opinion. But, you know, and meeting folks like that, you know, when actually went out to meet them a couple of years ago and I went to Mark's place and and we got together there.
Speaker: Yeah, it was such a great meeting of minds. And, you know, who you know we we come from, you know we're we're so nowhere near each other that geographically and when you put us in a room together and we can talk like we're talking now about this this subject because we're so passionate about the subject we don't even have to acknowledge how passionate we are about the subject we just sit down and and boom and we start talking about it and it's like it's this it's this it's this do you remember that show do you remember that episode you remember that action you remember this scene do you remember that prop
Speaker: And, you know, I could happily go for hours and hours because I enjoy reminiscing about it so much and keeping it up to date because um I don't think we're doing a revival. I don't think that'll ever happen. um I'd like it to. I'd like something a bit more smaller scale to come along eventually.
Speaker: My ultimate ambition really isn't that huge an ambition. I'd like to do a graphic novel. I'd like to write a graphic novel. with Phil Seagull's participation about exactly what he wanted ah the concept to be and kind of tie up all the threads from all three seasons.
Speaker: This is why it's kind of a monumental task to tie up all threads all three seasons and make it and kind of take it back to that first season and what made it so great. I think it can be done. And so that that would be my ultimate goal.
Speaker: But in terms of the site, I want people to to read it. I want people to enjoy it. And I want people to reminisce and go, wow, this was much better. This was a much, much better show and a much, much better concept than I gave it credit for. And um all the evidence that you're going to need is going to be able to be found in that one place. And that's all I can ask for, really.
Speaker: All right. I know we've been touching on it throughout this whole interview, but ah when did you actually start your collection that's been making up the vault and you're just your personal collection? Like, was it your trip to Florida to intergalactic trading or was it before that? When did you start and and what what started it? Like, what kickstarted it?
Speaker: So I can remember this. this in a few I mean, only kind of, I think there's less than maybe 30 comic shops in this country.
Speaker: Luckily, one of the best ones happens to be in the centre of town where I live in Birmingham in the UK. And there was a guy, that the guy that ran it was fond of going out to the States and bringing stuff back to to move on.
Speaker: And he'd brought the figures back. And I didn't even, this was before I'd seen the show. So I hadn't seen the show. I'd read about it in the paper. I was very excited. And then the figures show up they're just there they are and i pick up the obviously i went straight to the shard one and i think it was i think it was like 10 pounds at the time which in 1993 was absolutely outrageous for that of money for that kind of thing so off i went with my 10 pounds and bought it and uh i was just like this is going to be so so good because there was a so because you know the backing card told you all the story and
Speaker: everything you needed to know about it so yeah I was at bursting point by the time this show actually premiered and then ah just before no actually the show had been cancelled and I was out in Florida again and I was at MGE no it was at Universal Studios course it was obviously Universal yeah Universal Universal and ah the show had been cancelled only a few weeks before I think And I was going around to everybody saying, you everybody that was working at University, is there any Sequest stuff left?
Speaker: And one guy said, oh, yeah, there's ah there's a shop over over there that's got a few t-shirts. So shot over there. I know the shop. I've hit that one too. Yes, that's where I got my stuff. Ah, because I could never remember where it was.
Speaker: Because I kept going back there in the vain hope that something would be there. Nothing ever was. But I never found the shop again, I don't think. It was by, if memory serves, it was by the King Kong ride because I was walking around Universal. This was on a high school trip, by the way. um i joined my my high school choir freshman year and we went to Florida for a competition. And part of that was to go to Disney and to Universal and Busch Gardens. And so I was in Universal and i i remember I had just bought a jacket, like an expensive jacket, because i think Jonathan Brandis had one similar. And i was like, I want a Universal jacket. And
Speaker: I kid you not, we're walking around. i think it was by the King Kong ride. And there's this tiny little shop. It was tucked away. And I saw Sequest stuff. And I nearly died. I was like, no. I i ran back to the shop, returned the jacket. I was like, I want my money back. And I went to the Sequest shop and I bought everything that I could afford.
Speaker: um i bought the glassware. i bought the keychain. I bought the bookmarks. I bought the journal. I bought... ah a t-shirt, hat, sweatshirt, like anything I could get my hands out that I could afford. I was like, and the two women that were there,
Speaker: they told me they were extras in the first episode of season three. no And they were there. um One of them, she's like, yeah, if you watch it, I hugged Don Franklin. Like it's at the end when like they rescue the the colony, the Nexus colony. And I like, are you serious? She's like, yeah, we were extras. And I'm like, so, you know, I got my merch and then I got like a little behind the scenes story the same time. So yeah, you hit the same shop that I did.
Speaker: Wow, what are the chances? And all i I remember, all I wanted out of life at that point was I just wanted the hat. I desperately wanted a cap. I couldn't find one anywhere. So I bought, I found, when I did find this place, I bought three of them. i was like, I'm never going to suffer like that again.
Speaker: That's smart. I got everything, everything that was there. I just piled up. I'll take that, please. Oh, what a happy, what a happy bunny. But it's exactly as it described. I saw it and I was like, whoa, finally.
Speaker: go and get the lot and nothing's changed every time i see it now every time the logo it just it just speaks to me it's just kind of like well there it is i'll get it um yeah so again it's just one of those things that's always stuck with me and uh i'm now very fortunate to be in the position where you know folks have you know passed stuff on to me i mean people like her adrian mold the guy that uh He worked on the costumes.
Speaker: He has been so good to me. And his contributions to the site have just been huge. I mean, he's the guy responsible for all of the yeah the tapes, all of the ADR recordings.
Speaker: ah They come from his collection, and he's been kind enough to... That's probably the most popular page on the site, you know, ah because that really is kind of like a a genuine time capsule.
Speaker: And, you know, the ah the few things he had left, uniform-wise, he's passed on to me and he's just been he's just been darling from the... But again, you know, in without this site, I never would have come across, you know, good folks like like him.
Speaker: So that's why it's just been so so gratifying because I've gone from kind of like, you know, going to Universal and and, you know, being really peachy keen about buying a hat, only to own like, you know...
Speaker: with The position i' in now where Roy Shardy's uniform actually sits in a box upstairs, that's just nuts to me when I think about that. you know I've got several of Roy's costumes and yeah it's it's so personal for me. because you know And then it's lovely to kind of share it with everybody and go, oh, wow, that's so cool.
Speaker: But, you know, to me, it's like, I never, ever thought that I'd get to and get the opportunity to see, actually. Even when I was a first one at Catchmars Place and there was World Uniform World Proudly presented and mounted in this mannequin. I was like, wow, fantastic.
Speaker: Never thought for a second that, ah you know, that'll be yours one day. Good grief, no. So it's fantastic. And that's just the tip of the iceberg as far as the stuff is concerned. I've got so much cool stuff now that I'm slowly trying to to get out there. just to Because it's so, you know, again, so far ahead of its time with the Polskans and the V-Pals and the... and What was the computer called?
Speaker: CPAC. The CPAC, thank you very much. I've got one of those. It's... I mean, so I'm happy. So you imagine you what somebody like Mark Bradley's like, who virtually has the entire show at say at his disposal.
Speaker: the He was a good person to talk Still is. Do you ah have any favorites in your collection, or your favorite pieces that mean the most to you?
Speaker: There's a few, but the first one, the first prop I ever bought And this is going back. This was a it was ah there's a really old kind of toy shop.
Speaker: ah And I put out an ad. I remember putting it. This is how far back going. I put out a a classified ad in a collective. And somebody called me up and says, look, I've got one of the guns and i've got a communicator.
Speaker: And I said, what what you say one of the guns, what do you mean? Because I thought he was talking about the first season's Stonegun. That's just the conclusion I jumped to. And when he said communicator, thought he made a V-PAL. So i was like, yes, I'm interested.
Speaker: I'm coming straight to you. So it turns out that he actually had ah one of the second season pulse guns in a holster, fresh from the auction. It hadn't been touched since then. still had its label on.
Speaker: And I nearly fainted when he took this thing out. i was I was like, oh my, because that's my favorite part from the whole whole series, top and bottom. The second season pulse gun, that organic shaped thing that looked like it could be It's science fiction-y, but it's still kind of, there's a nautical kind of, ah kind of heat to it. I just love the organics of it.
Speaker: And the um no I was in trouble at the time because I'm sure I missed a mortgage payment or something.
Speaker: but I paid like a lot of money for it. And again, my girlfriend, now wife at the time, was just like, because I yeah know i i've brought it home and I'm like, look at this. And I yeahll put it out and she's like, what is that? it's like It's so hard to get across to people but what these things mean to you. if if you know Because it's just, all it is, it's just like a fiberglass, yeah pretty rough shape, really, really,
Speaker: kind of looks like a looks like a water pistol and she did not get it. And, but I, you know, because I was happy, she was happy for me. And that's that's kind of been the basis of our relationship since I think. But um yeah, so there's that.
Speaker: And recently ah I managed to get a maquette of the sub from, oh God, what's his name there? Johnny, he's put me in touch with him.
Speaker: Is it Ron somebody? Anyway, he had he worked on the show and he had a few of these. No, I think Johnny's actually made them or cast them or anything. but it's about 12 inches long, but it's a rendering of the sub. But it's not a completely accurate rendering of the sub, so it's kind of like a handmade version of it. It's got all the charm of its own because it's not you know it's not CG rendered or anything like that. This is a hand-sculpted thing, and yeah, I've got a lot of love for that too. But really, um you can't beat having Captain Bridges uniform.
Speaker: There's just no substitute for that. None whatsoever. And the un uniform you have is, you said you have several, right? So is it from like yeah both seasons or? I have his season one ah black jumpsuit with a white turtleneck.
Speaker: um I also have his officer khakis from the episode. Oh God, what kind of a fan am I? ah The one where they sink the conference room and he has to... ah go say rescue the delegates from being drowned.
Speaker: Oh, right. oh Oh, I don't watch that one as much. I'm trying to think. The one that Andrea is arrested. Right. The head of the UEO is corrupt, isn't she? ah The Last Lap at Luxury? Last Lap at Luxury is the episode. And I know that it's from that episode specifically because it's got the you si it utility vest with it. The one that he wears for the the climbing gear.
Speaker: the big U.A. patch on the back. So it's specific from that show. So I've got his shirt, his trousers, and his hair utility jacket from that. i've got his I've got some shorts. I've got some T-shirts. I've got a shirt he wore in one of the second season episodes.
Speaker: He was a very, very ah thin fella, was Roy. Really thin. So I think that they, yeah in season two, they they put shoulder pads in his uniform to broaden him out of it.
Speaker: who and As I say, they gave him lifts in his shoes to give him a bit more height. I think he was only about 5'9", something like that. um so but you know it's ah I think that... Don't get me started on Somebody said recently on the under page that um Roy was Sequest. and i really I believe that. I know that you're a you were a big advocate of...
Speaker: of Mr. Ironside, who I've met, who is who couldn't be a nicer human being. He really couldn't. I just loved him. And he was so disparaging about Roy that it was hilarious. But I'm sorry.
Speaker: he said as I said, teacher i've got to um know now that I've started this, you've got to tell this story. because i You've met him twice, haven't you? I've met him once. And he's such a... He's so dry, isn't he? He's...
Speaker: It's like Sahara Dry. He's so completely unlike, you know, because I just can't. I mean, to me, he was Ham Tyler from from V back in the day. That's how I know And I know as Overdog from Space Hunter because I'm old. But, you know, whenever he speaks, he just it's just total recall for me. I just can't get past total recall with him. just love him in that film. He's so good.
Speaker: But when I asked him about, you know, the transition between taking over how did you feel about taking over michael because it's a big deal you know and he said well he said well roy was probably good after going to get another facelift and i said oh god
Speaker: i said is is that is that where we're going to go with this he says he says he says yeah he said uh he didn't want to do uh he didn't want to do um scenes with me when uh uh There was a phrase for this that I can't remember, but when of it whenever you're in ah in a two-shot, whenever you're in scene together. Oh, the stand-in. He told me the same story, the stand-in, yeah. The other actor doesn't necessarily need to be present, and so Roy would just apparently naff off back to his trailer the minute he didn't need to be there, and somebody would take his place. and My client-hard wasn't having any of that, and so he insisted rose that Roy stayed there and that he bounced his lines off ah off of him. And he said that after that point,
Speaker: he said that Scheider had a lot of respect for him. So he did the right thing because up until then, and he confessed that, this is Scheider speaking now, he confessed that, you know, they tried and they, you know, they couldn't make it work as well. And so he wished him all the best.
Speaker: um He was, Ironside seemed absolutely sure about the direction that he wanted to take it. It's a shame, i think, that he didn't get to do exactly that. But then, you know, it's a shame that he didn't even got to that in the first place because he's,
Speaker: He would have been, think Michael Einstein would have been better utilized as somebody... The character could have stayed exactly the same. There was nothing wrong with the character. There was nothing wrong the portrayal. I just don't think... I think he was given a real bum deal by replacing... It's like an article I read recently where it says, you don't fire Captain Kirk. And I think that was... Nowadays, of course...
Speaker: You know, you look at stuff like Star Trek Discovery and there's a different cat in every year every season. But back then it was a big deal. And I think that he was never going to be able to kind of catch up with that.
Speaker: Had it gone on for another season, maybe Shida would have come back proper and, you know, they could have bounced it between them. That would have been more interesting. You know, arguably that would have been more interesting, you know, if if let's say our side had another sequest because it it didn't seem feasible.
Speaker: that you know the the one boat could be everywhere. it such a you know It's it's a big ocean. And so I would have hoped that they would have had the vision. Again, this is all my headcanon now that I'm so fond of, the one that I'm immersed in, where and simultaneously they were building other boats, they were building other sea quests. And I'm sure this has been picked up by fan fiction long before. i Oh, yeah. That was my headcanon, too. Yeah.
Speaker: The Hudson character could have been the captain of another sea quest, and, you know, a bit like the Federation, but, you know. Not exactly. And, you know, there'd be sea quests all over. You know, one week we'd follow the adventures of that one and bring it back to the, you know, the the possibilities were endless and it just seemed so kind of limiting to have it all centre around this one thing. And, you know, when you... well and Another thing I read interestingly recently was how when the boat does return at the beginning of season three and it's in a cornfield,
Speaker: that the aliens, the the last time the aliens were there, it was an ocean, and that's why it ended up there. You ever read that? No. No, but that makes sense.
Speaker: Huh. Doesn't it, though? Yeah? That's why it stuck with me, because I'm like, ah, there we go. Because they were so random and everybody ended up in the wrong place or a different place than where they were, they've they've just ended up in this cornfield because it used to be an ocean, or at least on their charts it was an ocean.
Speaker: Again, you know, all the the stuff that the stuff that you take from this, the stuff that you yourself kind of interpret from the series is sometimes actually better than the series was.
Speaker: which is Which is terrible, isn't it? It's terrible, but, you know, it's that's for me, that's the fun of it. And i love all the fanfic. I love the love the fact that it sparks people's imaginations. And it and you and you go off and run with it.
Speaker: But yeah, it it was it was s sorry the way that it that it ended. it was It was really sad. But again, have to reiterate the point that there was, for me, nothing wrong with the original concept.
Speaker: And if you'd have had just had the stones to stick with that and say to the executives, yeah, we'll move. what'll tip We'll take it out. We'll go to Florida because there's, you know, the I mean, what vaunted what Vaughn Edwards did with the production design for season two, I think was incredible. All that the new youth uniforms, all the upgrades that way were terrific.
Speaker: But, you know, that's fine. That's a city. But you need to get what they didn't follow through with in the first season and correct first. You can set it anywhere. you know, you can... It doesn't matter that it's shot in California. it's just geography. But you had all those wonderful, wonderful locales to use, and you kind of didn't really exploit those completely.
Speaker: And you could have ran with the same concept. It would have worked even better out there, surely, to God. You had SeaWorld, you had Universal, you had all these wonderful places to, you know, to capitalize on original concept. But instead, you went cheap, you went nasty, and you did a whole load of sci-fi that we'd all seen before.
Speaker: That was the problem. We'd seen it all before. And in some cases, better. You weren't supposed to go backwards. You were supposed to stick with that concept and go forward and Tell us about the new frontier. Tell us what we don't know about the new frontier. Have it be truth.
Speaker: Have it based on truth. you can go anywhere where you where you want from truth as long as you have the basis in truth. I was 13 and 14 when the series first came out. And I remember it being um so promoted within our school from the science aspect that um We would get these little read magazines every month um you know as part of English language. And they actually had a part of the script from the first ah first episode in there. And they were talking about the show being from a science, from an oceanography perspective. And we had i remember seeing pictures in the classroom. ah It was um like a Sequest poster. But it was talking about um the different types of wildlife at different levels in the ocean. and so there was this real push to um ah make it a ah science-y episode. And there were so, or a show, ah and there were so many of us like, I wanted to be a marine biologist for a little while because of the show. But then it it switched from that science, you know, we're exploring the depths, into the more fantastical, almost
Speaker: I guess we had Star Trek The Next Generation at the time, but almost um in that type of sci-fi fantasy genre and less out of the the hardcore science. So even as even as a young teenager, I could see where the direction shifted. And it was now that I'm older and I know more of the behind the scenes and the reasons that they did some of these, it makes more sense. But at the time, I i felt so disconnected from it.
Speaker: It had taken something that I loved right out of the show. Absolutely. Well, I mean, it was supposed to be educational. i mean, that's what Bob Barad was there to kind of have promote. And it was but kind of reminded me of the mural at the end of the He-Man cartoons every every time that Balard showed up and said, well, actually, this this day this exists, but it doesn't exist in the form that it's been shown here. But There it is, and it's based on this concept, you know, black smokers and the trenches and all that kind of stuff. And the payoff from that was, oh, my God, that that's real. So there is such thing as a black smoker. There is such thing as a Minerva trench. there' are either All this, this it actually, wow, wow.
Speaker: yes So, but, yeah, again, that was never capitalized on over here. I mean, to hear that that actually went ahead in schools was, how fantastic is that? That is that is so good.
Speaker: Yeah, I went back through all of my old storage because i I hung on to that Read magazine. They were going to make me turn it back in. But no, I i sure took it home. And then I don't know what happened. I couldn't return it, I guess. ah But it it was in my storage for a very, very long time. um and then it disappeared somewhere between moving across the country.
Speaker: um And ah it kills me. I wish I still had it. Yeah, i mean, again, there's so little material. um I've managed to put together like a ah folder full of all the old TV guide stuff, all of the magazine promotion, all of the publicity stills, all that kind of stuff. That's all to be found in the galleries.
Speaker: um I've just come across actually, and nobody's been able to kind of shed any more light on this, which is a real shame, but I've got these little fanzine things that I put on the Facebook page recently, this thing called Cape Quest, which is like the fan club newsletter.
Speaker: And I'm kind of astounded that for a start, that this is the first I'm hearing of it. And second of all, that like it couldn't have had a very big distribution. But you know these are real, again, time capsules, and they've got fan fiction in them. They've got ah episode reviews.
Speaker: They've got people already bellyaching about the fact that you know season two isn't isn't hitting pressing the right buttons. It's incredible. I'm going to get them all scanned, and they're all going to be on the site because they are absolutely vital pieces of the history and just the kind of thing i needed to keep the site going as well. I'm looking at my pilot to do here. I've got a whole new bunch of drawings from Mark Simon, you know, the storyboard artist from season two, love his stuff.
Speaker: um So I've got a lot more to add from him too. He's another fellow that I managed to get an interview with and he was lovely. He yeah remembers the whole thing very fondly.
Speaker: So again, it's just, yeah It's done well, and I'm really happy with it, but I still think that there's only a very limited percentage of what is actually out there. I mean, for a start, it's been released on Blu-ray, yes, and it looks wonderful, yes, but where's all the supporting material? Where's all the... Some of the commercials, some of the promotion stuff is fantastic for that show.
Speaker: And, you know, they they're only on YouTube in terrible quality. And where's the, you know, the archival Blu-ray? I mean, that's the project I'd love to be in charge of. Set me loose in NBC's vaults and I will project it.
Speaker: I really will. I would not stop until I've got everything out there that they ever...
Speaker: ever produced. And it would be nice to tie it together with some recent, some more up-to-date stuff. Interviews with people like Don Franklin and and again with miss Steph Beecham after all this time.
Speaker: To get their insights would be really, really great, I know. Yeah, I know that Don Franklin and Marcus Sanchez, a couple pop into the group every now and then. We'll see them. And I just have so many burning questions that I would never want to take a moment of their time. But if I could ever get an interview, oh, that would be that would be just just brilliant to have that experience.
Speaker: I feel like with the Facebook group, it sort of taps into... Something about finding somebody else who connects with Sequest is like an instant friend. You have that instant connection because everybody I've met is so passionate and there's something about it that sparks that nostalgia or that imagination. And um I feel like that's kind of all how the Facebook group ah comes together. how How did you kind of find the Facebook group and how did you be a part ah become a part of that?
Speaker: So it was kind of floundering, I think. And I got the site up and running and it had been going for maybe ah a year or so, maybe a couple by then.
Speaker: And I saw that there was a Facebook page devoted to it. And the reason I was looking is because I was thinking about starting one up for myself as well to kind of go hand in hand with the site. And then I saw that this guy had already started one.
Speaker: And i was like, you know what? to to kind of start my own would encroach upon his and he's done some great work here. So i'm goingnna I'm just going to reach out to him and see if I can just become an admin of of this group.
Speaker: And yeah he was so lovely. He just kind of said, yeah, sure, if you want to. It didn't seem all that fussed either way. And now today, ah we're I think, another thousand members.
Speaker: Yeah. uh not from my part participation exactly but i certainly went hard at trying to promote the show through that uh that group but uh yeah cj was really accommodating for that he just says go ahead and then i got john to join and john used it to uh you know to kind of um raise awareness about what he was doing with his projects for the merch and stuff and Again, it's just it's it's a bit like kind of what happened with the site. It kind of exploded, and everybody just kind of went, oh, so this is... I wanted it to be the absolute focal point, just like the site was. I wanted that Facebook page to be the fake the Facebook page. No others. There might be others that claim to talk about the topic, but this is the one.
Speaker: And so, thankfully, people have found it, and people have stuck with it. And you're absolutely right with what you're saying, it sparks a clue. It sparks a lot of nostalgia for some people. But again, in this world that we live in now, where much of the technology, much of the concepts, much of the...
Speaker: the idealism that Sequest promoted back in the day has come to pass. I mean, how crazy is it that there is a stinger now? i mean, it's not called a stinger. It's called a sea breacher mill or something like that. But nevertheless, the bloody thing exists.
Speaker: We're talking about colonizing again. That's never really been off the table. There's but you there's so much stuff that kind of... and You know, you got it it's 1993. We didn't really have much grasp on anything particularly.
Speaker: And then to have it be as prevalent as it is in society it's just kind of, as it tickles me, as I say, I'm like, oh, wow, yeah, that that was that episode. Well, even the technology that was built specifically for the show, I'm thinking Edge Innovations, making Darwin.
Speaker: Sorry, spoiler alert, Darwin was not a Darwin, sorry. But I read an article recently a while back about how their technology has advanced and how their research has really come through. And there are full scale like Darwin's out there now and they use them for education purposes and to, you know, eventually perform in shows instead of having a captive dolphin.
Speaker: But it's it's gotten to the point where they're they've advanced this technology the point where it itself is now pushing science forward. Wow. See, even I didn't know that. that's That's fantastic.
Speaker: How good is that? That's so cool. But, you even, I mean, the show had everybody fooled. Nobody knew that that wasn't a real dolphin. Nobody. No, I had no clue.
Speaker: I don't even know when I figured it out, but it was like, wait, but it's a full body dolphin swimming in actual water. what do you mean it's not real? Like, yeah, it still blows my mind.
Speaker: Yeah, fantastic. And just an example of, yeah again, the production was so far ahead of its time. I mean, a lot the stuff that Alterion Studios did with the aliens and all that kind of stuff, just fantastic.
Speaker: Really, really good stuff. The CG guy got a ah hard time, I remember, back in the day. Oh, it's too dark. We can't see what's going on. Well, you know what? It is the bottom of the ocean. So it's And I, you know, it was it was the CG that really spoke Spielberg to me because it reminded me so much of Close Encounters, you know, there were with the whiskers spinning around and the lights coming up. Oh, my God, it's just like Close Encounters, but it's underwater.
Speaker: How cool this is this? But again, you know, it's just, it's it's taken this long for the whiskers to catch up with or something. I was actually pulling up the Edge Innovations thing. um They are blending live puppeteering, programmed behavior, and artificial intelligence to create a unique guest experience.
Speaker: ah Real-time animatronics are hyper-real creatures capable of delivering any experience you can imagine. The goal of this initiative is to reimagine the entertainment, educational, and business potential of the marine animal industry. So they're essentially creating...
Speaker: ai dolphins that you can go swim with and it will react like an actual dolphin my god so so darwin is real essentially come full circle yeah you're gonna you're gonna buy one right martin
Speaker: i'm i'm just I'm heading out to the back garden to dig it out and make it into a pool as we speak. Fantastic. We'll have a whole Sequest experience. You can come swim with Darwin, you know.
Speaker: You know, actually, I probably shouldn't even say this, but like John, ah Mark and myself have been bouncing backwards and forwards for years.
Speaker: But between us, I think we own pretty much... ah well, not the entirety of the show, but a rather large percentage of. We were talking about opening a museum in in the Florida area somewhere to showcase everything that we've got.
Speaker: um Again, it's still kind of pipe dream at this point, but I don't know if if there was an interest there. That's the only thing that that I think he's is holding us back. What we need to do is find the stinger.
Speaker: The Stingers still exist. It's out there somewhere. it's I think it's rotting away in somebody's garage, which makes me sad. But it's if it is still out there, I think that would be a great incentive for people to come to come see. We'd have all the uniforms. We'd have all the props. It would be, you know, we'd make it pretty interactive, make it science-based. yeah The possibilities for something like that are endless, and there is space there. It's just, you know, it's it's the genesis of an idea, but I think it's a great idea, personally.
Speaker: You could have like ah a roaming exhibit maybe at like Liberty Science Center or, you know, that sort of thing for younger generations to kind of, and older, to kind of showcase the science of it and the forward-thinkingness of the show.
Speaker: Instead of just trying to set up shop in one location, maybe it's a temporary exhibit that you kind of travel with. yes we've talked and spoken about that too we're going to try it we're tested out at cons and that kind of thing it doesn't help that i'm in the wrong place you know i should have been i've got no business being in in the uk i'm completely wasted here as it is so i might as well just storm just come straight over there and admit that uh i should have stayed out there in the first place it would have saved me a lot of heartache but nonetheless until i do um you know i'm stuck here but uh doesn't it just open up a ah huge field of possibilities and doesn't it just make your imagination go, crikey, that would be to see all the Sequest gear close up you know and and interactive. Wouldn't that be something?
Speaker: I mean, I'm sure the fans would would go crazy. for it because we could get people to do signings, get to do talks, get Bob Ballard. He's probably been doing nothing since hasn't he? He's probably like don't bother me. Yeah, no, no, no. As soon as aliens showed it that's why I turned down the abyss. I'm not coming back with it.
Speaker: I volunteer to be a tour guide. I would love to be the storyteller and drag people around telling them about the fascinating behind the scenes stuff. So, you know, you've got at least one employee if this ever comes to fruition.
Speaker: Well, then you are hired as we speak. Fantastic. All right. have you ever You mentioned it. Have you ever thought of or have you been invited to go do a con or do a panel or any kind of discussion about Sequest?
Speaker: Well, it's... See, I have, but it's kind of an off-topic thing, really, because I run another website called Kate Wonder Europe. So outside sequence, I'm heavily involved in the the old Superman films.
Speaker: I suppose, obviously, where do you have to use that? Classic is the one I prefer, but there we go. um And as a result of, because I've got a YouTube channel with that, as a result of one of those, I was invited out a couple of years ago to Detroit Comic Con.
Speaker: um where I yeah ah participated in that for a few days. And that was a huge deal. That was and but that was the biggest thing I've ever been involved with. And as as magnificent as that was, and it was lovely to be invited out there, I couldn't help but think, you know how cool it would be if this was a sea crest crowd. Just because, you know...
Speaker: just because yeah it You know, it's and it's Superman's beloved by everybody. So you're never going to struggle with kind of participation there. But, you know, I'm such a fan of the underdog, you know.
Speaker: And especially if it's if it's something that I think was really good, that is under-celebrated, that I will do everything I can. You know, I go to work every day in ah in a UEO jacket and people ask me what it is.
Speaker: You know, I approach it all the time. And they they go, what does UEO stand for? And I'll stand there I'll say, well, I'm glad you asked because... Two hours later. it's you And, you know, they are bone dry by the time finished with it. But, you know at least I've got the point across.
Speaker: It's always fun to me. I have... You have to champion these things. Right. I have a a Sequest hat. um It's not original. It's not cool. It's from somewhere else. But it's always fun when you're out and about or at a con or something and somebody recognizes a Sequest logo and they're like, oh, what? I remember that. I remember that. Tell me about that. And you get into these great conversations about you know, the show and the opportunity to share information about the show with other people.
Speaker: Oh, yeah. Yeah. i when i i I have to mail it back to him, but i have Jonathan's costume, the the Sequest uniform um that I've borrowed. several times now for conventions and when i went to meet michael ironside the first time it was at a tiny tiny like horror convention okay i show up in a sequest uniform i figured no one is going to know what this is i'm in a horror convention people are dressed up as horror characters i'm seeing a few sci-fi characters terminator joker blah blah blah
Speaker: I kid you not, I had at least four or five different encounters where people were like, oh my gosh, it's Sequest. Oh my gosh, Sequest. I'm like... and horror convention what is happening right now like yeah but but people recognized it and I had gone to New York Comic Con with the same uniform and I had like I think three vendors like recognize it and that was it and one guy one dude who was absolutely gobsmacked like he stopped in his steps and stared at me and he was like wait a minute he's like you have a sequest uniform. He's like, I, he's like, I used to, I love the show. And he's like, he took him a minute before he you he took a picture. And then he was just absolutely beside himself. And then he he moved on. And I was like, okay, he was busy, but he was shocked. But then this past year,
Speaker: When I went, again, to meet my client side, but it was I was meeting also... um What's his face? ah Dr. Levin. um Oh, I just blanked on his name.
Speaker: ah The actor. Timothy Omundsen. Omundsen. I wore the uniform again because I was doing the photo op. And i was walking around with it. And I swear to you, these young girls, they must have been...
Speaker: almost probably half my age, like in their 20s, they were like, oh, it's Sequest. I remember that when I was a kid. And like I had to stop for pictures and I was like, this is so cool. Like there's a handful of people that will still, there's more people than there used to be that are recognizing Sequest, which I think is encouraging.
Speaker: Nice to see. It occurs to me that we should have almost business cards for for the Facebook group and for the Vault website and just have it all on us. So when we find these people that are so excited, you we're like, well, hey, come be a part of the community. Man, we could build this thing. That's true.
Speaker: I think it's just slipped people's mind. Anybody. Yeah. Yeah. Anybody that even mentions it on Facebook, I'll i'll capture them. Maybe you want to join this page here. Every time that everyone mentions it and any site anywhere, it's like you you need to be here.
Speaker: But to pick up from where you left, it I went to see Ironside and I was also in uniform and he looked me up and down and and he said, to I like your haircut. he just kept me every so up I've been talking to him every so often. he'd He just glanced down at what I was wearing and he'd just kind of look, he'd be like, I can't believe this. This is...
Speaker: that's That's better than than my first encounter because he was at the horror convention. He was talking to somebody in line in front of me about whatever movie. I don't know if it was Scanners or Starship Troopers or whatever. he looks over and does a double take.
Speaker: I could see his line of thought completely derail. And he's staring at me like... this is a sequest uniform and he just goes if he apologized the person he goes i'm sorry he's like i just i just saw sequest and he he made this face like he was horrified like oh my god no you know he was joking obviously because theres this dry sense of humor but um it was just really funny to see that that initial reaction of the uniform with the hat and everything and when i saw him six months later at new york comic-con i showed up again
Speaker: And his guy, his assistant guy, ah recognized me first. He's like, oh, you look familiar. He's like, that's Sequest. I'm like, yeah, I met you guys back in bar in March. And he's like, oh. and then, like, I don't remember this part, but there's a guy who's now in our group that was online with me. We were chatting about Sequest for a while while we were waiting to meet Michael. He goes, Michael says, holy shit, you again? And I'm like, yeah.
Speaker: I'm like, hi. He's like, and then he was nice. He was just like, how are you? And all that. But it was just so funny that those are your reactions. Like, you again? How cool is that? Well, so when I, I was kind of like, John had, John had actually sent me something to give to him. It's under this kind of. That's right. kalajo Patches, which I framed up.
Speaker: And he says, just, he said, don't, you know, just hand it to him. I didn't know how this was going to go. I was kind of worried that he just kind of like, know, thanks, but no thanks and just sticking in the behind me as he walked away.
Speaker: But when I was, because just like you, he was signing Starship Troopers 10x8s over and over again. That's all anybody seemed to be interested in. right they They just had these this one shot.
Speaker: And I came along with these ones that I printed myself of him in his sequest uniform. And as I put them in front of him, he kind of went, oh, Because he was totally taken aback. And then he looked up at me in the suit and he was like, oh.
Speaker: i And so when I was talking to him and he was being disparaging about Shida, he looked to me like he really wanted to to go on about it and reminisce bit more.
Speaker: Because you only get if you're lucky i mean if it's william shatner that that you're talking to you're lucky to be even acknowledged but if he oh yeah he really he really wanted to i got the feeling that he wanted to carry on talking and then when i gave him this plaque i said to say thanks so so much he looked at it and he was he was speechless he was just like this is for me i said yeah we you know we've got together we're in a community this is for you you know we we think you're terrific and he just He really seemed taken aback. And I was like, well, because i didn't I didn't know how that was going to go. And so his reaction was really gratifying. I was like, oh, wow, okay. So this did mean something to you.
Speaker: And he just went he just went, thank you so much. And I was like, that's that's cool. That's the least we could do. But yeah, it was a pretty, pretty unforgettable encounter. And, you know, i'd I'd like to think that all people involved in this sequence would be the same way, same way that we are.
Speaker: Hmm. Regards to your collecting. Is there any grail items that you don't have that you want? It's not about wanting particularly. Um, because as I say, i'm ah I must be, I'm completely fulfilled in that department, but I want to know what the stinger is.
Speaker: yeah Okay. So the stinger. I'd like to see that the stinger is, is the thing. Um, because that's kind of, that's the only thing that's missing. I know that the captain's chairs that exist and that's in somebody's collection.
Speaker: I know where most bits and pieces are. Thankfully, they're owned by passionate fans and not just investors. um The one thing that I really saw that I just absolutely loved, and we've just spoken about it, was that the Darwin animatronics that exists and wow that's owned by a guy that is is completely obsessed with ah universal specifically universal TV stuff.
Speaker: And his collection is astonishing and it and it looks um its wonderful set amongst all of those. He's got the rebreather attached to it still and everything. So that's that's that's great to see. yeah, um but yeah i mean, it's it's sad that, I mean, yeah it's not really a possession, but at this if I would so have loved to have seen that set, The Bridge.
Speaker: The opportunity to go and step onto that set as it was I mean, I mean, he didn't have even been anybody else around just to be, you know, like the, you know, daggers in season two where it's just Bridger on the bridge and he just gets to roam around.
Speaker: I would have loved that, you know, and people like Mark Bradley got to do that all the time. You know, he just did that in his lunch break. So, yeah, but to me, that would have been extraordinary. would have enjoyed that.
Speaker: yeah oh That makes me think about the bridge. ah There was the big navigation globe, I guess, sort of in the center. That was the mapping and navigation screen. yeah. Whatever happened with that? Did that wind up in somebody's collection?
Speaker: i don't think it did. I think it's ah it was it was pretty big. you know that That thing was was fairly yeah fairly huge. And I think it cost them a lot of money, too, because they they got like some kind of re-projection thing housed in it that showed the map on the surface.
Speaker: um I'm not sure. i think the surrounding was just plywood or something like that was painted up as a lot of these things are. But I fear that would have been broken up as opposed to sold on. I don't think that survived. It certainly didn't go from, it didn't make it from a California to Florida because that completely re-designed the bridge as we know for season two. so And I don't think it was attempted to get paid in the auction.
Speaker: So I think it was probably yeah probably destroyed sadly. Or reused or repurposed or something. Yeah. Maybe. Yeah. What I want to know is what happened to the physical whisker, the one that the the the big prop, you know, i i know there was like one in season one and then I think season three, there was one in a field, but like, I know it was at universe. It was at planet Hollywood in Florida for a while and then it vanished.
Speaker: I want to know where that is. That's interesting because planet Hollywood have just, in the last couple of years, they've just started to auction up a lot of their, rare a lot of their stuff that was used for display. But so, I mean, wasn't that a magnificent piece that that opened up Whisker?
Speaker: The intricacy of that, all the the detail that was inside that thing with it, because you had flashing lights and all sorts of it, didn't it? um I would hope that that would appear. um i don't know how much interest it would garner an auction because it's a massive oversized prop and I don't know how you would display it. I don't what you'd do with it. um So I think that Pranning-Hoddy would still got it, would be my guess.
Speaker: They did a similar thing recently with a yeah with um they've got a Superman flying puppet that I remember seeing in Planet Hollywood in London in the 90s when it opened, and it was suspended from their ceiling.
Speaker: And that disappeared without trace for 30 years, and all of a sudden that's in the auction. So they're sat on a lot of stuff, I think, Planet Hollywood still. And they're yet to exploit, but they will.
Speaker: If there's money to be made, they will. There's a warehouse somewhere that has all the good stuff just collecting dust. I'm sure. Well, aren't there, ah Martin, didn't you say that there's, or this is Jonathan who told me this, isn't there two gentlemen over in like Germany that have, that are sitting on a lot of Sequest props and things?
Speaker: So the museum collection, as it was, after John's passing, ah went to a gentleman in Germany called Martin Netter.
Speaker: And ostensibly, he is a Star Trek fan, and he has been trying to start a science fiction museum in Germany for years and years and years. I don't know how successful he's been with that endeavour.
Speaker: I don't think it's happened. um But he's, he kind of, I've been in touch him a few times saying, you know what, you know, this is it's a shame that you've got all these things in bags just sat in a cupboard somewhere.
Speaker: where they could be doing some good. And yeah, he agrees with me, but I think that he's got a lot more stuff to show than just Sequest, but he they remain in his possession. I don't know what his plans are for them, but you know, time goes on, things change. You never can tell.
Speaker: um He's got a lot of really nice and pieces in there. He's got the Bridger jumpsuit still. He's got a lot of the third season stuff as well.
Speaker: Oh man. Yeah, no I know. I wasn't going to tell you that, but... but ah So, and he's got a lot of the wetsuits and stuff, all the O'Neill gear.
Speaker: ah He's got the... ah
Speaker: What's that? The Chowdhury? You know, the the suits that the Chowdhury were wearing in their sub-fighters? He's got those. Oh, yeah, the silver suits. Yeah, the silver suits, that's right. And...
Speaker: He had a lot of stir. He was a fan anyway, so John had actually bought everything that was to buy ah retail-wise, license-wise, before he'd even got to the auction.
Speaker: um So, you as the collection goes, his was pretty comprehensive, but I think it all went to this chap over here. So, um yeah, it remains to be seen, but yes, um it it does still exist. I can confirm that, which is yeah good news.
Speaker: But I would say, having said that, I would say that ah Mark Brandy's collection outshines anything I've ever seen, ever. That's how good it is. And remember when I went round to his place, it was it was just, it was Christmas because it well because he hasn't gone through it. I mean, he he was a fan of the show. He worked on the show, but he's not obsessive.
Speaker: So he was producing these totes and he was putting them down in front of me saying, yeah, just have a look through those. And I was... You know, there was everything but bright light coming out of this box when I opened it up. And the the files were, it was all hand-drawn stuff. And I found ah James Leamer's drawings. the um I don't know how, i just i hope they was they seemed quite evolved.
Speaker: So they weren't you they weren't the kind of concept stuff where, you know, Sequest looks a bit different than it did. This, you know, the the boat looked as as it looks. But what he'd done was he'd put this thing together where he'd done these miniature kind of um illustrations of the sets.
Speaker: And then he'd done these three illustrations of the boat. And the sets were done on tracing paper. And so I just kind of like, it was a bit Indiana Jones, really, because I was like taking the the tracing paper and trying to fit them inside the boat. And what he'd done was he'd done all these sets as a drawing, miniaturised the sets so you could place them inside this illustration. Oh, God, it was fantastic. Wow.
Speaker: And I was like, oh, so that's where the bridge is supposed to go, because it fit perfectly into the nose. And that's where the sick bay is supposed to be, because it fit perfectly in the body. And that's where the sea deck is, because that...
Speaker: And they're kind of all kind of gathered around me as I was trying to put these pieces together. And it was so good because he' he just, you know, he got all this stuff, but he never, i don't think he'd taken the time to, to have a really good look at it because life happens. But to me, it was just such a massive, massive deal because again, this kind of stuff remains unexploited, you know, and I did get him to, um,
Speaker: scan me the the views of the sub, I've got that. but I don't think I've got the ah the interiors. That would be fun to put together, would I? That'd be cool. I missed a little bit of lore ah in the deck back of the day, but how did this whole big boys weekend ah come together that ah you know you and Jonathan were Remark are all were camping out looking at Sequest stuff all weekend long?
Speaker: Yeah. So I hadn't been out out to the US years. in years um But then we went for kind of one kind of final time.
Speaker: And while I was out there, ah John says, look, while you're out there, let's try and get together. And because it's a family trip, it was kind of kind of tough because, you know, you're spending time with family and everything. But I just said, look, give me a day.
Speaker: And, you know, thankfully they relented. And he came and picked me up from Epcot Centre. John just swung by and picked me up. And we drove over to NARC. It wasn't far away. So we managed to, you know, managed to make it happen.
Speaker: um And, you know, it was a pretty low key thing. But then when I got there and saw the extent of what he's got, i was like, God, I could spend the rest of the week here. Never mind. just weve We've only got two hours.
Speaker: And I was just trying to take everything in as much as I possibly could, because it was just astonishing. And he hadn't been through the boxes himself for some time. And so we were trying to ID some of the suits and where they came from. And it was like, well, there's Hitchcock's uniform and that's still got the continuity Polaroid in the pocket. And there's there's Jonathan Brandy's season three sea suit.
Speaker: um That's in great condition. My God, look at that. There's a continuity Polaroid for that. And it was just like, oh God, just let me let me stay and let me steam everything so it's beautiful and then we'll hang it. I had all these plans, but it's like, now time to I was just like, no, no.
Speaker: Just kidnap me or something and keep me in your basement. Imagine imagine plead pleading for something like that. but Nevertheless, there I was. So it was it was all too short. I did make a video of it, or I should say John's girlfriend was kind enough to shoot some footage of us while we were sat there. But it doesn't even tip typically iceberg as to actually what we were doing there because we went through as much as we could and there was so much more to go through. We just ran out of time.
Speaker: I'd love to do it again. Oh, to be a goblin in that attic, like, just leave me. I will organize everything. I will clean everything. Don't mind me. Just go about your day. I'm just going to be exploring the universe. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Speaker: And of course, you know, you couldn't do it without you guys now. I mean, you know, such an integral part of everything that we are that, you know, going forward, you have to be us as a group. You know, we're not limited to a boys club anymore, not by any knew any stretch of the imagination. We never were. It's just that I don't think we even have the awareness that, uh,
Speaker: you know, the fandom stretches as far as it does, which is what's so wonderful about what we're doing now. Yeah. Yeah. Anything we can do to bring more people in. i love it. For sure.
Speaker: No, this is great. We've had some wonderful stories and behind the scenes and yeah, I've just really enjoyed this conversation. So I am glad that we got to connect and get this, get this recorded.
Speaker: Yes. Me too. There's much more. I'm sure I'm going to, as soon as we hang up, I'm going go, oh God, I wish I'd have mentioned that. But, you know, there's opportunity. And keep speaking to everybody because I want to, I would like, you're doing great work and I want to know, I would like you to hear, I'd like to hear what other folks think. I'd like their recollections, their personal stories about what the show means to them. Because I think if anything, we can all agree on is the fact that, you know, first of all, the show was undersold.
Speaker: underused and underexploited and just under under the ocean. But I think that it just it needs to be um resurfaced. God, these seafaring metaphors are getting completely out of hand.
Speaker: who would you who do Who do we need to have her as a guest? like Who should our next target be? I think you girls should target Phil Segal. Yeah?
Speaker: Yeah. and that i've had I've had a long conversation about him, about it with him, I should say. But here's the thing. ah For the time that I spent with him, which was incredible, as I've mentioned, I think there's a lot of stuff that you would ask him that I wouldn't, that he'd have fascinating stories for. And bear in mind, I mean, for a start, he's the most affable person friendliest, welcoming gentleman you'll ever speak to.
Speaker: Let's just get that out there. But second of all, I only discovered him. this i mean, this is a great story. I only found him because he he runs a YouTube site. um And I shouldn't mention the name of it because he'll kill me if I don't.
Speaker: Where he ah he builds sci-fi model kits. And he's huge about that. That's what he does now. I think he's retired and that's how he spends his time.
Speaker: But I only found him because he was building a Sequest model. And if you watch this video, it's only it's going to be on the side. But as he's building this model, which is the the Deep Sea pickup, he's talking about Sequest. And I'm watching this thing and I'm thinking, my God, this guy seems really informed about this. you see he said He's not your average fan. He seems to know quite a lot more. And then a look at his name and then I go, oh, my God, it's Philip Seagull. He's only the bloody producer.
Speaker: So as soon as I'm like, why hasn't anybody else tapped into this? And so without um without a second's delay, I'm emailing him saying, ah hi, I run this site.
Speaker: I need to speak to you. And he couldn't have been more accommodating. So on that basis, I think you should reach out to him. All right. And get an entirely different perspective on what I've got from him whom already. He loves the stories. He loves to talk about the actors.
Speaker: um He's very disparaging about Stacey Hedock, which is funny. That's unfortunate, but... Yeah, yeah that's sad. But, you know, he's he will not hold back about, I mean, the stories about Shida and measuring trailers and go into the trouble of going to Murder, She Wrote. What's her name? Oh, oh Angela Lansbury. Yeah, that story. Oh, goodness. Taking the trouble to walk across the lot with a tape measure to Angela Lansbury's oh my god measuring it to protest about the length of his arm is just gold dust.
Speaker: So I think there's plenty more where that came from. and i I think you should reach out. Tell him I sent you and you'll be you'll be laughing. But that will be a worthy conversation. Oh, that sounds fantastic. Fire your questions. Everything you want you want to know, question-wise, he will have the answer to. And I'm talking about the show conceptually in that regard, never mind the production, because he was involved from the from the outset with that.
Speaker: Well, he's basically the the father of Sequest, basically. i mean He's the creator. As he said himself, Rodney Urban gets the credit for being the creator. But he wrote the pilot.
Speaker: But, you know, Sequest is Phil's baby. And, you know, I'm keen to get that that that message out there because, again, I think he's under-celebrated. And I think a conversation with you girls would be,
Speaker: really insightful because ah yeah I'm sure he'd bring up a whole new bunch of stuff. But yeah, have questions prepared for him. Absolutely. Would be my advice to you.
Speaker: Yeah. Go high and then go low. Go, um ah you know, get your average fan and find out what it means to them. Because a lot of the time that can be far, just as enriching when you hear what those folks have to say, i which touch them in their own particular one.
Speaker: ah We have our mission. It's clear. We're going to find him. And then are also, i i it is my life's mission now to at least get acknowledged by him. this v jim If not only getting to do an interview with her. yeah ah I would love to, I would love to interview Marco Sanchez and Don Franklin for sure. Yes. Oh yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker: Yeah. Don, Don in particular would be a real catch. who A real catch, because he's... John's been in search of them a few times. He says he's he's said a wonderful fella, so but I don't think he would be adverse to it at all. And his stories would be monstrous, because he was the only actor to be remain consistent in all three seasons, wasn't he? Yeah, that's true. Yeah, that's true.
Speaker: So who better? Who better than him? Right. And he's he is such a wealth of sci-fi and knowledge and experience as well with his whole career. But I remember him from Young Riders. That was when I first fell in love John Franklin Young Riders back in the day.
Speaker: All right. This has been a pleasure, girls. Thank you very much. Thank you for letting me ramble on. Feels quite cathartic. and No, thank you so much. Thank you for joining us. Yeah, thank you for taking the time to do this and um for being so open about ah all of the wonderful stories that you have.
Speaker: No, not at It's been a pleasure. Thank you. Hey, Questies. So we have a little bonus clip for you. While we've been setting up for this interview, Martin had started telling a story about when he and Mark Bradley, along with Jonathan Janes, both of whom we've interviewed in previous episodes, met up in Florida to look at Mark's treasure trove of props and other artifacts from the show.
Speaker: I decided to hit record, and this is the result. Enjoy. What, what, what? And i's like, I've never seen this. And he was like, oh, is that all? I mean, he was... He was completely kind of, he wasn't ready for my eccentric Britishness, I don't think, because if every time that, I mean, but it's no big deal to him. i mean he's been living with it for the past 30 years, but everything that he kind of produced just nut me a about. I was like, my God, I didn't even know this existed.
Speaker: And he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then it got really cheeky as as we do. And I was like, you know what, you've got four copies of this. Nobody needs that. But, you know, so I'll give you a review of that. And I'll take that from you. And you're like and you're not going to need this. So I'll take that. through And came home with a folder full of stuff um that he's probably probably still begrudges me for. But, you know, he's got multiple copies.
Speaker: He doesn't need it. You're just s slipping them into your carry-on. walking out the door. Yeah. That's right. And what was worse was that Jonathan took me took me home and bearing in mind that i mean I'm in Florida and he's he's taken me home and we're staying in this gated community. And I have completely, the yeah know in the the ecstasy of what I've just been through the last couple of hours, I've completely forgotten the door code and i I barely remember my own name.
Speaker: And it's late. I don't have it. ah I've got nothing left in my phone because I've used it to take video and pictures and all that kind of stuff. And ah I can't get in.
Speaker: So Jonathan, being Jonathan, very helpless, says, well, why don't you crawl under the gate? And I'm like, well, I don't think I can get my ass under there, but I'm going to try. So I got out of the car and I shimmied.
Speaker: With clutching my folder of of stolen secrets, I shimmied under the gate. And I was like, this is going to work. this is I'm going to make this here. And as I got up, the the bar that holds the thing with the spring on it to close it, I banged my head clean straight on that.
Speaker: I'm giving myself out cold. ah Yeah, that's how smart I am. Yeah, that's how smart I am. And so I managed to roll over and get under, but I'm just holding my head on the way. I'm going, God, if anybody sees. John saw me. He's never spoke of it again.
Speaker: He probably just doesn't want to embarrass me, but that that is what happened Cancun. No, I have this image in my head of like almost the perfect Mission and a mission and Impossible heist. yeah you know You've got your bag, you're like coming it up on the gate, you're shimmying, shimmying, coming through, and then the comedic moment of knocking yourself out.
Speaker: Yeah, I was so proud of myself that it got under it because I was like, that's not a big enough gap. That's like a foot and a half and no way I'm going to go. Well, there we go. There we go. Shimmy, shimmy, shimmy, shimmy. and And then crack. So, yeah, not the best memory.
Speaker: But you got away with the loot and that's all that matters. I got the stuff. Yeah, I got the stuff all right. And I've still got the stuff. And I made him. This is the the kicker of that is that I actually...
Speaker: Everything that he got out, he got these big totes and he got all this stuff. And I'd made a separate pile of stuff that I demanded he scan for me. So I had like everything that was taking, going, yeah, I've seen that before, I've seen that before, never seen that. And I'd separate it. And he had a pile about two feet deep of stuff that he had to scan for me.
Speaker: Yeah, otherwise I'd never speak to him again. So he did come through.
Speaker: Well, you know, you were just helping with the archiving, right? Because we have so many things. We're talking early 90s. We're on paper. We don't have disk drives that work anymore. The stuff needs to be scanned and preserved so that we have it. So you're just helping him. That's what I said. I said it was it was preservation of the the you know the highest order. And if not me, then who? There's no other. Can you believe there's no other website? And why some poor-faced Brit decided took it upon himself to to do this when, you know, it's purely your ah you Americans, ah it's your property to birth exploit that mine, but here I am.
Speaker: Well, yeah, but you think Stephanie Beecham, though, absolutely brilliant actress. She's been ah in a lot of things that we don't see in America because they're only, you know, in the UK. Hmm, that's true.
Speaker: She's a bit of a national treasure over here, actually. She's um in very high regard. But she's not as, I mean, she's, you know, she's getting on a bit now, bless her, but she's not as prolific as she used to be. She was in a lot of stuff over here.
Speaker: And so they, casting-wise, and they certainly knew what they were doing when they took the run, because, I mean, she was in a lot of, um you you probably don't know what this is, but there was a huge kind of film genre in the 70s called Hammer.
Speaker: You ever heard of Hammer films in the UK? haven't. No, I haven't. No, i probably haven't. I mean, who he it is probably best-concited history anyway, but there was a whole slew of really low-budget horror films, and Stephanie Beecham was in a lot of those, and she was an absolute glamour puss back in the day.
Speaker: And she was always a victim of Dracula or something of that kind of that kind of thing. So she was very well known to audiences um for you know decades before she even got the Sequest assignment.
Speaker: So it was nice to see her. And I'm a bit disappointed still that she's not done a con of late. Yeah. Because I'd like to catch up with her. ah really, really would like to. I've got some questions for her.
Speaker: And i've seen her interviewed a few times. ah I think there was couple of the kind girls from the US s actually did an interview with her that was quite interesting. But she kind of half answered a lot of the questions. And I'm probably a bit more persistent with her because...
Speaker: and You know, there's still a lot of stuff that we don't know about how this thing went and how it turned out. Well, we know exactly how it turned out. But behind the behind-the-scenes stories, and I don't think we've even kind of touched the surface, really, for want of a better expression.
Speaker: All right. Well, I think we have a mission for the for the podcast. We're going to, at some point, we're manifesting it. We're going to find Stephanie Beecham and and get to ask her questions.
Speaker: I think you ought She does have her own site. She does have, she's not very active on Twitter or X as it is now. um I think I emailed the contact for her on the site, never heard back. So I wish you every success.
Speaker: Yeah. ah You know what? I like impossible missions. Give me the internet and I can find anybody. so ah I'm on it. I'm on it. Good.
Speaker: Good. Well, let me know how you go Tell her them I'm waiting. Yeah. Yeah, well, I will have to you know use you as a resource as well to come up with all the questions that we would need to ask, make sure we're hitting all the points the one time that somebody's able to pin her down. Yeah.
Speaker: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, i wonder I wonder whether or not she is aware of the the reams of paperwork devoted to the fantasy romance between her and Bridget's character, because there is absolutely loads of fan fiction out there devoted to it. And she but she's probably got no idea.
Speaker: That's true. Probably not. No. I loved them together. I i was rooting for that. i would Even though i was not yeah I was younger at the time. um But it was just like, they they especially with their parental relationship towards Lucas, and just seeing that the way that they worked...
Speaker: together and their characters coordinated and they're both very passionate characters and it they could have explored that so much more I would have really enjoyed that yeah yeah I was a little frustrated that they didn't yes they didn't do more with that relationship yeah it was a real hook for me to I really enjoyed that because you you could see which direction it was going but it wasn't the usual kind of you didn't get the feeling that it was all going to be happy ever after anyway because i mean they
Speaker: in one of the episodes, so which they it was a daughter, wasn't it, that they caught up with? What episode was that towards the end of the first season? The Good Death. The Good Death, yeah. So, you you know, there they both of them had history. Bridger obviously had Robert. and But you could see that they were both kind of agreeable to to becoming a a second type, getting another opportunity to do it with that with that kid because he was kind of,
Speaker: He did depend on them so much, didn't he, as it turned out in that series, which was terrific. And it was really engaging as as a viewer to kind of keep up with that. And you're right, it's a shame that they didn't exploit it further. Yeah, I agree.
Speaker: Speaking of The Good Death, that is one of those episodes that we brought so many pieces of backstory to characters, and we kind of dropped them, right? We got ah Shan's backstory of um his his family were Vietnamese boatmen. um We got Miguel's story. um You know, it's... Cuban, it's his confederation, but not necessarily his language. um And of course, we get Westphalen and her daughter, and you hear a little bit about the dynamic between um Kristen Westphalen and her former husband and their daughter. There were just so many beautiful pieces that could have, like, that whole episode could have had its own arc exploring all of those.
Speaker: It did. And the fact that Shan wasn't carried over. What a character he was. He was so, so good. Yeah. And so underused. Absolutely. And it was just, you know, he was probably even more suited to the dynamic of season two. I would i' probably would have, yeah, I think he would have really, really, really come on as ah as a significant crew member had he gone on. It's a shame.
Speaker: Yeah. Because he came on late in the day. He didn't even even't even show up until mid-season, did he? I don't know which was the first episode he showed up in. have to go back. Yeah, I don't think it was very early on, though. And we kind of saw him as a helmsman, but didn't really get to know him until a few opposite episodes later, I think.
Speaker: Mm-hmm. But for a while, we had the 21 Jump Street. I don't know if you know that series. ah It was really big here in the street Yes. we We almost had the full cast.
Speaker: we had We just would have needed Johnny Depp and we would have had everybody, man. We had ah the Deluise boys. we had Dustin Wynn. it was great.
