Over the weekend, sun dappled, windswept men and those who love them lost an icon in Roy Scheider. Over a four-decade career, he portrayed Cassandra-like sherriff Martin Brody in Jaws, more-or-less Bob Fossee in All That Jazz, and, of course, the rough-but-cuddly Captain Nathan Bridger in America's finest submarine action show, SeaQuest DSV.
Whether negotiating a peace deal in Micronesia, mourning his dead son, communicating with aliens, or just playing frisbee on the beach, C
aptain Bridger exuded the kind of quiet authority that kept his crew in line through many a time-traveling, giant-robot-battling adventure under the ocean and. . . not under the ocean. Seaquest was (or WILL BE, since it's set in the future) the most heavily-armed boat under the water, and also they could talk to dolphins.Seaquest was, more than anything, a huge liberal wet dream (wet! Get it!). It came on the air in 1993, when Bill Clinton was still just about (!!) to eradicate all prejudices, save the rainforests and the whales, establish universal health care, and continue being an awesome pot head. Any crazy liberal fantasy seemed plausible. As such, the crew of Seaquest were the foot soliders of the much-feared ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT that Ron Paul freaks are always going on about, the United Earth Oceans, except they were in a black submarine and not a black helicopter. Meat was outlawed because cow flatulence was bad for the atmosphere. The army was mostly made up of sensible and sensitive people who just wanted to live in peace. Also mostly everyone lived underwater for reasons that weren't global warming. For fun, I guess? I salute you, Captain Nathan Bridger, and I salute you Roy Scheider, for bringing this man to life. I also enjoyed you in 2010: The Year We Make Contact, the sequel to 2001 that I watched on my local Fox affiliate one Saturday afternoon. Thanks!
2 comments:
I'm ashamed but I've never really watched JAWS....maybe that's why I never developed a fear of the beach.
I, on the other hand, have seen Jaws more times than I can count, which is why I am afraid of sharks in my grandma's pool (and sometimes in my own shower). Martin Brody is my favorite movie character and I feel like he died, too. Which is why I will be watching Jaws this weekend, to make sure he's still alive. Thanks for paying tribute. I never watched Seaquest, but it sounds pretty cool. I might have to investigate that.
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