Captain Nathan Bridger is asked to come out of retirement and command the Deep Submergence Vehicle seaQuest that he designed, and which has now been built.

Okay, not much of a storyline there, but this is the first part of the pilot episode, so it's necessary to introduce the crew, the kid cybergeek genius and, yes, the talking dolphin.

It's taken a lot of flak over the years, and although seaQuest DSV was hardly the best Sci-Fi programme on the air, at least it was different. The ship itself is a wonderfully sleek craft, and before the more outlandish aspects took over, not to mention the introduction of a war and Michael Ironside, many episodes were wonderful journeys of discovery in the depths of the ocean. Maybe it was because it was too true to life and lacked the drama of fiction that caused problems, but here's a chance to reappraise this series as it is shown from the beginning. Plus Season One features the mighty Bob Ballard at the end, too. Marvellous.

seaQuest DSV: To Be Or Not To Be - Sci-Fi Channel, Monday 4th, 13:00 & 19:00