Fandom: seaQuest DSV
Pairing: None
Author onLJ: N/A
Author's Website: AT Jackson-Never Forgotten
Why this must be read:

H/C is a subgenre that crosses fandom lines, and it seems like most fandoms have one character as the favored victim in both h/c scenarios and torture wallows. In sQ, that character is Lucas Wolenczak, and the genre itself is known as ELF (Evil Lucas Fanfiction), as its aficianados are known as ELFs (Evil Lucas Fans).

Needless to say, ELF has led to a lot of out-of-character epics in which Lucas is subjected to enough torture to give even Clark Kent pause. However, it has also led to some excellent stories exploring the murky past history of my favorite teen genius. Among the best of those are the two stories written by AT Jackson, which extrapolate a special forces contingent of the UEO known as the Outriggers, and which have Lucas and Tim O'Neill both temporarily assigned to a unit of these special forces. Not only does Lucas get to be his sarcastic, brilliant self under pressure, but Tim also gets to stretch his own wings, honing more of that wit we saw flashes of aboard the seaQuest.

There are a few warnings to go with these stories. First, they're both incredibly long. They're broken down into parts on the site for ease of reading, but I once copied and pasted TD in a word document, and I seem to recall it was about 700 pages, single-spaced at Times New Roman 12. They're also incredibly addictive, so I'd recommend waiting to read them until you have a fair chunk of time on your hands, or can make one.

Second, the stories feature quite a cast of OCs. I personally love them, especially Rodriguez, but I usually don't enjoy OCs in major roles in my fanfiction, so I thought I'd better warn for it. Third, the author had a beta who was fond of attributive clauses, so there are a lot of them in both stories. Along with this, some of the dialogue is very repetitious. Fourth, Tim's last name is spelled O'Neil throughout the stories, and Dr. Westphalen's characterization is very much based on the premiere episode, which will only throw you if you've watched all of season one recently enough to remember the changes in her character.

All of the above but the length usually put me off a story on their own, so it says something that I love these stories so madly when they have them in combination. I'd recommend giving the first part of the first one a try. If you don't like it, chances are you'll want to pass on the rest. If you do like it, it only gets better from there.

Sadly, the author died in a car accident in February of 1999, while working on the third installment of the Outrigger series. The link for the author's website is actually a tribute created by a friend of hers, and if you check out the site, you will see several quotes from her fellow fans. I joined the fandom several months after AT's death, and so missed out on the chance to discuss the stories with their creator. Lucky for me, her friends are making sure the stories remain online and available for new fans to find and enjoy.

Temporary Duty

Weakest Link

Fandom: seaQuest DSV
Pairing: Bridger/Lucas
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: I've only found her on the Britslash site
Why this must be read:

The classic of sQ slash, this story is well-characterized, beautifully written, and actually goes to the trouble of delving into the...complications inherent in the Bridger/Lucas pairing. This story also makes good use of the Noyce-Bridger friendship, plus Bridger's undying love for his late wife. It's always nice to see former spouses and love interests acknowledged and dealt with believably in any pairing-centric story.

The Colour of Freedom

Title: Chiaroscuro by Eliza
Pairing: Lucas Wolenczak/Caspian
Author on LJ: elizacake
Author Website: Sticky Fingers
Why this must be read:

Caspianslash is a rare beast, which is probably good, because if it were more common, it would probably take the edge off the character, and at least half the point of Caspian is that he is edges. This story captures that aspect of his personality perfectly. What's more, it connects that aspect to Lucas' struggle for independence, for his own edges as an adult, and for recognition that he is becoming an adult. Plus, there's scarring and bloodplay. So be warned, or be enticed, your choice.

Chiaroscuro

I'm a day late with this crossover rec, for which I apologize. I hope you enjoy it anyway.

"The twenty-first century. Mankind has colonized the last unexplored region on Earth, the ocean. As captain of the seaQuest and its crew, we are its guardians. For beneath the surface, lies the future."

Thus began the opening credits of the show that, quite frankly, most people remember these days for the talking dolphin. That was Darwin, able to communicate in English thanks to an AI program which interprets his clicks, whistles, and movements in the water. The year was 2018, and the future was so bright, you gotta wear shades. Even underwater.

The basic gist of the show was exploration, research, and, of course, the conflict of the seaQuest with pirates, would-be pirates, poachers, unscrupulous mega-corporations, the military of various countries/confederations, and terrorists and eco-terrorists. It was largely marketed as an ensemble show, but it was pretty plain the main character was Nathan Bridger, with Lucas as a close follow-up. They got the bulk of the character-building story arcs and relationship interaction. Which could be one reason sickos like me enjoy reading and writing the dirtywrong underage sex. To have subtext, you've got to have text first, and these two had the lion's share of screentime.

seaQuest DSV lasted for three seasons, morphing in the last one into seaQuest 2032. With a ten-year storyline gap between the first two seasons and the last, a significant change of cast, and an even more drastic change of outlook, there are some fans (*koff*me*koff*) who consider the last season a completely different show. Since I have only seen about three episodes of said show that I remember (trauma-induced amnesia is a marvelous thing), both my overview and recs are going to be focused on the first two seasons. I would apologize for that, but I'd be lying.

There were also cast changes and focus changes between the first two seasons. Season one rode an environmental awareness high, with storylines extrapolating from then current marine science research, and the closing credits featured Dr. Bob Ballard, then Director for the Center for Marine Exploration at Wood's Hole, who would mention the pertinent scientific plotpoint and how it related to actual marine science. The show had a team of experts on staff to assist in the verisimilitude of the marine science mentioned or shown on the show. They could also have benefited from a military expert or two, but I digress. Helmed by Rockne S. O'Bannon of Farscape fame and by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, first season was decidedly aimed at sf fans with a marine bent. Specifically, it was aimed at Trekkers, and along with the scientific elements, a number of storylines strove to be "pertinent" and "topical" in much the same way ST:TOS was.

Season two saw the departure of most, if not all, of the experts, and a fair bit of the crew. The show had changed filming locations, and not all of the actors were able to relocate. That was fine with the creators, who felt pressured by ratings to change their focus. The new season was to be younger, hipper, with a larger eye candy factor and more emphasis on the fiction than the science in science fiction. While season one was my favorite, season two is admittedly more of a slasher's wet dream (pun intended). The first season ended with the destruction of the seaQuest (a 1000-foot plus submarine shaped a bit like a squid with its tentacles fused together) in order to close up a gaping chasm in the ocean floor, so the second season also saw a new, and slightly smaller, seaQuest. I confess, I couldn't really tell the difference between the two, except that the second one had much nicer guest suites.

( Putting this behind a cut tag because some of the pics are large )

Archive Links

General
seaQuest.net
A compilation site of sQ-related sites and links. The compiler tries to keep it fairly up-to-date and as all-inclusive as she can manage.
seaQuest Scripts
This site has transcripts for all of the first season episodes, and only the first season episodes.
seaQuest Vault
Character profiles, quotes, and an episode guide for first and second season that includes brief summaries of each episode and transcripts for about 2/3rds of them. Most of the pictures of the characters above came from this site.
Stardock Alpha's seaQuest Page
Pictures, quotes, character info, screencaps (first season), sound files, and some fanfic.


Fanfic
The Slash Nexus (slash)
ELF Command Note: This site is under construction and has been for a while, so not all the links work. Lucas-centric gen h/c and torture wallows.
The Nathan and Kristin Relationship Archive (het)
Wonderful World of Make Believe (slash)
Fanfiction.net (mixed)

While I'm a huge fan of the show and an active writer in the fandom, I don't belong to any lists and I've never been terribly familiar with the archives, so if you know of other archives, please post them in the comments.