History Film / DeepStarSix

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Averted. [[spoiler:Captain Laidlaw is the fourth fatality.]]

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Snyder, in messy ExplosiveDecompression fashion]].

* MildlyMilitary: The Deepstar Six base is nominally a Navy base but none of the occupants act remotely like Navy personnel. Gets really blatant when Snyder detonates the nuclear missles; triggering a nuclear detonation requires all kinds of safety interlocks and multiple officer concurrences in reality. It's possible that Deepstar was a civilian defense contractor, but the chance that the Navy would put nuclear detonation controls in the hands of a bunch of civilian wackos was nil.
** Not to mention, it's quite possible to scuttle nuclear missiles (make them permanently useless to the enemy) without detonating them. You are left with a lot of highly radioactive junk but it wouldn't have damaged Deepstar.

* PopGoesTheHuman: [[spoiler:Happens to both Van Gelder and Snyder. Van Gelder gets a lesser version via getting accidentally stabbed with an anti-shark spear by Snyder (which injected CO-2 in whatever it stabbed, making his ribcage go chestburster as a result) while Snyder gets the "body goes boom and splatters all over the room" version courtesy of ExplosiveDecompression.]]

* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: [[spoiler:Richardson takes a JIM suit to go outside and fix the connections to get the decompression chamber working... and when he's pulled back inside by the crew for a moment it seems he's safe before the monster's head rises out of the water biting him in half]].

* TheLoad: Snyder. Most of the difficulties in the second half of the movie could have been avoided by [[ThrownOutTheAirlock shoving Snyder out the airlock]] in the first 10 minutes. Oddly, he becomes aware of his own status as this [[spoiler: after accidentally killing Van Gelder]], breaking down entirely at his own incompetence despite Dr. Norris' attempts to reassure him.

* TheLoad: Snyder. Most of the difficulties in the second half of the movie could have been avoided by [[ThrownOutTheAirlock shoving Snyder out the airlock]] in the first 10 minutes. Oddly, he becomes aware of his own status as this [[spoiler: after accidentally killing Van Gelder]], breaking down entirely at his own incompetence despite the others attempting to reassure him.

** Then Snyder is given orders to get ready to evacuate ''Deep Star Six'' by securing the missiles... so he consults the computer. Given a choice between "securing the sled from natural forces" and "scuttling in case of aggression" (read: "detonate the ''nuclear warheads'' to deny them to the enemy") he of ''course'' chooses the latter. In his defense, he only chose this after asking Collins whether she would consider the monster a natural force or "[[BuffySpeak an aggression type of thing]]" - unfortunately, he didn't explain ''why'' he was asking.

** Then Snyder is given orders to get ready to evacuate ''Deep Star Six'' by securing the missiles... so he consults the computer. Given a choice between "securing the sled from natural forces" and "scuttling in case of aggression" (read: "detonate the ''nuclear warheads'' to deny them to the enemy") he of ''course'' chooses the latter. In his defense, he only chose this after asking [=McBride=] whether she would consider the monster a natural force or "[[BuffySpeak an aggression type of thing]]" - unfortunately, he didn't explain ''why'' he was asking.

** Then Snyder is given orders to get ready to evacuate ''Deep Star Six'' by securing the missles... so he consults the computer. Given a choice between "securing the sled from natural forces" and "scuttling in case of aggression" (read: "detonate the ''nuclear warheads'' to deny them to the enemy") he of ''course'' chooses the latter without bothering to consult anyone.

* TheLoad: Snyder. Most of the difficulties in the second half of the movie could have been avoided by [[ThrownOutTheAirlock shoving Snyder out the airlock]] in the first 10 minutes.

The film was directed by Sean S. Cunningham, who also directed the original ''Film/{{Friday the 13th|1980}}''. While released [[Main/DuelingMovies the same year]] as ''Film/TheAbyss'' and ''Film/Leviathan1989'', ''[=DeepStar=] Six'' is more of a [[Main/FollowTheLeader shameless ripoff]] of ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' in [[RecycledInSpace an underwater setting]]. However, much like ''Leviathan'', it was poorly received and did not perform well at the box office.

** [[spoiler: Captain Laidlaw, fatally injured by a bulkhead closing on him, intentionally floods the chamber where he's trapped to force [=McBride=] and Collins to save themselves rather than trying to save him.]]
** [[spoiler: Dr. Norris distracts the creature so that Collins can make it to the decompression chamber]].
** [[spoiler: [=McBride=] blows up the DSRV, and seemingly himself, to take out the creature and protect Collins. HeGetsBetter]].

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Snyder does not take [[spoiler: Van Gelder's death]] well. [[DeadPersonConversation At all.]]

** When the massive underwater nuclear explosion inevitably damages the station, he insists on trying to leave the place even when everybody else tells him that leaving without decompressing would mean suicide... [[DirtyCoward and still he does, after trying to fight the monster only ends with several deaths]] ([[spoiler: one of which is Van Gelder, accidentally done by Snyder, which leaves the latter on the verge of a complete breakdown and hallucinating that Van Gelder's ghost is coming to get him]]). [[ExplosiveDecompression No prizes]] [[ChunkySalsaRule for what happens to him next]]. Some of this is foreshadowed by the fact he continuously says that he's been overworked in the time the team has been down there and is clearly suffering from some form of cabin fever. But for whatever reason his Van Gelder, who is his superior, won't give him a break.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Snyder again. The two nuclear explosions mentioned in the page quote are just the start of the havoc he causes.

* GiantEnemyCrab: The creature. While it's small by Franchise/{{Godzilla}} standards, it's still basically a lobster (or possibly a giant eurypterid[[note]]a type of early arthropod, also known as the "sea scorpion"[[note]]) the size of a ''car''.

* GiantEnemyCrab: The creature. While it's small by Franchise/{{Godzilla}} standards, it's still basically a lobster the size of a ''car''.

* ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics: 20 megatons worth of nuclear warheads going off within knife-fight distance would have ''vaporized'' the base. Even if the fireball didn't reach them, the resultant shockwaves caused by the collapse of the bubble would have absolutely shredded it. Either would have put the whole wretched crew, as well as the ''audience'', out of their respective misery.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Nobody seems to understand what ''decompression'' means. The problem isn't decompression - that'll happen as the base loses gas pressure. The problem is ''keeping the atmosphere compressed enough that they don't decompress too fast.'' Divers decompress at or close to the surface, not ''inside'' the undersea base, because you are decompressing to ambient (atmospheric) pressure.

* WhatsAHenway: [=McBride=] and Laidlaw sneak in the Trope naming joke into the middle of them saying aloud the pre-launch checklist for their submarine with Snyder checking along (Snyder being the one who asks about the Henway).

** Snyder's escape capsule would have ''had'' to have been at ambient pressure or it would have been crushed instantly, and would have had to maintain that pressure as it rose, no problem for a heavy steel box. If someone got it attached to a decompression chamber topside, he would have been fine, and even if he'd been stupid enough to vent the pressure to atmosphere, he wouldn't have just popped like a balloon.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Nobody seems to understand exactly what ''decompression'' means. The problem isn't decompression - that'll happen as the base loses gas pressure. The problem is ''keeping the atmosphere compressed enough that they don't decompress too fast.'' Divers decompress at or close to the surface, not ''inside'' the undersea base, because you are decompressing to ambient (atmospheric) pressure.

* MildlyMilitary: The Deepstar Six base is nominally a Navy base but none of the occupants act remotely like Navy personnel. Gets really blatant when Snyder detonates the nuclear missles; triggering a nuclear detonation requires all kinds of safety interlocks and multiple officer concurrences in reality.

** Snyder's escape capsule would have ''had'' to have been at ambient pressure or it would have been crushed instantly. If someone got it attached to a decompression chamber topside, he would have been fine, and even if he'd been stupid enough to vent the pressure to atmosphere, he wouldn't have just popped like a balloon.

** Snyder's escape capsule would have ''had'' to have been at ambient pressure or it would have been crushed instantly. If someone got it attached to a decompression chamber topside, he would have been fine.