History WesternAnimation / Sealab2021

[[caption-width-right:350:They look [[WesternAnimation/{{Sealab 2020}} the same]], but [[InNameOnly they're]] ''[[CloudCuckooland very]]'' [[JerkAss different]].]]

** Taken UpToEleven in the former when Stormy will ''not'' stop tossing electrified objects into it while attempting to help Quinn. Complete with XRaySparks.

* GrandFinale: "Legacy of Laughter", presented as a glitzy Q&A/season premiere/movie trailer premiere.

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Takes place in 2021.

'''Sparks''': Literature/AModestProposal.\\

* HandshakeSubstitute: Respek Knuckles! (in "Sharko's Machine)

* InMediasRes: Many episodes. Lampshaded in the late series episode "Shrabster", which plays out like the movie Film/{{Memento}}, with the announcer from {{WesternAnimation/Superfriends}} cutting in frequently with "Earlier...!"

* JumpedTheShark:[[invoked]] Lampshaded when, in one episode, Sharko is seen jumping his motorcycle over a large tank filled with [[Series/HappyDays Fonzies.]]

-->'''Quinn:''' Methane Sulfate. Apparently they release it when they're angry. Or threatened. Or just whenever.

* LockedIn: ''In the Closet.''

--> '''Bebop Cola Machine''': (singing, but in monotone) And I say to myself, I need exact change.\\

* NotNowKiddo: In "No Waterworld", Debbie Dupree is repeatedly silenced by being told "The men are talking!" as a RunningGag.

* OffModel: Several shots from the stock footage are almost unrecognizable (especially notable is one of Marco which looks like a Hispanic WesternAnimation/HeMan). As the series used more and more new, Flash-animated footage, it became less and less common to use the more OffModel shots.

* OneSteveLimit: An AvertedTrope, thanks to "Debbie" and "Black Debbie". They {{Lampshade}} the fact that "Debbie" is not called "White Debbie" for laughs.
* OneWordTitle: The episode, "Vacation".

* ParodySue: Hesh in Dearly Beloved Seed. Even more so by the end, when the whole episode is revealed to be some kid's (possibly mcheshpants420, the writer of the episode, who may or may not be Hesh's VA mc chris) fanfiction.

* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: "Lost in Time" Combined with GroundhogDayLoop in the same episode because, naturally, they kept not setting it right.

* SkintoneSclerae: In [[OffModel most of]] the ''WesternAnimation/{{Sealab 2020}}'' footage, everyone (except Captain Murphy, oddly) has these. As the series used more and more new, Flash-animated footage, it became less and less common.

** Some see ''{{VideoGame/SpaceStation13}}'' as a video game version of Sealab 2021 IN SPACE!

* UrExample: This show is basically a prototypical example of TheAbridgedSeries, as it splices parts of ''WesternAnimation/SeaLab2020'' with a GagDub, exaggerating the characters' personalities and generally parodying the original, although it was produced with the permission of the owners of the original show.

* YouMeanXmas: "Feast of Alvis" is a parody of {{Christmas Episode}}s. Due to ExecutiveMeddling, every religion was replaced by a fictional equivalent. For example, Jesus was replaced with Alvis, a cowboy whose total dissimilarity to Jesus just makes the obvious parallel all the funnier.

* DiabolicalMastermind: Sparks has the rather frequent tendency to hatch evil schemes, including (but not limited to) making millions in life insurance by killing the Sealab crew, addicting them to a medicine made from a deadly neurotoxin, and blackmailing Quinn into turning him into 'Sparkimus Prime,' the chainsaw-handed robot. Also, in what turned out to only have been a daydream of Captain Murphy's Sparks has a secret mountain stronghold, complete with a veritable army of henchmen.

* {{Gaslighting}}: In "Happy Cake" Sparks reveals that he has been enacting a secret plan to drive Captain Murphy crazy. As part of this he threw his [[BlandNameProduct Happy Cake Oven]] into the ocean and was having the orphans pee in Murphy's bed. [[spoiler: In this specific case, the whole episode is revealed to be a dream of Capt Murphy, although it is totally within Spark's character to be doing this anyway.]]

* '''Derek "Stormy" Waters''', a [[TheBrainlessBeauty boyishly handsome idiot]] who seems to always end up in OddCouple situations with Quinn.

--> '''Narrator''': Dead African child indeed! ...''[laughter]''...[[HilariousOuttakes I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's just so fucking awful...]]

-->'''Sparks''': I got something for ya.\\

--> '''Quinn''': Listen man, you're missing the point. What if everyone started calling you "White Stormy"?
--> '''Stormy''': You mean... there's a Black Stormy? [[note]]SubvertedTrope, in that there really is a Black Stormy, namely [[RecycledInSpace Space Stormy]][[/note]]

--> '''Stormy''': Man, don't go out there. That black chick is crazy!

-->Quinn: Who the hell named it that?
-->Shanks: Rambo.

--> '''Bebop Cola Machine''': (singing, but in monotone) And I say to myself, I need exact change.
--> [[note]]Murphy: That ''IS'' exact change, jerkface![[/note]]

--->'''Marco:''' Once again your stupidity has killed us!

-->'''Quinn:''' ''[very drunk]'' Don'shu remember? Waaay back! Biiiiig speech about how I put my brain in a robot body? Ripped open my chest! Had a little TV in there!
-->'''Marco:''' Yeah, I remember that!
-->'''Debbie:''' That would explain some things...
-->'''Quinn:''' Like my hydraulic penis! Which is huuuuge...!
-->'''Debbie:''' Yeah. Guess so.

'''Debbie:''' I thought you said he was with a hooker.
-->'''Marco:''' No, he’s watching ''T.J. Hooker''. On television.
-->'''Marco:''' (laughs)
-->'''Debbie:''' (laughs)
-->'''Marco:''' (laughs)
-->'''Debbie:''' (laughs)
-->'''Marco:''' (laughs) ... with a prostitute.
-->'''Debbie:''' WHAT!?!

** The Season 1 finale combines this with WhoWritesThisCrap and LampshadeHanging throughout, culminating in this exchange [[AllJustADream at the end]]
-->"That Sealab show is funny!"\\

* DagwoodSandwich: Used for a visual gag when Quinn says Stormy couldn't make a sandwich, much less fix a busted fuse. He does both. Underwater. And the characters point out how good the Dagwood looks, with one upset Stormy won't share given the effort he went through to make it.

* AchievmentsInIgnorance: Stormy pulls this off twice, first making a homemade Tesla coil after several episodes establishing himself as a complete moron, and then somehow making a DagwoodSandwich underwater. That is dry when he brings it inside to eat.

* SelfDeprecation: The Season 1 finale combines this with WhoWritesThisCrap and LampshadeHanging throughout, culminating in this exchange [[AllJustADream at the end]]

** Captain Shanks' fourth wall-breaking rant against the predicted fan backlash against his character, culminating in "And if you don't like it... you can go watch [[AccentOnTheWrongSyllable anny-may]]." This was particularly mean-spirited because the episode aired right when Creator/AdultSwim was axing anime left and right to make room for original programming. ''Sealab'' would continue to throw in jabs at anime fans throughout the rest of its run.

** The "Grizzlebee's" ads are a big one against chain restaurants for serving unhealthy, low quality foods in overly large portions. The average customer is shown to be morbidly obese and even the ads refer to them as being fat (with Curbside service if you're too fat and lazy to walk inside).

** The "Grizzlebee's" ads are a big one against chain restaurants for serving unhealthy, low quality foods in overly large portions.

* TakeThat: A brief one toward ''Series/StargateSG1'', when Quinn suggests that having your only black character be a primitive alien outsider who carries a "space spear" is racist.

* TakeThatAudience: Captain Shanks' fourth wall-breaking rant against the predicted fan backlash against his character, culminating in "And if you don't like it... you can go watch [[AccentOnTheWrongSyllable anny-may]]."
** This was particularly mean-spirited because the episode aired right when Creator/AdultSwim was axing anime left and right to make room for original programming. ''Sealab'' would continue to throw in jabs at anime fans throughout the rest of its run.

** This was particularly mean-spirited because the episode aired right when Creator/AdultSwim was axing anime left and right to make room for original programming.

-->"That Sealab show is funny!"
-->"Only sometimes."

-->'''Debbie:''' I can’t believe he’s with a hooker!
-->'''Marco:''' No, no! He’s watching ''Series/TJHooker''.
-->'''Debbie:''' I thought you said he was with a hooker.

--->'''Marco:''' Once again your stupidity has killed us all!

--> '''Quinn''': Nice. [[SarcasmMode eeealllly believable.]]\\

* ToFallenFriends: Captain Shanks celebrates the day of the deaths of his brothers by drinking.