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SeaQuest DSV #3
SeaQuest DSV: The Ancient
Captain Nathan Hale Bridger and the crew of the submarine seaQuest investigate sightings of a huge monster previously only known in myths
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
99 people want to read
About the author
David Bischoff
164 books103 followersaka Mark Grant (with Bruce King), Brad Quentin (with Terry Bisson)
Born in Washington D.C. and now living in Eugene, Oregon, David Bischoff writes science fiction books, short stories, and scripts for television. Though he has been writing since the early 1970s, and has had over 80 books published, David is best known for novelizations of popular movies and TV series including the Aliens, Gremlins, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and WarGames.
Born in Washington D.C. and now living in Eugene, Oregon, David Bischoff writes science fiction books, short stories, and scripts for television. Though he has been writing since the early 1970s, and has had over 80 books published, David is best known for novelizations of popular movies and TV series including the Aliens, Gremlins, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and WarGames.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 25, 2011
As much as I dislike the Japanese custom of eating whale and dolphin meat, I don't think they wheel live dolphins on a cart to the table. Plus, you're writing a novelisation of a TV series. We all know Commander Ford is black. There's even a picture on the back of the book. I don't see why he, of all the crew, needs his skin tone described.
I'm sorry, I can't even give this book my customary 50 pages before I give up. This is terrible.
I'm sorry, I can't even give this book my customary 50 pages before I give up. This is terrible.
August 15, 2022
The third (and unfortunately final) of the SeaQuest books. The second one was pretty crazy but they upped the cuckoo meter (technical term) all the way to eleven on this one. Where to begin?
1. One of the bad guys who loved sushi ate a LIVE DOLPHIN!!! This is such an interesting xenophobic take on the Japanese fear in America in the 80's and 90's.
2. There was an implied sea monster. At first I thought we were going to get another giant squid (which they had actually done on the show before and referenced in this book). When that was ruled out I was thinking, maybe, dinosaur? But no. No folks. It...was...an...ALIEN!!! I love this show.
3. Once again the book failed to explore the very interesting character (which didn't make the show) who could never leave the SeaQuest because of a unique genetic problem with his skin and organs. Such a cool premise that was never explored.
4. So many other characters were left out but then again, who knows when this book was actually written versus when the show was cast.
Fun fact: I got this book from a used book store and in the front of the book, there was a sticker that said property of ________ and then gave the name of the presumed owner. I was curious so I did some digging. I figured the fan base for this show had to be razor thin but very strong and I was right. I found him on social media and he was my exact age!
1. One of the bad guys who loved sushi ate a LIVE DOLPHIN!!! This is such an interesting xenophobic take on the Japanese fear in America in the 80's and 90's.
2. There was an implied sea monster. At first I thought we were going to get another giant squid (which they had actually done on the show before and referenced in this book). When that was ruled out I was thinking, maybe, dinosaur? But no. No folks. It...was...an...ALIEN!!! I love this show.
3. Once again the book failed to explore the very interesting character (which didn't make the show) who could never leave the SeaQuest because of a unique genetic problem with his skin and organs. Such a cool premise that was never explored.
4. So many other characters were left out but then again, who knows when this book was actually written versus when the show was cast.
Fun fact: I got this book from a used book store and in the front of the book, there was a sticker that said property of ________ and then gave the name of the presumed owner. I was curious so I did some digging. I figured the fan base for this show had to be razor thin but very strong and I was right. I found him on social media and he was my exact age!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 11, 2014
I generally don't expect much out of TV series novels, but this one was particularly bad. It's a good thing I generally enjoy poorly written novels, I guess.
January 9, 2016
So bad. None of the characters were in character. The new characters were awful. The writing was awful. This makes me sad.
October 11, 2025
I really wanted to like this book! I knew it wasnt going to great literature, but I love the show (s1) and enjoyed the novelization of the pilot -- so I at least expected this to be inoffensive and a bit of fun.
Good first, I guess:
The plot was "fine": I mean, it was dumb, but no more dumb than I was necessarily expecting. The story itself could have probably been made into a decent romp.
There were a few pages/moments I actually enjoyed! But they were always cut short by some terrible writing decision.
The bad:
I get the feeling the author had never actually seen an episode of SeaQuest, had never been given any profiles of the characters, and had possibly never had a single adult conversation with a woman.
The handfull of characters from the show who actually made it into the book were nothing like their television selves: Bridger brags about using intimidation as a fun tool more times than I can count, Westphalen is more a bloodthirsty monster than scientist, and the only other women given "speaking roles" can barely be described as even one-dimensional.
The only character that feels remotely close to their on-screen personification is Lucas, and I can only assume that is bc the author had the emotional and intellectual maturity of a 15 year old boy.
Everyone is really weirdly sex-obsessed - like middle-school locker room level of obsession.
The women - all of whom are supposedly intelligent, professional, successful women - are portrayed as simpering 12 year olds who think only about cute boys (best part of being on seaquest is all the cute boys on such a large submarine!, thought the seaQuest head of computer coding), wonder if not having a boyfriend means they will need 'professional help', and a jpurnalist who does literally nothing but make flirty eyes at Bridger.
All of the above are just a few examples of the pervasive and infuriating issues with virtually every character in the novel.
On top of all this nonsense, the writing is just not very good. Feels like he threw it together the day before it was due and didn't care enough to even pull an all-nighter. Words are repeated a sentence or two later, no effort was put into trying create a landscape or absorb the reader into the surroundings of the story.
The book was not good, which could have been merely annoying and disappointing. But because it was not only bad but also ignored established (and key) character traits for the main crew, and didn't even *try* to hide its author's obvious lack of respect for (or basic general awareness of) women, it was downright infuriating.
Good first, I guess:
The plot was "fine": I mean, it was dumb, but no more dumb than I was necessarily expecting. The story itself could have probably been made into a decent romp.
There were a few pages/moments I actually enjoyed! But they were always cut short by some terrible writing decision.
The bad:
I get the feeling the author had never actually seen an episode of SeaQuest, had never been given any profiles of the characters, and had possibly never had a single adult conversation with a woman.
The handfull of characters from the show who actually made it into the book were nothing like their television selves: Bridger brags about using intimidation as a fun tool more times than I can count, Westphalen is more a bloodthirsty monster than scientist, and the only other women given "speaking roles" can barely be described as even one-dimensional.
The only character that feels remotely close to their on-screen personification is Lucas, and I can only assume that is bc the author had the emotional and intellectual maturity of a 15 year old boy.
Everyone is really weirdly sex-obsessed - like middle-school locker room level of obsession.
The women - all of whom are supposedly intelligent, professional, successful women - are portrayed as simpering 12 year olds who think only about cute boys (best part of being on seaquest is all the cute boys on such a large submarine!, thought the seaQuest head of computer coding), wonder if not having a boyfriend means they will need 'professional help', and a jpurnalist who does literally nothing but make flirty eyes at Bridger.
All of the above are just a few examples of the pervasive and infuriating issues with virtually every character in the novel.
On top of all this nonsense, the writing is just not very good. Feels like he threw it together the day before it was due and didn't care enough to even pull an all-nighter. Words are repeated a sentence or two later, no effort was put into trying create a landscape or absorb the reader into the surroundings of the story.
The book was not good, which could have been merely annoying and disappointing. But because it was not only bad but also ignored established (and key) character traits for the main crew, and didn't even *try* to hide its author's obvious lack of respect for (or basic general awareness of) women, it was downright infuriating.
November 14, 2025
What the hell, I just wanted a fun seaquest book. The misogyny was off the charts, women are constantly sexualized and talked down to, and everyone is very horny for some reason. Lucas (15 years old) is weirdly sexualized constantly, to the point where Bridger tries to hook Lucas up with a 25-year old female scientist, and she kisses Lucas at the end. A Japanese/Scottish man was referred to as a “half-breed” and described as a fat, glutinous, cruel, potentially bisexual, alcoholic that eats live dolphins. The plot was silly but that’s what I expect from seaquest and its usually just a fun silly time. Unfortunately the constant cringing at everything in this book took away from any fun. We didn’t even really get to meet most of the cast from the show…
April 29, 2018
Ganz gut, ein wenig wie Star Trek - The Voyage Home umgekehrt und statt Walen mit Delfinen. Einzig mit dem Schreiben von Charakteren hat der Autor Probleme. Gleich mehrere Protagonisten haben ziemliche und nicht wirklich aus der Situation erklärbare Stimmungsschwankungen. Das nervt schon ein wenig. Da das treibende Element der Geschichte aber nicht in den Charakteren, sondern in der Handlung liegt, schadet es dem Roman nicht allzu sehr.
December 9, 2023
Easy, quick read. Not very suspenseful but got me thinking about the old tv show again.
March 28, 2016
The ocean book about sea monsters. How much better can it get? This is a great novel that really shows what SeaQuest was about. The crew discovers an ancient monster still lives, and with Darwin’s help has to decide how to stop it from destroying life.
August 16, 2008
Was also an ok television series.
May 15, 2016
A great sequel to the original book.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews