The year is 2021. Deep below the ocean's surface, looms a vast, magnificently high-tech compound: Sealab. A multi-national scientific station with an annual budget in the trillions, manned by a motley collection of malcontents and screw-ups who were unfit for work in the private sector. They really don't get any research done, but instead spend their time bickering among themselves or just plain goofing off. The crew have manipulated their luckless leader, Captain Murphy, into submission, and are content to ride the government clock, raking in fat, hazardous-duty paychecks.

Commanded by Captain Michael Murphy, Sealab is dedicated to the exploration of the seas and the protection of marine life. Among other things, the crew of Sealab faced such challenges as attacks from sharks and giant squids, potential environmental disasters, and threats to Sealab and marine life from shipping.

The Sealab project, launched in 1969 off the shore of northern California, was the brainchild of a country doctor turned naval pioneer who dreamed of pushing the limits of ocean exploration like NASA did space exploration. The massive, 300-ton tubular structure was a pressurized underwater habitat, complete with science labs and living quarters for divers who would live and work there on the ocean floor for days or even months at a time. During the height of the Space Race, this daring program also tested the limits of human endurance and revolutionized the way humans explore the ocean.