in a nutshell: the seaQuest crew explore a ghost ship.

In his quarters, Bridger is having a nostalgic moment, looking at photos of his dead wife. He selects one, telling her that he misses her, and then puts it in the hologram. He wants to tell her a story, a love story, although he is not sure if it really happened or not. It all started last night …

The captain is reading in bed when his hologram turns itself on and starts repeating coordinates at him. He can't turn it off, so calls Lucas to deal. I liked Lucas's automatic denial that he had anything to do with it. I also liked that Lucas remembered to turn his PAL off before leaving the room. I've always wondered exactly how those things work. In his room, Bridger is looking up the coordinates when a ghostly hand reaches out from the hologram to touch his back, with a woman's voice calling 'help us'. But at that moment, Lucas arrives. In a hideous brightly coloured, striped bathrobe. He turns the hologram off, graciously dismisses Bridger's apology for waking him, and even thinks to ask if the captain is okay, noting his agitation. I'm impressed. Who says Lucas can't be mature when he wants? Of course, as soon as he's gone, the hologram turns itself back on, the ghostly call for help is repeated, and Bridger is then flung across his room by another ghost again, landing in a rather ungainly heap.

I love the Halloween-effect credits. Nice touch.

In medbay, Bridger is standing by his story to a sceptical Westphalen, as she dabs ointment on his bruises. He insists he was flung across the room by an apparition. She thinks it more likely he fell out of bed. Undeterred, the captain wants to know if anyone on her staff has studied paranormal activities. The doctor concedes that Joshua Levin did a stint studying hypnotic regression therapy. So Levin is still with the boat after all, having planned to leave and head up a research team elsewhere in the previous episode, Give Me Liberté.That's good enough for Bridger, who wants Levin sent to him at once. "There are also a couple of crewmen in engineering who worship their warts!" The doctor shouts after him. LOL.

Up on the bridge, Ortiz announces the latest WSKR tracking, pinching at the bridge of his nose in apparent weariness. Ford looks equally fed up as he asks Bridger what they're looking for. Apparently, the captain has them chasing his ghosts, as he explains what happened to Levin, apparently not at all bothered about conducting this session in public on the bridge. But Levin, understandably, seems to see the experience as a dream to be interpreted. Then O'Neill calls out that he is getting music, which Bridger has him play out loud while he describes the woman he saw to Levin. The scientist is still trying to analyse Bridger's experience psychologically, while the captain frustratedly insists that she was no one he knew. Then Ortiz calls out that he has spotted something on sonar, and quickly gets a WSKR view. It is the wreck of a ship. Summoning Crocker to the bridge, Bridger instructs Ortiz to look for a name and gets Hitchcock to send the probe in for a closer look. This is an excellent scene just in terms of seeing everyone go about their jobs in such a professional manner.

Ortiz and his WSKRs quickly locate the name of the ship. King George. This prompts an awestruck response from Crocker, the old sea dog and font of all nautical knowledge that he is. A briefing is quickly organised in the wardroom to tell the story. The George sank in 1913 on her maiden voyage from Southampton, but it wasn't exactly a wreck. She just slowly started sinking, allowing all 900 souls aboard plenty of time to take to the lifeboats and escape. All were accounted for except the captain and engineer – with no trace in the official record of Bridger's woman. The whole group gathered look sceptical at the captain's insistence that she exists, and what an eclectic mix it is too. Ford, Westphalen, Crocker, Krieg, Levin, and also Lucas allowed in on this official business. Krieg has dug up some archival footage, a home movie shot for the owner. And in it Bridger recognises both the man and the woman from his 'vision'. Westphalen offers a guess that she may have been the owner's nanny, that it was a last minute decision to bring her, hence the non-appearance of her name on the passenger manifest. Interesting hypothesis, and what a good guess it turns out to be. Then Westphalen gasps. She and Bridger are now alone in the room, with the video paused – but on the screen, the man (captain?) turns his head to look right at them …

Everyone heads for the bridge to see what Hitchcock has found with the probe. The stacks are closed, which means apparently that the engine room may not be flooded. And there is a light, coming from a porthole, on a ship that has been at the bottom of the ocean for 105 years (which dates this episode – set in 2018). "Not possible!" Ford exclaims. "And not a dream," Bridger points out to his sceptics. While Hitchcock is delighted by the discovery on a scientific basis, Crocker is superstitious, spitting on the floor to ward off ghosts from the haunted ship. Ew. I wonder who gets to clean that up?

Bridger and Levin go to Lucas' quarters, to find the boy laying in wait to play at ghosts, for his own amusement. Dr Levin apparently wants Lucas to go on the away team to the George, and the boy is delighted. "We're entering into a realm where logic doesn't apply, and all we have to depend son is myth and superstition." Levin said that with a straight face, as well. I thought he wasn't a believer? To my amusement, Bridger tells Lucas they are taking him as a bodyguard, of the supernatural variety. Apparently, children are immune to the effects of the paranormal. Lucas instantly, and predictably, protests against being called a child. "But you're the closest thing we have to one," Bridger tells him. So funny. So does Bridger really believe that the ship is haunted? "Well, yes. I don't know what that means, but I feel we have to pursue it. The pursuit of what you don't know but instinctively believe in is what science is all about." So that's okay, then. I can't help feeling, though, that if I found a haunted ship, my instinct would be to run a mile and post warning signs all around.

So, the launch heads off to the George, hard docks, and cuts a hole through the side. Let us see who is going on this jolly little field trip. Bridger, Hitchcock, Crocker, Westphalen, Levin and Lucas. And a couple of Random Extra Techs. Westphalen issues dire warnings about nitrogen narcosis, since the air in the George is over 100 years old, and sticks warning badges on them all. So, a get-out clause for the sake of realism, that none of the following necessarily took place? Could all be a dream. Levin tells them all to think positively, and imagine the white light of their aura all around them. Eh? I thought this guy was a serious scientist? He's always come across as a serious scientist before. From serious scientist who once studied hypnotic regression to hippy new age-y mystic in one easy move. Crocker insists that they all spit before entering the haunted ship. Westphalen's face is a picture at this: she, at least, is a serious scientist and non-believer. And she is the only one who doesn't spit.

Aboard, Hitchcock is instantly seduced by the engineering innovations that apparently draw electricity from the waves. Okay, if you say so. Westphalen is equally entranced by 'osmotic membranes' to replenish the atmosphere, and calls Lucas over to explain how it works. I find that both amusing and interesting, that she automatically uses it as a lesson for the boy. He is a university graduate, but Westphalen sees a 16 year old and wants to teach.

There in the engine room they find the skeleton of the captain, gun in hand, bullet hole through the skull. Nice. "Shiver me timbers," says Crocker. Only he could get away with using a phrase like that. Then off their looks, adds, "I mean that seriously. There's nothing more unlucky than a suicide aboard ship. Unless of course it's the captain committing suicide." Okay then. This expedition is clearly doomed. Why did they insist on coming here, again? Crocker is thinking along the same lines as me, and recommends they leave, but Bridger wants to know what happened. Curiosity is not always a good thing, captain. Levin explains that many parapsychologists feel that spirits will cling to this plane out of confusion, or unresolved matters – and what could be more confusing or unresolved than a suicide?

Bridger sends Hitchcock and her Techs to find out what sank the ship while the rest of them continue to explore. Peering through a porthole into a water filled room, Hitchcock sees three skeletons, dressed like they were in a band. Stowaways. That makes four passengers not on the manifest. Then Westphalen is dragged by an invisible force into an open room, the door of which locks behind her, preventing the menfolk from rushing to the rescue. Inside, Westphalen is confronted by the ghosts of the woman and captain. The Ghost Captain shouts at her to leave, but then sees a diary fallen open on the words 'I hate him', yells in anger and vanishes.

"Is there any reason why we can't just leave this place?" Crocker wants to know as they hurry in to check on the doctor. I'm glad one of them is thinking sensibly. Bridger and Levin help Westphalen up, but she asks for 'her' diary. Crocker scatters salt at the entrance to 'keep the devil from the door', telling Lucas that the spitting is for 'good luck in the face of adversity'. Are all sailors this superstitious? Westphalen, meanwhile, has apparently been possessed by the spirit of the woman, turning into a simpering wreck murmuring how much she hates 'him'. Bridger ushers Crocker and Lucas from the room so that Levin can look after her. Is there anything Levin can't do: scientist, mystic, medic ... Crocker is incensed. "I just put down the salt! Well, thinking about my aura isn't helping any." Crocker is so wonderfully down-to-earth about the whole thing, despite his superstition. Lucas has picked up the diary – the last entry is in August 1914, an entire year and a half after the boat sank, that they survived down there. It is the diary of the woman, Lilian. Levin then tells them he thinks Westphalen is still having her 'encounter'. And then Hitchcock calls up to tell them that the ship was sabotaged, and would have taken days to sink.

Westphalen then pops out of a dressing room wearing Lilian's ball gown, still believing that she is Lilian. Bridger leaves Levin, Crocker and Lucas with her while he goes to see Hitchcock, stubbornly resisting all Ghost Captain's efforts to scare him off. Meeting up with Hitchcock, Bridger's intuition (apparently) inspires him to try a door she had already checked and found locked. This time it opens. Inside is a shrine bearing the skeleton of the engineer, Robert Fitzgerald, who, according to a note at his side, was apparently engaged to Lilian and died in May 1913, around a month after the ship sank. "I don't understand," says Hitchcock, worriedly. No, scientific minds wouldn't be able to cope with this kind of thing, I can see that. Bridger calls Crocker to read the entry for the say Robert died. The diary is blatantly empty – the page is completely blank, but nevertheless the Chief starts reading, and Westphalen starts reciting along with him. Robert contracted pneumonia trying to fix the engines, but Lilian believed it might as well be called murder, and was left trapped alone with the captain. Westphalen leads them to the captain's door – with blood running down it. How weird.

"It's the door to the spirit's earth-bound sanctuary," Levin tells them, as nonchalantly as though he deals with this kind of thing every day. The appearance of blood is, apparently, a manifestation of their inner fears, trying to keep them at bay. "What is going on?" Hitchcock asks, plaintively. Such a good question. The answer lies in the diary. The captain was in love with Lilian, but she was in love with the engineer, Robert. On the day they were supposed to be married, the ship sank. "As God is my witness, I believe the captain has sunk the ship," Lilian wrote in her diary, and the possessed Westphalen now tells them aloud. Bridger is determined to get into the captain's room, but the handle bursts into flame when anyone tries to touch it. But Lucas is able to open the door without harm. So, proof that he is a 'child' after all? His face when he realises they want him to try is priceless – he's just seen Crocker and Bridger burn their fingers. But inside, he is cut off from the exit by sudden flames. Then Westphalen wanders off, so Bridger has the rest follow her and stays with Lucas, telling him to get the log book. He stares down the ghost, and gets it. Eyes cast down, Ghost Captain tells them to go to the ballroom – it's what they are looking for. He also tells Lucas he didn't know there were stowaways, and hadn't wanted to hurt anyone. But he did prevent Lilian and Robert from leaving. Robert died without guilt and passed over; Lilian's own guilt holds her here, but he doesn't know why. "I need to be forgiven," he tells Lucas. But he has never asked.

In the ballroom, Westphalen is dancing, and Lilian's skeleton is laid out on a bier. Bridger has found her at last. Westphalen (as Lilian) tells him she can't leave, the pain is too great. Her anger and desire for revenge is keeping her here. She swoons in Bridger's arms when the Ghost Captain arrives. They all look on as Ghost Captain releases Lilian, telling her to go to Robert, and asking her to forgive him. Lilian's ghost then rises, and forgives him for both Robert's and her own deaths. Both Ghost Lilian and Skeleton Lilian seem to be wearing the same dress as Westphalen. Did she have two identical dresses? One to be laid out in and one left for Westphalen to wear. How odd. Then to her delight, Robert appears to claim her and take her to their 'afterlife', and touchingly, they summon the Ghost Captain to go with them, forgiven and able to rest at last.

Westphalen wakes up confused, and promptly spots that all their badges are giving off nitrogen warnings that the air has gone bad. They rush to leave the ship.

Back aboard seaQuest, Bridger is reading from the George's captain's log, as he tells the story to the hologram of his wife. After Lilian's death, the captain wrote a full confession – that he flooded the ship's engines to discredit his rival, Robert, in anger at being forced to preside at the wedding. He had not intended anyone to be killed, but Robert would not leave without trying to save the ship, and Lilian would not leave Robert. They only discovered the stowaways when it was too late. Finnias Wideman. That was Ghost Captain's name, and it took us the entire episode to discover it. Bridger then wishes goodnight to his dead wife and turns the hologram off. And down below, the light on the George finally goes out.

Overall, what an odd episode, a Halloween special. And although it was entertaining (but not as sophisticated as it could have been) we didn't learn anything new about any of the characters. I couldn't help wondering what would have happened to the ghosts of Lilian and the captain if seaQuest hadn't stumbled upon them and Bridger hadn't insisted on exploring. How many others had they contacted, who ignored them or ran away? Would they have finally resolved their issues alone, and achieved eternal rest without interference, with no one the wiser, or would their shades have continued to stalk the sunken ship in eternal torment? Am I thinking too much about this? Probably.

Jo, March 2004