Since its debut, Archer has always been a pop-culture-minded series due to the titular Sterling Archer's keen eye for deep-cut references. But one of the show's best allusions is actually a direct call-out to another series by the same creators. In Season 4, Archer found a way to reimagine a classic Adult Swim comedy as canon -- thanks in part to the direct connection the two animated comedies share.
Sealab 2021 is the creation of Adam Reed and Matt Thompson: a re-edited and re-dubbed take on the 1970s Hanna-Barbera show, Sealab 2020. The series centers on the titular station crew, living their (very absurd) lives under the increasingly bizarre command of Captain Murphy. The lone voice of reason Quinn, the happy idiot Stormy, the unpredictable Debbie, the sardonic Sparks and the tough as nails Marco spend every episode trying to survive whatever predicament the station ends up in. Operating with a loose continuity with characters frequently dying and returning the next episode, the show's absurd sense of humor introduces parallel universes, time-loops, Soviet-style government take-overs, mutants and countless other oddities.
Sealab 2021 became one of the first shows to air during the Adult Swim programming block, running for four seasons from 2000 to 2005. After the series ended, Reed and Thompson moved on to another Adult Swim series, Frisky Dingo, before making the transition over to FX with Archer. Despite the swap in networks, the creators were able to find a way to make Sealab 2021 somewhat canon in Archer.
The Season 4 two-part finale for Archer, "Sea-Tunt," opens with Archer and his co-workers' recruitment by Cheryl's brother Cecil to deal with a stolen hydrogen bomb. The crew eventually discovers his true intent in bringing them all along (to gain control of his sister's part of the fortune to replace his now depleted resources); however, there is still a genuine threat he needs their help with.
This introduces the Archer version of Captain Murphy, played by Jon Hamm. Now, Murphy is a more opinionated and eco-centric figure, demanding a shift in global efforts to save the planet, or he'll release missiles laced with nerve toxins on major cities. Venturing into the ocean, Archer and a handful of others confront Murphy. It turns out Murphy is the last person on Sealab, with the rest of the crew abandoning him as they saw how dangerous and absurd his plans became. Murphy is even revealed to be bluffing about the bombs and is suggested to have slightly gone mad from sheer loneliness. But when he threatens Lana, Archer fires a gun, resulting in the biodome shattering and flooding the entire installation. In the chaos, Murphy is killed but gives the group instructions on how to escape.
Despite Murphy appearing for only a single episode before he -- and Sealab -- are lost at the bottom of the ocean, his brief appearance is full of small references to the classic Adult Swim show. At one point, Murphy is seen "fixing" a control panel by bashing it with a wrench, a joke also used in Sealab 2021. He's also crushed to death by a soda machine -- a direct allusion to the Sealab 2021 episode "All That Jazz," where Murphy spends the entire episode trapped under a similar machine. The name of the soda machine in Archer, GOZ, is even a shout-out to Harry Goz, Murphy's original voice actor. It's also a fun touch that in Archer's version of Sealab, the crew immediately left the base when things got too absurd, as opposed to the crew of the original show who stuck it out despite almost every episode ending in an explosion.