Space: Above and Beyond

Space: Above and Beyond

1995
Space: Above and Beyond
Space: Above and Beyond

Space: Above and Beyond

7.8 | en | Drama

Set in the years 2063–2064, the show focuses on the "Wildcards", members of the United States Marine Corps Space Aviator Cavalry, 58th Squadron. They are stationed on the space carrier USS Saratoga, and act as infantry and pilots of SA-43 Endo/Exo-Atmospheric Attack Jet fighters.

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Seasons & Episodes

1
0
EP24  ...Tell Our Moms We Done Our Best
Jun. 02,1996
...Tell Our Moms We Done Our Best

While peace talks on the USS Saratoga go awry, the disgraced 58th are sent to retrieve POWs trapped in a crippled Space APC. Several enemy space fighters attack and the 58th take heavy losses. It is discovered the Chigs are only offering peace because they know Earth's military will defeat them.

EP22  And If They Lay Us Down to Rest...
May. 26,1996
And If They Lay Us Down to Rest...

The 58th is deployed to a seemingly barren moon to make final preparations for a major offensive by the Earth forces, but when they arrive they discover that the moon is home to an unknown species-and that Operation: Roundhammer may cause its extinction.

EP21  Sugar Dirt
Apr. 20,1996
Sugar Dirt

When Commodore Ross sees there's an opportunity to launch a potentially crippling offensive against the Chigs. Forced to abandon the 58th on a barren planet, Ross leaves the marines to fend for themselves with little ammo, no food-and no hope of rescue.

EP20  Stardust
Apr. 19,1996
Stardust

A mysterious group of extremely high-ranking officers disembark on the Saratoga and the 58th are ordered to escort an unresponsive space APC. The mysterious APC suddenly locks on their Hammerheads and opens fire.

EP19  R&R
Apr. 12,1996
R&R

The exhausted Wild Cards are granted R&R aboard the Bacchus, a pleasure ship where it's said anything can, and does, happen.

EP18  Pearly
Mar. 24,1996
Pearly

On a planet overrun with Chigs, the 58th retreat with a tank driver of the US 7th Cavalry upon a tank named "Pearly". They encounter the eccentric Major Cyril MacKendrick, sole survivor of a battalion of the British Coldstream Guards. Wang encounters a Silicate of the same model that previously tortured him.

EP17  Dear Earth
Mar. 03,1996
Dear Earth

The members of the 58th receive letters from home, some with good news, some with bad, while McQueen and Cooper are ordered to cooperate in a TV documentary about In Vitroes serving in the United States Marine Corps.

EP16  Toy Soldiers
Feb. 18,1996
Toy Soldiers

West discovers that his brother has enlisted in the Corps and is serving under a young, gung-ho lieutenant who's so determined to make a name for himself as a soldier, that he will risk endangering the lives of his entire battalion.

EP15  The Angriest Angel (2)
Feb. 11,1996
The Angriest Angel (2)

McQueen seeks reinstatement of his pilot status so he can fly what could be a suicide mission: find and destroy a seemingly invincible Chig super-bomber.

EP14  Never No More (1)
Feb. 04,1995
Never No More (1)

Shane risks her life when she volunteers to fight an enemy spacecraft with another squadron, led by a former boyfriend whose new love was killed during a mission.

EP13  Level of Necessity
Jan. 14,1996
Level of Necessity

The 58th enters the tunnels to try to find and destroy a Chig ammo dump. In the tunnels on the way to the ammo dump, Lubin is killed, and Damphousse predicts that one more of them will die.

EP12  Who Monitors the Birds?
Jan. 07,1996
Who Monitors the Birds?

Stranded and practically defenseless on an alien world, Hawkes accepts an assassination assignment that's supposed to buy him an immediate Honorable Discharge from the Marines.

EP11  The River of Stars
Dec. 17,1995
The River of Stars

Christmas Eve finds the 58th in dire straits: its transport vehicle, damaged in battle, is hurtling uncontrolled into enemy territory and the pilots must struggle to stay alive with no power, no weapons, and no hope of being rescued.

EP10  Stay with the Dead
Dec. 03,1995
Stay with the Dead

A failed rescue mission leaves the 58th presumed dead, except for Nathan, who lands in the hospital, where a nagging memory that his comrades are still alive is passed off as a result of suffering from severe head trauma.

EP9  Choice or Chance (2)
Nov. 26,1995
Choice or Chance (2)

After narrowly escaping the crippled alien battleship, the 58th finds itself imprisoned in the catacombs of a Chig penal colony. While Wang suffers in an alien torture chamber, Nathan encounters someone he'd only dreamed of seeing again.

EP8  Hostile Visit (1)
Nov. 19,1995
Hostile Visit (1)

A commandeered alien battleship provides the 58th with information about an important Chig outpost, giving the Earth forces an opportunity to make a Trojan-horse attack against the enemy-if the 58th can learn to fly the craft in time.

EP7  The Enemy
Nov. 12,1995
The Enemy

The soldiers of the 58th become their own worst enemies when a routine supply mission goes awry, leaving them stranded in alien territory and suffering from the effects of a mysterious Chig weapon.

EP6  Eyes
Nov. 05,1995
Eyes

The Saratoga becomes a pressure cooker of violence and political intrigue when an assassination on Earth forces a delegation of UN officials to use the craft as the site of an important conference.

EP5  Ray Butts
Oct. 22,1995
Ray Butts

The Saratoga has a mysterious new passenger: a battle-scarred special-forces commando whose classified mission directives put the 58th at his disposal, even if it means leading them to certain disaster.

EP4  Mutiny
Oct. 15,1995
Mutiny

When mutiny erupts aboard a civilian cargo ship carrying 200 In Vitro embryos, Cooper faces a difficult decision-should he protect his fellow soldiers, or join forces with the rebellious Tanks?

EP3  The Dark Side of the Sun
Oct. 08,1995
The Dark Side of the Sun

Nightmares come to life for Shane when a sentry-duty assignment on an asteroid leads the 58th into a bloody confrontation with a battalion of rogue androids, among which are the AI's who murdered her parents.

EP2  The Farthest Man from Home
Oct. 01,1995
The Farthest Man from Home

When the USS Saratoga passes close to the planet, Vesta Colony, where the Earth colonist were attacked, West goes AWOL and flies down to the planet in hopes that his girlfriend, Kylen, somehow survived.

EP1  Pilot
Sep. 24,1995
Pilot

In the year 2063, the final frontier is a battle field. An earth united in peace takes its first steps toward interplanetary colonization, only to be threatened by an enigmatic alien race. Enter the 58th Squadron, a group of wet-behind-the-ears pilots with the Marine Corps Air and Space Cavalry. Under the rigorous tutelage of Sgt. Maj. Frank Bougus, reluctant leader Nathan West and fellow cadets Shane Vansen and Cooper Hawkes embark on a mission to save the galaxy.

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7.8 | en | Drama , Action & Adventure , Sci-Fi | More Info
Released: 1995-09-24 | Released Producted By: , Country: United States of America Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:
Synopsis

Set in the years 2063–2064, the show focuses on the "Wildcards", members of the United States Marine Corps Space Aviator Cavalry, 58th Squadron. They are stationed on the space carrier USS Saratoga, and act as infantry and pilots of SA-43 Endo/Exo-Atmospheric Attack Jet fighters.

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Cast

Kristen Cloke , Lanei Chapman , Rodney Rowland

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Reviews

Dan Fox has a habit of commissioning good scifi but then cancelling it after 2 seasons or so. But SAAB's reputation in the business must be pretty good - many other productions (e.g. Starship Troopers, Battlestar Galactica) copied verbatim much of their look and feel from it.The themes are familiar - a desperate battle against overwhelming odds, the stern but ultimately kind commanding officer, flawed but heroic characters. All familiar but done rather well. But there were problems too. I found the whole thing relentlessly grim - much like the crime series Millennium which was made around the same time. And we never got to see much of a perspective from the other side of the war.SAAB certainly deserved another series or two, but the fact is - military Scifi that concentrates on just one side has never worked long term, before or since. Star Trek always humanised its enemies by presenting them as eloquent and honourable - more so than the humans sometimes.
majestik46 I thought this series was excellent when i first saw it in the 90,s and having watched the box set,my opinion has'nt changed.And i have been watching and reading sci fi for coming up to 50 years. The schedule to watch the show was always late at night in the U.K and i never really understood the logic behind that. You'd think that someone did'nt want the show to succeed. I believe Fox were also making X-files at the same time and i,m not sure if there was competition for money between the two? X-files was OK for a few seasons but went down hill rapidly. S.A.A.B had the right mix of drama and humour and if the Americans will forgive me,reminded me of a battle of Britain squadron(when in space).Any remake would be interesting but you,d be hard pressed in my opinion to replace the original cast.I,m still depressed having watched the last episode to know it was cancelled! Someone,somewhere,remake it please!!
alan-51-111974 I've rated this a ten for what it could have been if played out over 5 seasons. I'm also rating it a 10 for its time.Strong performances, not afraid to be dark and as others have said a prototype for the re-invented BSG.The series contained some genuinely surprising plot twists and when it was good, it was very very good.However, when it was bad, it was horrid and was let down by two key things:1. Plots that are unbelievable right from the very start (involving the deaths of major characters or fantastic scientific breakthroughs a la Voyager that you know will come to nothing). 2. Arrogance: they thought they had 5 seasons in the bag with Fox, therefore from episodes 10-19 all we get is hokey explorations of character and failed experiments. This is why the audience dwindled. It's like all the worst Star Trek (TNG/DS9/Voyager) mid-season bullshit rolled into into one long long long exploration of characters that you would rather see addressing the main agenda of defeating their alien enemy.That being said, still a great show, very much ahead of its time, a prototype for BSG (who borrowed the plot from episode 8 and possibly the character of a female lead).Ironically, many of the horrors that the American marines were subjected to were shortly unleashed by the US against its enemies in real life.It probably fell short because people felt too good at the time but is worth a re-examination. The last two episodes are stellar.
cyclone259 Some have commented that compared to (the newer incarnation of) Battlestar Galactica, SPACE: ABOVE and BEYOND pales in comparison, or at least that's the feeling I get. That's partially true if you watch BSG then go back and watch SPACE: ABOVE and BEYOND later.You have to look at SPACE: ABOVE and BEYOND in the time frame of when it was made. Up to that point in time, sci-fi programs, usually had good writing and acting. For example, Star Trek had excellent story lines, but even for it's drama, there was a sense of levity. When SPACE: ABOVE and BEYOND came out, the closest comparison, in my opinion, would may be ALIENS if only for the sci-fi/action/drama/military similarities.What SPACE: ABOVE and BEYOND had going for it was pretty decent writing, well-developed characters and at the time of it's inception, good CGI (for t.v.). It suffered the same fate most (NOT ALL) shows of the genre have when put on the networks, they just can't seem to find an audience, especially when you put them up against programs like FRIENDS, SEINFELD and FRASIER.I think another reason Also SPACE: ABOVE and BEYOND didn't do well, was because the stories were grittier and the characters were abrasive and not as likable (upfront) as on other sci-fi programs. That doesn't necessarily mean they didn't have depth or someone you could identify with (as BSG has proved recently) but, when lumped in with all the sitcoms and other shows of the time, it just didn't fit in well. Who knows, if SPACE: ABOVE and BEYOND had been produced on the Sci-Fi Channel, it may still be on today or at the very least had a much longer run.