Customer Reviews

Space Above and Beyond - The Complete Series

5 star:		(96)
4 star:		(69)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

"Space Above and Beyond" seemed like a good idea the time. Inspired by the TV show "Combat" and the novel "Starship Troopers", "Space" seemed a natural for network TV. Creators Glen Morgan and James Wong (writers and producers on both "The X-Files" and "Millennium")created 23 episodes(including the original two part pilot)of a compelling drama among the stars. Featuring a largely unknown cast, the series is much closer in spirit to the novel by Robert Heinlein that inspired the movie "Starship Troopers" than that film.

Earth suddenly finds itself at war with an alien race called the Chiggs when Earth begins colonizing other planets. When Nathan West (Morgan Weisser)is forced out of his position on one of the colony ships, he joins the Marines in hopes of being near his girlfriend. When his girlfriend is taken as a prisoner by the Chigs, his mission is to find and save her. Others that end up serving with him have their own reasons for joining the Marine Corps Space Aviator Calvary. Shane Vansen's (Kristen Cloke who also made memorable appearences in "The X-Files" and "Millennium" as well as "Final Desintation") family were murdered by rogue "replicants" (shades of "Blade Runner"!)and is inspired to serve by her deceased parents. Cooper (Rodney Rowland) is a Tank i.e., someone born in a lab and wants to escape the prejudice he faces on Earth including an attempt to hang him by bigots.

Well written by Morgan and Wong (they wrote the bulk of the first season) and directed by TV vets (David Nutter-"The X-File", "ER" and Winrich Kolbe-"Star Trek: The Next Generation" among them), it's a gritty TV show that doesn't pull its punches. The show only lasted a season so never moved beyond finding its legs and developing the storyarcs that were planned.

This five disc set isn't without its flaws. Some folks are having some problems with the discs freezing and skipping (mostly on X-Box players and computers)but it seems the discs play fine on progressive scan DVD players. I'm not reallly happy with the packaging. Fox has housed four of the discs in two slimline holders so there is a chance the dual sided, dual layered discs could become damaged. While the image quality is really, really good but could be better. I'm at a loss as to why Fox didn't put this out in other holders. I'm sure fans would have been willing to pay 5 or 6 bucks more for better packaging. That's a minor complaint that viewers can fix themselves by purchasing DVD holders.

For those looking to buy this for the extras there's bad news. There aren't any to speak of. Sure, we get the promos but there's no commentary tracks or making of featurettes like was done for "The Lone Gunmen" set. I could see why a featurette wasn't done but to not have any commentary tracks from the writers, actors or optical effects supervisors is a bit disappointing. Still, it doesn't diminish the overall quality of the series itself.

Until October "Space Above and Beyond" can only be obtained at Best Buy. After that time, you'll be able to get it at amazon.com, other sites and stores.

For those of you that are thinking of buying this set but have heard of the error on disc one, it looks as though Amazon.com is now selling corrected versions. The set went out of stock for half a month, was listed as a pre-order, and is now back. At least one report on the Space: Above and Beyond fan discussion boards attests that the new sets from Amazon work fine. To the best of my knowledge, Best Buy and other stores are still selling the original release with the problems on disc one, or at least have made no effort to get them off the shelves to distinguish them from new corrected sets. That makes Amazon the place that you want to go to for ordering this particular set.

Please note: this is still speculation based upon a small amount of evidence. There may still be a problem with these discs, but it sure looks like they've been corrected.

Created by X-Files collaborators Glen Morgan and James Wong, Space: Above and Beyond was one of countless sci-fi series' (Strange Luck, Milennium, Harsh Realm, etc.) that were created as a companion to the megahit X-Files, and like those aforementioned shows, it only lasted a season before getting the axe (although Milennium lasted a full 3 before Fox gave up on it). The series begins with Earth colonizing other planets, and soon finding themselves in an interstellar war with a mysterious alien race. The show mainly focuses on a group of soldiers, all of whom have their various back stories (one is searching for his missing lover, another was created in a lab) that make for some interesting arcs. The series has it's share of faults, chief among them are the choppy special effects and some wooden acting, but the realm of potential was unbelievably high for what might have been had Fox put more faith in it. The series reaches it's highpoint in mid-season, and the final episode is amazingly poignant, but who knows what might have been. All in all, Space: Above and Beyond isn't anything too special upon first viewing, but it's hard not to appreciate the imagination and heart that Morgan, Wong, and co. put into it. Fox also dropped the ball with the DVD release as well, there's no extras to be found, and at least a commentary or interviews with Morgan and Wong would have been more than welcome here.

"Space: Above and Beyond" was a show that would probably feel more relevant today than when it debuted in 1995, given the current military actions going on in the world at this time. The show was always a war drama first, and a science-fiction show second, which was the intent of series creators Glen Morgan and James Wong. The ensemble cast or relative unknown actors that made up the 58th Squadron (Morgan Weisser, Kristen Cloke, Rodney Rowland, Joel de la Fuente, and Lanei Chapman) formed a very strong chemistry on-screen, which contributed to their overall performance. Sure some of the episodes are rather cheesy, and the special effects do feel a little dated, but this was overall a character-based show, and Morgan and Wong, as well as the cast, did a wonderful job of bringing those characters to life, giving them a humanity that could be connected to by the viewing audience (which in turn makes the final episode still painful to watch). Morgan and Wong were also not afraid to push the envelope when it came to the show, notably the "Who Monitors the Birds?" episode, which contained very little dialogue ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer" would copy this a couple of years later to rave reviews). The show's cast and creators also had a strong rapport with it's Internet fan base, and many episodes later in the series were filled with little in-jokes and references to the online community. In fact, if the Internet was as strong a presence in 1995-1996 as it is today, the show might not have been cancelled (although it might not have mattered since the show was pretty much buried to make room for "Millennium", but that's another story).

If I was reviewing "Space: Above and Beyond" as just the show itself, it would get a 5-star rating hands down, but I have to bring it down a star for the DVD because it's so skimpy when it could have been so much more (word has it that Morgan and Wong had approached Fox about doing some special features for the DVD, even paying for it themselves, but Fox pretty much blew them off). In that sense, I am grateful to have the show finally released on DVD (and even more grateful that the DVD set I bought was free from the defects that seem to be running rampant. I have not had any noticeable problems with disc 1 freezing during episodes 1 or 2, and I have a fairly old Memorex player. Maybe I just got lucky, and at least it sounds like Fox is willing to swap out the bad discs.).

This was a tremendous show that had real heart and promise. Unfortunately, it was cancelled long before it should have been, and it's been given a rather cheap DVD treatment. While there are no real extras to speak of, just having the show on DVD is satisfying enough.

unless it is the battlecry of a United States Marine!!!"

If you are a fan, you already bought this and don't need to read the review. If you are not a fan and you want a glimpse at a truly unique show, read on...

The formula for Space: Above and Beyond seemed just that at the time: formulaic. Earth thinks it is alone, they start colonizing nearby stars, and then they are attacked by aliens and the ensuing war is the main plot device for the show. BUT...

Because this show comes form two veterans of "The X-Files," things rapidly become more complex. Glen Morgan and James Wong take us on a season long look at the military industrial complex, conspiracies, political machinations, military intelligence and their attempts to subvert the enemy, racial discrimination, and if that weren't enough, they also attempt to answer two age-old questions: "Why do we fight?" and "What would you die for?"

Slickly produced and expensive for its time because of the effects, "S:AAB" as fans call it was bumped around the schedule mercilessly by Fox and unsurprisingly cancelled when it failed to find an audience. Too bad, because in spite of it's somewhat unrealistic portrayal of the military, the producers were on to a good thing. The storytelling was superb, and the outstanding acting was complimented by the fact that all of the principals were largely unknown.

As far as the DVD release is concerned, it gets an overall C+. The video is adequate and the audio is pristine. However, lack of commentary from Morgan or Wong or any actors as well as the fact that the set was burned onto two-sided discs seriously detract from what could have been a superb set. On the plus side, the menus are elegantly simple with scene selection available, and there is Spanish and French captioning as well as English. All of the network promos are also included.

If you want a good taste of the episodes without getting involved in the story arc, try to check out the episode "R & R" which has appearances by David Duchovny as the sinsister android Alvin; Janet Gunn as a genetically engineered prostitute; and Coolio as the emcee of the pleasure ship "Bacchus." Another highlight was the episode "Stay with the Dead," which explores war from the viewpoint of someone seriously wounded in battle. Perhaps the best episode of the set is the Christmas episode entitled "River of Stars." The contrast in the opening scenes is intense and will grab you full on.

So do what the silicates in the show tell you to do and:

"Take a Chance..."

Please note, The Amazon.com review is incorrect: '...Nathan West (Morgan Weisser) has joined the Marines to save a girlfriend captured by the aliens...' - West, in fact, joins in hopes that by becoming a Colonial guard he will be stationed near the Tellus colony he and his girlfriend had planned on settling together; A sudden attempt at segregation by substituting invitro-born humans for some of the "colonists" forces West and his girlfriend to choose which one of them goes, and which one stays. At the time of their decision, there is no war; West is well into Marine training when the planned Tellus colony is destroyed, some of it's inhabitants missing, most killed. Following this, early into his service, West's main objective is to get to Tellus, to find his girlfriend, and he makes bad decisions to do so. This would be a tiresome theme had it continued longer than it did, but West eventually comes to grips with his duty, and accepts what he cannot control.

I have not had the chance to see S:AAB since it originally aired (some episodes I missed due to work schedule and Faux messing with timeslots)- and I gambled on wanting the box set, fearing sentimentality and poor memory made it better in my mind than it was. When I began watching the Pilot for the first time since September of '95, I admit it horrified me. The writing was overly melodramatic, the acting brutally corny, the premise contrived and the effects poor. My thought, repeated painful scene after painful scene was 'Oh God, what were they *thinking*?' Creators/Writers Glen Morgan and James Wong, some of the finest talent from the X-files, surely could not have written this....

However, in taking the pilot as it may have been meant, expository for the benefit of pitching the series to network, I saw it through to the end. In hindsight, I also realize the pilot may have been written to mirror the war movies of old, so strongly were the stereotypes played; I understand the attempt, even if I found it silly to watch. I would not recommend skipping the pilot to anyone who has not seen the series yet, because the backstory is important - although certain points are touched on more than once thoughout the series, it is a very linear storyline, and the first step in the character's development.

I give this set a strong four stars because despite some occasionally uninteresting episodes it is hard to not be drawn into the series, as I was over ten years ago. Portrayed well is the morality of war, from the point of view of the enlisted. These are people who chose the Corp, although they do not necessarily want to kill they understand the importance of the fight. Some want glory, some want opportunity, some join because they feel service is the right thing, and some join because they don't know what else to do. Despite their personal feelings of like or dislike, however, they are all dedicated to duty. I find this compelling, although 10+ years ago it may have seemed a romantic notion, compaired to today's media barrage of "the poor, victimized soldier"; There are no bleeding hearts here - Nathan West could have become the most annoying of characters, but he easily evolves into one of the most interesting. Having known many Marines in my life, the kind of people these friends and family of mine are, S:AAB's p.o.v. does not seem far off the mark.

This series is not perfect, but so few of them are. Taken as a whole, I highly recommend it to anyone who likes science fiction, without much science involved. (Also, for X-files fans, there are a few nods to the mytharc in that series. Nothing you can live without, but still cool. David Duchovny's appearance as an AI appears to be a rating grab for sweeps, more than anything.)

This box set loses the 5th star, as many before me have noted, because of the *lack* of extras. Most infuriating, like The X-files boxes, because you cannot convince me there is NOTHING in the way of supplemental material available to add. Commentary is nice, when it adds insight into the story, and with a series cut short like this one, some closure would have been appreciated - the final episode helps some with that, but curiousity is still left unsatisfied. Also noted by others, the double sided discs *are* irritating. I'm not so lazy that I can't walk to the player to flip the disc, but I was almost to disc five - and wondering why I had not seen some episodes I remembered - before I discovered this.

The video playback is good, and what little digital effects there are progress in quality as the series advances. Effects are not the point, however, because this is a human story. I am sorry it was cancelled, but I am glad I am able to see it again, and appreciate it for what it was. If you know someone who owns the set, ask to borrow it. If you like it, buy it; If you don't like it, it didn't cost you a dime.

I would recommened this series to anyone looking for something they can watch with encroaching-on-teenage children. There are strong military themes, violence, and language. Taken in context with the subject matter, however, these things are not as gratuitious as they seem, but young children may be disturbed by it.

"Space: Above and Beyond" begins in the 2060s, and follows 5 young Americans who are undergoing accelerated officer training for the United States Marine Corps Space Aviator Cavalry. These people all have different reasons for joining the Marines in peacetime:
- In hopes of rejoining a lost love: Nathan West (Morgan Weisser)
- Carrying on a family tradition: Shane Vansen (Kristen Cloke)
- As an alternative to prison: Cooper Hawkes (Rodney Rowland)
- The military paid for engineering school: Vanessa Damphousse (Lanei Chapman)
- To escape a life of poverty: Paul Wang (Joel de la Fuente)

Except for spacecraft rather than aircraft and different-looking guns, little is changed from today's U.S. Marines. The uniforms are very similar; "every man a rifleman" is still the dictum.

What's new in 2063:

The U.N. is running world politics, but individual countries control their own military. Faster-than-light travel is available, although it's very expensive so commercial use is mostly directed through naturally-occurring wormholes. Two fledgling colonies have been established in other solar systems. There was a war with A.I. androids ("silicates"), and they departed Earth. Tank-grown human clones ("tanks") were developed to form troops to fight against the silicates.

As these new officer candidates near the end of their training the peace ends, suddenly, when a previously unknown enemy (the "Chigs") destroys the two extraterrestrial human colonies and captures many of the colonists, including Nathan West's fiance.

While S:AaB featured a great deal of emphasis on accurately depicting military life, there was little emphasis on accurately depicting physics. Space helmets don't seal at the neck. You hear sounds of flight and battle in a vacuum. Small solar cell arrays power large vehicles. Space fighters thrust continuously to get to their targets, and bank for turns. This is all bunk, of course, but don't let that put you off the series. Despite the future setting, S:AaB is almost exclusively a war show rather than a science fiction series. As a war show the series excelled, and its roster of largely unknown actors did an excellent job of portraying young people forced to become battle veterans at a frantic pace.

Just as the original Star Trek series used SF metaphors to highlight current 1960s events, S:AaB uses the fight with the "Chigs" to illustrate recurring themes of war:
o Demonization of a poorly-understood enemy
o Prejudice in the military mirroring prejudice in the larger society
o Large corporation with a hidden agenda, profiting from the war
o Sneaky politicians using skulduggery to further their personal aims
o Psychological warfare
o Wounded soldiers striving to return to combat
o Making friends, then losing them in battle
o Younger brother volunteering for the war
o Glory-hound commander putting his troops at risk needlessly
o Separation from family
o Interaction with different branches of the military
o Fraternization with fellow soldiers
o Problems with not enough R&R, followed by problems disengaging from R&R
o Being cut off and left without support for extended periods
o Deciding whether natives are bystanders or enemy supporters

The 5 young members of the 58th Squadron are augmented by their commander, Lt. Col. T.C. McQueen (James Morrison). Recurring roles include Tucker Smallwood as Commodore Glen Ross, Tasia Valenza as Lt. Kelly Winslow, and Harriet Sansom Harris as Ambassador/U.N. President Diane Hayden.

The DVD collection of S:AaB includes the double-length pilot plus 22 more "hour" (45 minute) episodes, on 5 double-sided DVDs. Discs 1 & 5 "A" sides hold 4 45-minute segments each; all the others hold 2 segments/side. Since they obviously could have done the whole thing as 4 segments per side, there's no reason for the doubled-sided discs except to make production cheaper.

The extras are restricted to the FOX promotional advertisement spots. There are no commentaries. In fact, no material at all was produced after the series ended in 1996.

"Space: Above and Beyond" suffered the usual FOX treatment for science fiction shows. It was shuffled around the 1995-1996 broadcast schedule, and a new series intro was introduced halfway through the season. You'll also note that there are many more promo spots included before the pilot aired than for the last 3/4 of the series run. (Once FOX decides a show isn't a hit, it's pretty much doomed to failure from then on.)

The two-part series ender ("If They Lay Us Down to Rest ..." and "... Tell Our Moms We Done Our Best") was obviously finished knowing that the series was already, or likely to be, cancelled. This ends with one of our 58th Squadron stars killed in action, two missing, and one wounded. The two remaining soldiers lie down in their bunks, staring at the ceiling and bleakly contemplating their loss. I'm sure that's a metaphor for how show creators Glen Morgan and James Wong reacted to the demise of S:AaB.

Despite the shabby FOX treatment, both in its original airing and on this DVD set, I recommend "Space: Above and Beyond" highly.

The first few episodes are kind of slow but afterwards the show really finds its feet. The show follows 6 Marine Corps space aviators in the year 2063, during a war with an alien invader who has (seemingly) launched an unprovoked attack on Earth Colonies in another solar system.

Gritty, dark and realistic this show doesn't rely on "particles of the week" or technobabble like lots of other Sci-Fi. Everything from the sets to the props to the uniforms is very close to gear you would expect to find in the modern military but with a slightly more advanced look. Spacecraft fly as they should ships that do a 180-degree turn will keep moving along their original direction. Although a few science concessions have been made to the average viewer that really don't degrade on the primary focus of the show- the characters.

Throughout the show we see just how a real life war taxes solders. Morale dips and soars, characters question if they can win and why they are fighting. Despite the greater enemy the characters clash on several occasions and even ignore the greater good for their own needs.

The final two episodes really leave you hanging but I have heard that the show's creators didn't intend for it to be an end of season cliffhanger but a clean end to the first season. Even if that's so it really needed and deserved a second season to continue the story.

There were a few problems with the disk 1s in the first run of the set. I have had the honor of exchanging three sets before I got a good set. But it looks like they have final worked the bugs out. The set isn't of exceptional quality but it gets the job done. Having only two or three episodes on each side of the DVD is annoying and leads to an odd number of disks (5) but just having this show on my shelf is worth dealing with every minor problem.

Semper Fidelis.

First off, let me say in my opinion, this is still one of the best TV shows ever. The writing and stories still hold up and are top notch. The effects 10 years later look a little dated, but they still work. I would love to know what would have happened if Morgan and Wong were given the chance to further develop the stories they layed out.

If you like the new Battlestar Galactica then you'll appreciate how good this show was and could have been. You only have to look at the success of the new BSG to realize that if this show was given the chance it deserved, it would have been huge. I hope somewhere Fox executive's are kicking themselves for not giving this show the support it deserved. When quality programs like this are canceled it's no wonder why Fox continues to be a lame 2nd rate (make that 4th rate) network. Get a clue guys!

To add insult to injury, Fox has done the lamest DVD ever. The cheap two sided discs and the lack of any is just pitiful.

The five stars are for this top notch show. Fox and the DVD get zero.

Of all the shows to hit DVD, I awaited this the most. Following the Wild Cards from basic to full blown war heroes should be enough to hook anyone on this show. Of course, like all networks do, Fox gave up on this show way to soon. Every episode is riveting to the end. Stand out episodes by far are Ray Butts and the season/series finale. Really, the only thing anyone needs to know about this show is that it was created and written by the former writers of X-Files. That alone should be enough for people to want to see it.

One last thought...this set has been available for purchase at Best Buy for the past month.