WTF Happened to Space: Above & Beyond? (1995-1996)

i want you to hit me as hard as you can well it's official i love space operas if god forbid you do not know what space operas are they are a sub-genre of science fiction that mostly focuses on warfare in space star wars being the best example of course but even though many people were introduced to the concept of space opera via star wars the genre actually goes back way further than that with films like flash gordon in the 30s and fanzines like la zombie in 1941 i guess i tend to gravitate towards space opera because it seems a bit more realistic to get into military conflicts in science fiction as opposed to time travel which is something that i think many of us see as being too abstract from reality maybe that's why i like star trek as well since it incorporates the space opera genre from time to time but it wasn't until i saw a little tv show that aired briefly in 1995 that i really understood the concept it was one of those shows that was barely nosed by viewers in its time but has left a solid mark on the hearts of science fiction fans i am of course talking about space above and beyond a small show that sadly never became a juggernaut but very well could have had been given the chance there hasn't been a show like space above and beyond since well ever in my opinion the show concerned a group of legendary military privates known as the wildcards who fought against an alien species known as the chicks a race of religious warriors who destroyed earth colonies for no apparent reason and began a bloodthirsty war against the human race unlike other sci-fi properties such as star wars there were no supernatural aspects to this show it tried to be as grounded to reality as much as possible and with such a rich character-driven environment and compelling storylines space above and beyond had the potential to be a groundbreaking sci-fi show but am i exaggerating am i looking at the show with nostalgia clouded glasses and would this show still work today let us find out in this installment of gone but not forgotten space above and beyond hit television screens on september 24th 1995 and lasted a short tragic life of 23 glorious episodes the show was created by high school friends glenn morgan and james wong a duo who have worked on some amazing shows together like the x-files and millennium as well as the final destination film franchise both of these guys were also separately involved in projects with alternating levels of highs and lows with morgan being an executive producer on jordan peel's twilight zone remake and long directing [Music] dragon ball evolution dear lord james wong how could you burn the negatives of that movie and deny any involvement in that monstrosity quickly man save your career while there's still time um anyway after riding high from their success in the first season of the x-files morgan and wong branched out into creating their own property and many people have accused space above and beyond of being a rip-off of starship troopers which i completely disagree with don't get me wrong i love starship troopers but that movie could be pretty goofy and corny at times even the original book was a bit much with its glorification of war wong and morgan said that it was actually the forever war by joe haldeman which was more of an inspiration for the show and you can totally see the similarities both properties deal with the effect war has on the minds of its soldiers as well as themes of struggles of morality and the dehumanizing aspects of warfare now i'll be honest i did not watch the show when it originally aired and we'll get to why in a bit i only saw it through reruns on the sci-fi channel but dear lord this show was insanely good and the majority of its episodes were amazing a lot of them had some twists and turns that i never saw coming such as finding out the truth about the murder of captain shane vanson's family at the hands of evil androids called the silicates i won't spoil things for you but if you had to watch only one episode of this series i would take a chance and watch this one which is titled the dark side of the sun hell i could make an entirely different show just talking about my favorite episodes of space above and beyond which is why it's so unfortunate that the pilot episode sucks i know a lot of folks are gonna disagree with me but i thought the pilot meandered quite a bit it failed to properly set up the characters or establish the world of the show this was eventually corrected as the series progressed but as a first impression it was so boring that i almost fell asleep watching it nevertheless i'll go over the pilot and hopefully it won't be as much of a slog as it was when i first watched it the show begins by introducing one of the first if not the first human colonies on another planet where we hear a speech by charles whidmore from lost the silence of the universe assures us that life is unique we are alone you and i are among the first to bring life to the stars this is for being on ugly betty while this is happening we cut to nathan west played by morgan weisser and his girlfriend kylan who are told that only one of them can go on the next ship to colonize another planet nathan forces kylan to join while he tries to stow away on board unfortunately he soon discovered and kicked off the ship nathan then enlisted the army to eventually join kylon only to tragically find out that the aliens known as the chiggs have attacked her ship and taken her prisoner this is where we meet our band of heroes we've got the aforementioned shane vanson played by the beautiful kristen cloak who is enlisted in the army to honor her dead parrots who were killed in front of her and her sisters then we've got paul way who served as the show's comic relief as he almost always regularly threw in sarcastic quips and wisecracks fun fact for you the actor who played wang joel de la fuente wound up marrying the actors who played his love interest on the show melissa bowen next we've got vanessa damphouse played by lanny chapman damphouse was the techie of the group as she is very well educated and would save the team's lives many a time with her considerable knowledge i always felt a bit bad for chapman as i thought her character was the most underdeveloped one on this show finally we are introduced to one of the show's most popular characters the bad boy of the group cooper hawks played by rodney roland hawks was an escaped in vitro which is the term for a genetically engineered human the in-vitros were a pretty interesting aspect of the show they were adult test tube babies who were born at the age of 18. and unlike most genetically engineered characters in tv shows and films these genetically engineered humans did not have any superpowers they don't even have the common two donor dna instead it's almost like a blender of dna to create optimized human beings who were seen as a lower class from naturally born humans at one time they served as indentured servants but were mostly created by the military to serve as shock troops during the war between the humans and the silicates hawks was ordered to join the marines after he's arrested for attacking an in-vitro racist who tried to hang him and although he starts out as a typical bad boy stereotype the show gives hawks a lot of depth he's essentially a child since he's only been alive for a few years and feels alienated from having no real connection to the outside world being a marine seems to eventually give him a purpose and the closest thing to a family that he had ever had as he forms a tight bond with colonel tyrus cassius or tc mcqueen played by james morrison who is both his commander and a fellow in vitro when word comes home of the alien attack the government sends out the best of the best to fight the chicks the 127th squadron aka the angry angels who quickly get massacred so they next deploy to battle the 58th squadron who are soon dubbed the wildcards enso begins our space opera science fiction warfare at its best with not only space battles but also ground warfare as the 58th squadron attempts to understand and survive against the brutal chicks many episodes revolved around different aspects of the war conspiracies bigotry within the ranks and the temptation of losing one's humanity just to name a few themes of the show while the special effects for the space battles don't really hold up the sets were really amazing i especially like the loading dock where they load the ships into space there was some real craftsmanship that went into this i also really liked the costume design unlike a lot of military-based science fiction the show always looked dirty and the cinematography was also really interesting as it looked dark and desaturated so much so that it was almost black and white the music was also really amazing which is no surprise since it was composed by shirley walker walker was one of the first female film composers in hollywood with a career that spanned decades but you would probably best know her work from batman the animated series i especially loved the intro music she made for the show it is one of those scores that is so memorable that you'll never forget it from the first moment that you hear it [Music] the last episode of the series aired on june 2nd 1996 and it was an amazing finale as we got a big reveal about the chiggs as well as the reasoning for the war it really would have taken the show in a new direction had it gotten a second season but what was even more frustrating was that the show ended on a cliffhanger well sort of it doesn't so much end with a question as it does and on a rather somber note even though there are a lot of loose threads left behind at least you do get an ending not one that many of us would have liked but at least we are left with a feeling of satisfaction knowing the direction that the show would have taken it's not something that most fans like but i for one have seen far worse final episodes but who would cancel this show and why well come on guys you already know the answer space above and beyond coming this fall to fox man should i just rename the series fox kills great shows anyway you all know the excuse that fox always uses for cancellation say it with me now the rating sucked and it was too expensive but morgan and wong call on this as they were bringing the show constantly under budget they said that fox kept promising to keep airing the show on a consistent night long said that they were promised six weeks of airing the show in a row but instead the network reneged on their promises and on top of that fox did no promotion for this show and no marketing means no audience and not being consistent with air dates means creating fan confusion which equals low ratings the classic fox programming formula it always boggles my mind that the strategy fox and to be fair other networks use to help their struggling shows is always the same morgan and wong said that they felt that fox had no confidence in a show that they themselves greenlit and did not think that a show which didn't immediately break grating's history was worth continuing had they only made some effort into the show it could have been a huge moneymaker for them but alas it was not because sometimes executives don't have the courage to stand behind their decisions in the year since the show has aired the cast have gone on to have fulfilling lives and careers kristin cloak went on to marry glenn morgan james morrison is still a character actor you always see pop up in shows like 24 and joel de la fuente has found great success with the man in the high castle plus de la fuente and melissa bowen are still married so a lot of happiness all around now finally we ask the question should this show come back god yes but it probably won't too much time has passed and i couldn't find anywhere to watch this show online the only way you could really watch it is on its dvd set which is beginning to go out of print still the show has gone on to be an influence on both tv and film so clearly it's still being appreciated even after being cancelled far too soon so tonight when you look up in the sky and see a shooting star take a minute and just imagine that it's the wild cards up there kicking some more alien ass i'm jesse shade speaking on behalf of david arroyo for joeblow.com and thank you for watching our show if you like what you see please subscribe to our joe blow videos channel tell all your friends who like this sort of content and turn on the bell to receive notifications for all of our latest videos we're an independent company that appreciates all of your support and we will see you next time for the next installment of gone but not forgotten [Music] you

Channel: JoBlo Originals

Views: 267,946

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Id: _YeU30hDc3Y

Length: 15min 26sec (926 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 02 2021