Space: Above and Beyond (Collector's Edition)

Introduction

Space: Above & Beyond came to fruition thanks to the popularity of The X-Files. Writers James Wong and Glen Morgan worked on the first two seasons of this TV show and left during the second season to create this short-lived but gritty and realistic series set in space about a galactic war that wasn't a long time ago or in a galaxy far, far away. In a similar move to Babylon 5, the series was planned to run over 5 seasons, but tragically (in a TV sense only, obviously) fell after just one.

In the year 2063, aerospace corporation Aero-Tech launches the Vesta and Tellus colonies to colonise distant planets. This action is precipitated by immediate hostile action by an unknown alien race that are nicknamed 'Chigs' in the derogatory way that all enemies are personified during times of war. A group of men and women are brought together at Marine boot camp that will eventually form the 58th Marine Squadron, or the 'Wild Cards'.

Shane Vansen (Kristen Cloke) lost her parents in the AI war decades earlier and has joined up to find a purpose in life. Nathan West (Morgan Weisser) was originally a member of the Tellus colony expedition but was kicked off and separated from his fiancée for political reasons. Cooper Hawkes (Rodney Rowland) is an artificially gestated In Vitro (known as 'Tanks') and has been ordered to enlist by a Judge or go to jail. Fleshing out the team are Vanessa Damphousse (Lanei Chapman) and Paul Wang (Joel de la Fuente). They are led by Colonel TC McQueen (James Morrison), another In Vitro but a career Marine whose original squadron 'The Angry Angels' were wiped out fairly quickly after the war started.

In Vitro's were created specifically to fight during the AI war, effectively a second class of human life and looked down upon by a large number of unsympathetic and prejudiced humans. The opponents in the AI wars were the Silicates, yet another second class breed of life for humans, but this time artificial. The Silicates were created for more menial jobs as robotic lifeforms but rebelled against their human masters. The Silicates were defeated and fled into space where they eventually teamed up with the 'Chigs'.



This series, which only lasted a year, follows the development of the 58th from raw recruits to battle-hardened veterans across the first years of war.

I've had this series on R1 since 2007 but it's now finally available on R2 DVD thanks to Freemantle Home Entertainment, and although the two part Pilot episode is included in this set it is also available as a stand alone item.

Video

Bizarrely this set is presented in 4:3 rather than the full frame aspect ratio of 1.33:1 of the original US set.  The tone is normally quite dark, as you might expect from people responsible in part for The X-Files, but also turns quite bright when exposed to the outside on alien worlds. The CGI is good for its time, created with New Tek's Light Wave 3D, but can look a little too smooth and untextured in places. 

Audio

It's a Dolby Surround soundtrack that is suitable for purpose with some use of the surround speakers, although the score feels a little heavy handed at times.  No subtitles though...
Extras

 Above & Beyond - detailed and current making of featurette featuring all of the cast and some of the crew (including Morgan and Wong) who pass on their overriding memories as well as the original concept and evolution of the show.  I'm a little disappointed in seeing Kirsten Cloke as she doesn't resemble the rather sexy moody actress from the series, although in fairness it's about 15 yers later and she's married to Glen Morgan and had four children by him.  Still, where did those lips go?

Designs For A Future War - another current and quite detailed documentary on the design elements of the series and the focus on worn equipment/settings rather than the pristine environments of Star Trek - and this despite the homage to Star Trek TOS by giving the main carrier ship USS Saratoga the same number format albeit each digit being one higher.



Cast Publicity Interviews - short but rather nice set of on-set interviews with the cast during the filming of the series.

Deleted/Alternative Scenes - five in total, all collated on the final disc.

TV Spots - collated into a single extra, so no skipping between them.   Odd that despite the narration in these adverts that Fox didn't treat the series as well as it seemed to hold it in esteem - but then they are adverts I suppose.

Stills Gallery - broken down into Earth Forces, Chigs and Episodic.

Overall

The 90's was a time where special TV series came and went quickly, remaining alive through the memories of their core audiences and the sudden rise of the internet phenomenon where people could debate these series to their hearts content. The rise of the DVD age also brought hope that series would be released and we could watch them again and relive the heady times that we followed the adventures of our past heroes week after week. Profit, American Gothic and Firefly have all enjoyed a fresh breath of life from a DVD release, the latter even gaining a film from the interest shown in the DVD set, although there's no hope of this for S:AAB as the rebooted BSG really took on the mantle held by this series.

What I like most about S:AAB is its gritty and realistic version of the future, following the wake of series like Babylon 5; it feels real in a way that Star Trek TNG and it's ilk just can't. As well as the conflict with an alien race, there are conflicts within the human race. The Silicates resemble the Cylons from the re-imagined BSG, a subservient robotic race who rebelled but did so by learning to 'take a chance' rather than think for themselves. On top of that we see that racism is still alive and well in the 21st Century (and it is in reality) with the In Vitro's facing prejudice from an otherwise well integrated human race, and also being segregated. It appears that the lessons of the past will never be learnt in this respect.



This being the case, the hero who journeys the farthest in this story is Cooper Hawkes, a man who was born at the age of 18 and therefore has no past references or morals that have developed since birth in his colleagues. Hawkes only knows what he was taught by his instructors at the In Vitro facility and how he was treated by humans since then. He feels conflicting emotions but doesn't know what they mean or how to deal with them. He's searching for answers but doesn't really know what the questions are. He slowly finds himself through the bond shared with his colleagues and the guidance shown to them all through the leadership of Colonel McQueen, a hard-bitten but fair Commanding Officer.

The camaraderie of the 58th feels real as they're not an established unit from the outset, they're a group of people who came through basic training together and therefore have that bond that only people with exposure to the military can truly understand. This doesn't mean that they're best buddies who always get on though, there are disagreements and conflicts along the way, each character facing their own demons. All except Damphousse are handled well in this regard, but Damphousse's sudden psychic ability feels too heavy handed and disappears as soon as it arrives. One early criticism of the series was that trained pilots would not be used as ground pounders, as they are for more than half of the episodes here, the writers clearly got wind of this as this is addressed by McQueen responding to criticism of the pilots to waste of their expensively acquired skills. It may not be ultra-realistic but you can only do so much with the restrictions of a core cast and the bounds of realism. It works for me. There are also many references to the Second World War in terms of plot and also just quotes provided by the likes of McQueen and Commodore Ross (Tucker Smallwood), which is quite pleasing and also invokes a strong sense of history in this series, something that J.Michael Stracynski did to much greater success (but in a much wider scope) with Babylon 5.

One of the strongest sub plots in my opinion is the psychological after effects on Paul Wang after being broken through torture by Silicates. Wang is forced to broadcast a propaganda message where he admits to being a war criminal and ashamed of participating in the war. Despite the reassurances of his colleagues that he has done nothing wrong and that no-one takes those messages seriously, Wang is tortured by the shame of what he has done and later places his colleagues in danger as he tries to eradicate his mistake.

As you would expect from people who laid the foundations of The X-Files, there is a shadowy organisation pulling strings in the background. Aero-Tech is the villain in this case, the largest corporation on Earth and major if not sole supplier of hardware and software to the military. There are hints throughout the season that this corporation is far-reaching in influence and knows more than is being let on. This occurs right up to a stunning revelation and consequence in the final episode, but as befits this kind of thing, the viewer still doesn't get all the answers when all is said and done.

Wong and Morgan knew the end was coming to this series and the two part ending is quite superb, being both bleak and poignant. It lay the foundations for a possible reprieve and second season but also provided a sudden ending that made the viewer long for more. It didn't feel like it was over, there was no satisfactory resolution. In that respect it was the perfect ending to a slightly flawed but in my opinion superb series, rather like this set actually.

I don't understand why this set is presented in 4:3 but the new features included do make up for that to a large degree.  Still, at least it's available at long last so a big thank you to Freemantle from this particular reviewer.

Recommended.