SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND
60 Minute Drama
Science Fiction
ORIGINAL TRANSMISSION
1995 — 1996
BROADCASTER
Fox
SEASONS / EPISODES
1 Season / 24 Episodes
DVD RELEASES
United States (Region 1 / NTSC)
- Season 1: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com
The series opened with a feature-length episode in which several Earth colonies were wiped out in an attack by aliens and showed Earth's response via the US Marine Corps, specifically the 58th Squadron (The Wildcards) under the command of Colonel TC McQueen.
Despite getting off to a rather dismal start the series soon picked up with standout episodes such as the almost dialogue-free Who Monitors the Birds and the final cliff-hanging two-part story (And If They Lay Us Down to Rest... / ...Tell Our Moms We Done Our Best). Sadly for fans, the ratings didn't pick up and the axe fell after just a single season.
The series allegedly had a budget in the region of $2m per episode, and to be fair it showed — the CGI work still looks far more impressive than for many other programmes of a similar age. And although it has never been acknowledged, the series can in many ways be seen a forerunner of the revived Battlestar Galactic, which also takes a far more gritty approach to space warfare than other fan favourites such as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Babylon 5.
In the UK the series premiered on satellite and cable station Sky 1 before later turning up on late-night terrestrial television where it enjoyed two complete runs on BBC2 late on Friday evenings.
After the failure of the series Morgan and Wong went back to The X-Files for a short while before taking over the reins of Millennium for its second, and arguably best, season.
Novelisations
Space: Above and Beyond
by Peter Telep
- USA
- Paperback
- HarperPrism
- 1995
Novelised Episodes
Space: Above and Beyond
Space: Above and Beyond
Other Editions
Space: Above and Beyond
UK / Paperback / Voyager / 1996
Inferno im All
Germany / Hardback / VGS / 1996
Space 2063
France / Paperback / J'ai Lu / 1997
Space: Above and Beyond
UK / Paperback / Voyager / 1996Inferno im All
Germany / Hardback / VGS / 1996Space 2063
France / Paperback / J'ai Lu / 1997
Back Cover Blurb — HarperPrism
The greatest adventure in human history is about to begin! Meet the extraordinary men and women who are leaving Earth and everything they know and love to find their destiny among the stars.
Nathan They tore away the woman he loved — and gave him a world to defend.
Shane No alien enemy could match the horror she had witnessed as a child during the A.I. wars.
Cooper The "tank" — they said he wasn't human, until he turned rage into glory in the Space Marines.
Vanessa She reached up from the ghetto to grab at the stars — and got them!
Tomorrow is here. The whole universe is only the beginning...
The greatest adventure in human history is about to begin! Meet the extraordinary men and women who are leaving Earth and everything they know and love to find their destiny among the stars.
Nathan They tore away the woman he loved — and gave him a world to defend.
Shane No alien enemy could match the horror she had witnessed as a child during the A.I. wars.
Cooper The "tank" — they said he wasn't human, until he turned rage into glory in the Space Marines.
Vanessa She reached up from the ghetto to grab at the stars — and got them!
Tomorrow is here. The whole universe is only the beginning...
Notes
- A novelisation of the feature-length pilot episode to the series. Peter Telep later wrote Demolition Winter, the only original novel based on Space: Above and Beyond.
Young Adult Novelisations
Space: Above and Beyond — The Aliens Approach
by Easton Royce
- USA
- Paperback
- HarperTrophy
- 1996
- Book Number: #1
Novelised Episodes
Space: Above and Beyond
Space: Above and Beyond
Other Editions
Angriff aus dem All
Germany / Hardback / VGS / 1997 / 1
Angriff aus dem All
Germany / Hardback / VGS / 1997 / 1
Back Cover Blurb — HarperTrophy
The year is 2063. Earth's first space settlement has just been demolished by an Alien army so violent and blood-thirsty it left almost nothing in its wake. And now it's up to the forces of Earth to defend the planet and save all mankind...
Meet the 58th Marine Squadron — trained for war in SPACE.
Nathan West: Convinced that his girlfriend is being held captive by the Aliens, Nathan is determined to get into space anyway he can...even if it means joining the Marine Space Cavalry.
Shane Vansen: She once vowed to do anything to avenge her parents' death. And now she might just get the chance.
Cooper Hawkes: Born at age 18, Cooper is an In-Vitro, a futuristic test-tube human grown in a tank. Constantly in trouble, Cooper can't seem to stay out of jail — until a new law sentences him to a different sort of imprisonment: the Marines.
Three strangers, thrown together by fate. As a team, they will forever change the course of human history...
The year is 2063. Earth's first space settlement has just been demolished by an Alien army so violent and blood-thirsty it left almost nothing in its wake. And now it's up to the forces of Earth to defend the planet and save all mankind...
Meet the 58th Marine Squadron — trained for war in SPACE.
Nathan West: Convinced that his girlfriend is being held captive by the Aliens, Nathan is determined to get into space anyway he can...even if it means joining the Marine Space Cavalry.
Shane Vansen: She once vowed to do anything to avenge her parents' death. And now she might just get the chance.
Cooper Hawkes: Born at age 18, Cooper is an In-Vitro, a futuristic test-tube human grown in a tank. Constantly in trouble, Cooper can't seem to stay out of jail — until a new law sentences him to a different sort of imprisonment: the Marines.
Three strangers, thrown together by fate. As a team, they will forever change the course of human history...
Notes
- The second novelisation of the feature-length pilot episode, after the adult Space: Above and Beyond, but one aimed at a young adult readership. The book included eight pages of colour photographs in the centre.
Space: Above and Beyond — The Dark Side of the Sun
by Dina Anastasio
- USA
- Paperback
- HarperTrophy
- 1996
- Book Number: #2
Novelised Episodes
The Dark Side of the Sun
The Dark Side of the Sun
Other Editions
Kopf oder Zahl
Germany / Hardback / VGS / 1997 / 1
Kopf oder Zahl
Germany / Hardback / VGS / 1997 / 1
Back Cover Blurb — HarperTrophy
The year is 2063. Earth's first space settlement has just been demolished by an Alien army so violent and blood-thirsty it left almost nothing in its wake. And now it's up to the forces of Earth to defend the planet and save all mankind...
Meet the 58th Marine Squadron — trained for war in SPACE.
All her life, Lieutenant Shane Vansen has been haunted by the loss of her parents, who were killed by manmade Artificial Intelligence creatures when she was just a child. Shane despises AIs and has vowed to eliminate any AI who crosses her path.
Then she leads her Squadron on a mission to Bunuel, and comes up against her worst nightmare. AIs have just invaded the planet and killed the very humans Shane and the 58th have come to protect.
All too soon, she and her closest friends are locked in a desperate struggle against the AI invaders. And Shane's vow, once a personal grudge, becomes a matter of life and death...
The year is 2063. Earth's first space settlement has just been demolished by an Alien army so violent and blood-thirsty it left almost nothing in its wake. And now it's up to the forces of Earth to defend the planet and save all mankind...
Meet the 58th Marine Squadron — trained for war in SPACE.
All her life, Lieutenant Shane Vansen has been haunted by the loss of her parents, who were killed by manmade Artificial Intelligence creatures when she was just a child. Shane despises AIs and has vowed to eliminate any AI who crosses her path.
Then she leads her Squadron on a mission to Bunuel, and comes up against her worst nightmare. AIs have just invaded the planet and killed the very humans Shane and the 58th have come to protect.
All too soon, she and her closest friends are locked in a desperate struggle against the AI invaders. And Shane's vow, once a personal grudge, becomes a matter of life and death...
Space: Above and Beyond — Mutiny
by Easton Royce
- USA
- Paperback
- HarperTrophy
- 1996
- Book Number: #3
Novelised Episodes
Mutiny
Mutiny
Space: Above and Beyond — The Enemy
by Dina Anastasio
- USA
- Paperback
- HarperTrophy
- 1996
- Book Number: #4
Novelised Episodes
The Enemy
The Enemy
Original Novels
Space: Above and Beyond — Demolition Winter
by Peter Telep
- USA
- Paperback
- HarperPrism
- 1997
Other Editions
Winter der Vernichtung
Germany / Hardback / VGS / 1996
Winter der Vernichtung
Germany / Hardback / VGS / 1996
Back Cover Blurb — HarperPrism
"Are We Buying a One-Way Ticket?"
The young "Wild Cards" of the 58th squadron have just received the toughest assignment of their careers — torp in under the enemy shields on the icy planet called "Bulldog's Belly," demolish the supply line of the alien "Chigs," and shoot their way out in stolen tankers. Piece of cake. Except for the Silicate double agent, the renegade deserters, and the beautiful fighter pilot who teaches Nathan about love...
"Are We Buying a One-Way Ticket?"
The young "Wild Cards" of the 58th squadron have just received the toughest assignment of their careers — torp in under the enemy shields on the icy planet called "Bulldog's Belly," demolish the supply line of the alien "Chigs," and shoot their way out in stolen tankers. Piece of cake. Except for the Silicate double agent, the renegade deserters, and the beautiful fighter pilot who teaches Nathan about love...
Notes
- Demolition Winter was the only original novel to be based on the series.
