A Quality Sci-Fi Series from the 90s

wwkirk

Divine
Does anybody remember Space: Above and Beyond? I just rediscovered it for the first time since it originally aired. In the opinion of many, including myself, it was one one of the best TV shows to last only one season. It ran on Fox in the period immediately after Star Trek TNG had ended, but was radically different in tone than any of the Star Trek series, even DS9. I recall it being nicknamed "World War II in Space." Whereas some science fiction is idealistic in tone, this show was somewhat grim. Although I didn't know it at the time, it derived inspiration from an excellent book, The Forever War, which I happened to read years later. However, the show omitted the time dilation element that figured prominently in the novel.

The storyline utilized more prosaic technology than that employed by many sci-fi franchises. For example, long range space travel was facilitated by naturally occurring wormholes, rather than FTL propulsion, or even artificially generated wormholes. And the weapons were just fancier versions of firearms used in the present day.

Although, it did poorly in ratings, it "was nominated for two Emmy Awards and one Saturn Award" and "was ranked "50" in IGN's top 50 Sci-Fi TV Shows."

I'm happy to report that it's freely available on Youtube. Here's the first (double) episode.

 
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