I was a U.S. Naval officer and I have to say although it was sci-fi this show had some of the most realistic military dialog I've ever heard in a TV show or movie! Also, someone at least taught them how to salute properly. That's something you hardly ever see on TV.
R. Lee Ermey played their Drill Sergeant in the pilot episode. I don't think he'd let them get away with a sloppy saluting even if he ruined the take to correct it.
I'm a Marine to and noticed this all though the show. Loved McQueen playing the hard nosed Officer. This is my all time favorite Sci-Fi Show and Ill never forgive those POS Exec's for cancelling this show. it was getting so good too.
Okay, so something here needs to be cleared up. The Chig didn't have a bomb with him. The Chig is breathing pure methane, and when he jumped out of the containment chamber he was in, the Methane combined with the oxygen and became flammable. When Colonel McQueen fired at the Chig while he was killing the Aerotech guy, the spark from the gun chamber ignited the methane/oxygen gas and caused the explosion. There was no bomb, this was not the Chig's plan. That guy honestly just wanted to stop the war, not lure Human High Ranking people into one place so he could blow them up.
I watched this show in middle school and have always wondered why would he bring a bomb if he really wanted peace. Your answer makes perfect sense. Thank you
Contrary to what some people think, this was not a cliffhanger episode that was planned to lead into the next season. The two producers (both former Marines) knew the show was being cancelled and did a last episode in which the "Wild Cards" went down in a final, hopeless, heroic battle. As evidence, if you watch the final credits for this last episode the last thing displayed, all alone and center screen, is "AMF" which the censors didn't catch. For non-Marines that means "Adios, Mother Fuckers", a farewell not to the fans but to the network executives who trashed the show.
I remember seeing this when it first aired. Didn't know that about the AMF part though. I have a friend that was in the Marines, I'll have to tell him about this, he'll probably laugh his ass off.
It makes you think. Could they have been telling the truth? We have so many unanswered questions of our own origins, more or less that perhaps an advanced civilization did evolve and leave Earth or even Mars after the cataclysm that ruined it. So many questions. I wondered after this if peace could have been created between the Chigs and Humans? They should have made one last movie that tied it up. Dammit we want a remake!!!
THIS IS HOW YOU MAKE A TWIST!!!!! F this show was good. I was a teenager when I was watching this...now Im almost 40 but this is still one of the best show with Babylon 5 and Star Trek TNG.
Humans settled colonies less than one light year from their homeworld. Can't blame the "Chigs" for getting a bit pissed. We also learned that they are sensitive to body language and will freak out if you look aggressive to them.
@@MIMALECKIPL They did, and told the humans to stay away. The Aerotech guy didn't tell anybody about it, allowed two colony ships to head straight for Chig occupied planets, and intentionally started the war. The Chigs are NOT the bad guys. That was the big twist.
The Chiggs were also horrified by the AIs who compounded the matter by filling the Chiggs' heads with a bunch of lies (and a few home truths) about humans.
@@OldGrayCzechWolf Dude....they never got to place the settlement. The planet they went to was already held by the Chigs. That corporation did it on purpose to start the war in order to obtain that special fuel. The Chig fighters came up from the planet.
This show is up there with Firefly and Terranova as one of the best sci-fi shows that were casualties of Fox being stupid and pulling the plug far too early. This show is up there with Babylon 5 as one of the best gritty sci-fi war shows ever put on television and its really a shame that it was cancelled after so many good stories were looking to be developed in the next season. We miss you Space Above and Beyond.
Nah fox never likes the show from day one that why they keep changing the air time. Back the day there were no DVR systems to hunt for a show and record at any time. Space above and beyond change more time slots then any show I can think of. In fact, I think no two episodes air at the same time. They also did just shift in time they bounce around the days it was as well.
I agree with your selections. I also thought that the Star Trek TV shows were all very good, the Battlestar Galactica reboot was great (far superior to the original show), and Farscape is outstanding!
I agree about Firefly and Babylon 5. I'd also add Farscape. The debate about "Time" with the Ancient was probably one of the best episodes in the whole series in my opinion.
This was a great tv series. Great writing and story telling. I could not believe it was cancelled. My favorite episode was Walk the Line. But, there are so many.
We have discussed this endlessly and we think that the Aerotech people knew all along about the Chigs, they knew about the warning and in arrogance thought humans could defeat the Chigs if a war started.
This reminds of the idea that Roosevelt knew of the attack on Pearl Harbor and ignore it so the United States would have a unified rallying cry to enter the war.
I think it was actually shown in an earlier episode that the Chigs were known about in advance. The one that I think more or less ends with West not getting his medal from the blind woman Earth president, she drops it on the ground/floor.
With all of the crappy shows on at the time and this one was a good one and it got cancelled afer the cliffhanger of a season 1 finale. Fox cancels alot of good shows and keeps alot of shitty ones
Joe, this was not a cliffhanger episode. The two producers (both former Marines) knew the show was being cancelled and did a last episode in which the "Wild Cards" went down in a final, hopeless, heroic battle. As evidence, if you watch the final credits for this last episode the last thing displayed is "AMF". For non-Marines that means "Adios, Mother Fuckers", a farewell not to the fans but to the executives who trashed the show.
It was the victim of a bad time slot and the show runners knew they were only going to get one season because of the time slot, and then the time slot shuffle.
God, I loved this show. If the Chigs watched while we were in caves I'm surprised we ever stood a chance against them. But then, if they were peaceful until we showed up then maybe they didn't have much of a military to speak of. Also, war and space exploration breeds innovation and rapid technology development. Maybe they didn't expect us to go so far so quickly...
... always wondered about that line, because if so, wouldn't the Chiggs be way more advanced, and long past the bombs, bullets, and fighters stage of warfare?
@@richardhart9204 technological details have little to do with what the story is about. While it's not said directly, one might see that even human ships are just space-faring caves.
@@richardhart9204 Not if they didn't have a reason to develop it. If their species had less/no infighting their warfare technological development would have been slower than ours perhaps non existent. It was always my head cannon that the chiggs were new to warfare and developed their tactics and technology from human inspired designs that's why all of there warfare tech is basically a better copy of human tech and tactics. They learned warfare from watching us.
There's rumors to this effect, substantiated by a few youtubers. Disney wants a new sci-fi series and is exploring properties they own. They've even gone so far as to contact Morgan and Wong for pitches for the reboot. There's still a long way to go, and this might not become anything... But would be amazing if it it. The show was ahead of its time. Now could be that time.
Would have loved to see the series continued. They would need to change the last episode of the series though.. it ended the way it did because it had been canceled
This is one of the most profound episodes of that show, that actually shaped my idea of the universe. I have always believed in aliens. Once I knew that there could be other aliens at maybe 6 year old, I never thought again, we are alone, even if Star trek was the reason. An ant isn't alone in a tree, which to an ant is an entire world, so imagine the human audacity to believe that we are uniquely alone?
I have it in DVD, this scene is in the last episode whre thr prisoners are returned to Earth during the negociations with the Chigs. It is also the episode whre the squad is separated, some killed and the two women crash down in the moon the alien was refering too.
Such potential wasted on the Fox network. Fox is one of the most moronic networks they way the marketed this show and Firefly and then cancelled them without even having the opportunity to develop their fan base. They didn't even air Firefly's episodes in order. This show had a good fan base, but they still cancelled it. Just sell the rights to Netflix or Amazon so we can get a good show that won't just die off right away.
Since it was cancelled we'll never find out for sure, but I've always believed that the bomb wasn't detonated by the Chigs... it was planted by Aerotech, making sure that peace wasn't an option. The fact that the Chig ambassador lost his cool and attacked the Aerotech rep was just icing on the cake.
Not really. One remote message on a probe that you destroyed isn't enough. They should have sent a delegation for formal contact OR at the very least sent their own prob with warnings that couldn't be missed. Basically the Chigs put the least possible effort into avoiding conflict. Mistakes were made on both sides.
I wish the show could have had a better ending than it got. I know the producers revealed what it would have been, but it would be nice to have something more than an interview saying, "Here's what could have been..."
Moral of the story; never let corporate interests anywhere near humanity's first contact. Frankly, I am surprised none of the admirals or generals in the room restrained Wayne when he started acting erratically. They had to have known that this was an extremely delicate situation, yet they just keep sitting down gawking like morons.
When I watched this, I kept thinking of the Wing Commander games and the 1-season Wing Commander Academy cartoon. Space Above and Beyond and Wing Commander are simliar where it's about a tale of two species engaged in war, fighting in space, air, land and sea. The only differences are that Space Above and Beyond is a war that started because of the greed of Aerotech invading a moon that is sacred to the Chigs. Wing commander on the other other hand it's just an ordinary war between the Earth Government (Terran Confederation) and the Kilrathi Empire with both sides trying to obtain victory.
He should never have been in the room. But pretty believable given our world and the mess that military contractor and corporations make. They created a war, probably intentionally believing they would rake in massive war profits. The "chigs" were peaceful until humans invaded thier territory, even then they warned humans off, and were ignored.
Loved this show. Too bad it ended on a rather bad note = The protagonist squadron is all but shot out of the sky with the only two to survive are West and Hawkes that Vanses and McQueen had to keep from fighting half the time basically the best pilot and best ground operative and the black sheep of the squadron survives.
I always find it interesting that the Aerotech Exec is the one who is acting all belligerent and full of himself, not the politicians or even the Marine. He is the one antagonizing the Chig Ambassador and even insulting him to his face. Also notice no one reigns him in: do you think a Lockheed exectutive would be allowed to act like that (or even be involved in) negotiations with American or NATO enemies?
Corporations control government, not the other way around. Government also controls military. This civilization is ruled by private intrests not public ones.
If I recall the aliens requested his presence for negotiations, very likely with the intention of assassinating him. Also keep in mind in "Who monitors the birds" Hawks was involved in am operation to kill an alien officer involved in planning the colony massacres that started the war. The aliens may have a tit for tat mentality.
@funkervogt47 I think that, in the way the Aerotech rep acted, if there was a big button next to the chamber the Chig was in that said, 'Execute', he would have been pushing it multiple times after he got up. Or if he'd been able to bring a gun or knife into the proceedings, he probably would have done the same just to shut the Chig up. Just because he didn't do it doesn't mean he wouldn't have if given the chance.
@@funkervogt47 It was, until the Aerotech rep Crossed The Line... At that point, it knew the time for diplomacy was over, and 'the gloves came off' Imagine being So Enraged, that you will break out of the container holding your atmosphere, into an atmosphere which Will kill you, knowing that you will die, but that it is worth doing so, to silence the words of a manipulative liar... I consider that wholly cool-headed self-sacrifice in devotion to the truth.
Would be nice if there was a reboot or a continuation the reboot will probably be more practical I’m sure somebody could afford to do this series justice!!
In Missouri. We would use oak with a little apple thrown in. With some BBQ sauce added while cooking. Throw in some Budweiser or bourbon whiskey as well. They better not show up in November during firearm season. They’ll have a tag around a leg.
Even those of us that have the dvd, if we see this available on any streaming service, play it there. That should help the rights owners see the audience wants more.
Oh ok. I saw that one. Even remember the title after all these years: "Tell our moms we done our best." I just don't remember this scene. Guess I gotta revisit! Thanks for the info.
Morgan & Wong were also involved in the X-files. The Fox execs made a choice to stay with x-files and to ditch space. Reckon it was to expensive to make. Rubbish. Morgan and Wong could get this going again.
After one season of x files I got bored with it and quit watching. The premise of the show was such that you know x files was not ever going to go anywhere as a story.
I enjoyed watching this series, it was very good, excellent writing and acting. I especially remember this episode, now watching it again I finally realize that they were human too, but from another planet and that they Corporation knew about this all along and with held it. Very good. Do you think they could do a reboot where they start after the AMF for those in the falling ship? I think it would be a good try.
this is the scene that raise my interest on the show...it was a freaking shocker ....it bring another way the plot could expand......but nooo.....that's it....the show is over......arghhhhh
Watched the show back then on Fox over the air. F-ing great show that was cancelled because Fox had AHoles running the place. Later they did the same thing with FireFly. Loved both shows.
That guy in charge of Aerospace... always knew. I cant believe hes arguing about this PROOF. What were they trying to do? What do you think his intentions are?
All it took was a single asshole (Mr Wayne) in charge of the Aerospace Corporation to start this whole conflict and thus making us humans the bad guys and endangering us from the very beginning. Man, gotta love the twist on this show. They need to make another season ASAP! I want to know more about the Chig and their full motives about being originated on Earth and so on.
ProjectSun The Aerospace Corporation is a real non-profit federally funded research and development corporation. I worked there. aero.org. Also Aerotek is a real company. The organization in the show is Aerotech.
How unlucky. Out of all the mindboggling vastness of space, humans settle on the sacred birthing moon of another species. Or is it? I think Aerotech knew and used the colonists as sacrificial lambs in order to provoke the Chigs. War is good for business after all...
It isn't that unbelievable. Imagine if the people of Earth found out that this war, which has caused thousands maybe even millions of casualties, could have been avoided if not for the greed and arrogance of Aerotech. That top execs of Aerotech at the time, who later became top leaders in the Earth government, received a transmission that said "This is our moon, don't land here." and blatantly ignored it thus starting a war with an alien race far more advanced than Humans.
MrFbueller129 The Chigs were more advanced, but not insurmountably so. Keep in mind that at this point in the series, we had penetrated their home solar system. The Soviets beat the Nazis in spite of inferior technology.
_"the Soviets had comparable technology"_ And yet the reason they won the war was the fact that A) Russia and its associated countries are just too big, that B) they were lucky because the germans had to fight the coldest winters in decades and that C) the russians had millions of lifes to waste and absolutely no problems doing so.
I still don't think this show ever adequately explained why the Chigs attacked Tellus and Vesta and then continued all the way to Earth in the pilot, unless it's just they feared Earth and were being manipulated by the Silicates. I also wonder whether Morgan and Wong had come up with a name for what the Chigs called themselves. We couldn't probably easily pronounce their real name in their language but something different than the racist Chig name that they might have used instead in the future.
Not exactly, and yes i know how old this comment is lol. At the time the show was on we found the mars rock that supposedly had fossilized bacteria in it, heck even Clinton talked about it in a press conference (turned out they probably weren't fossilized bacteria, juries still out on it for some). One idea is that the bacteria might have been from earth due to a long distance impact that sent rocks from earth to mars and then back again from an impact later on mars (the same way we find rocks on earth that due to chemical markers show they originated from mars). It was a theory long before even that event... the panspermia idea that life could start somewhere and be catapulted into space to end up else were wasnt new, but it was nice to have it used in a sci fi show which at the time was novel. Ancient aliens has been around for way longer than the memes, it just got popular thanks to that god awful program on the 'history' channel.
Chigs are the best adversary, next to the Independence Day aliens. The 80s and 90s definitely had some of the best villains in movie cinema. A shame everything now is regurgitated PC nonsense.
Indeed we are. Anyways, the project has been dead for quite a long time which is really too bad because of Fox making stupid decisions. And I can't believe that this is the same guy, James Wong the director of Dragonball Evolution which is an epic fail movie that wrote this story of Space: Above and Beyond. But I guess he sold himself to Fox.
I had to pull the DVD set out and watch the last episode again. I'd never seen "AMF" before, but now all I can do is shout a loud "Semper Fi" and flip Hollyweird off once again.
This was a good series, but it was expensive to make with all the CG. The FOX suits probably figured we can give you 3-4 reality shows for what it cost to produce S:AAB. It stinks, but there it is.
This is pretty much how alien negotiations would go in 2020 thanks to SJW cu cks and narcissists being unwilling to bend or actually negotiate. notice how the alien was calm until the bitch was getting in his face and personally attacking him to where he actually put his hands on him first. The Chigs are the good guys here. This show was probs canned becasue it too accurately represented modern day america's MIC, even back then.
