Space: Above and Beyond

I usually consider myself to be quite well-versed in recent science fiction shows (with the notable exception of farscape, which i still plan to watch). I was quite suprised when I recieved the DVD set of the series for my Birthday. How had I not heard of this wonderful series?

It's the year 2063, and humanity is alone in the universe. Colonies are being formed on other worlds, and everything is rebuilding after the AI war from a few years before. Then an unknown alien race destroys several colonies, and humanity faces an alien race that threatens to wipe them out. As the bulk of Earth's military forces are destroyed or wiped out, the unproven and undertrained 58th squadron of the US Marine Corps Space Aviator Corps as they slowly become veterans in a war that humanity is loosing.

What sets this show apart from the standard is its above-average characterization (although against shows like Galactica or Babylon 5 it pales by a large margin). These are real soldiers, real marines, with real personalities, real fears and problems. Its quite refreshing to see. I won't delve into all of the characters here, but the relationships between them and their personalties are better then in a lot of shows (I especially like Hawke's growth).

Besides, not everything is black and white. Did Aerotech know the aliens were there before they sent the colony ships? Were the "Chigs" really unprovoked in attacking us?

I particularly like the societal and moral problems posed with "In Vitroes" - these are humans not born, but grown and "born" at the age of 18. They face discrimination and lack the same sort of upbringings as normal humans, which presents some challenges.

The one area I can really complain about is in regards to the CGI, which is just awful. I can excuse it partly for being from 1995, but Babylon 5 used all CGI that actually looked good during the same period, and it was far from a big-budget show. A lot of the ships (like the Saratoga) lack detailed texturing, and everything seems to move in slow motion (missiles go 2mph). But, its a very minor complaint compared to the rest of the show.

It's slightly inferior to stargate at its best, but its also far superior to Stargate at it's worst (and lets face it, stargate was usually medicore). The characters seem to have more depth and humanity to them then a lot of the stargate characters do (per episode). So, I suppose my point in all of this is to reccomend it to scifi buffs like myself. Just don't expect another Battlestar Galactica, firefly or Babylon 5. It's not that good, but it is well above average! It only lasted for a single season, unfortunately.