“Space: Above and Beyond” Review

Space: Above and Beyond: Created by Glen Morgan, James Wong. With Morgan Weisser, Kristen Cloke, Rodney Rowland, Joel de la Fuente. The Earth is embroiled in a desperate war against alien invaders, and this series focuses on one squadron of Marine pilots involved in it.

I had a strong memory of really liking this show, but I knew that it was military science fiction from a time when scifi on TV was pretty hokey at times, so I was happy to see that the first episode opened so strongly with the drill sergeant from “Full Metal Jacket” making an appearance.  It throws a few seemingly unrelated concepts at the wall with tank born super soldiers with no home after a war with synthetic humanoids combining with an assault by alien forces on a human colony on a far off planet. It all eventually kinda sorta all ties together and the stories go from pretty ok to downright bad at times.  The synthetic stories and concept haven’t aged very well, showing particular 90’s elements that are no longer in vogue, specifically androids with cool looking eye caps and circuit boards just randomly hanging off their necks to indicate they’re androids and not humans.  I loved the final project and I think it’s one of the reasons I grew into loving military scifi so much as an adult.

My one big complaint about the show is that the main characters seem to be “general purpose” space marines, depending on the requirements of whatever episode they were in, from leading ground forces to piloting their own “hammerhead” fighter ships to running the guns on smaller cargo landers.  I get that the necessities of the show’s structure is the reason this happened this way, but that structure could be better laid out if the show was made in modern times.

The reason I went back to watch this was that I found a couple paperback books that have stories from this universe and wanted to have the show fresh in my mind when I read them, so now they’re up next on my TBR pile.  They’ve been there for about a year now!

Classic cityscape – SanFran – (OC)

wizards be like “I like NBs– New Books”!

God bless the USA

Ted Kaczynski at University

Monica Bellucci at a film premiere in Paris, 1995

Krysten Ritter

Humvees of 95th Air Assault Brigade drive trough Kursk region [1016×571]

First Miss Universe contest 1952

Yogma La, India [3220×2422][OC]

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Jayne Mansfield (1956)

CSX9000 – Daytona Coupe

Kristen Bell

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Alison Brie

Airline Mechanic Smuggled Cocaine In Airplane Cockpit

More On This – Airline Mechanic Smuggled Cocaine In Airplane Cockpit (watchaeor.com)

Paul Belloisi, a former American Airlines mechanic at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK Airport), was sentenced by United States District Judge Dora L. Irizarry to 108 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to import and possess cocaine.  Belloisi was convicted in May 2023 following a one-week jury trial of all three counts of an indictment charging him with conspiring to possess and import cocaine and importing cocaine. Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Darren B. McCormack, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, New York (HSI), and Francis J. Russo, Director of Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, New York Field Office (CBP), announced the sentence.

Avatar Fire And Ash (2025) Textless Poster p

Abby Elliott

Naches Peak Loop at Mt. Ranier National Park, WA [OC] [3024×4032]

Oh Hmmm….

Pikmin Garden [1920×1080]

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Aly Raisman

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Took me a minute

BIKINI

Joyce DeWitt 1970’s

Cobie Smulders

Sunrise in the French Alps, taken during a multi-day backpacking trip [OC] [2400×2796]

Adria Arjona

Two MV-22Bs flying over the forest of Washington [4648×3099]

Reality is often Disappointing.

Milana Vayntrub

Elizabeth Olsen

Black wallpaper (736×1308)

Just a ship.

Salt Lake City, UT [OC] [4032×3024]

Ronda, Spain

Ticket: The wifi in the gym is slow after some maintenance

Diana Ross in the 70s

The Wiener’s Circle in Chicago has a special for the DNC this week

Why was only one malevolence built?

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it’s not laziness

Ciara

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Amanda Seyfried

17 F-35Bs on the flight deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth during CSG21 [2400×3600]