Space - Above and Beyond - Collector's Edition [DVD] (Includes Pilot Episode)

Bought as a gift. They loved it

I have fond memories of watching this after Newsnight on BBC2 on Friday nights in the mid-late 90s. As you can tell I didn't get out much in those days - some things never change! Fantastic mixture of Guadalcanal Diary/Pacific island-hopping WW2 strategy and tactics plus Starship Troopers futurology. Fave story arc: Chiggy Von Richtoffen and in particular "The Angriest Angel" when TC McQueen strapped on his flying jacket once more to avenge the death of a colleague at the wingtips of the Chig ace! Stirring stuff- loved the payoff line "And what was it all for anyway?" Although my memory could be being selective on that point. I seem to remember the 2 part story arc started of with Patsy Cline's Crazy while Vansen stared out of a window at the stars. Great stuff - lots of themes I'd only seen before in WW2 movies by Sam Fuller, Fritz Lang and Nicholas Ray. Standing on the shoulders of giants - never fails. After all that its a shame its not out on region 2!

This is one of those series that should have been allowed to grow. When you watch it you can believe it is the prototype for the rebooted Battlestar Galactica series. A cramped claustrophobic setting, almost monochrome colour scheme, harsh lighting, lots of facial close ups and introspective dialogue. The series followed the exploits of a young group of marines called the Wild Cards aboard a space-going aircraft carrier called the Saratoga. As marines they are called upon to fly fighters as well as battle on the ground. In one episode they even fight in cramped tunnels like the Cu Chi tunnels in the Vietnam war. The team consists of 3 men and 2 women, one of whom rises to become their captain. All have joined the marines for different reasons, all have different backgrounds but all are bonded together in the heat of war against an unknown and superior enemy. Created by X-Files alumni Morgan and Wong SAAB was unfairly dubbed Melrose Space because of its youthful good looking stars but it went way beyond explosions and a few toothy smiles. The characters grew and showed their strengths and flaws. You got to learn their stories and see their humanity. The plots are frequently inspired by old war movies and events but add in dark conspiratorial X-Files overtones. We never really get to know the enemy which adds to the suspense. The Earth people are obviously less than perfect and we see that some figures in government and big business have less than honourable motives which casts doubt on whether we are the good guys or not. Throw in the racial intolerance towards the in-vitro humans and the complications added by the duplicitous AIs and you have all the ingredients for compelling story telling. The set and craft design was top notch although the CGI was lacking compared to Babylon 5. Maybe the effects would have improved if there had been a second series. That's not to say the effects were terrible, merely serviceable for the time when they were filmed. This box set includes the pilot film which follows the recruitment and training of our heroes. It even has the splendid R Lee Ermey as the drill sergeant. James Morrison deserves mention as the squad's hard ass CO Colonel T C McQueen. Despite being an in-vitro loner who lives for the corps he develops an affection and protectiveness towards his charges that really shines through. Tucker Smallwood is perfectly cast as the blues playing hard bitten commander of the Saratoga and there were an array of guest actors plucked from the world of TV to play one-off and recurring characters. No overshadowing the stories with big name guests in this series. The set also includes a documentary on the series tech, lots of stills and some cast interviews from 1996. Not a lot but I guess it's tough to find material for a single series cancelled 17 years ago. I'm just happy to get a region 2 box set, I've waited years for one to become available. Watch the show, enjoy the stories and don't get too hung up on the effects. Most of the time you won't even notice that they're a little creaky.

This series was on late night TV many years ago. I watched it when I could and enjoyed it then, so when I saw it on Amazon I put it on my wishlist, I didn't really want to pay £20+ for it, so it was on hold. Then on looking through my wish list just before Christmas I noticed the price had dropped to £16 (why don't Amazon let you know when prices drop on items on your wish list) so thought I'll go for it! Great series, interesting scenario and the special effects are very good for the period. It's not widescreen, but once you get into it you tend not to notice and the sound is excellent. There is an odd episode where they meet an English army officer, this gets what seems to be a fairly typical send up by Americans of the English upper class, which I find rather irritating, he claims to have been behind enemy lines for some time and as result can understand the Aliens communications, which actually would be very useful, but gets dismissed out of hand by the Marines... Great value.

This is the complete "Space - Above and Beyond". Every episode they made of this fantastic series.This series stands out in my mind as one of the better of this type of subject matter in that it is gritty, you start to actually care about the characters as the series goes on as you see and discover the characters fears and struggles they have had in the past, the characters have realism which many sci-fi's lack unfortunatly.Dont get me wrong though this is not just a drama delving into the depths of the characters personalities as the action is constant (lol another reason i like this series! ) ,but they actually compliment each other, the tension of the action scenes feeds the tension of the characters personalities and vice versa, the tension in the characters leads to decisions they make in the tactical parts.For me this adds realism that many sci-fis lack. I only wished they had made more episodes.If your into "Realistic" sci-fi then this is worth getting you will not regreat it.

Still a great watch, shame they never made a second season.

Packaging and covers are excellent. Like some reviewers have echoed before me video quality is not consistent through out. In the episode "river of stars" there is a distracting white vertical line on the left of the video. In the episode "Pearly" the playback isn't the smoothest either as the picture phases between the scanlines possibly taken the episode from a ntsc vhs recording. A decent collectors item overall but let down by the fact they did no work to enhance / correct the video quality. If they had taken the time to do a little remastering this would have been a 5 star review. It was stated in one of the commentary that fox still hold the master copies in widescreen format. This could have been awesome had they used that instead.

Reminds me of my early 20's

1995 was a great year for sci-fi buffs over here in Britain, Babylon 5 was in full swing, this was followed by the excellent American Gothic and there was a buzz in the air about a new series that was about to start on BBC2. It was already popular over in the States and was brought to the screen courtesy of Morgan and Wong (the team behind The X Files). This show was Space: Above and Beyond. As with the other shows, S:a+b was slotted into the schedules ridiculously late to allow room for sport and reruns of vintage comedies on a Friday night but like many loyal fans I stayed up religiously to watch it every week and I wasn't disappointed with a single episode, not one! The show, at a glance could be linked to the likes of 'Starship Troopers', with the marines pitted against bug like aliens called 'chigs' in the far reaches of space, but it is altogether more gritty, sacrificing blatent gore for character driven storylines allowing every one of the mains a moment in the spotlight. Don't get me wrong, it can get bloody when needed but just enough for realism. Time for some Space:Above and Beyond 101 - it's the second half of the twenty first century - man has started to colonise other planets. Back on Earth, the A.I.s were created (artificial policemen to keep the population in check). A computer virus (take a chance) drove them mad and they left for space. In Vitros (Humans grown in large tanks) were created to fight these A.Is who were now plundering the galaxy obsessed with risk taking and chaos. After being treated abominably the In Vitros also rebelled (does anyone else see a pattern here) but were given 'rights' and the platoons were dispanded. It's here where we join up with the series and the 58th squadron (also known as 'The Wild Cards'), each marine has a reason for joining the corp or a back story, which are too long to get into at this stage but what I can say is there's a healthy mixture of In Vitros and natural born humans thrown together and forced to put past grievences and prejudices aside when just days after the completion of their training, an intergalactic war breaks out, up to a point its all very 'Topgun' in space but it expands on this from ariel battles to ground assaults and back again. The show is rivetting from its quiet beginnings to its emotional 'wild bunch' style series finale (not giving too much away, there are losses, it's quite devastating)! Since you care about all the characters, its worse. There's romance and intrigue, there's heartache and also some lighter moments, there's life lessons to be learnt, I could go on for ever but I won't, I'll just say, WATCH IT, YOU'LL LOVE IT! Like American Gothic, Space: Above and Beyond was cancelled too soon. It finished and left a lot of people wanting more. The boxset also unfortunately shows similarities. The special features are non-existant and the discs are double-sided, but like I said with the other series, it doesn't matter, the show is what counts and after ten long years I can be proud to say it's in my collection, A MUST WATCH FOR ALL SCI-FI FANS! BUY IT NOW!

Way ahead of its time: taut, grim, compelling with multi-layered characters you root for and a variety of different villains you can't help but find fascinating. This isn't the sanitary world of Star Trek with biscuits and tea on the bridge of an elegant, space-faring luxury cruiser. And it isn't the swashbuckling sci-fi fantasy of Star Wars, either. This is 'The Red Badge Of Courage' and 'All Quiet On The Western Front' against a futuristic backdrop which is surprisingly accessible and purposely contemporary. Teasing subplots hint at all sort of intrigue and hidden history, too. Wish the series had lasted long enough to learn the rest of it.

a good series which set the table for the future modern BSGalactica

Tolle Serie! Endlich auf DVD, hat ja lange genug gedauert.

Produit conforme à l'annonce, neuf et bon état, et complet (les 6 DVD sont tous présents dans le coffret). Colis bien emballé, déposé dans ma boîte aux lettres. Mais, comme les commentaires pour ce même produit. des autres clients qui le signalent sur le site d’AMAZON, c'est un coffret en Zone 1, et non en Zone 2 !!!