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.
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.
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!!!
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
... 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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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?
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..."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!!
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
I loved this show, but hated to find out that the leaders of earth knew the whole time that this war was coming. To me is sullies the war by the greed the elites had and the lives that were lost.
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
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Evolving on an alien planet from bacteria that originated on Earth does not make Earth the Chigs homeworld, this is a crappy explanation to a great TV series. The Chigs are clearly confused here.
It shows an alien point of view, they see us as the same because they can trace origin in a way humans couldn't. Its like someone talking about their ancestors prior to living in a current country vs a prior country. The Chigs simply have a *longer* (spelling lol) point of view than we do.
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.
@Bocaan The Humble I doubt they were ex marines. Since there no such thing as an ex-marine.
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.
What rank was you?
@@TheNdh00 O-3
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.
The chigs were one of the best designed alien antagonists in a sci-fi show ever. I remember what a thrill it was to finally see them unmasked.
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.
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!!!
yep! The A-Team uses that AMF acronym...
Alpha Mike Foxtrot, baby
@@deathstrike NOT real sheep, if they made more episodes it would still be made up! Dumbass!
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
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.
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.
Babylon 5 is my number one, and Space: Above & Beyond is in my top five. should we get married right now or should we go on a couple dates first?
@@lillianmarie7160 you're about 20 years late, sorry. Glad to see other sci-fi fans out there with similar taste though.
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.
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.
they should've contacted humans peacefully
@@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.
Actually, I think that the human settlement was in the same solar system. One billion miles is not that far.
@@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.
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.
yes... and gain profit out of it. war is good for profit...
@@jebise1126 Indeed it is...just ask Quark's cousin Gaila :-P
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.
As Londo Mollari once said "Ahh... arrogance and stupidity all in one package. How efficient of you."
"We have watched you since you were in caves"
... 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.
@@singularitywash It's a science fiction show; technological details are at the core of what the show is about.
@@richardhart9204, it's a tv show, get a grip.
@@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.
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.
This show deserves a reboot
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.
@@depoittier Gods, I hope so. Just keep it to the original tone and don't change the alien's ship or armor designs. And NO political-correctness.
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
Agreed, but it would be made into a load of woketard bullshit.
Producers were pissed. At the end of the first showing , at the end of the credits were 3 capital letters”AMF”
Brilliant series, just a shame it was never followed up.
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.
"So did we"
probably one of the most WTF moment in Sci-Fi history.
Why was this show been canceled! Damn you, FOX.
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.
Less is more I heard.
They ruined many good shows, not just this one. Firefly, Brimstone, just to name 2 other great shows completely destroyed by Fox.
I loved this show
@@pinkmonkeybird2644 I believe a whole bunch of them were once listed off by Peter Griffin.
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.
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.
Fox Network has always had a sh***y attitude towards great shows that didn't fit the cookie cutter mold.
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...
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?
And they ended the series right here... Thanks Fox.
At the time, Fox was the only channel to give this type of content a chance.
Did the same to Firefly
I totally missed this episode...and i loved this series.
Chig: We are you
Human: YOU are murderous! YOU are bloodthirsty!
Chig: Hi pot, name's kettle. Have we met?
Just like a politician, the guy was caught with his pants down. Unwilling to accept anything other than his own words.
I've never heard of this show, but now I have to see it.
There is always someone at the top that knows the truth and covers it up.
“Shuffle up the Wildcards and deal them”
Used to stay up late on school nights to watch this when it aired in the UK must have been up till 12:30 or 1 lol
And so it emerges, we are the bad guys. Got to love this series.
To be corect aerotech fools humanity into atacking the chigs.
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.
Great scene indeed
First time seeing it for 30 something years
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..."
The areotech representative shouldve been expelled before this happened.
Right. MPs should have been there to sit his ass down. But when corporations control everything....
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.
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.
Man.... a Wing Commander series with Mark Hamill... fuuuuuuuuuq, we need that.
Wing Commander had a great book series too. Can't remember the name of the book where the Tarawa ran its mission to Kilrah but it was glorious.
@@themaroonwaymedia9486 You should look up Wing Commander: Prophecy, It was a space dogfight sim, and Mark Hamill was Commador Marverick!
If this was a real negotiation that guy would never have been allowed to be there.
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.
wonder how we would react if an alien came to earth and said " we have come home "
We would tell them to go back where they came from.
@dennytenny
Damn right.
Someone needs to be the winner.
May as well be us.
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.
@@drmachinewerke1 You mean the Aliens will end up as the BBQ.
This show was epic. Too bad we only got 1 season....
Holy shit what a great scene!
Damn, I don't remember this episode at all. Thought I had seen/video-taped them all. Guess I gotta view them again after + 20 years.....
This was the last episode.
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.
I thought it was odd the other officials didn't tell the Aerotech guy to back off. He essentially trashed the peace negotiations.
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.
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.
@@thedarkmaster4747 So is our current civilization.
Great series...loved it.
Loved this show, up there with FIREFLY, too sad, they suffered the same Fate...
What is it that the Chig says starting at 2:39? "We have watched you XXXXXXX that is all Earth has ever been. That is why we told you to stay away." ?
"while you were in caves"
the chig's reaction is very understandable to be honest.
lukeskywalkerlol Aren't "ambassadors" supposed to be diplomatic and cool-headed?
Like the Aerotech rep?
JCDenton 2012 Did the Aerotech rep stab the Chig?
@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.
Somebody should have restrained that areotech executive
Yeah really
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!!
I would have loved a reboot or continuation ten years ago. I would not want to see this series butchered by the creators of today.
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.
The explosion at the end was when their minds were blown.
"How can you claim the Earth?"
"It's our home. We originated from there."
"So did we."
" *Surprised Pikachu Face.jpg* "
CHUCK NORRIS needed to be in that meeting. The peace talks would have went much smoother.
AMF
Would be nice if they rebooted this show
Getting Chiggy with it..
Maaaaaaan, dont remember this scene! Use to love this show in highschool!
this show was so awesome, even with the crappy exploding spacecraft cgi
Not bad CGI for 1995. It was never about that anyway, it was all about McQueen!
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?
Probably, they see this war as a oportunity for technological advance and a way of them aquiring political power.
Ok now I need to find the last few episodes. Sure aint how I remember it ending.
One of the best sc-fi series
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 Chigs were technologically advanced but lacked the tactical knowledge to take the fight to Earth.
funkervogt47 the Soviets had comparable technology. Stop watching those 50's propaganda videos.
been years since I saw re-runs. But after the pilot episode the Chigs were getting the crap kicked out of them.
_"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.
"We have had an executive action on board...."
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.
"We watched you while you were in caves. That's all Earth has ever been. That's why we told you to stay away...." Wow! Deep....
Larry Jones seems we caught up to those slow pokes
how do you cancle somthing this good :(
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.
I loved this show, but hated to find out that the leaders of earth knew the whole time that this war was coming. To me is sullies the war by the greed the elites had and the lives that were lost.
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
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.
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...
Mr Wayne = American Politician Pinnochio's
Ended before it’s time. Today would have gone to streaming
I thought I had seen all the episodes but I don’t remember this scene.
I forgot how this ended...
well that escalated quickly
This was long before ancient aliens on the History Channel.
The chigs claimed that they shared lineage with humans.
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.
This is why Space Above and Beyond are in the same world as Alien, and Bladerunner in my personal sci fi timeline.
Damn good show. Fuck FOX.
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.
Aerospace is NASA... (not in reality but not what you think).
That CEO, not sure actually but he got what was coming to him.
Ten years too early and the wrong network...how many years would this have gone on Syfy or on Amazon? Damn likely a lot more than one.
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.
the defence contractors knowing and provoking a war for sales is an acceptable twist, amino acids aren't exactly property rights and a bit silly
You seem low IQ
Ajit Pai is the New Mr Wayne Hahaha
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.
800,000 years ago on earth they were created they are Anunnaki Sumerian Gods from planet NIBIRU (comet)
it won't be another season without McQueen in it
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.
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.
You are living it. They dont need to make another season haha.
So what do you think?
Superb show. FIVE EIGHT!
Never got to see the last three episodes.
Series is available on dvd at Amazon.
Like Skin Jobs fight Battlestar Galactic in mid 2000's..bring it back like thy did with BSG!
And one hell of a note on which to simply cancel the series.
Ironic that the Fox is being culled from the studio's name by Disney, isn't it. AMF😄.
The Tory leadership contest is going somewhat similar
we are you. my favourite TV series.
Dude its not a spoiler if the show was over 2 years ago let alone 30
very odd the people cannot breathe but the alien can
Evolving on an alien planet from bacteria that originated on Earth does not make Earth the Chigs homeworld, this is a crappy explanation to a great TV series. The Chigs are clearly confused here.
It shows an alien point of view, they see us as the same because they can trace origin in a way humans couldn't. Its like someone talking about their ancestors prior to living in a current country vs a prior country. The Chigs simply have a *longer* (spelling lol) point of view than we do.
It's a Chig lawyer, half truths and bullshit arguments. F off Chiggy, you attacked first. YOU DREW FIRST BLOOD!.
Humanity fuck yeah.
Np, i like to watch it again from time to time myself.
"Chig captive" added to tags :)
For me 10 times better than band of brothers.