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As promised, by popular demand--and by "popular demand" I mean "![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
dine and snacky: Space: Above and Beyond recaps! Somewhat more detailed than the Firefly ones because, as noted, only three people on my friendslist actually know this show, so I figured I'd provide some context for my squeeing for those of you who don't.
Before I start the first episode, I kinda have to note that the fact that B5 is in the background of the menu screens always fills me with glee. Also, crossover urges, but I'm resisting those. Anyway, onward!
Pilot
We open with the standard introductionary stuff, which I'm not going to recap scene-by-scene. The interesting stuff starts about halfway through the pilot, so I'll just bring you up to speed until then. The show is set in 2063. Something called the Colonial Program is setting up space colonies, and one of them (the first) is attacked and wiped out by "unknown aircrafts." This is somewhat of a surprise, as humanity had just come to the conclusion it was alone in the universe. It's also revealed there are In Vitros (or "Tanks," which is like the equivalent of "nigger," sort of), artificually grown humans, and something called the AI War is hinted at, as well as a general dislike of In Vitros because they refused to fight in said war.
The main main character is Nathan West, who was supposed to go with his girlfriend, Kylen, to set up the second colony, but got ousted at the last minute (as in, nine hours before launch) because parliament wanted at least ten In Vitros on the colony. Somewhat understandably, this has made him really angry with In Vitros, despite previous activism(?) for In Vitro rights. He at first tried to sneak on board the colony ship, but got discovered, and Kylen recorded a little message on a dog tag/hanger thing, "I believe in you." This becomes important throughout the series.
Second main character to be introduced, and other half of my OTP, is Cooper Hawkes, In Vitro. Oh, yes, I am indeed predictable. He gets sent to the Marines for defending himself against a lynching.
Shane Vansen is a military brat whose parents were killed when she was a kid, and she wants to follow in their footsteps. She is extremely hot and kicks major arse.
Paul Wang (wanted to get his studies paid for) and Vanessa Damphousse (wanted to find direction) are the relatively angst-free ones, for now.
They all get paid through boot camp by That Guy Who Always Plays A Drill Sergeant In The Vietnam Movies. Cooper doesn't take to boot camp very well, deliberately screwing up flight simulations, and then looking really cute when the Drill Sergeant gets in his face, all "Dude, with the yelling." His whole blasé air also really makes me want to photoshop some eyeliner on him, but then I get distracted as the Drill Sergeant makes them all grab each other's arse. Shane tries to wedge herself between Nathan and Cooper as Nathan is about to grab Coop's arse, but Coop shoves her aside. Mass arse-groping ensues. It's apparently supposed to be a teambuilding thing. As they get back into the simulators, Coop and Nathan exchange Looks. I am totally not making any of this up, people. I love this show.
Foreshadowing ensues as one of the Angry Angels, the elite squad, comes in alone. We later find out he, too, is an In Vitro. Like Coop, he's sitting alone, even when the rest of his squad comes in. The AA (... hee!) act likes arses to Shane, who, despite her hero-worshipping, doesn't take that, and they all get into a fight. Coop and McQueen (the other In Vitro) stay out of it. The fight is interrupted by an emergency broadcast to announce the second colony ship got blown up. (At this point, the annihalation of the first colony wasn't known yet before now.) We Are At War. Dun dun dun ...
Our Intrepid Heroes get sent on their first "real" training mission to Mars, "Blah blah blah HOO-RAH! From this day on until we win this war, the only easy day is yesterday," and exit Drill Sergeant Bloke with a line that has me all nostalgic, because it's one of those lines that always got quoted in people's sig lines on S:AaB mailing lists. Sigh. I kinda miss this fandom. Not a whole lot, though, as a fandom.
On the way to Mars, Shane has a nightmare, and Cooper tries to be comforting. WOOBIE! You know, I really have a hard time seeing Shane/Cooper because of this sort of thing. They just seem more sibling-y to me, and okay, there's UST, especially on his end, with the kissing, but I can't see her giving in to it. And even on Coop's end it just comes across as this weird First Crush thing, and he is only, like, five years old. (And don't even get me started on Shane/Nathan, which, I like their friendship a lot, but no. Just, no.)
On Mars, my boys get into a fight trying to out-Alpha-Male each other, and Shane deals with it by, basically, taking over command. This is why I love her, folks. She seems a bit reluctant to actually take command, but does so in the end. Pag, whom I apparently haven't mentioned before for some reason, helps Coop up. Awwww. Coop gets all flustered by someone actually being nice to him. Awwww.
They fix what they're there to fix, and play the wee CD thingie that's included in all space stuff, apparently. It contains Mozart, bagpipe music, and something which Pag claims to've learnedd about in his 20th Century History class. "They called this Rock and Roll," he says, because clearly less than a hundred years from now, Rock is going to be totally forgotten about. Eyeroll. He identifies the band as "The Pink Floyd". It is, in fact, the Ramones, with Blizkrieg Bop. Factoid of the day: this was actually my first contact with the Ramones in specific, and punk rock in general. Fandom: touching my life in mysterious ways since 1995!
Blah blah blah alien ship crashes, Coop steals the wee CD thingie, they capture an alien, which up until then no one had actually even seen yet (... or so we think, but my foreshadowing is gettin ahead of itself), Pag dies, woe! Coop takes the initiative at trying to get something out of the alien.
Shane: "Don't, it could carry some sort of disease."
Cooper: "I never had a mother, but you sound like one."
Hee hee. Also:
Nathan: "We're low on rations as it is, and you wanna waste water on this thing? No way! This thing killed Pag!"
Cooper: *look of eyebrow-raising*
And then they, er, kill the alien by giving it the water it (kinda) asked for. Oopsie?
At Pag's funeral, Coop angsts quietly in the background in his dress uniform. Which is really hot, mmm. And then they get their planes, and then immediately get sent on 48 hours leave. The military: confusing! And It'd actually forgotten that Drill Sergeant Bloke is in this scene, thus making a lie out of my statement a couple of paragraphs up. Oops?
Nate asks Shane to come with him to visit his family, who, he, er, apparently hadn't told yet he'd joined the Corps. Which presumably means they've had no idea where he's been since he got kicked out of the Colony Program. Dude, he's kind of an arse. I'd be taking Shane with me for protection, too, cause if I pulled a stunt like that, my parents would lock me in my room and tell the Corps to come and get me.
Meanwhile, Coop breaks into the cemetary, as you do, to get his angst on over Pag's grave some more. Awwwwwww. I'm not wild about the shirt he's wearing, though. It's oe of those lumberjack shirts that were all the rage in the mid-nineties and look vaguely Monty Python-like now. He looks up from the grave to see flashes in the sky that turn out to be the Angry Angels geting their arses roundly kicked. Or at least so I presume. In the next scene, they're painting their planes, and then the AA (... hee!) get brought in, and Cooper angsts over McQueen looking shot to hell. Awww. I'm starting to see where the Coop/McQueen people were coming from, in retrospect.
Our Heroes get briefed on their first real mission. Cooper is smart! Nathan tries to be a hero and get transferred to where the actual action is, and gets shot down, as well he should, and as the planes are carted out, we get to see that Coop named his "Pag's Payback," nawwww! They were so doing it.
Aaand it's the first space battle, yay! Well, battle-ette. You know, these cgi special effects were really fucking good for the mid-nineties. I mean, in these post-LotR times, it doesn't look all that impressive, but for back then, and for a weekly TV show, it was really something. And then Coop gets his smartness validated as it turns out the alien plans on which the whole mission was based were indeed a setup.
Yay, McQueen! More Coop angsting, kinda, and again with the Looks, and this is, like, the classical S:AaB scene, also oft-quoted, including by, er, me, in a Harry potter story. Erm. Yes. I;ll be over here now, shall I?
Side note: they all look really fucking young in these early episodes. I've gotten so used to picturing them as they were in the last couple of eps, and it's kind of jarring. Also, Damphousse's haircut in these eps bothers me.
Coop and Nathan share another Look as they get into their planes. They really do this a lot. Love! And then Coop puts on some Ramones and breaks position despite orders, trying to lure the aliens out, and Nathan wants to go after him and eventually does and love love LOVE! *beams* And then the Saratoga, the big spaceship, gets in on the action, and woa with the impressive. Yeah!
And then the 58th graduate and get decorated, and it's all kinda classical war stuff, really, with toasts to Pag and everything, but I still like it.
Eh, what the hell, I have time for another episode:
The Farthest Man From Home
Plot summary: A survivor from the Tellus colony is brought onto the 'toga, and goes AWOL to try and get his girlfriend back. Coop and Shane goes after him. There is stuff going on in the background hinting at coverups and possibly worse. None of this will actually help you follow the incoherency that follows, most likely, but at least now you technically know what's going on.
I know there's stuff going on in this scene, but Cooper is shooting things in the VR thing and looking really hot and I kinda get distracted. Also, West angst, which is getting vaguely tedious. And then there's vaguely foreshadowy-feeling stuff happening--oh, right, this is that creepy weasle-y bloke that becomes ... does he become president of Earth? Or am I getting this mixed up with B5? I know he comes back later on, though.
Dammit, stupid disk, stop skipping! There's plottish stuff going on!
Way to go, Nathan, go and get yourself nearly killed trying to get to the colony survivor. Also, is it me, or is way too easy to lock up the flight deck doors? All it takes is pushing a button? That's practically asking people to go AWOL!
McQueen gets his rant on and Cooper defends Nathan and awwww! Love! Shane and Coop discuss "going after West," and hello, threesome vibes. o_O Yes, I know what I said earlier about Shane/Nathan and Shane/Cooper, it's stil threesome-y!
McQueen was so totally counting on them going after West, man. Though probably not in the threesome-y way, heh. Also, first mention of their codenames, yay!
Blah blah plotcakes and you know, Survivor Woman is right, Nathan, you're kind of an idiot. Even if you'd not got your plane disabled, how were you planning on getting Kylen out in a one-person plane, you moron? Oy. Even Coop thinks you're an idiot, but that's okay, because mmmm, fighting. "I never asked you to come for me," awwwwww! And with the dragging Nathan into the recon plane and awwwww! Love!
Yay, it's Commodore Ross! I like him! He's slashy with McQueen, though not yet. Right now he's just angry at the lot of them, not without reason. Aaaand then the whole incident gets passed over because it's been deemed classified by the higher-ups. Man, episode two and already we're knee-deep in conspiracies, foreshadowing, and weasle-y looking bloke.
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*gets the sudden urge to watch the show again, except
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*cuddles DVDs close* My babies! :D
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David was so hot with his crosswire eyes.
Er. Never mind.
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You're right about the lumberjack shirt, though. Back in the white vest and jeans for Who Monitors the Birds, please, Cooper.
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"Former US Marines Drill Instructor R. Lee Ermey was hired as a consultant on how to drill USMC style. He performed a demonstration on videotape in which he yelled obscene insults and abuse for fifteen minutes without stopping, repeating himself, or even flinching - despite being continuously pelted with tennis balls and oranges. Director Stanley Kubrick was so impressed that he cast R. Lee Ermey as Gunnery Sergeant Hartmann."
"The videotape demonstration was not the only factor which got R. Lee Ermey the role as the drill instructor. Ermey went to Kubrick and asked for the part, as the actors on the set were, in his opinion, not up to snuff. When Kubrick declined, Ermey barked an order for Kubrick to stand up when he was spoken to, and the director instinctively obeyed. That sealed the matter, and Ermey won the part as Gunnery Sergeant Hartmann."
(Both from IMDB.)
The guy's a legend. :oD
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I gave up trying to rip the DVDs because of that one skipping. :o/
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*<3 you for the recaps*
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Dude. Coop is like, UBER-WOOBIE, I swear to god.
Shane taking command was such an awesome moment. She's a great character - holee shit, I'm thinking about Sugardirt and getting chills.
McQueen is my favorite character of angsty hotness, I must say. More McQueen, plz. :-D
And yeah, they do look young in the beginning eps, don't they? By the end of the season, they've all aged. Great actors, there.
I kinda miss this fandom. Not a whole lot, though, as a fandom.
I was always puzzled by the fandom. So many people wanted to dress up as Marines and declare themselves "Squadron 188" or whatever, but I could never find anyone to squee with. Hee!
"They called this Rock and Roll," he says, because clearly less than a hundred years from now, Rock is going to be totally forgotten about. Eyeroll.
This never fails to make me insane! What, was there a Rock and Roll Plague as well as a fertility plague?
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YAY AUDIENCE! :D
Dude. Coop is like, UBER-WOOBIE, I swear to god.
And it only gets worse from here, too! Expect much wibbling over his addiction arc, and also Stay With the Dead, because wah! ("Don't worry, I'd remember you," AUGH!)
Shane taking command was such an awesome moment. She's a great character - holee shit, I'm thinking about Sugardirt and getting chills.
She is so fabulous, and one of the main reasons I started watchnig the show, because here was this cool, hot female character who took charge and managed to be neither a Ball-Breaking BitchTM nor secretly really need a man's arms to support her or some such bull. And she was kind of reluctant to lead, at times, but also recognised she was just good at it, and someone had to, and everyone was looking to her for guidance anyway.
McQueen is my favorite character of angsty hotness, I must say. More McQueen, plz. :-D
Well, he's not been very angsty so far, but yes, there will be more of that. Though I always feel weird woobie-ing over him, it feels ... disrespectful.
I was always puzzled by the fandom. So many people wanted to dress up as Marines and declare themselves "Squadron 188" or whatever, but I could never find anyone to squee with. Hee!
God, ,em>yes, that was so exactly what weirded me out! It seemed very Trekkie-ish to me, with the outfits and stuff, and I was very glad when I discovered a corner of fandom where I could just be gleeful and have fun and stuff.
This never fails to make me insane! What, was there a Rock and Roll Plague as well as a fertility plague?
There was a fertility plague? But yes, the disappearance of RnR is just silly, because hi, it's been around for five decades now, it's gonna stick around for five more, in all likelyhood, thanks.
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You know, I won't bore you with the brainjumps I just made, but I arrived from there to this: How come there's no opposite-sex siblings on this show? I mean, Nathan's one of three boys, Shane's one of three girls, IIRC Vanessa and Paul are only kids, but the ones whose siblings get a pominent mention? Three girls. Three boys. And Coop's sister, but that's not quite the same. H,m.
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(I got imprinted by
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