Show cover for Space: Above and Beyond

The Best Episodes of Space: Above and Beyond

Every episode of Space: Above and Beyond ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Space: Above and Beyond!

Set in the years 2063–2064, the show focuses on the "Wildcards", members of the United States Marine Corps Space Aviator Cavalry, 58th Squadron. They are...
Genres:Sci-Fi & FantasyAction & AdventureDrama
Network:FOX

Best Episodes Summary

"...Tell Our Moms We Done Our Best" is the best rated episode of "Space: Above and Beyond". It scored 8.7/10 based on 197 votes. Directed by Thomas J. Wright and written by Glen Morgan, James Wong, it aired on 6/2/1996. This episode scored 0.1 points higher than the second highest rated, "Who Monitors the Birds?".

  • ...Tell Our Moms We Done Our Best
    8.7/10197 votes
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    #1 - ...Tell Our Moms We Done Our Best

    Season 1 Episode 23 - Aired 6/2/1996

    While peace talks on the USS Saratoga go awry, the disgraced 58th are sent to retrieve POWs trapped in a crippled Space APC. Several enemy space fighters attack and the 58th take heavy losses. It is discovered the Chigs are only offering peace because they know Earth's military will defeat them.

    Director: Thomas J. Wright

    Writer: Glen Morgan, James Wong

  • Who Monitors the Birds?
    8.6/10210 votes
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    #2 - Who Monitors the Birds?

    Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 1/7/1996

    Stranded and practically defenseless on an alien world, Hawkes accepts an assassination assignment that's supposed to buy him an immediate Honorable Discharge from the Marines.

    Director: Winrich Kolbe

    Writer: Glen Morgan, James Wong

  • The Angriest Angel (2)
    8.6/10180 votes
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    #3 - The Angriest Angel (2)

    Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 2/11/1996

    McQueen seeks reinstatement of his pilot status so he can fly what could be a suicide mission: find and destroy a seemingly invincible Chig super-bomber.

    Director: Henri Safran

    Writer: Glen Morgan, James Wong

  • Sugar Dirt
    8.3/10142 votes
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    #4 - Sugar Dirt

    Season 1 Episode 21 - Aired 4/20/1996

    When Commodore Ross sees there's an opportunity to launch a potentially crippling offensive against the Chigs. Forced to abandon the 58th on a barren planet, Ross leaves the marines to fend for themselves with little ammo, no food-and no hope of rescue.

    Director: Thomas J. Wright

    Writer: Matt Kiene, Joe Reinkemeyer

  • Never No More (1)
    8.1/10145 votes
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    #5 - Never No More (1)

    Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 2/4/1996

    Shane risks her life when she volunteers to fight an enemy spacecraft with another squadron, led by a former boyfriend whose new love was killed during a mission.

    Director: Jim Charleston

    Writer: Glen Morgan, James Wong

  • And If They Lay Us Down to Rest...
    7.9/10171 votes
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    #6 - And If They Lay Us Down to Rest...

    Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 5/26/1996

    The 58th is deployed to a seemingly barren moon to make final preparations for a major offensive by the Earth forces, but when they arrive they discover that the moon is home to an unknown species-and that Operation: Roundhammer may cause its extinction.

    Director: Vern Gillum

    Writer: Glen Morgan, James Wong

  • Eyes
    7.8/10161 votes
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    #7 - Eyes

    Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 11/5/1995

    The Saratoga becomes a pressure cooker of violence and political intrigue when an assassination on Earth forces a delegation of UN officials to use the craft as the site of an important conference.

    Director: Félix Enríquez Alcalá, Charles Martin Smith

    Writer: Glen Morgan, James Wong

  • Choice or Chance (2)
    7.7/10147 votes
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    #8 - Choice or Chance (2)

    Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 11/26/1995

    After narrowly escaping the crippled alien battleship, the 58th finds itself imprisoned in the catacombs of a Chig penal colony. While Wang suffers in an alien torture chamber, Nathan encounters someone he'd only dreamed of seeing again.

    Director: Félix Enríquez Alcalá

    Writer: Reuben Sturman

  • Ray Butts
    7.6/10193 votes
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    #9 - Ray Butts

    Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 10/22/1995

    The Saratoga has a mysterious new passenger: a battle-scarred special-forces commando whose classified mission directives put the 58th at his disposal, even if it means leading them to certain disaster.

    Director: Charles Martin Smith, Stephen Cragg

    Writer: Glen Morgan, James Wong

  • The River of Stars
    7.6/10149 votes
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    #10 - The River of Stars

    Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 12/17/1995

    Christmas Eve finds the 58th in dire straits: its transport vehicle, damaged in battle, is hurtling uncontrolled into enemy territory and the pilots must struggle to stay alive with no power, no weapons, and no hope of being rescued.

    Director: Tucker Gates

    Writer: Marilyn Osborn

  • Dear Earth
    7.6/10133 votes
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    #11 - Dear Earth

    Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 3/3/1996

    The members of the 58th receive letters from home, some with good news, some with bad, while McQueen and Cooper are ordered to cooperate in a TV documentary about In Vitroes serving in the United States Marine Corps.

    Director: Winrich Kolbe

    Writer: Richard Whitley

  • Pearly
    7.6/10142 votes
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    #12 - Pearly

    Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 3/24/1996

    On a planet overrun with Chigs, the 58th retreat with a tank driver of the US 7th Cavalry upon a tank named "Pearly". They encounter the eccentric Major Cyril MacKendrick, sole survivor of a battalion of the British Coldstream Guards. Wang encounters a Silicate of the same model that previously tortured him.

    Director: Charles Martin Smith

    Writer: Richard Whitley

  • Hostile Visit (1)
    7.5/10143 votes
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    #13 - Hostile Visit (1)

    Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 11/19/1995

    A commandeered alien battleship provides the 58th with information about an important Chig outpost, giving the Earth forces an opportunity to make a Trojan-horse attack against the enemy-if the 58th can learn to fly the craft in time.

    Director: Thomas J. Wright

    Writer: Peyton Webb

  • Stay with the Dead
    7.4/10151 votes
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    #14 - Stay with the Dead

    Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 12/3/1995

    A failed rescue mission leaves the 58th presumed dead, except for Nathan, who lands in the hospital, where a nagging memory that his comrades are still alive is passed off as a result of suffering from severe head trauma.

    Director: Thomas J. Wright

    Writer: Matt Kiene, Joe Reinkemeyer

  • Toy Soldiers
    7.4/10132 votes
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    #15 - Toy Soldiers

    Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 2/18/1996

    West discovers that his brother has enlisted in the Corps and is serving under a young, gung-ho lieutenant who's so determined to make a name for himself as a soldier, that he will risk endangering the lives of his entire battalion.

    Director: Stephen L. Posey

    Writer: Marilyn Osborn

  • Stardust
    7.4/10134 votes
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    #16 - Stardust

    Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 4/19/1996

    A mysterious group of extremely high-ranking officers disembark on the Saratoga and the 58th are ordered to escort an unresponsive space APC. The mysterious APC suddenly locks on their Hammerheads and opens fire.

    Director: Jesús Salvador Treviño

    Writer: Howard Grigsby

  • The Dark Side of the Sun
    7.3/10176 votes
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    #17 - The Dark Side of the Sun

    Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 10/8/1995

    Nightmares come to life for Shane when a sentry-duty assignment on an asteroid leads the 58th into a bloody confrontation with a battalion of rogue androids, among which are the AI's who murdered her parents.

    Director: David Nutter, Charles Martin Smith

    Writer: Glen Morgan, James Wong

  • Mutiny
    7.3/10164 votes
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    #18 - Mutiny

    Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 10/15/1995

    When mutiny erupts aboard a civilian cargo ship carrying 200 In Vitro embryos, Cooper faces a difficult decision-should he protect his fellow soldiers, or join forces with the rebellious Tanks?

    Director: Charles Martin Smith, Stephen Cragg

    Writer: Glen Morgan, James Wong

  • R&R
    7.3/10148 votes
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    #19 - R&R

    Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 4/12/1996

    The exhausted Wild Cards are granted R&R aboard the Bacchus, a pleasure ship where it's said anything can, and does, happen.

    Director: Thomas J. Wright

    Writer: Jule Selbo

  • Pilot
    7.1/10264 votes
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    #20 - Pilot

    Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 9/24/1995

    In the year 2063, the final frontier is a battle field. An earth united in peace takes its first steps toward interplanetary colonization, only to be threatened by an enigmatic alien race. Enter the 58th Squadron, a group of wet-behind-the-ears pilots with the Marine Corps Air and Space Cavalry. Under the rigorous tutelage of Sgt. Maj. Frank Bougus, reluctant leader Nathan West and fellow cadets Shane Vansen and Cooper Hawkes embark on a mission to save the galaxy.

    Director: David Nutter

    Writer: Glen Morgan, James Wong

  • The Farthest Man from Home
    7.1/10195 votes
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    #21 - The Farthest Man from Home

    Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 10/1/1995

    When the USS Saratoga passes close to the planet, Vesta Colony, where the Earth colonist were attacked, West goes AWOL and flies down to the planet in hopes that his girlfriend, Kylen, somehow survived.

    Director: David Nutter

    Writer: Glen Morgan, James Wong

  • The Enemy
    7.0/10150 votes
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    #22 - The Enemy

    Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 11/12/1995

    The soldiers of the 58th become their own worst enemies when a routine supply mission goes awry, leaving them stranded in alien territory and suffering from the effects of a mysterious Chig weapon.

    Director: Michael Katleman

    Writer: Marilyn Osborn

  • Level of Necessity
    6.7/10139 votes
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    #23 - Level of Necessity

    Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 1/14/1996

    The 58th enters the tunnels to try to find and destroy a Chig ammo dump. In the tunnels on the way to the ammo dump, Lubin is killed, and Damphousse predicts that one more of them will die.

    Director: Thomas J. Wright

    Writer: Matt Kiene, Joe Reinkemeyer