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The Best Episodes of Space: Above and Beyond Season 1

Every episode of Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Space: Above and Beyond Season 1!

Binge this in 18h 1m•Peaking at 8.6/10

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 stationed on the space carrier USS Saratoga, and act as

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 12 - Who Monitors the Birds?
    8.6/10(237 votes)

    S1:E12

    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
    Writers:James Wong, Glen Morgan

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  2. Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 15 - The Angriest Angel (2)
    8.6/10(206 votes)

    S1:E15

    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
    Writers:James Wong, Glen Morgan

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  3. Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 23 - ...Tell Our Moms We Done Our Best
    8.6/10(214 votes)

    S1:E23

    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
    Writers:Glen Morgan, James Wong

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  4. Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 21 - Sugar Dirt
    8.3/10(170 votes)

    S1:E21

    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
    Writers:Matt Kiene, Joe Reinkemeyer

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  5. Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 14 - Never No More (1)
    8.1/10(171 votes)

    S1:E14

    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
    Writers:James Wong, Glen Morgan

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  6. Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 22 - And If They Lay Us Down to Rest...
    7.9/10(195 votes)

    S1:E22

    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
    Writers:James Wong, Glen Morgan

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  7. Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 6 - Eyes
    7.8/10(185 votes)

    S1:E6

    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.

    Directors:Félix Alcalá, Charles Martin Smith
    Writers:Glen Morgan, James Wong

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  8. Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 9 - Choice or Chance (2)
    7.7/10(174 votes)

    S1:E9

    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 Alcalá
    Writer:Reuben Sturman

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  9. Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 5 - Ray Butts
    7.6/10(223 votes)

    S1:E5

    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.

    Directors:Stephen Cragg, Charles Martin Smith
    Writers:James Wong, Glen Morgan

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  10. Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 11 - The River of Stars
    7.6/10(176 votes)

    S1:E11

    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

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  11. Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 17 - Dear Earth
    7.6/10(155 votes)

    S1:E17

    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

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  12. Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 8 - Hostile Visit (1)
    7.5/10(169 votes)

    S1:E8

    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

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  13. Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 18 - Pearly
    7.5/10(165 votes)

    S1:E18

    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

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  14. Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 10 - Stay with the Dead
    7.4/10(180 votes)

    S1:E10

    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
    Writers:Matt Kiene, Joe Reinkemeyer

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  15. Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 16 - Toy Soldiers
    7.4/10(154 votes)

    S1:E16

    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

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  16. Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 20 - Stardust
    7.4/10(158 votes)

    S1:E20

    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

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  17. Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 3 - The Dark Side of the Sun
    7.3/10(208 votes)

    S1:E3

    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.

    Directors:David Nutter, Charles Martin Smith
    Writers:James Wong, Glen Morgan

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  18. Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 4 - Mutiny
    7.3/10(197 votes)

    S1:E4

    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?

    Directors:Stephen Cragg, Charles Martin Smith
    Writers:James Wong, Glen Morgan

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  19. Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 1 - Pilot
    7.2/10(310 votes)

    S1:E1

    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
    Writers:Glen Morgan, James Wong

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  20. Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 19 - R&R
    7.2/10(170 votes)

    S1:E19

    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

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  21. Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 2 - The Farthest Man from Home
    7.1/10(228 votes)

    S1:E2

    When the USS Saratoga passes close to the site of the Tellus 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
    Writers:James Wong, Glen Morgan

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  22. Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 7 - The Enemy
    7.0/10(176 votes)

    S1:E7

    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

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  23. Space: Above and Beyond Season 1 Episode 13 - Level of Necessity
    6.7/10(165 votes)

    S1:E13

    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
    Writers:Matt Kiene, Joe Reinkemeyer

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Season 1 Ratings Summary

"Who Monitors the Birds?" is the best rated episode of "Space: Above and Beyond" season 1. It scored 8.6/10 based on 237 votes. Directed by Winrich Kolbe and written by James Wong, Glen Morgan, it aired on 1/7/1996. This episode is rated 0.0 points higher than the second-best, "The Angriest Angel (2)".