6.7/10139 votesLoading...#1 - 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
7.0/10150 votesLoading...#2 - 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
7.1/10264 votesLoading...#3 - 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
7.1/10195 votesLoading...#4 - 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
7.3/10176 votesLoading...#5 - 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
7.3/10164 votesLoading...#6 - 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
7.3/10148 votesLoading...#7 - 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
7.4/10151 votesLoading...#8 - 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
7.4/10132 votesLoading...#9 - 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
7.4/10134 votesLoading...#10 - 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
7.5/10143 votesLoading...#11 - 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
7.6/10193 votesLoading...#12 - 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
7.6/10149 votesLoading...#13 - 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
7.6/10133 votesLoading...#14 - 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
7.6/10142 votesLoading...#15 - 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
7.7/10147 votesLoading...#16 - 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
7.8/10161 votesLoading...#17 - 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
7.9/10171 votesLoading...#18 - 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
8.1/10145 votesLoading...#19 - 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
8.3/10142 votesLoading...#20 - 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
8.6/10210 votesLoading...#21 - 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
8.6/10180 votesLoading...#22 - 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
8.7/10197 votesLoading...#23 - ...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
The Worst Episodes of Space: Above and Beyond
Every episode of Space: Above and Beyond ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst 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
Worst Episodes Summary
"Level of Necessity" is the worst rated episode of "Space: Above and Beyond". It scored 6.7/10 based on 139 votes. Directed by Thomas J. Wright and written by Matt Kiene, Joe Reinkemeyer, it aired on 1/14/1996. This episode scored 0.3 points lower than the second lowest rated, "The Enemy".