Space: Above and Beyond

I saw this in its first run in 1995-96 and was a huge fan. I used to look for it every week (because Fox moved constantly instead of letting it find an audience).

The premise of the show was fairly straightforward: Humanity begins reaching for the stars as technology has evolved, and we believe we are alone in the universe. Shortly after the first two human colonies are established, unknown beings from another planet attack and Earth is forced to muster defenses to fight an alien force.

But from there the plot diverges. Executive Producers Morgan and Wong take us on a season long journey that allows us to examine the military industrial complex, racism, drug addiction, political conspiracies, and attempt to answer the question "why we fight." The back drop is the war which is not a depicted as a "rah rah" atmosphere, but as one that is harsh and somewhat graphic in its depictions of the consequences of battle (see the episode "Stay With the Dead").

In sum, the show was innovative and tried to answer old questions in a new way. The good guys were not always good, and from the outset, the bad guys are not necessarily bad, nor are they all that different from us.

While the portrayal of the military required one to suspend disbelief, the overall product was done quite well...

One of my top ten.