Space: Above and Beyond (Pilot)
In the year 2063, the newly established Vesta Colony stands as the furthest human settlement in deep space. But not long after Vesta Colony is inaugurated, a mysterious alien force – the first extraterrestrial life ever encountered by mankind – attacks and destroys it.
The attack – though Earth still doesn’t realize why their colony has dropped out of contact – comes on the eve of the launch of a new group of colonists to settle the planet Tellus. But a Senate directive forces the colony’s governor to drop ten colonists to make way for ten in vitros – artificially-gestated humans – forcing two of the colonists, an engaged couple, to separate. Nathan West tries to stow away aboard the Tellus colony ship, but is arrested and thrown off the ship prior to launch. His only hope to get anywhere near the Tellus Colony is the join the U.S. Marines’ Space Aviators wing in hope of landing colonial security duty. West’s explusion turns out to be his salvation, for unknown to him, the Tellus Colony ship is attacked before it can even land.
Upon enlisting, West meets some of his fellow cadets – the determined but angry Shane Vansen, the naive Paul Wang, erstwhile Mike Pagodin (who really just wants to get into a plane), and an in vitro named Cooper Hawkes who was sentenced to Marine boot camp after retaliating violently against a racially-motivated assault by naturally-born humans. This diverse and conflicting group of wet-behind-the-ears future pilots isn’t a promising combination. But when the news finally breaks that the Vesta and Tellus Colonies have fallen to alien attack, the shadow of an impending war draws the cadets closer…and convinces West that the love of his life has been lost forever.
With war on the horizon, the cadets are rushed into a training mission to Mars. The mission seems almost routine until they make a horrifying discovery – the enemy has already gained a foothold in Earth’s solar system. The Marine cadets defend themselves admirably in their first real combat situation, but Pagodin – who has become the only friend Hawkes has ever made in his life – is killed. And the first alien prisoner of war is taken. With no means of translation or any kind of significant communication, the cadets learn nothing from the alien, aside from the fact that water will kill it. But the technology and battle plans from the aliens’ ship proves to be a valuable find.
However, the human war effort is still falling behind. Every engagement has ended with the aliens victorious. Plans taken from the alien ship found on Mars indicate a major alien offensive being planned at the Groombridge star system, several light years away from Earth, but as the cadets, newly assigned to the 58th Squadron, arrive for their first space combat assignment, they discover that the plans were planted deliberately. A massive alien force already headed for Earth…while the majority of Earth’s firepower has been diverted to Groombridge. The future of mankind depends on the ability of West, Vansen and the others knowing when to follow orders …and when to break them.
Season 1 Regular Cast: Morgan Weisser (Lt. Nathan West), Kristen Cloke (Captain Shane Vansen), Rodney Rowland (Lt. Cooper Hawkes), Lanei Chapman (Lt. Vanessa Damphousse), Joel de la Fuente (Lt. Paul Wang), James Morrison (Lt. Colonel T.C. McQueen), Tucker Smallwood (Commodore Glen Ross)
written by Glen Morgan & James Wong
directed by David Nutter
music by Shirley WalkerGuest Cast: Bill Hunter (Secretary General Chartwell), Amanda Douge (Kylen), Michael Edwards-Stevens (Maxwell), Bartholomew John (Richard West), Colin Friels (Lt. Colonel Fouts), Gennie Nevinson (Anne West), Charles Anthony (Nelson), James Campbell (John West), Peter Kent (Mike “Pags” Pagodin), Angus Grant (Neil West), Theresa Wong (Michelle Low), Melissa Bullock (young Shane), Anja Coleby (Bartley), Colin Handley (Sgt. Vansen), Darrin Klimek (Carter), Rebecca Riggs (Mrs. Vansen), Ric Anderson (Slayton), Chris Kirby (Lt. Stone), Robert Coleby (Governor Overmeyer), Alan Dale (Governor Borman), F. Lee Ermey (Sgt. Bouguss)
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Notes: Aired in the U.S. as Mission Genesis on Sci-Fi Channel, this series – based on a series of young adult SF novels by Canadian writer Ken Catran – was partially bankrolled by Sci-Fi Channel and was billed as the first Sci-Fi Channel original series. The cast is filled with faces familiar to viewers of Canadian-produced drama series (a category that also crosses over with many later Sci-Fi Channel original series). The television series diverges from the books in everything from minor story details to major elements such as the characters’ names. Composer Fred Mollin had previously scored such Canadian-produced TV series as Friday The 13th: The Series (and some of the later movies from that franchise), Forever Knight, TekWar and episodes of the new Outer Limits.
Notes: There are several differences between the world established in the movie Stargate and that of the series. The location of the mountain base housing the Stargate has changed to Cheyenne Mountain, an actual Air Force base. (O’Neill mentions that he has been there before, suggesting that the stargate was not moved between the film and the series.) The spellings of “Jack O’Neill” and “Sha’re” have been changed from the original “O’Neil” and “Sha’uri.” The characters of Kawalsky and Ferretti were lieutenants in the movie, but majors in the series. In the film, Abydos was in another galaxy. In the series, it is one of the closest planets with a stargate to Earth, which is why the Earth gate is able to connect to it without adjustments to the address. The alien that possessed the human body Ra was a humanoid in the movie, not a snake-like creature. Ra’s guards were not called by any name or title in the movie, but were referred to as Horus and Anubis in the credits. Their headpieces folded away completely and disappeared, unlike the serpent guard headpieces of the series. (The name Anubis was later given to a major villain in the series’ later seasons.) In the film, O’Neil and Jackson agreed that the major danger was the Earth gate, and that O’Neil would find some way to have that shut down when he returned home. No explanation is given for why the stargate remained unburied and connected to power. Alexis Cruz played Skaara in both the movie and the series.
Cast: Joe Morton (Dr. Grote Maxwell), Maria Del Mar (Dr. Haylen Breslauer), Alexandra Wilson (Dr. Dru Breslauer), Jordan Lund (Dr. Batung), Julia Pennington (Ani), Gay Thomas (Dr. Rema Cook), Brian McNamara (Dr. Caleb Jurado) Joe Spano (Dr. DeMilla), Salli Richardson (Kim), Zachary Ansley (Bortok), Veena Sood (Mrs. Tennant), Gordon Currie (Mr. Tennant), Mitch Kosterman (Hennessy), Christine Willes (Nurse Tobbit), Leanne Adachi (Mednaut Cowan), Brent Chapman (Launch Attendant), Paul McGillion (Pvt. Banes), Joe Pascual (Mednaut Westhusing), Rick Ravanello (Mednaut Thurston), Diana Stevan (Mrs. Hennesey), Haig Sutherland (Nagnom)
Notes: As the writer of the hit movie I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, series creator Trey Callaway was given his first shot at a “created by” credit on TV, resulting in Mercy Point, a SF medical drama which was part of an attempt by UPN to revitalize the network in its third year on the air. Genre series were greenlit with great fanfare in UPN’s fall 1998 season, though Mercy Point was the first to fall under the axe, airing only three episodes before cancellation. Its stablemate, Seven Days, found an audience by virtue of sharing Wednesday nights with Star Trek: Voyager. UPN burned off the remaining unaired Mercy Point episodes in July 1999. Callaway went on to write and produce CSI:NY.
The seventh Doctor is drawn to a jungle world, where he rescues a hapless bystander and discovers an elderly couple nearby. The couple have a unique relationship based on a mutual loathing that seems like it could become murderous at any moment – and they both have very dark secrets to hide. The fifth Doctor, meanwhile, finds himself locked out of the TARDIS, which has materialized aboard a doomed British ship in the North Atlantic. The ship is torpedoed by a German U-boat, and the TARDIS is lost at sea. The Doctor, along with an Irish woman from the British vessel, drifts along with the debris until taken aboard the German sub as a spy. Elsewhere, on the starliner Edifice, the sixth Doctor’s TARDIS arrives, coinciding with an experiment being performed on a time-sensitive creature known as the Temperon. But shortly after the experiment fails, the entire crew – with the exception of its android helmsman and a waitress who appears to have survived through pure luck – is killed, and the Doctor must find out why. Each incarnation of the Doctor is unaware that he is facing the same threat, but in different places and times. And each Doctor has a piece of the puzzle that could save their besieged home planet of Gallifrey.
Cast: Gina Torres (Hel), Victoria Pratt (Sarge), Jennifer Sky (Cleopatra), Patrick Kake (Mauser), David Press (Horst), Mark Williams (Cat Man), Elizabeth Hawthorne (Voice)
time slot with the Bruce Campbell series Jack Of All Trades, which also clocked in at half an hour) All three of Cleopatra 2525’s leads had previously played roles on Hercules and 
Heartland. Gina Torres appeared as Nebula in several episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and after this series went on to the recurring role of Jasmine in the Buffy spinoff Angel, before taking the role of Zoe Washburne in Joss Whedon’s 
NYPD detectives Sara Pezzini and Danny Woo are on the trail of a criminal named Gallo who, among other things, is suspected by Pezzini of murdering her father, and, more recently, a childhood friend of hers. In the ensuing chase, Pezzini and Danny are separated, and Pez finds herself in an art gallery at the mercy of a trained killer. The only thing that saves her life is the Witchblade – an armored gauntlet in one of the display cases which seems to somehow make its own way onto her arm in the melee, deflecting bullets and effectively ending the fight by sparking a huge explosion which kills the gunman. Pezzini is understandably confused by what has happened, especially when there is no evidencee of the gauntlet later (though she can’t explain the origin of the ancient-looking bracelet which now graces her wrist) – nor is there any evidence of a dark-clothed man who she spotted gazing at the Witchblade in the gallery.
Years after her travels in the TARDIS ended, Sarah Jane Smith has resumed her job as an investigative journalist, though her stint with TV network Planet 3 ended in disgrace after one of her exposes was proven to be based on false evidence. Fired by her network, Sarah’s troubles didn’t end there, as her identity, bank account and her employability were systematically erased. With the help of Natalie, her former Planet 3 producer, Sarah is still on the trail of a big story, but now she’s trying to find out who tainted her last big story – and her paranoia is growing. The trail leads to a bank where Sarah assumes a new identity and takes a job – but her cover is blown by the police when the bank is robbed. Sarah receives a message from her friend Ellie, an environmental activist, to meet her the next day at an isolated village, and Ellie’s friend Josh insists on accompanying Sarah, especially after she goes to meet with the bank manager again and finds him dead – with a note on his desk also referring to the village where Sarah is supposed to meet Ellie. Sarah and Josh go to retrieve her car, which she’s taken to keeping hidden in a garage away from her home for security reasons, only to see a man break into it and blow it up. They decide at this point that public transport might be a safer way to get there, and when they do arrive, they find Ellie’s environmentalist group preparing to protest a French biochemical company’s gradual plan to take over the entire village. Only some of Ellie’s environmentalist colleagues have gone missing, and the corpses have begun piling up near the village’s legendary healing well…