Think
back. Past the summer of 1999, '98, '97, '96,
all the way back to the summer of 1995. I remember
that I was just starting my second year of College,
taking classes like Graphic Design and Painting.
That summer I was working at K Mart when a god
of a show emerged onto the networks, SPACE:
ABOVE AND BEYOND.
Although
I initially missed the pilot episode I eventually
saw it several weeks later. During that episode,
there was a specific portion of the show that
took place on the planet Mars. During this episode,
Marine trainees were sent out to the planet Mars
to further their training in a "hostile combat
environment". Unfortunately for the trainees,
they soon discover that the enemy has crash landed
on Mars and aren't to happy to see the trainees
already on planet. What follows is a fire fight
and a POW situation.
The
producers of SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND choose to
use a desert in Australia for their "On Earth"
Mars. Although the sands of this desert were naturally
a very earthly tan, through the use of VFX, the
sands and skys were soon turned to a more "Mars
Friendly" red/orange.
In
the episode, the viewer gets to see just what
a "hostile combat environment" is when
one of the trainees is killed during the fire
fight and another almost dies when her air supply
is compromised. Mars is shown as just what it
is, a beautiful planet that can show beautiful
vistas in one minute and take your life the next.
In
the episode, Mars came across as a kind of Antarctica:
a place where scientists
live and work at, but is still a dangerous place
to be. I got the feeling that there were several
colonies on the planet and a terraforming project
was in the works.
It's
too bad that SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND had to die.
Few other science fiction shows were brave enough
to deal with the Solar System. Most shows take
place in the far off Galaxy (STAR TREK, LOST IN
SPACE, etc). I have the feeling that we'll be
seeing less and less of the planet Mars on prime
time t.v. and more and more of the far off planet
Zavrox Prime.
Although
I initially missed the pilot episode I eventually
saw it several weeks later. During that episode,
there was a specific portion of the show that
took place on the planet Mars. During this episode,
Marine trainees were sent out to the planet Mars
to further their training in a "hostile combat
environment". Unfortunately for the trainees,
they soon discover that the enemy has crash landed
on Mars and aren't to happy to see the trainees
already on planet. What follows is a fire fight
and a POW situation.
The
producers of SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND choose to
use a desert in Australia for their "On Earth"
Mars. Although the sands of this desert were naturally
a very earthly tan, through the use of VFX, the
sands and skys were soon turned to a more "Mars
Friendly" red/orange.
scientists
live and work at, but is still a dangerous place
to be. I got the feeling that there were several
colonies on the planet and a terraforming project
was in the works.