Listen UP Marines

[kensei]

Well let's see.

I served 4 years in the US Army as an Airborne Infantry soldier. I was part of Operation Just cause in Panama in 1989 and Desert Storm in 1991. I also served at the DMZ in Korea for a year. I take it that this background gives me the right to talk about the Infantry MOS in general. What have you done?

As for the Marine Corpse Infantryman, there is little difference. They are just more gung-ho because they are a smaller and therefore slighty better trained than a normal US Army Infantry soldier. Trust me, in the middle of war, we were both brothers doing the same $hit. It's only in peactime that service rivalry gets in the way.

As for all MArines being ground pouders....... I think not.

A marine pilor gets shot down in hostile territory and he will not turn inot Rambo. He will try to flee to safety. A cook gets caught in an ambush and he will defend himself and try to get to safety, instead of joining the fight and turning in the Terminator. Marines have their special skills and do them well but don't try and make it seem like all marines are killing machines because only the Marine grunts can fit that roll just like the US Army grunts do and the NAVY SEAL's.

Derailing the thread is what he's looking for.

Derailing the thread????? I am just stating the facts. He came after me bro, like I was some clueless civilian who knew nothing about the military.

AIRBORNE!!!!!!!!

After all the crap you spout, we don't really know what to believe about your posts.

[Uxi]

SAAB was silly having pilots do that grunt work. Not that folks couldn't be trained to do both... just seems like a waste of time and resources to have pilots pulling that double duty. Of course, SAAB also completely screwed up the discipline aspect of the "Marines" on the show. One thing that always irked me was the haircuts. No way would that clone guy be able to get away with that kind of bushy mop on his head.

As far as "the derailing." Marines tend to be more disciplined, better trained, in better shape, and more highly motivated than equivalent Army doggies (just compare the lengths and intensity of training for comparative MOS).

[bsu legato]

I'm no expert on SAAB, but I'd imagine that the pilot/groun pounder dual roles was a contrivance forced upon the writers due to budget. If the show was done today with a Galactica-type budget, there would be room to explore more characters, and would allow them to have proper pilots and infantry. But as a Fox show made in the early 90's on god-knows how little budget, they must have compromised and used the same core group of characters for everything. THis would allow them to have some variety in the show while not bombarding us with new characters and/or unconnected storylines.

Or I could be completely wrong, and SAAB could be somebody's well thought out theorem on future marines who do it all themselves. Only the writers know for sure.

[bsu legato]

buncha nonsense

All that, along with a PHD, and yet you post at the same level as a 15 year old on a Counterstike message board? Go figure.

[Noriko Takaya]

Well let's see.

I served 4 years in the US Army as an Airborne Infantry soldier. I was part of Operation Just cause in Panama in 1989 and Desert Storm in 1991. I also served at the DMZ in Korea for a year. I take it that this background gives me the right to talk about the Infantry MOS in general. What have you done?

As for the Marine Corpse Infantryman, there is little difference. They are just more gung-ho because they are a smaller and therefore slighty better trained than a normal US Army Infantry soldier. Trust me, in the middle of war, we were both brothers doing the same $hit. It's only in peactime that service rivalry gets in the way.

As for all MArines being ground pouders....... I think not.

A marine pilor gets shot down in hostile territory and he will not turn inot Rambo. He will try to flee to safety. A cook gets caught in an ambush and he will defend himself and try to get to safety, instead of joining the fight and turning in the Terminator. Marines have their special skills and do them well but don't try and make it seem like all marines are killing machines because only the Marine grunts can fit that roll just like the US Army grunts do and the NAVY SEAL's.

Derailing the thread is what he's looking for.

Derailing the thread????? I am just stating the facts. He came after me bro, like I was some clueless civilian who knew nothing about the military.

AIRBORNE!!!!!!!!

Well, six years as a Marine infantryman entitles me to speak more about the Corps' politics than you. And as anyone on these boards knows, I do not feel the need to brag about my military service or what I have done, but I can tell you I have had my fair share of time on ground in hostile areas with fire coming my way. And how are we to believe you? Ever since you joined this community, you have been caught in some lie one way or another that no one really believes you anymore. Pogue.

[MGREXX]

WOW!!!!! You find ONE tiny remark where I make an expressive statement and all of a sudden, I write like a 15 year old, huh? You are a smart one.

As for the rest of you, I only say the truth.

[Skippy438]

Thanks for hijacking the thread guys ... SAAB did do there best to try and get celeb cameos, I remember one episode with Coolio AND David Duchovny. Talk about star power

[CoryHolmes]

SAAB was silly having pilots do that grunt work. Not that folks couldn't be trained to do both... just seems like a waste of time and resources to have pilots pulling that double duty. Of course, SAAB also completely screwed up the discipline aspect of the "Marines" on the show. One thing that always irked me was the haircuts. No way would that clone guy be able to get away with that kind of bushy mop on his head.

I always felt that SAAB did its best to keep the military as just that, the military. Not the military lite we get on so many other shows. I always liked that about it.

[Uxi]

Maybe being an actual US Marine colored my perceptions... but these guys were ridiculous in their (lack of) discipline, from the few episodes I saw. Not quite as bad as Aliens (shudder), though.

Particularly the clone guy seemed really... insolent and maverick instead of a team player.

[CoryHolmes]

Maybe being an actual US Marine colored my perceptions... but these guys were ridiculous in their (lack of) discipline, from the few episodes I saw. Not quite as bad as Aliens (shudder), though.

Particularly the clone guy seemed really... insolent and maverick instead of a team player.

When you compare it to other Hollywood "military" shows, though? Yeah, the Colonial Marines in Aliens spring to mind.

And Cooper was supposed to be insolent and a maverick and not much of a team player, so it's alright that he was played that way on the show

[Axelay]

OK, time to get this back on the right track!

Space: Above and Beyond DVD set at Best Buy

Hits shelves on 9/6/2005. I'll be picking mine up that very day, hopefully.

[Gaijin]

OK, time to get this back on the right track!

Space: Above and Beyond DVD set at Best Buy

Hits shelves on 9/6/2005. I'll be picking mine up that very day, hopefully. 

323822[/snapback]

I'm debating on this one...I hear both good and bad about the show. The fact that Fox cancelled it prob means it's good though...

[cobywan]

It's one of my all time favorite sci-fi shows. I gotta make a hammerhead though.

[Coota0]

Firefly got a movie maybe S:AAB will too (probably not, but wishful thinking is nice)

I thought saying that the Squadron (always though they were a little light on pilots and that having an non-flying C.O. was odd) was part of the Marine Space Cav was pretty messed up.

While Marine officers from other MOSs can take over a platoon in a pinch, didn't anyone think it was odd that whenever they played grunt it was always a squad (not a platoon) of all Officers and (with the exception of the episode with Ray Butts) all officers of the same rank (all O-1s)?

[uminoken]

With shows cancelled left and right, kinda makes me think Japan's on to something by having 'mini-series' with full closed off storylines rather than write til the show doesn't make money. Course with the show format we have, there's room for more characters, bigger stories, more money to milk. Maybe have a few mini-shows a season, give a little variety without a several year committment, and keep a few regular multi-seasoners. Course given the average American tv viewer, that wouldn't work, as they would have to tune in and actually consistently watch the show.

[Mechwarrior]

Show about Marines? Never heard of this one, but ill check it out for sure, thanx for the heads up. Just my input about Marines and the versatile roles they can play, I recall one tour i did in 93, on ship and being Comm with Top Secret clearence, i never thought in a million years I would be assigned to a .50 Cal hanging off the back of a Navy Ship. Excuse the pic, its a bit before Digiltal cameras, lol.

[Axelay]

OK, I picked up my copy the day it came out and have already watched the first two DVD's. A few curious questions, though.

- The title screens are certainly bland. But what the heck is that thing in the upper right hand corner? Is it just me, or does it look suspiciously like Babylon 5?! What the...?

- I've noticed that the framerate on some of the episodes seems very choppy (especially the second episode). Maybe it's just my Xbox, but has anyone else noticed this on their DVD player?

- I saw what appeared to be a complete screw up in the episode entitled "Eyes." If you watch when Hawkes is holding the gun against Chaput and McQueen steps in to try to stop him, the scene seems to "chop" shortly thereafter and replay itself. Very unusual. I wasn't sure if it was originally shot this way, or if this is a DVD screw up.

Overall, I'm still very happy to finally have this DVD series, even if it does have its quirks. It's just sad to me that Fox really didn't go out of their way to polish it up a bit. I really, really despise the people at Fox TV on so many levels.

[Coota0]

- The title screens are certainly bland. But what the heck is that thing in the upper right hand corner? Is it just me, or does it look suspiciously like Babylon 5?! What the...?

- I've noticed that the framerate on some of the episodes seems very choppy (especially the second episode). Maybe it's just my Xbox, but has anyone else noticed this on their DVD player?

I think it looks like the station from babylon 5 too.

The second episode was messed up on my copy too. I am now on my 3rd copy and it's fine.

[uminoken]

Picked my copy couple a days ago, happy to say no glitches yet (just finished 1st disc) The dvds are light years better than my worn vhs tapes, but as the show wasn't shot digitally it holds up pretty well on my tv. I was extremely shocked at how bad the effects in the first half of the pilot were...guess they spent all the cgi money on the big battle at the end. I heard that Morgan and Wong (creators/writers) were willing to have extras but Fox said no so all the extras we get are tv spots

[Axelay]

So I'm halfway through the series now, and I have to say that "Who Monitors the Birds?," "Never No More," and "The Angriest Angel" are three of the finest episodes of any sci-fi show I've ever seen on TV. However, strangely enough, I am still having the occasional odd framerate droppage. I can't explain it as I've never seen any other DVD do this. I'm going to try these in my PC and see what happens. It could just be my old Xbox...

By the way, I still have yet to figure out what the heck that thing is in the top right corner of the menu on each DVD! Does anyone know for sure?

[Britai 7018]

I remember seeing an episode, think it was the last episode, randomly when it first aired and thinking the show was fantastic! Watching the first episode really puts CG in perspective though.. I don't remember it looking like that. Still, its a great show so far.

I read somewhere that it cost $1.5-2 million an episode to produce, making it the most expensive show to shoot at the time.

[Coota0]

The series really sems to pick up starting with "Who Monitors the Birds," it becomes more military and they finally had the actor that plays Hawks get a haircut. I did notice that there are 3 episodes in a row in which the 58'th are all captured or thought captured or killed. I also got tired of several episodes in a row being ground based with no fighter action, I guess they were saving the budget for the last few episodes.

[Anubis]

I'm pretty sure Wang is dead. No real way to survive the explosion he was in, esp without a suit. 

343503[/snapback]

Unless your name is Mwu.

Edited November 9, 2005 by Anubis

[uminoken]

Resurrecting the thread to let all audiophiles know La-La Land is releasing a 3-DISC set of the music ^___^

http://www.lalalandrecords.com/SpaceAboveAndBeyond.html

[Knight26]

about damn time and just in time for Christmas yeah

[TehPW]

^{i, apparently, was smarter than all of you. I served 20 years in the Navy. Nobody ever shot at me (fortunately.) that i know of.}

^{Space:AAB was one of those shows that might have stayed on longer, had it been on someone else's network. wasnt it on when B5/DS9 was on (and was Fox's entry in that genre at that time)?}

Edited November 9, 2011 by pensives_wetness

[Warmaker]

It was on Fox alright, during the mid 90s. New shows had it really rough with that network. Honestly, the only new show that actually succeeded despite Fox's best efforts in screwing its time slots back and forth was the X-Files. I don't think Fox knew what the hell they were doing with those shows. Hell, I was really upset Bruce Campbell's "Brisco County Jr" was cut short. And yes, B5 and DS9 were still on. So was Star Trek Voyager Not sure if SAAB came on during those competing shows' times either. I've seen it jump back and forth, most especially on Friday nights. Supposedly a very tough time slot that only the X-Files thrived on.

[taksraven]

I also never really liked the show or the Hammerhead design.

I agree it's pretty silly that they had the characters being fighter pilots one minute, then ground pounding grunts the next.

I'm pretty sure that it costs a lot more to train a fighter pilot than it does an infantryman.

Graham

Yeah, the show was loaded with major flaws. Thats not to say that it didnt have potential, I'm just saying that the potential was never realised.

The show being cancelled was a mercy killing.

[Dynaman]

Yeah, the show was loaded with major flaws. Thats not to say that it didnt have potential, I'm just saying that the potential was never realised.

The show being cancelled was a mercy killing.

The last few episodes of the show were some of the best though, it appeared that the writers finally were getting a handle on things and then it got axed. The episode where the clone is alone on a planet and having flashbacks was really well done, for example. If the show had continued it probably would have realized the potential rather then getting worse.

[reddsun1]

I remember that show. I thought it was pretty good. I just remember finding the Hammerhead totally underwhelming--especially when parked next to the F-18's in the pilot ep.

Another unfortunate sci-fi design that suffered from "TV-budgetitis."

[Dynaman]

especially when parked next to the F-18's in the pilot ep. Another unfortunate sci-fi design that suffered from "TV-budgetitis."

Yes - the "full scale" model was undersize compared to the real aircraft it was parked next to, they should have tried some forced perspective on that (or if they did try, they failed)