As the AI Silicates were created as a "servitor" species, they were programmed to understand abstraction, but with programming that restricted original [7] thought and creativity, which leaves them to simply imitate rather than create. While the Silicates were incapable of originating such tactics on their own, they simply needed to imitate the long history of terror tactics used by human armies. After they were born they would serve a five year period of indentured servitude to reimburse society for expenses associated with their creation.

However, human Hammerhead fighters have a heavier weapons loadout, and are more maneuverable. Special operations missions, infiltrations, assassinations, sabotage, and small unit engagements all prove effective against the Chig attackers. Silicates were primarily designed to be domestic servants, or even pleasure slaves, and not particularly for hard labor (which would be done by heavy machinery). They are derisively termed "tanks" by regular humans, which seems to be a double entendre, describing not only their method of birth but also their physical toughness, which is always greater than "naturals", and the disposable nature of them, the first to come in battle, the "tanks" that open the way for the infantry. This warped space, together with the region between it, would accelerate off faster than the speed of light and the vessel would then essentially surf on the wave in space-time created by this distortion. 1.05, "Raymond Butts"), Ronald G. Joseph — General Oliver Ranford (USMC) (in ep. It differs from other story arcs in its complexity in the form of a division into two substories. The recruits are sent on a routine training mission. In addition to providing methane, Chig armor suits also have a built-in suicide mechanism that is triggered when the helmet is forcibly removed, quickly dissolving the Chig inside. Physical special effects still played a significant role. With paraspace being a continuum with different physical laws than our own, paraspatial fields had the capability of "warping" the space-time continuum. A boy genius and his comrades travel to different parallel universes, trying to find their way back home. Dubbed "Silicates" because of their silicon-based artificial neural networks, these androids were manufactured to be servants and soldiers, designed to be visually pleasing. It was the first real test to the UEF which it passed with flying colors. In 2022, the new United Nations Charter was ratified. This sparked an AI rebellion by the Silicates, who attempted to free themselves from human rule. Literally removed ("born") from their individual gestation tanks at physical age of eighteen, they are educated swiftly and harshly to enable them to enter society with at least a nominal idea of how to comport themselves. In 2044, Silicatronics developed commercially available androids - walking humanoid personal computers running the latest in cognitive software design. While drawing comparisons with Robert Heinlein's novel Starship Troopers,[10] and the movie bearing the same name (though opposite message), according to the producers, the main fictional work that influenced Space: Above and Beyond was one written in response to that story,[11] 1974 science fiction novel The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Matthew Gideon have five years to find a cure for an alien plague decimating Earth. In desperation, unproven and under-trained outfits like the 58th "Wildcards" are thrown against the Chigs. It is also suspected that Aero-Tech was aware of the Chigs before the rest of humanity, and deliberately endangered the Vesta and Tellus colonists (episodes 1.06, 1.24). This show dealt with fear and bigotry, betrayal and friendship, loyalty and love, and did it honestly. Soon after the discovery of paraspace, an American theoretical physicist named Dr. Kim Everett Eckerly proposed that a spaceship could use paraspatial fields projected by a series of coils to warp the fabric of space and that ship could use that warp to propel it faster than light. Wars, however after 13 months of fighting the city was liberated from the Silicates. For the next two years, the armed forces of the united Earth fought the Silicates in dozens of space battles, always with the humans being victorious. The ship's emergency systems sent out a distress signal back to AeroTech, however due to the ship's transceiver being damaged during the attack it would take a few days to reach Earth. This repeating theme explores topics such as racism and prejudice in a society, and also freedom. They were repelled and destroyed at the asteroid belt by the 58th Squadron of the United States Marine Corps Space Aviator Cavalry and United States Space Navy space carrier the U.S.S. Throughout the series, the writers provide several small clues regarding the nature of the Chigs, their motivations, and their biology before devoting the last two episodes of the series to revealing the possibility that Chigs and humans are related species. One is presented as historical narration by the characters (e.g. This wiki contains information regarding the universe of Space: Above and Beyond, an American science fiction television show that aired on the FOX Network for 1995–1996 season. It was ranked "50" in IGN's top 50 Sci-Fi TV Shows, described as "yet another sci-fi show that went before its time".[1].

This is partially offset by the fact that Silicates are not hindered by physical pain, and cannot experience the emotion of fear. A few months later, the UN founded the InVitro Authority to collectively oversee the creation of InVitros all over the world. They called this intrusion a "paraspatial field". And for those of us addicted to hope, the characters were ever willing to extend a hand.

These human-looking androids, referred to as "walking personal computers", have rebelled, formed their own societies, and wage a guerrilla war against human society from a number of remote bases. Without warning, a previously unknown alien species, the "Chigs", attack and destroy Earth's first extra-solar colony and then destroy a second colony ship. The race would be a step up from cloning in that no two InVitros would be alike, however they would share certain genetic sequences with another InVitro created from the same batch of constructed chromosomes. 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. In April 2012, Space: Above and Beyond was released on Region 2 PAL DVD in the UK by Fremantle Media / Medium Rare Entertainment.

In 2022, the new United Nations Charter was ratified. Instead they would be composites of DNA from many sources assembled together in a petri dish to optimize the chances of getting the best traits possible. The Silicate's gambling-centered ideology even extended to combat tactics: they randomly chose to attack Vansen's home as the result of a coin toss. With the advent of the Silicates, who could perform menial labor, the subject of the so-called "InVitro Question" heated up as many InVitro rights advocates clamored for the InVitro Authority to be dissolved and all InVitros serving their indentured servitude to be released from it early. After witnessing the sudden implosion of Earth from orbit, a group of five Odyssey astronauts is sent five years back in time by an alien force to find the cause and prevent the disaster. The subsequent alliance between the Chigs and the remnants of the Silicates, who are quite experienced at non-conventional warfare and terror tactics, partially made up for this deficit in Chig strategy. By 2054, the Silicates had been driven from all populated areas and intense fighting was confined to isolated areas. After authenticating the messages as genuine, the General Assembly of the United Nations held an emergency and secret meeting in which plans were drawn up for war. The Chigs also possess large battleships and a destroyer class vessel capable of causing energy spikes within human starships reactors using a specialized microwave energy weapon generator. The spaceship itself would rests in a bubble between the two space-time distortions. Before its abolition, they were subject to indentured servitude (episode 1.05), and there is still considerable racial segregation and resentment by normal humans (e.g. The Earth is embroiled in a desperate war against alien invaders, and this series focuses on one squadron of Marine pilots involved in it. In the episode "Choice or Chance", a Chig is apparently able to take human form and interact with other humans in an ordinary atmosphere until killed, when it turns to slime in the manner of earlier Chig deaths. Fighting was most intense in eastern Asia. After its cancellation the show aired on the Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy). Unbeknownst to the A.I.s, the ships they stole were only a small fraction of the ships the UEF had been building for the enormous new space navies. From the United States Copyright Office catalog: From the Writers Guild of America, West database: "Deck Shuffled, Wild Cards Dealt," Jeff Bond, liner notes, Learn how and when to remove these template messages, Learn how and when to remove this template message, explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective, "Public Catalog – Copyright Catalog (1978 to present) – Basic Search [search: "Space: Above and Beyond"]", "Signatory Project Confirmation [search: "Space: Above and Beyond"]", "Your next box set: Space: Above and Beyond", "Space: Above and Beyond's Glen Morgan & James Wong, January 27, 1998 - Interview with Glen Morgan", "Space Above and Beyond – The Complete Series: Morgan Weisser, Kristen Cloke, Rodney Rowland, Joel de la Fuente, Lanei Chapman, James Morrison, Tucker Smallwood, Robert Crow, Tasia Valenza, Michael Mantell, Ashlyn Gere, Edmund L. Shaff, Glen Morgan, James Wong: Movies & TV", "Formation of ethnic and racial identities: narratives by young Asian-American professionals", http://ksmfilm.de/news_e.php?block=2011-09, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Space:_Above_and_Beyond&oldid=985309840, 1990s American science fiction television series, American science fiction television series, Fox Broadcasting Company original programming, Military science fiction television series, Television series by 20th Century Fox Television, Television shows about the United States Marine Corps, Articles with dead external links from August 2016, Articles needing additional references from August 2018, All articles needing additional references, Articles that need to differentiate between fact and fiction from August 2018, All articles that need to differentiate between fact and fiction, Articles to be expanded from October 2019, Wikipedia introduction cleanup from October 2019, Articles covered by WikiProject Wikify from October 2019, All articles covered by WikiProject Wikify, Articles with multiple maintenance issues, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2017, Articles needing additional references from October 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. The first human extrasolar colony, Tellus was settled in early 2063.

In 2027, the first batch of viable InVitro embryos were created using advanced gene splicing techniques and placed in neutral-buoyancy tanks referred to as "artificial gestation chambers" with the natural umbilical cord delivering the nutrients and hormones they would need while suspended in a sleep state and an artificial cord at the base of their skulls (on the back of their necks) that was connected to a neural network that imputed basic education through direct sensory input to the brain.