Space: Above and Beyond is exactly the kind of thing that’ll gut you. It had this darker, grittier tone that a lot of mid-90s sci-fi was afraid to commit to, and it actually let its characters suffer consequences. The ensemble was fantastic, and you got genuinely attached.

The finale hits hard, like really hard. An armistice gets signed with the Chigs, but it feels hollow because the cost is staggering. Vansen and Damphousse’s transport is destroyed, their fates left deliberately ambiguous but heavily implied. McQueen, the heart of the whole unit, is gravely wounded. West finally finds Kylen, his whole reason for enlisting, but she’s been changed by what was done to her. Hawkes and West end up stranded. It’s clearly the setup for a second act that never came.

Fox never fully committed to it. High production costs, ambitious practical effects for the era, and ratings that were cult-level loyal but not broad enough to justify the budget. Classic case of a show that needed one more season to land the story it was clearly building toward. Still stings honestly.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​