Season One Episode Reviews

1X0    The Pilot 
Plot: A group of rag-tag Marine trainees are called into warfare when mysterious aliens massacre two Earth colonies and begin a war with Earth.  Their first mission leads them into an alien ship on Mars, then they are called into the battle defending Earth.

This was an amazingly good pilot, even now it still stands up.  The introduction to the characters was very interesting and makes you very sympathetic to them.  Vansen's and West's stories in peticular were good, however Hawkes came off pretty much as a unsympathetic asshole.  Wang and Damphousse were good but were pretty much left out.  The training with the Drill Instructor was hilarious, especially when Hawkes destroyes the entire squadron in a simulator.  The Mars mission had some amazing scenery, and scene with the Chig prisoner was very intruiging.  The final space battle was nothing short of spectacular.  It was riveting, had strategy, amazing FX, and a substantal amount of FX as well.  The alien vessals fighting the Earth carriers were especially thrilling, as well as the asteroid belt fighting.  An excellent beginning!

NEW!  1X1    The Farthest Man From Home 
Plot:  Nathan goes AWOL to search for Kylan on a Chig-held world and the 58th must rescue him.

Nathan to me is an uninteresting character because he is always so depressingly serious and bland.  This episode gives him some life as he risks all to find Kylan, but the episode gets a little routine with the commando action stuff.  Nice to see the 58th coming in to resuce him though.  We are introduced to the dubious and interesting Sewell of AeroTech who appears to have a nice insidious secret agenda here.

NEW!  1X2    The Dark Side Of The Sun 
Plot:  Shane must deal with her rage over her parents' deaths while facing off against Silicates in a factory.

This episode was just too dark with all that Vansen Angst to be enjoyable, and the whole fight with the Silicates was pretty routine.  We learn interesting stuff about the Silicates though, their origan and their "take a chance" philosophy, but the Silicates we actually meet aren't very impressive or imposing.

NEW!  1X3    Mutiny 
Plot:  The 58th rides a cargo hauler under attack by an 'soft kill' Chig craft.  Hawkes must choose between the lives of In Vitros or of normals when the In Vitros take over the ship.

This was a bad episode, the brooding Hawkes stuff was just horrible as is the coincidense that a relative of his is on this ship in storage.  The In Vitro mutiny isn't very entertaining, but a cool submarine-like fight with a Chiggie makes for an neat ending.  At this point I hated Hawkes he just a rebellious asshole, but he becomes a naive nice guy a little bit later then gets great.

1X4    Ray Butts 
Plot:  Mysterious black ops solider Ray Butts arrives on the Saratoga and torments the 58th then takes them with him on rescue mission deep into Chig terrortory.

Sure Butts was really annoying but he was supposed to be.  He even pissed off McQueen!  His blatant tormenting of the 58th was great, especially when he kicks their collective ass at paintball warfare.  The mission itself was interesting because it shows that the hardass screwed up, and now he has to face with his consequences.  The space battle was pretty great, but the best part is the ending when Butts falls into the black hole while playing Johnny Cash music, very touching.

1X5    Eyes 
Plot: The 58th is caught in a power struggle between Hayden and Chapeu when the Secretary General is assassinated by a Tank.  Hawkes & McQueen have to take loyalty tests.

SAAB does political intrigue, and quite well.  For once the series goes beyond the grunts to show the political landscape of Earth in the face of "the galactic conflict".  The power struggle between Hayden and Chapeu is very interesting; our first impression is Hayden is innocent (because she' blind!) and Chapeu is some Facist (his symbol looks like a swastika).  When Chapeu tells West about Aerotech knowing the Chigs were out there, we think Chapeu is lying to turn West.  The new recruit was obviously a plant from the moment he appeared, but the twist is who's the good the guy and who's the bad guy.  When we see Hayden "looking" out her window to see the dead Hammarhead, the entire episode gets twisted.  Not to mention the revelation that Aerotech basically engineered the war.  Then there's Hawkes' sleeper programming, and McQueen's refusal to take a loyalty test.  These carry important themes, and plus Hawkes may not have been totally "cured" of his programming.  This is the first we see him in the shooter simulator where he gets programmed, then we see him use it all the time afterwards.  An excellent episode, the best for a long while.

1X6    The Enemy 
Plot: The 58th gets stranded on a contested planet where the Chigs are testing a fear-enhancing weapon.

One of the better ground pounder episodes, which I think are the weakest of the series.  What makes this episode sell is the atmosphere, which is created to great effect by the cast and the sound effects.  Not much else to say about this ep, it was slightly above average because of the wonderful atmosphere.  As always, Space is a great series because of the character interaction in war, as shown here.

NEW!  1X7    Hostile Visit (Part 1 of 2) 
Plot:  The 58th prepares to take a captured Chig bomber into Chig space for a Trojan Horse attack.

The first 'mature' episode of the series.  The opening Saratoga battle is very suspenseful as is the inital exploration of the captured Chig bomber.  The training mission to fly does get a little slow but we have the secret agenda of Sewell and Aerotech to keep us interested.  The preparing for death stuff is a little too heavy but Wang does have a nice relationship with that girl.  The final action ending was really awsome with some cool FX but it was a little short, the cliffhanger was great.

NEW!  1X8    Choice Or Chance (Part 2 of 2) 
Plot:  The 58th are held captive in a Silicate-run prison where Nathan meets Kylan while Commodore Ross leads their rescue.

Another big exciting episode.  The best material is Wang's interrogation by Elroy, some truly impressive acting there very gut wrenching scenes, especially when Wang is broken and 'confesses' about his crimes then later tries to get himself killed.  Best of all later episodes deal with this!  Vansen and Damphousse outsmarting the Silicates was great, but the Nathan-Kylan plot was just annoying.  The ending escape was just a little too easy unfortunately as was their rescue by the Saratoga.  And again Sewell makes a interesting appearance where his men recover something from the prison/mining facility... hmm...

1X9    Stay With The Dead 
Plot: West is apparantly the only survivor of the 58th, and is apparantly insane thinking they are still alive.  Against McQueen's wishes he going to be given electrocution therapy that may destroy his personality.

Ugh!  I have never thought much of West as a character because he was so depressed but this episode just exaggerated this fault.  Sure there was some nice McQueen stuff but Super Brooding West was just too much.  And the suspense of whether the 58th was alive or not was really non-existant.

1X10    The River Of Stars 
Plot:  The 58th is stranded in deep space and receive some curious assistance.

This was a really good bottle episode.  Wonderful character interaction all around.  As a history fan I found this very interesting as it was based off XMas 1914 when enemies helped each other.  Its stories like this that show how great these characters really are.  And plus it suggests mercy on the side of the Chigs.

1X11    Who Monitors The Birds? 
Plot:  An almost silent episode!  Hawkes takes a high risk sniper assignment on a Chig planet but finds himself stranded and fleeing Chig patrols while remembering his past as a newborn Tank.

This is a perfect episode; there is little to say about it.  There was very little dialogue in it, which makes it all the more effective.  Hawkes' past was especially well shot, especially the Tank training slideshow saying how humans love them then telling them how to kill humans, and Hawkes innocently asking his Monitor who monitors the birds, then who monitors the Monitor.  Hawkes escape involving cold blooded murder was very brutal.  The sniper part was amazing because of the scenery and constant explosions and fighting going on.  The appearance of Death in the form of Vansen was wonderful, the way Hawkes was constantly fighting off death, and eventually Death says "until we meet again" to him and leaves.  The beginning with Hawkes arriving from the water and then descending back into the water at the end symbolizes his birth in an InVitro tank and then his death of innocence.  Wow.

1X12    Level Of Necessity 

1X13    Never No More (Part 1 of 2) 
Plot: The military is planning a major offensive but such plans are stalled by the appearance of an invincible Chiggy Van Richtoffen that kills whoever sees it.  Vansen is reunited with a high school love who soon falls victim to Chiggy Van.

1X14    The Angriest Angel (Part 2 of 2) 
Plot: McQueen takes a personal vendetta against Chiggy Van Richtoffen for killing one of the 58th.

This is most likely the best episode (aside from Birds) that SAAB made!  It starred McQueen, and for once we get to see his perspective of live.  Honor and dedication rule his world, making for quite a drama.  The Astrotech subplot was pretty interesting, especially the involvement of Elroy and Seul's surprising death.  I love McQueen's interrogation of Elroy!  The 58th's battle with Chiggy Von was pretty great, especially with the way Chiggy Von mercilessly killed whatshername when she was helpless.  McQueen's decision to enter into battle despite his disability was great, and his final battle with  Chiggy Von was absolutely amazing, all the while co-ordinted with the funeral of whatshername.  A classic in every sense of the word, and also first revealed Operation: Round Hammar, the end to the war.

1X15    Toy Soldiers 
Plot:  West's younger brother is part of a land operation involving the 58th, where West must deal with his feelings over his brother joining the military.

I didn't like this too much, mainly because the 'trench' episodes are my least favorite format and West is my least favorite character.  This was just a little too moody and serious for me.  The action scenes were nice though.  At least he died at the end!

1X16    Dear Earth 
Plot:  A day in the life of the Saratoga via the mail delivery.  Hawkes and McQueen are forced to star in a propaganda pro-InVitro documentry.  Vansen is promoted to Captain and must bribe her way to speaking with her pregnant sister before she steals her future baby's name.  West learns his brother's death notice was sent to the wrong family.  Damphousse is temporarily blinded in battle.  Wang's shoes are taken because they came in contact with an unknown substance.

This is wonderful, laid back episode that is just fun and illustrates how great these characters really are.  The closest thing SAAB ever came to a comedy, this episode was a real hoot.  My favorite bit is when the Commodore announced that someone's stolen his strawberries and demands them back as the private slurps them down quickly.  The InVitro propaganda film was serious but good, especially when everyone gives the shoulder to Hawkes since they are so busy with their own problems while is trying to show a big happy family they all are.  The Vansen and Wang plots were the real hoots, but Vansen's letter to her sister was pretty touching.  The West plot actually had me interested in West for once, and it was thankfully short.  The Damphousse plot is pretty good.  A perfect mix of comedy with drama!

1X17    Pearly 

1X18    R&R 
Plot: The 58th gets to spend some time on a leisure 'world': Hawkes gets laid for the first time, McQueen watches a movie, Wang and Damphousse start a romance, Vansen plays billards with a Silicate who looks a lot like Fox Mulder.

This episode must have a quite a budget; Coolio, David Duchovny, and huge new sets!  This episode was generally light fun, though the Hawkes plot took a very serious and frankly out-of-place turn into darkness.  But aside from that, the episode was alot of fun.  Hawkes' pill addiction was okay.

1X19    Stardust 

1X20    Sugar Dirt 
Plot: Earth beseiges the planet Demios but finds itself ambushed by a massive Chig fleet and the 58th is trapped on the surface.  Seeing an oppurtunity the Earth fleet abanons Demios and surprise attacks a vunerable Chig stronghold.

At the end of the series, the show presented an actual military episode, showing from a command point of view the allied invasion of a world.  It was fantastic!  There was a real sense of epicness and urgency to the entire episode, there was a sense of progression in Operation: Roundhammar.  It wasn't just another episode.  The FX shots of the armada battles were absolutely amazing, but the 58th planetside was also great.  A wonderful wonderful episode!

1X21    And If They Lay Us Down To Rest... (Part 1 of 2) 

1X22    ...Tell Our Moms We Done Our Best (Part 2 of 2)