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Rating: 4
[ unmissable | great stuff | worth watching | mind candy | waste of time | unfinishable ]

Cast

Episodes

1. Pilot

In the year 2063, lovers Nathan West and Kylen Celina are about to leave for the Tellus colony when they are cruelly seaparated by a new law granting rights to the despised "in vitros" -- artificially bred humans; Nathan must give up his place to one. So he joins the Marine Corps, in the hope of being assigned to Colony Patrol. Then the terrifying news comes that an advanced alien civilisation has attacked the outer colonies, including Tellus. Even the elite "Dark Angels" squadron could not stop them. As intergalactc war looms, new Marine Corps Space Cavalry recruits are rushed through training.

2. The Farthest Man from Home

The sole survivor of the attack on the Tellus colony is brought to the spacecraft carrier USS Saratoga , where he is kept in isolation and interrogated by a civilian. West, desparate for news of Kylen, disobeys orders and leaves on a foolhardy mission to Tellus to find his lost love. It turns out other colonists survived, too...

3. The Dark Side of the Sun

Shane has recurring nightmares about her parents' murder by AIs. When McQueen assigns her to lead an escort guarding vital raw materials, she fears for her own life.

4. Mutiny

McQueen and his squadron board a transporter and order the captain to take a perilous route to the USS Saratoga . Then Cooper discovers that the cargo consists of artificially-bred humans like himself.

5. Butts

A hard-headed war veteran, Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Butts, takes command of the squadron for a classified mission to recover six SA-43 jets deep in enemy territory, but it seems that Butts has his own agenda.

6. Eyes

When UN secretary general Spencer Chartwell is assassinated by an in vitro , McQueen and Cooper are detained. But is it just a ploy to assassinate his successor, too?

7. The Enemy

The 58th land on Tartarus, a nightmare world of swirling volcanic fog and darkness, and come under attack from their own forces, and their own fears.

8. Hostile Visit (part I)

McQueen clashes with a civilian team from Aerotech, headed by Howard Sewell, when he wants to analyse a captured enemy spacecraft.

9. Choice or Chance (part II)

Shane, West, Damphousse and Wang are captured by Silicates, allies of the Chigs, and West realises that one of the prisoners is his lost love, Kylen.

9. Stay with the Dead

After a seriously injured West is brough back from battle, he suffers flashbacks in hospital. Is it post traumatic shock disorder, or are the 58th really still alive?

10. The River of Stars

The 58th marines need a miracle to survive Christmas now that their combat vehicle is powerless and a Chig fighter is heading towards them.

11. Who Monitors the Birds

Hawke agrees to take part in a suicidal sniper mission deep into enemy territory, in order to earn an honorable discharge from the Marines.

12. Level of Necessity

Damphousse's intuition saves her comrades and a Psi Corps colonel encourages her to develop her psychic skills. But to do so, she has to lead her colleagues back into the dangerous Chig tunnels.

13. Never No More

Vance agrees to help ex-lover Captain John Oakes investigate the existence of an invisible Chig fighter.

14. The Angriest Angel

Sewell reveals a missile capable of destroying the enemy's invisible fighter. Eventually, McQueen is the only one who can deliver it.

15. Toy Soldiers

Nathan is horrified to see hs younger brother among the new recruits arriving on the USS Saratoga , especially as Neil West is naive and serving under an inexperienced but gung ho officer.

16. Dear Earth

Nathan discovers that his parents never received the news of his brother Neil's fate. Damphousse get injured and receives a 'Dear John' letter. Cooper is the subject of a documentary on the lack of prejudice against in vitros in the Marines. Shane get promoted to Captain.

17. Pearly

The squadron takes refuge in an armoured personnel carrier called Pearly and fall into a Chig trap set by a marooned British officer [Martin Jarvis]. And some AIs blackmail Wang for a power cell with a recording of his earlier forced war-crimes confession.

18. R and R

The exhausted 58th are given 48 hours' rest on Bacchus , a space vessel where anything goes. Shane plays pool with an AI [David Duchovny]; Wang and Damphousse shoot hoops and get friendly; Cooper experience his first sexual encounter and has problems with Green Meanies; Colonel McQueen watches old black and white movies.

19. Stardust

The 58th participates in a misinformation campaign aimed at diverting Chig fighters. They escort a transport carrying a recently executed criminal, carrying fake plans encoded in the Navajo language, which they expect the Chigs -- Navajo Alien Gods? -- to be able to decipher. [Shades of The Man Who Never Was ]

20. Sugar Dirt

After they have captured a Chig airstrip, the 58th are abandoned when enemy forces couter-attack. They heve to spend months on the planet trying to survive while their Carrier Saratoga is off fighting at another planet. [Shades of Guadalcanal]

21. And If They Lay Us Down to Rest...

Earth forces prepare for a massive offensive against the Chig homeworld. The 58th, on a reconnaissance mission, meet an alien and tell it to run away if it wants to survive. Before the attack can be launched, a lone Chig offers peace terms. Is the war over? But we see a Chig for the firt time, and it's the same as the alien the 58th warned.

22. Tell Our Moms We Done Our Best

The Chigs offer to hand over the surviving hostage colonists, Kylen Celina included, as a sign of good will. But when the Chig ambassador accuses the head of the colonist agency of ignoring their warning, then explodes a bomb, all hell breaks out again. The disgraced 58th go to save the colonists, but of them, only West and Hawkes return.