Choice or Chance

*An Opinionated Look at Space: Above and Beyond* review.

Review of an episode of *Space: Above and Beyond*.

## Episode information

* **Season:** 1
* **Episode:** 9
* **Original airdate:** November 26, 1995
* *Choice or Chance* at the Space: Above and Beyond Wiki
* *Choice or Chance* at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
* *Choice or Chance* at the Internet Movie Database

## Review information

* Review link
* Published: September 18, 2019

## SF Debris synopsis

*The conclusion as our heroes finish their hostile visit with a crash landing in hostile territory to a hostile audience who seem like they might just show some hostility.*

## Post-Episode Follow-Up

"Modern television has an advantage and disadvantage, in that episodes can more often be whatever length is deemed necessary. A one hour episode, without including the commercials, is quite common these days. Or others coming in under forty minutes, for that matter. This allows stories to be the length that they need. Although, it has allowed some people to be a bit self-indulgent and include a lot of bloat. But still, you've must envy them compared to the writers of, say, *Space: Above and Beyond*, who are stuck with a first part that's too long and a second part that's too short.

The idea of exploring the build-up to the coming, likely suicidal battle, is a good one. And the idea of them being in enemy territory, or captured prisoners, is also good. But the first part is a little too slow at times, and the second part doesn't have enough time for its ensemble to all have their moment, like they want. While Wang, helped by Doug Hutchinson, who was Tombs on *The X Files*, has enough time to show how and why he would break, and how it already is affecting him. Nate's run-in with the shapeshifter who isn't his girlfriend isn't given anywhere near the time to have any kind of an impact it needs. And also gives us the worst spy in history. I mean... What kind of shapeshifter sucks that bad ?

These various plots are all logical, but there's just enough time for all of them, and so I think they really should have bitten the bullet and paired it back. Either that, or completely rebuilt the storyline for it. Part 1 - assuming they wanted to go this way - should have started in the prison and used the fact that they would be questioned to then fill in what had happened, while simultaneously moving each person's individual thread forward. This would lose out on the atmosphere that it was attempting to build for Hostile Visit, yes, but it would have also allowed the storyline more room to breathe. Wang is the only character to really gain viewer sympathy, probably the most optimistic member of the squad, aside from Damphousse, so visiting the horrors of war upon him is an effective tool. But the rest is just abbreviated 'stuff that happens'.

The use of the Silicates - those robots - as the villains also smacks of convenience, turning them into low-level mooks to deal with, and leave the Chigs as a mystery. But between how thin they are - I mean, we still don't get a reason in the end why the one shot her comrade, for instance - and the fact that they frankly look like they stepped out of an 80s direct-to-video action film, complete with hair, makes them seem like just generic baddies and nothing more than that.

I think the series has been working well to really explore what living on the frontlines during war is like, but this story falls a bit short of the goal line."

## See also

* An Opinionated Look at Space: Above and Beyond
* Space: Above and Beyond reviews