| # |
Title |
Directed by |
Written by |
Original air date |
| 01 (1) |
"Pilot, Part 1" |
David Nutter |
Glen Morgan & James Wong |
September 24, 1995 (1995-09-24) |
| A human colony 16 light-years away is attacked and destroyed by an unknown alien force (the Chigs) while a group of youngsters enlist in the United States Marine Corps. While they train to become aviators, war is declared and human military forces suffer several costly defeats. The recruits are sent on a routine training mission. |
| 01 (2) |
"Pilot, Part 2" |
David Nutter |
Glen Morgan & James Wong |
September 24, 1995 (1995-09-24) |
| Captured enemy information reveals the battle plans of the alien attackers. The half-trained 58th the Wild Cards squadron, based upon the space carrier USS Saratoga is deployed to the far rear. However not everything is at it seems and the inexperienced 58th are suddenly thrown into a desperate battle. |
| 02 |
"The Farthest Man from Home" |
David Nutter |
Glen Morgan & James Wong |
October 1, 1995 (1995-10-01) |
| The Space carrier USS Saratoga passes close to the planet Vesta where human colonists were ambushed. Hoping that his missing girlfriend Kylen somehow survived, West goes AWOL with a hammerhead and flies down to the planet. |
| 03 |
"The Dark Side of the Sun" |
Charles Martin Smith |
Glen Morgan & James Wong |
October 8, 1995 (1995-10-08) |
| The Wild Cards are sent to secure a major fuel ore mining facility, only to find it in the hands of enemy A.I. Silicates. |
| 04 |
"Mutiny" |
Stephen Cragg |
Stephen Zito |
October 15, 1995 (1995-10-15) |
| The 58th travel upon a civilian cargo hauler. The ship is attacked and the captain decides to sacrifice part of his In Vitro cargo in order to save his ship. A mutiny forces Hawkes and McQueen, both In Vitroes, to make a difficult decision. |
| 05 |
"Ray Butts" |
Charles Martin Smith |
Glen Morgan & James Wong |
October 22, 1995 (1995-10-22) |
| A mysterious colonel arrives unexpectedly on the USS Saratoga. Recruiting the Wild Cards for a classified mission, he changes the mission's objective as soon as they're behind enemy lines. |
| 06 |
"Eyes" |
Felix Alcala |
Glen Morgan & James Wong |
October 29, 1995 (1995-10-29) |
| The Secretary-General of the United Nations is assassinated by an In Vitro. The UN assembly decides to gather upon the USS Saratoga to choose a replacement, while a mandatory loyalty test (influenced by the Voight-Kampff test in Blade Runner) is imposed upon all In Vitroes in the military, including Colonel McQueen and Cooper Hawkes. Meanwhile West is informed that high-ranking UN officials knew about the alien threat before the colonists were sent to the Vesta colony. |
| 07 |
"The Enemy" |
Michael Katleman |
Marilyn Osborn |
November 5, 1995 (1995-11-05) |
| The members of the 58th are victims of a Chig mind-altering weapon on the contested planet Tartarus. Unable to control their innermost fears they begin to turn on each other. |
| 08 |
"Hostile Visit, Part 1" |
Thomas J. Wright |
Peyton Webb |
November 19, 1995 (1995-11-19) |
| The USS Saratoga captures a Chig bomber and McQueen suggests that they use the vessel as a Trojan Horse. The plan is to attack the aliens' homeworld in order to raise troop morale - a plan that goes horribly wrong. |
| 09 |
"Choice or Chance, Part 2" |
Felix Alcala |
Doc Johnson |
November 26, 1995 (1995-11-26) |
| The 58th crash-land on a moon deep inside enemy territory and Wang, West, Vansen and Damphousse are captured by Silicates while Cooper and McQueen manage to flee and evade capture. Wang is tortured and broken by a ruthless Silicate while West discovers that Kylen is among other prisoners. A Silicate decides that either Vansen or Damphouse will die and leaves the choice up to them. The Wild Cards attempt to escape. |
| 10 |
"Stay with the Dead" |
Thomas J. Wright |
Matt Kiene & Joe Reinkenmeyer |
December 3, 1995 (1995-12-03) |
| Suffering a brain concussion, West is rescued among the corpses of several US marines. His incoherent ravings that the 58th are still alive are dismissed due to an earlier transmission in which West stated that all his comrades are dead. |
| 11 |
"The River of Stars" |
Tucker Gates |
Marilyn Osborn |
December 17, 1995 (1995-12-17) |
| When the 58th are trapped inside a damaged space APC stranded deep inside enemy territory on Christmas day, they receive a cryptic transmission which tells them how to "hitch a ride" back to safety upon an incoming comet's orbit. |
| 12 |
"Who Monitors the Birds?" |
Winrich Kolbe |
Glen Morgan & James Wong |
January 7, 1996 (1996-01-07) |
| Undertaking a covert assassination operation in exchange for a honorable discharge, Cooper Hawkes is wounded while his team member is killed. All alone inside enemy territory he struggles to stay alive and is haunted by visions of death trying to seduce him in the incarnation of Shane Vansen. He remembers his past In Vitro education and how he was scheduled to be terminated because he asked too many questions. |
| 13 |
"Level of Necessity" |
Thomas J. Wright |
Matt Kiene & Joe Reinkenmeyer |
January 14, 1996 (1996-01-14) |
| After experiencing an anomalous precognition which saved the lives of the 58th, Damphousse is investigated by a colonel in charge of the Psi Corps. The colonel is convinced that she possesses psychic powers and deduces that only true mortal danger activates Damphousse's precognition. Therefore he joins the 58th in a very dangerous mission. |
| 14 |
"Never No More, Part 1" |
James Charleston |
Glen Morgan & James Wong |
February 4, 1996 (1996-02-04) |
| Several fighter squadrons gather upon the USS Saratoga in preparation for a rumoured future offensive. Vansen meets a former boyfriend, who is now the captain of the 35th the Faithful squadron. A single enemy fighter ace, nicknamed Chiggy von Richthofen, is rumoured to be hunting and destroying entire squadrons. The brass decides that all knowledge about Chiggy von Richthofen has to be suppressed and officially denied by all high-ranking officers for the sake of morale. A spy satellite has to be deployed for the planned invasion; the 35th gets the assignment and Vansen decides to transfer towards it. McQueen, risking a court-martial, gives her a warning to be extremely cautious. |
| 15 |
"The Angriest Angel, Part 2" |
Henri Safran |
Glen Morgan & James Wong |
February 11, 1996 (1996-02-11) |
| A plan to trap and destroy Chiggy von Richthofen, who pilots a prototype stealth space fighter, fails. Colonel T. C. McQueen, a survivor of the destroyed elite 174th the Angry Angels squadron, prepares himself to search, find and engage the enemy ace. |
| 16 |
"Toy Soldiers" |
Stephen Posey |
Marilyn Osborn |
February 18, 1996 (1996-02-18) |
| West is upset when his younger brother, who has joined the Marines, arrives upon the US Saratoga under the command of an inexperienced and foolish gung-ho lieutenant. |
| 17 |
"Dear Earth" |
Winrich Kolbe |
Richard Whitley |
March 3, 1996 (1996-03-03) |
| 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. |
| 18 |
"Pearly" |
Charles Martin Smith |
Richard Whitley |
March 24, 1996 (1996-03-24) |
| On a planet overrun with Chigs, the 58th retreat with a tank driver of the US 7th Cavalry upon a tank named "Pearly". They encounter the eccentric Major Cyril MacKendrick, sole survivor of a battalion of the British Coldstream Guards. Wang encounters a Silicate of the same model that previously tortured him. |
| 19 |
"R&R" |
Thomas J. Wright |
Jule Selbo |
April 12, 1996 (1996-04-12) |
| The exhausted Wild Cards are granted R&R aboard the Bacchus, a pleasure ship where it's said anything can, and does, happen. |
| 20 |
"Stardust" |
Jesus Trevino |
Howard Grigsby |
April 19, 1996 (1996-04-19) |
| A mysterious group of extremely high-ranking officers disembark on the Saratoga and the 58th are ordered to escort an unresponsive space APC. The mysterious APC suddenly locks on their Hammerheads and opens fire. |
| 21 |
"Sugar Dirt" |
Thomas J. Wright |
Matt Kiene & Joe Reinkenmeyer |
April 20, 1996 (1996-04-20) |
| A planetary invasion by Earth military forces is ambushed and turns into a military disaster. There is no air support and no ground reinforcement as the supporting fleet, among it the USS Saratoga, is forced to abandon 25,000 stranded marines in order to launch another assault, which could ultimately save millions of lives, upon a more strategic planet. Before departing, Commodore Ross issues instructions: "You're strongly encouraged, but not ordered to do so, to keep engaging the enemy. If however the situation becomes untenable you're authorized to surrender. Semper fidelis.". Among the scattered, abandoned and demoralized marines are the 58th, struggling to survive. |
| 22 |
"And If They Lay Us Down To Rest…" |
Vern Gillum |
Glen Morgan & James Wong |
May 26, 1996 (1996-05-26) |
| The Wild Cards land on the moon of the Chig's home planet and encounter an extraterrestrial creature which may be an entirely different life form or an unarmoured Chig. Soon afterwards the enemy proposes a truce. |
| 23 |
"…Tell Our Moms We Done Our Best" |
Thomas J. Wright |
Glen Morgan & James Wong |
June 2, 1996 (1996-06-02) |
| While peace talks on the US Saratoga go awry, the disgraced 58th are sent to retrieve POWs trapped in a crippled Space APC. Several enemy space fighters attack and the 58th are hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned. |