Space: Above and Beyond is the latest sci-fi import from the US. It's first series has nearly finished transmission in America, and some are already seeing it has as a strong competitor with the Star Trek franchises and Babylon 5. The first season starts transmission in Britain on Sky One in March. The series was in development for two tortuous years before it finally started transmission. It was originally the idea of Lucille Salhany, the Chairperson of Fox Broadcasting, who wanted to make a space series to cash in on the success of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Her idea was to produce a show that, some might say, plagiarised the unused Starfleet Academy film script.

Salhany approached prolific X Files writers Glen Morgan and James Wong to develop the show. To start with neither were keen, both felt that they had little experience of proper science fiction and weren't the right people to produce a space show. However, Salhany was undeterred and persuaded them to try.

Morgan and Wong felt unhappy about 'borrowing' the Starfleet Academy idea. They believed the idea would be best served by the people who had originally created it. They felt that if they were going to work on the show then they would like to produce something that was "unique and fresh". They hit upon submitting the idea of a space war.

By this time Salhany had left the network and control over the project passed to Sandy Grunshaw. Grunshaw initially commissioned a one-hour pilot script and then a two-hour Movie of the Week.

While the script was being rewritten the project changed hands again. This time it moved to Gary Hoffman, Senior Vice President of Movies and Miniseries. Disaster nearly struck when Hoffman left and was replaced by John Matoian. Luckily Matoian was impressed by the pilot and gave the go ahead. Initially the order was for two-hour pilot and a run of thirteen episodes. After the ratings for the first few episodes were in the order was increased by another thirteen.

The pilot episode was shot in Queensland, Australia over two and a half months. Morgan and Wong, now producing as well as writing, enlisted the help of veteran X Files director David Nutter to get the show off to an exciting start. Actor Rodney Rowland, who plays Cooper Hawks, thinks that the generous shooting schedule gave Nutter and the cast the time they needed to really get to grips with the characters. In the two and a half months the cast and crew feel had time to work out the subtleties of each character. Rowland feels that on a normal episode, which only has an eight day shoot, that opportunity is lost.

Australia proved not to be the ideal location for shooting. Although Morgan and Wong could see some advantages, including the professionalism of the crew and the wide selection of suitably alien locations some problems were insurmountable. The delay in getting footage shipped back to the US for post-production and the inferior quality of Australian CGI facilities were major problems. It was decided that the series itself would be shot in Los Angeles.

LA also had another advantage, the same advatage that has made it a favourite with film makers for a century.

"We settled on LA because there is a variety of locations - mountains and desert," explains Morgan, "which can pass for the settings featured in the storylines."

Morgan and Wong have deliberately opted for a risky casting strategy. Instead of casting established stars they opted for talented unknowns.

"They're all very talented actors and very good people," says Morgan. He points to the fact that the same casting strategy was used very successfully on The X Files as a justification for his decision. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were largely unknown but have now become household names. Morgan says their reasoning was that they "didn't want the baggage from another series or maybe a movie that a particular actor had been associated with carrying over. We wanted the audience to learn about them right from the start."

Morgan and Wong are pleased with their selection of newcomers. Kristen Cloke has been cast as Shane. Her character has been haunted by the murder of her parents by the Silicates. She is also one of the Silicates next intended targets. Morgan says Cloke's "pretty, but not overly beautiful. She had a toughness to her - when she auditioned, it was clear that she had a dark past that she was really sad about."

Rodney Rowland was previously a model and has very little acting experience. Rowland was auditioned numerous times before the producers finally felt confident that they'd got the right man to play an In Vitro, a kind of human clone who is born aged 18. Morgan feels "Rodney is perfect because, in his learning to act better, it translates into that character trying to learn about life."

Morgan Weisser has landed the part of Nathan. Morgan says "Morgan Weisser was just the best actor we auditioned, and we wanted that chiselled-jaw, stud guy look for Nathan. I think he's handsome, but he also has a very big heart and can play more of the romantic lead."

The nearest the programme gets to having an established star comes in the form of R. Lee Ermy, playing the hard-nosed Sergeant Major Frank Bougus. Ermy is best known for playing similar characters in films like Full Metal Jacket and Body Snatchers. He has also appeared in numerous TV movies and series including a guest appearance in Quantum Leap.

The crew hope that when viewers tune in they will find and a show that is distinctly different to what has gone before it. They especially hope that people will relate to the show's main themes.

Morgan says that as writers he and Wong wanted to explore the "loss of faith." Morgan has observed that "when President Clinton came to office there was such an overwhelming sense of renewal, hope and faith in the United States, but that faith evaporated quickly."

"When I read the pilot's script, I saw that this was not an SF future," says Nutter, "not a future that we canít relate to, or that's inaccessible. We wanted this future to be accessible, and, in many ways, retro - to get away from that Star Trek situation with people dressed in tight polyester suits and no shadows, darkness or grime."

In the first episode Nathan and his girlfriend are about to leave Earth as part of a colonisation programme. At the last minute Nathan is removed from the programme when the politicians decide that at least ten In Vitros must be included in the crew. Nathan joins the space cadets because it is his only chance of ever seeing his girlfriend again.

After the most of the fleet's experienced pilots are wiped out by an alien offensive, the cadets find themselves called into service.

Morgan has deliberately set out to evoke memories of old World War 2 movies. Both had taken a course called The Fiction Of War. Morgan says he and Wong "read everything from The Illiad to Catch 22 to All Quiet On The Western Front."

Morgan and Wong have drawn on stories from the Second World War as inspiration. Morgan's research has lead him to believe that, during the war what the American troops discovered about the Japanese was very different from the image of inhuman monsters that was portrayed in propaganda. Morgan says "they heard Japanese soldiers singing at night, and they heard Saki glasses clinking - an interesting and eerie way to meet your enemy." Morgan believes that the troops came to realise that their enemies were really just the same as them.

This has influenced the way that Morgan and Wong have characterised their 'villains'. What they are aiming to do is "slowly reveal the aliens' real motivations and perhaps show that they're not necessarily all bad." Don't expect too many revelations about the aliens in the early episodes. Morgan and Wong intend to keep the audience and guessing. As the show develops we will learn more and more, but for now the Silicates will keep their air of mystery.

Space: Above and Beyond has been showing in a highly competitive Sunday night slot stateside. It's ratings have not been huge but respectable, even with competition including The New Adventures of Superman and Murder She Wrote. Recent rumours from America suggest that it has not been picked up for a second season. A novelisation of the series has just been published in the UK, the cover claims that the BBC is about to broadcast the show. Let's hope the show won't just be seen by the privileged few who can afford satellite dishes.