User Reviews

A spoiler doesn't really follow, but I've outlined the plot a little. To me, "Ray Butts" marks the point where this series gained its legs. A viewer can see in the pilot episode and the first couple after the show debuted, that the actors were getting to know each other and the writers were kind of figuring out how the military works. By "Ray Butts," the production had settled in pretty well. "Ray Butts" is about one Lt. Col. Raymond T. Butts. He's a hard charging, hard drinking and well, just hard, person and Marine who spouts off funny sayings like "Easy as eating pancakes." A lifer who holds some sort of Recon or special forces "black" (meaning he doesn't exist) position within some command or other, Butts comes along and spirits off the 58th on a special mission. The mission is pretty standard fare. Recover some "Hammerheads," the show's spacecraft/aircraft combo that they use to fight the "Chigs" (insect type bad guys the Earth is at war with). Butts has his own ideas and his own mission. Of course, those wiley "Chigs" are out there trying to stop them. Throw in a black hole that could pull everybody apart in space during a dogfight, and you've got some pretty good tension and drama. Mostly the plots of Space Above and Beyond are World War II driven. It's pretty much the Pacific in space. That's cool. Lot's of interesting drama and heroism happened in the Pacific theater. So it's a rich vein to mine. "Ray Butts" isn't entertaining or classic television because of the plot, though. It's the performances and the characters that drives this episode. Vansen comes to Butts cabin after a pretty bad day of Butts' specialized training and confronts him about his intentions with the 58th. Butts is tired, drinking and sitting in his cabin like a man who doesn't care who lives or dies (something Lt Col. McQueen has just told him a scene or two before). Vansen: (With Johnny Cash's "So Doggone Lonesome" in the background) What do you think about in the dark? Butts: (Swallows his shot of whiskey and breathes a tired sigh) I think about the first man I ever killed. Vansen: What about him? Butts: I wonder what he's doing now (looks at his whiskey he just poured) . . . and if he got the better end of the deal. Now that's good writing anyway you slice and dice them pancakes. The special effects of the 58th fighting the "Chig" fighters is pretty good. Still holds up today more than a decade after this episode was created. For a television show that says something, to me. The DVD's of Space Above and Beyond are out now, and this episode, along with the two about "Chigi" Von Richtofen are worth the price of the set. These war dramas are mini-movies and marks a time when Fox programmed good television. I wish this production team (actors, writers, producers) would reunite and produce a television mini series or show about World War II in the Pacific.

I've been re-watching this series, I remember hating it but I had to be reminded of why and this episode brought it all back in its shallow mimicry of actual good stories. Some of the first shows weren't great, but not bad. This episode was a stupid cliché riddled POS that started badly and ended worse. What a load of badly written, silly tripe.

Now I remember why this series sucked so badly. I love sci-fi, and I love war dramas, but these writers only had a superficial understanding of either genre. Ray Butts would have been killed by two bullets to the chest in the first five minutes of this show! And he stood a very good chance of being fragged at almost any point after that. The time worn re-run of the badass with a heart of gold who only has to kick the ass of every soldier to get their respect.

BS Butts lied to and manipulated everyone of the soldiers and yet somehow this translates into grudging respect after he kicks their asses. Formulaic and Wrong.

This series (and this episode in particular) remind me of some coke addled Hollywood brains trying to write in two genres and failing at both. Too often I wanted to like a good space opera, war saga and all I could do is be astounded by how many times I said "you've got to be kidding" out loud. I even liked most of the characters but the story lines betrayed a lack of understanding of tactics, protocol, and even realistic human emotions. Good sets, mysterious enemy, interesting personalities and lousy basic story lines capably stitched together by experienced but clueless TV hacks.

These writers must have spent waaay to much time in the hot tub and had no clue about a good credible story. An even shallower version of the beautiful and vapid Starship Troopers. The best attempt at this genre that I have seen was the CGI Starship Troopers Chronicles and that with real humans could have been even better.