"Writing partners look beyond 'Space'."
by David Martindale

They are the Lennon and McCartney of science fiction TV.

Only don't count on an eventual breakup for Glen Morgan and James Wong, creators of the short-lived SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND (1995-1996). Theirs is a bond that appears to be rock solid.

"We've been working together for so long," Morgan says. "We've probably known each other 20 years, since we were sophomores in high school. There was a period, maybe early on, when we started working together, where the partnership had growing pains. I think a lot of partnerships fall apart at that moment, like maybe a lot of marriages."

"But now," Wong notes, "we really are of one mind."

Adds Morgan: "Like if there's a situation where Jim has to be on the set or he's editing and there's a script due, I can write the scene without having to consult with him. He's just up in my brain going, 'Well, why don't you try that?' And I know the same is true for him.

The duo has written some of the most memorable episodes of THE X-FILES and now they serve as executive producers of MILLENNIUM. But the less-successful SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND, a WWII-style combat drama set against the backdrop of futuristic space, still holds a special place in their hearts.

"I think the main reason we're dead is the time slot we got," Wong says. "Fox had us on Sunday nights after football, so the start time would shift because of football overruns. And toward the middle of the season, they started messing with the schedule. They took us off the air for a while. We were on Wednesday night one time, on Saturday night. People didn't know where it was."

Says Morgan: "I believe that if we had been put on Friday night at 8, we still would be on the air. We've watched SLIDERS come and go and STRANGE LUCK come and go and THE VISITOR. Now they've got BEYOND BELIEF there. And you get sick wondering, 'Why not us?' You don't want to cry over spilled milk, but it was really disheartening.

Particularly given that SPACE, like The X-Files and MILLENNIUM, was a show of exceptional quality.

To learn the genesis of the show, which focused on a squadron of first-year Marine Corps fighter pilots, one must go back more than 15 years, to a time when Morgan and Wong were college sophomores at Loyola-Marymount.

Says Wong: "Glen and I had taken this class called The Fiction of War. It was kind of a literature class, chronicling war throughout history, from THE ILLIAD all the way through to future wares. It was a fascinating class. So we thought, we have this show set in space in the future, but why not do it as a war drama?"

Morgan and Wong are thrilled that SPACE reruns now have a home on the Sci-Fi Channel and are bringing in record ratings for the cable network. But don't count on there being any followup adventures for the members of the 58th Squadron.

"The desire to do that is absolute," Morgan says. "But the possibility is remote. Everyone always says, 'Well, they do ALIEN NATION as two-hour movies.' But as much as they handle on makeup and effects, they still have contemporary Los Angeles, whereas we built the flight deck of the Saratoga once in Australia, once here, each time at the cost of approximately $200,000. And they've since been burned up."

Literally.

"They were used as sets that were on fire in L.A. FIREFIGHTERS or in ALIEN RESURRECTION," Morgan says. "So the cost to get us up and running again really would be big."

Reruns of SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND air at 6:30 p.m. Sunday on Sci-Fi. Ironically, it's almost the same time slot it failed in on Fox.

And X-FILES episodes written by Morgan and Wong -- "3," in which Agent Fox Mulder encountered modern-day vampires and "One Breath" chronicling Agent Dana Scully's return after her mysterious abduction -- air at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday on FX.

© Houston Chronicle.

The questions were:

1. What is your favourite cult television programme?
2. What is your favourite cult television character?
3. What is the most important moment of your career so far?
4. What do you hope to be doing during TV Zone's next 100 issues?
5. What is your message to the world?

The Answers:

Doug Hutchison:

1. Lost in Space.
2. The Robot from Lost in Space.
3. Catching glimpses of Gillian Anderson's brassiere and cleavage when her shirt kept popping open when we were shooting the bathroom scene in the X-Files episode Squeeze.
4. Launching my film company Blackwater Productions; writing my X-Files memoir, The Tooms Files: The Truth is _Here_; and making a gazillion dollars.
5. Live long and prosper.

Joel de la Fuente:

1. The X-Files and the 1960's Batman series.
2. Any incarnation of the Catwoman character from Batman.
3. The most important moment of my career was participating in a college acting competition during my senior year at school. It was important because I met my first agent there who later became my manager and good friend, Masha McManus. She has been the best thing to happen to me in the professional side of the business.
4. I would love to balance a career between film, television and stage. I'd also love to learn how to cook past the 'put-it-in-the-microwave' stage and I'd like to start a family.
5. Have true compassion for your fellow human beings. Try to be as pleasant and loving in your life as you can be.

Tucker Smallwood:

1. Space: Above and Beyond.
2. Commodore Ross (what can I say?).
3. There have been many significant moments over the past 26 years, but I'd be inclined to consider that meeting for a one-shot, co-starring role as Commodore Ross on the first episode of S:AAB, a beginning that has led to new opportunities.
4. Very much what I'm doing now.
5. An old Cherokee saying: "Everything in life comes to you as a teacher...pay attention...learn quickly."