History Series / SpaceCases

* ExpositoryThemeTune: As quoted above. In the first season the original opening theme was orchestral, with a narrator giving a preamble, and the theme tune was used over the closing credits. The closing theme moved to the opening in the second season, re-recorded to fit Catalina's replacement and new descriptions of the characters. It was further re-recorded for first season episodes after the series ended, but with Catalina featured in, and a new opening sequence was created, according to ThatOtherWiki, making the original opening a truer example of KeepCirculatingTheTapes.

** This one takes some setup: one of the (very few) changes that Creator/JMichaelStraczynski wrote into Creator/PeterDavid's episode "There All the Honor Lies" of ''Series/BabylonFive'' involved a bear getting thrown out an airlock. See, JMS hates cute, the bear was a gift from Peter to JMS... it was inevitable. Fast-forward to ''Space Cases''. In the second episode, the kids find a teddy bear floating in space, leading one to ask, "what kind of monster would space a perfectly good Earth bear?" It turns out to have been an evil race called the [[Creator/JMichaelStraczynski Straczyn]], who wanted to conquer the galaxy, but [[TakeThat didn't have the budget]], so they tried for shoestring bio-warfare, booby-trapping the bear. There's also a game called Minbar chess.

** The ship is named for Christa [=McAuliffe=], the schoolteacher who was killed in the Challenger explosion. Also, a few of the kids' names reference famous sci-fi writers; Harlan Band = Creator/HarlanEllison; Bova = BenBova.

By pure coincidence, Bill "Will Robinson" Mumy of ''Series/LostInSpace'' was one of the creators of this show. By less coincidence, PeterDavid is the other.

** This one takes some setup: one of the (very few) changes that Creator/JMichaelStraczynski wrote into PeterDavid's episode "There All the Honor Lies" of ''Series/BabylonFive'' involved a bear getting thrown out an airlock. See, JMS hates cute, the bear was a gift from Peter to JMS... it was inevitable. Fast-forward to ''Space Cases''. In the second episode, the kids find a teddy bear floating in space, leading one to ask, "what kind of monster would space a perfectly good Earth bear?" It turns out to have been an evil race called the [[Creator/JMichaelStraczynski Straczyn]], who wanted to conquer the galaxy, but [[TakeThat didn't have the budget]], so they tried for shoestring bio-warfare, booby-trapping the bear. There's also a game called Minbar chess.

** The ship is named for Christa [=McAuliffe=], the schoolteacher who was killed in the Challenger explosion. Also, a few of the kids' names reference famous sci-fi writers; Harlan Band = Creator/HarlanEllison; Bova = Creator/BenBova.

** The ship is named for Christa [=McAuliffe=], the schoolteacher who was killed in the Challenger explosion. Also, a few of the kids' names reference famous sci-fi writers; Harlan Band = Harlan Ellison; Bova = Ben Bova.

* HumanAliens: Every alien the crew encounters is human, except for the living ship.

* DisneyDeath: Catalina in the first season finale. This was a case of ExecutiveMeddling. Catalina was supposed to die, and be replaced by the recurring character Elmira. Nick thought that she was too alien, and they were forced into Catalina trading places with Suzee. * TheEeyore: Bova is, as the song goes 'cloudy'.

* ToTheBatpole: The cast uses a network of unbelievably cool slide-like tubes to travel between areas of the ship. Thanks to TECHNOLOGY] they can slide up just as easily as down. One episode even had the ship malfunctioning so two of them got stuck in the tubes all day.

* WagonTrainToTheStars: The Crista travels to many planets as on its trip home.

* AdultsAreUseless: "Davenport and Goddard do the best they can."
** Since the Christa won't respond to their commands, they really are.
* AliensSpeakingEnglish
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The Spung.

* BullyingADragon: Harlan does this to Radu, rather a lot. Given that we've [[BewareTheNiceOnes seen what he's capable of when an alien virus drives him over the edge]], it's a damn good thing for Harlan's welfare that Radu's a [[ActualPacifist harmless]], [[{{Adorkable}} socially-awkward]], [[{{Dojikko}} somewhat klutzy]] [[TheWoobie sweetheart]] rather than the [[TheBrute violent savage]] Harlan seems to think all his species are.
* CloudCuckooLander: Thelma, expect everything she does to be [[HilarityEnsues off-the-wall]] and of marginal usefulness.
** Catalina appears to be one at first, habitually talking to her imaginary friend Suzee. It turns out Suzee is actually real.

* DataCrystal

* DisneyDeath: Catalina in the first season finale.
** This was actually a case of ExecutiveMeddling. Catalina was supposed to die, and be replaced by the recurring character Elmira. Nick thought that she was too alien, and they were forced into having Catalina trade places with Suzee. Other examples of Nick's meddling was moving Davenport and Goddard into the background in season 2.
* TheEeyore: Bova
* EmpathicWeapon: The Christa, which works only for the kids, defends herself when she thinks she's being invaded, and is alive... sort of... more or less...

* ExecutiveMeddling: The original season 1 finale [[spoiler: came without the tacked on ending where it is revealed Catalina survived the explosion in another dimension]] but Nickelodeon demanded they put it in [[spoiler: because children can't handle death]]. Also, it was originally planned for Elmira to officially join the main cast in season 2. However, Nick executives felt she was too "alien" and were afraid fans would find her scary. So, they replaced her with [[spoiler: Susie]].
* ExpositoryThemeTune: As quoted above. In the first season, however, the original opening theme was orchestral, with a narrator giving a preamble, and the theme tune was used over the closing credits. The closing theme moved to the opening in the second season, re-recorded to fit Catalina's replacement with Suzee and new descriptions of the characters. It was further re-recorded for first season episodes after the series ended, but with Catalina featured in, and a new opening sequence was created, according to ThatOtherWiki, making the original opening a truer example of KeepCirculatingTheTapes.

* FantasticRacism: Harlan to Radu. The best part is Harlan is the token black guy.
** Radu to Elmira. Slightly more understandable since her race enslaved his. He gets over it.
* FiveManBand: By personality and skills:
** TheHero: Harlan, in his own mind at least ("Thinks he knows it all"/"Leaps before he looks").

** TheSmartGuy:
*** Season 1: Catalina ("Talking to the wall")
*** Season 2: Suzee ("Smarter than a million books")

*** By role: If Harlan is TheHero, Radu fits the role of TheLancer as Harlan's foil and rival. Likewise, Catalina is TheChick, as TheHero's love interest. Bova and Rosie don't work out as TheSmartGuy and TheBigGuy in a reasonable way, but they're paired with each other in the way that TheSmartGuy and TheBigGuy often are.
* FiveTokenBand: [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!]] There's a Mercurian, a Uranian, a Titanian (who gets replaced by whatever Suzee is in Season 2), an Andromedan and the human is an African-American. A pretty diverse group.
* GenkiGirl: Rosie
* GenreSavvy: Commander Goddard
* HotBlooded: Harlan
* HumanAliens
* HumansAreSpecial: In the PersonalitySwap episode, the perks Radu gains of being human are getting to boss everyone around and act like you're better than everyone else, so also HumansAreBastards.

* MrFanservice: In "Both Sides Now," Radu gets turned into a human. So many girls ([[NotThatTheresAnythingWrongWithThat and statistically several boys]]) liked him a ''lot'' better that way.
** And [[{{Fangirl}} some of us]] like him anyway.
* MyBrainIsBig: Davenport says almost this exact line when her head swells to 19 times its size and she develops PsychicPowers enough to (seemingly) bend the laws of metaphysics. In actuality she just figures out how to access the ship's "[[ClarksThirdLaw morphing abilities]]," which supposedly makes more sense but really doesn't...
* NiceHat: Rosie wore one that helped her regulate her high body temperature in the first season. She ditched it later on, a sign of maturation and better control over one's heat powers for her race.

* OddFriendship: Bova and Rosie
* OrganicTechnology

* PersonalityPowers

* PlayingWithFire: Rosie
* PutOnABus: Not only Catalina when she was sent to another dimension -- don't worry, we don't mean ''[[NeverSayDie that]]'' [[NeverSayDie sort of other dimension]] (well, [[ExecutiveMeddling technically not]]. Commander Goddard was crushed by the ship while taking off from the planet they'd been stranded on and put in some kind of SuspendedAnimation to heal for the series' duration. His only appearances afterwards were a minute or two of the others checking up on him.
** Goddard was actually healed by the penultimate episode and was present for the it and the finale. He makes up for his absence by single handedly saving the crew from the Doppleganger.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Part of the reason Catalina had to be written out was because Jewel Staite had a commitment to the Disney Channel/Family Channel (CA) series ''Series/FlashForward'' (no relation to [[FlashForward2009 the '09 series]]). Peter David knew this going in; thus the creation of Suzee.
** Actually, he originally envisioned having Catalina stay dead and have Elmira take her place on the Christa. However, Nickelodeon intervened and squashed that. Some believe this is why Suzee was so much of a CreatorsPet was that they had to cobble her character together at the last minute.
** As sort of a nod to Jewel's new series, supplemental material on Nickelodeon's AmericaOnline site at the time had Suzee's Planet named "[[SdrawkcabName Yensid"]], a picture of her planet paired with it's moons made it look like a certain [[MickeyMouse cartoon mouse]], and it's population was listed as "8000. (It's a Small World)".
* RedOniBlueOni: Harlan and Radu.

* RubberForeheadAliens: They even take it a step further and have Rainbow-Hair aliens.
* ShockAndAwe: Bova
* ShoutOut: The ship is named for Christa [=McAuliffe=], the schoolteacher who was killed in the Challenger explosion. Also, a few of the kids' names reference famous sci-fi writers; Harlan Band = Harlan Ellison; Bova = Ben Bova.

* StarTrekShake: LampshadeHanging: everyone BUT Radu is getting knocked around, quite dramatically so, but Radu is standing completely still.
** This one is actually justified in-show. Radu has super strength and super hearing, since balance is established in the ears, those two traits would justify a great sense of balance.
* SuperStrength: Radu
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Suzee
** In fact, Peter David knew that Jewel Staite had another commitment (to ''Series/FlashForward''), so he wrote Suzee into the script as an "imaginary friend." When Jewel had to leave, all that had to be done was to switch 'em off et voila!
* TeamMom: Miss Davenport
* ToTheBatpole: The cast uses a network of unbelievably cool slide-like tubes to travel between areas of the ship. Thanks to [[ClarksThirdLaw TECHNOLOGY]], they can slide up just as easily as down.
** One episode even had the ship malfunctioning so two of them got stuck in the tubes all day.
* TranslatorMicrobes: Harlan is given a potion by a tribe of aliens who think he's their king to allow him to understand them. Not only was language simply never an issue before or after, but language poses no problem for the others when they show up to rescue him.
* TrueCompanions: Andromedans are born in hatcheries and raised without a family. The Christa's crew is Radu's first experience of what families are like. [[FantasticRacism Too bad it's a kind of dysfunctional one.]]

* WagonTrainToTheStars
* YouCantGoHomeAgain

** the Christa's crashing in the 2nd season premiere was based on the Enterprise-D crashing in ''StarTrekGenerations'', although unlike the Enterprise, the Christa was able to be repaired.

* SpaceCadetAcademy: The Starcademy. The show also stars two teachers and several cadets from said school.

** As sort of a nod to Jewel's new series, supplemental material on Nickelodeon's AmericaOnline sight at the time had Suzee's Planet named "[[SdrawkcabName Yensid"]], a picture of her planet paired with it's moons made it look like a certain [[MickeyMouse cartoon mouse]], and it's population was listed as "8000. (It's a Small World)".

** In one first season episode, Catalina finds herself wrongfully imprisoned. Her prison number? [[LesMiserables 24601]].

* ExpositoryThemeTune: As quoted above. In the first season, however, the original opening theme was orchestral, with a narrator giving a preamble, and the theme tune was used over the closing credits. The closing theme moved to the opening in the second season, re-recorded to fit Catalina's replacement with Suzee and new descriptions of the characters. It was further re-recorded for first season episodes after the series ended, but with Catalina featured in, and a new opening sequence was created, making the original opening a truer example of KeepCirculatingTheTapes, according to ThatOtherWiki.

* ExpositoryThemeTune: As quoted above, though some rare instances of episodes used a narration explaining the basic premise of the show and an instrumental theme.

* ExpositoryThemeTune: Quoted above, from the second season. The first season had an instrumental theme.

* ExpositoryThemeTune

** This one takes some setup: one of the (very few) changes that Creator/JMichaelStraczynski wrote into PeterDavid's episode "There All the Honor Lies" of ''Series/BabylonFive'' involved a bear getting thrown out an airlock. See, JMS hates cute, the bear was a gift from Peter to JMS... it was inevitable. Fast-forward to ''Space Cases''. In the second episode, the kids find a teddy bear floating in space, leading one to ask, "what kind of [[CompleteMonster monster]] would space a perfectly good Earth bear?" It turns out to have been an evil race called the [[Creator/JMichaelStraczynski Straczyn]], who wanted to conquer the galaxy, but [[TakeThat didn't have the budget]], so they tried for shoestring bio-warfare, booby-trapping the bear. There's also a game called Minbar chess.

* DidNotDoTheResearch: Rosie says that on Mercury, they always look on the sunny side of the street and both sides are the sunny side. Well; not at ''once'', but you do got to give her credit that she knew Mercury wasn't Tidally locked.

The short description: ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' [[SpinoffBabies as teenagers]].

The long description: A live-action science fiction show for children that aired on {{Nickelodeon}}. It told the story of a group of Starcademy students from different planets who sneaked aboard a mysterious space ship called The Christa. After two of their teachers come looking for them, the ship takes off with all of them aboard, right through a white hole that drops them off over 7 years from home. They become lost in space.

* DidNotDoTheResearch: Rosee says that on Mercury, they always look on the sunny side of the street and both sides are the sunny side. Well; not at ''once'', but you do got to give her credit that she knew Mercury wasn't Tidally locked.

* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Commander Seth motherfucking Goddard.

* NoodleIncident: Goddard's "space pirate story." It was what busted his rank, put him on thin ice with the brass and "almost started a war." Reaver - said space pirate - feels that he owes Goddard some payback for what happened.