History Series / SpaceCases

* AMindIsATerribkeThingToRead: While Suzee can read minds, she is '''very''' reluctant to do so as she regards it as violating someone's privacy.

* MindRape: Averted with Suzee. While she can read minds she is '''very''' reluctant to do so as she regards it as violating someone's privacy.

* ExtyYearsFromNow: The series never gives an exact date, but judging from Harlan's comments, his ancestors were slaves almost exactly 400 years ago. (Which would put the series somewhere in the 2200's, possibly the early 2300 depending on what direction Harlan rounds in.)
** [[AllThereInTheManual Supplemental information]] [[http://www.spacecasestv.com/radu.html places the series in 2261]], which would indeed be just under 400 years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

* NotSoDifferent: Harlan hates all Andromedans for the death of his father, while Radu hates all Spung for enslaving his race. Elmira notes in "Spung at Heart" that both are afraid of their prejudices being proven wrong.

* OpeningNarration: The original Season 1 intro (before Nickelodeon decided to go back and redub it with a brand new one) featured this narration:

-->"The eye of the future sees them. Five clever Space Cadets snuck aboard an Alien Ship, flung through a weird hole in space, thousands of lightyears from the academy. Yeah, it seemed like a good idea at the time. But will they ever get home? Or are they forever destined to be... ''[[TitleDrop SPACE CASES]]''?!"

-->"The eye of the future sees them. Five clever Space Cadets snuck aboard an Alien Ship, flung through a weird hole in space, thousands of lightyears from the academy. Yeah, it seemed like a good idea at the time. But will they ever get home? Or are they forever destined to be... ''SPACE CASES!!"

--->"The eye of the future sees them. Five clever Space Cadets snuck aboard an Alien Ship, flung through a weird hole in space, thousands of lightyears from the academy. Yeah, it seemed like a good idea at the time. But will they ever get home? Or are they forever destined to be... ''SPACE CASES!!"

* 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]], [[CuteClumsyGirl somewhat klutzy]] [[NiceGuy sweetheart]] rather than the violent savage Harlan seems to think all his species are.

* HumanityEnsues: During the FreakyFridayFlip episode, Thelma was switched with Suzee and became... whatever Suzee is. She was upset about this since the combination of new emotions and being mentally cut off from Christa was too much for her to handle.

'''Warlord Shank:''' Oh dear...

* PutOnABus: Catalina was sent to another dimension and 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. [[spoiler: His healing completed in the penultimate episode and was present for both it and the finale. He makes up for his absence by single-handedly saving the crew from the Doppelganger.]]

* DawsonCasting: Averted with most of the cast. Teenaged characters were played by teenaged actors. Played straight with Harlan. Walter Jones played teenaged Harlan while in his mid-twenties.

* OutOfOrder: The episode "It's My Birthday Too" was aired later in the season than it was originally intended to, leading to some characterization backsliding. It doesn't help that it was [[CharacterizationMarchesOn filmed early, too]].

* AliensSpeakingEnglish: For the cadets it's justified as they are all classmates and a teacher speaking half a dozen languages would be inefficient. On the other hand, there's no excuse for the Spung or the other aliens in the far reaches of the universe knowing english.
* AllThereInTheManual: While Suzee's cultural identity was never revealed the way everybody else's was (Earthling, Mercurian, etc.,) the [[http://www.spacecasestv.com/suzee.html ''Space Cases'' website]] states she's from a planet called [[SdrawkcabName "Yensid,"]] a reference to the fact that Jewel Staite left to do the Disney show ''Flash Forward''.

* CloudCuckooLander:

* DreamIntro: The episode "The Impossible Dram" opens with Catalina dreaming that she and her friends are all in a medieval court.

* DoItYourselfThemeTune: The theme song was a duet with Walter Jones & Lisa La Shawn.
* ExpositoryThemeTune: As quoted above. In the first season the original opening theme was orchestral, with a narrator (Creator/HarlanEllison) 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 Wiki/ThatOtherWiki, making the original opening a truer example of KeepCirculatingTheTapes.

* FiveTokenBand: [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!]] There's a Mercurian, a Uranian, a Titanian [[spoiler:(who gets replaced by whatever Suzee is in Season 2)]], an Andromedan and the human is an African-American. A pretty diverse group.

* HumanityEnsues: During the FreakyFriday episode, Thelma was switched with Suzee and became... whatever Suzee is. She was upset about this since the combination of new emotions and being mentally cut off from Christa was too much for her to handle.

* OutOfOrder: The episode "It's My Birthday Too" was aired later in the season than it was originally intended to, leading to some characterization backsliding. It doesn't help that it was [[CharacterizationMarchesOn filmed early, too.]]

* PutOnABus: Catalina was sent to another dimension and 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. [[spoiler: His healing completed in the penultimate episode and was present for both it and the finale. He makes up for his absence by single handedly saving the crew from the Doppleganger.]]

* ExpositoryThemeTune: As quoted above. In the first season the original opening theme was orchestral, with a narrator (Creator/HarlanEllison) 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.

A live-action science fiction show for children that aired on {{Nickelodeon}} from 1996-1998. 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 ''Series/LostInSpace''...

* 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]] [[NiceGuy sweetheart]] rather than the violent savage Harlan seems to think all his species are.