The Pilot

Love letter written by Nathan West to his girl-friend Kylen Celina:

"Five billion years from now, maybe to the day, the sun burns ninety percent of its hydrogen. A balance is destroyed. More energy is created than released. Quickly, in a few million years, the sun radiates all of its potential power. The star swells. Mercury, Venus, the Earth... disappear. Swallowed. The sun truly, finally, touches the sky. Life vanished eons ago. Eventually, the sun shrinks, decreasing to the size of the Earth, which reappears from the Red Dwarf's grasp. With no gravity to hold it, the Earth slowly floats away. Elsewhere, stars are born. Other star systems - older, larger - continue to breathe. The solar system dies of crib death. If that's what it takes, then okay. If I must wait that long, then all right. Because when I think of this, nothing is more desirable than the hope of watching that last day when the sun flickers out, with you beside me. We'll sit alone on a dark chunk of ice at the top of the world, and the stars above, beyond and between us will never shine brighter as we drift away into space." Written by Glen Morgan and James Wong

The speech given to the German and English colonists on Vesta (opening scene):

"Tonight we stand beneath a new heaven, After 150 years of calling out, The silence of the universe assures us that life is unique, we are alone. You and I are among the first to bring life to the stars, to this planet, The furthest any human has ever ventured. I know there are those at home who say we are here only as a status symbol, Others say we are fortune hunters or that we are running away. But I know we are here because of faith, faith in each other, in a better world. The rocket fuel that brought us here can be burnt away, But our belief in ourselves, in one another, in the future, never can be, never will be." Written by Glen Morgan and James Wong

McQueen's intro from the third episode onwards:

"We thought we were alone. We believed the universe was ours, until one night in 2063 on an Earth colony 6 light years away they struck... and now we are at war. My name is Lieutenant Colonel TC McQueen. I'm an In Vitro, a race of artificially gestated humans. I command a marine corp squadron, the 58th. They call us the 'Wild Cards'. We fight when called - in space, on land... and at sea. To lose this war means more than defeat. To surrender is to never go home. All of us must rise to the call above and beyond". Written by Glen Morgan and James Wong

Mutiny

Sitting in the gun turret of the MacArthur, Vansen quotes part of a poem by William Butler Yeats:

"When you are old and grey and full of sleep, And nodding by the fire, take down this book, And slowly read, and dream of the soft look Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep; How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty with love, false or true? But one man loved the pilgrim's soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face. And bending down beside the glowing bars, Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled And paced upon the mountains overhead And hid his face amid a crowd of stars." W.B.Yeats, When You Are Old

The Enemy

The Marines are singing an old Marine Corps song while they are walking through the minefield:

Born in the woods Trained by a bear Double-set of dogteeth Triple coat of hair M - Mean as hell A - All the time R - Rough and Tough  I - In the mud N - Never quit E - Every day S - Semper Fi! source unknown, also dubbed the USMC Mickey Mouse Club Song

Hostile Visit

McQueen reads a poem written by a Japanese kamikaze pilot in World War II:

"With my mission now at hand, my dear old town, my dear old people, I now abandon everything and leave to protect this country. To preserve our eternal and just cause, I now go forth. My body will collapse like a falling cherry blossom but my soul will live and protect this land forever. Farewell. I am a glorious wild cherry blossom. I shall return to my mother's place and bloom." Reserve Sub-Lieutenant 1st Class Yuzuru Ogata, Ohka Squadron Graduate, Kansai University, age 23. Taken from Thunder Gods: Kamikaze Pilots Tell Their Story by Hatsuho Naito Translation from Japanese to English by Mayumi Ichikawa

McQueen also quotes a poem he has written himself shortly before the 58 embark to their secret mission:

"A dim glow, Fall among dry blood Of union brothers in a Manassas eve, Still guides our path. Constellations hidden by fierce pacific storms in a Bataan sky, remain obscure by the rain. The stars, a billion for every life laid down in Vietnam, Still shine down on us and will guide those who follow." Written by Glen Morgan & James Wong

River of Stars

At the begnning of the episode Wang's voice can be heard, talking about the deeds of
World War 1 &2:

"It had been five months of the most horrific warfare in Earth's history. A war in which rivers of blood flowed in trenches, for a few yards of advancement. A cold, modern war, born from ancient nationalist hatred. A war which saw the intrduction of awesome technological weapons. The machine gun, the armored tank, nerve gas. And yet, on December 24th 1914, German, British and French soldiers climbed out of their trenches to meet in no man's land to peacefully celebrate Christmas. They sang Christmas carols, exchanged cigarettes and autographs. Posed for pictures, buried their dead. The silence reamined throughout Christmas day. In the following three years, nearly eight million would die. And less than two decades later, the same armies would be engaged in the greatest loss of human life in history. The world had never seen anything like it before. And in one hundred and forty nine years later, to the day, it's impossible to imagine ever seeing it again. Written by Glen Morgan and James Wong

Wang mis-reads from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Act III, scene 2, ll. 21-25:
The [ ]'s indicate sections left out, the { }'s indicate added sections from the script writer:

"[Give me my Romeo:] and when [he] { I } shall die Take him and cut him out in little stars And he will make the face of heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night And pay no worship to the garish sun."

Level of Neccessity
Vanessa Damphousse prays at the end of the episode Of Ne, that is what she says:

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I can. And the wisdom to know the difference. "

The Angriest Angel

McQueen recites from The Iliad by Homer when he makes his mind up that one pilot should take on Chiggy von Richthofen.
The [ ]'s indicate sections left out, the { }'s indicate added sections from the script writer:

The Illiad by Homer
Translation by Richmond Lattimore
ISBN 0-226-46940-9
Song 21; Page 442, Lines 260-273

"Then looking darkly [at him] {upon Hector} swift-footed Achilles answered: '[Hector, argue me no arguments.] I cannot forgive you. As there are no trustworthy oaths between men and lions, [nor wolves and lambs have spirit that can be brought to agreement but forever hold feelings of hate for each other] so there can be no love between you and me, [nor shall there be oaths betweens us, but] one or the other must fall before then to glut with his blood Ares the god who fights under the shields's guard. Remember every valour of yours, for now the need comes hardest upon you to be a spearmen and a bold warrior. There shall be no more escape for you, [but Pallas Athene will kill you soon by my spear]. You will pay in a lump for all those sorrows of my companions you killed in your spear's fury."

And If They Lay Us Down to Rest ...
... Tell Our Moms We Done Our Best

The titles of the last two episodes were taken from an old Airborne School running cadence:

"C-130 rollin' down the strip, 64 troopers on a one-way trip. Mission top secret, destination unknown, We don't know if we're ever comin' home. Stand up, hook up, shuffle to the door, Jump on out and count to four. If my main don't open wide, I pack a reserve by my side. If that one should fail me too, Look out ground, I'm a comin' through! If I die on the old drop zone, Box me up and ship me home. As they lay me down to rest, Tell my mom I did my best. Give all my jump pay to my wife, So she'll be happy for the rest of her life. Tell my little baby not to cry, 'Cause her daddy was a paratrooper when he died.

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