Customer Reviews

Earth 2 - The Complete Series

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(46)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Michael Duggan, Carol Flint, Mark Levin and Billy Ray created an interesting concept for a new sci-fi TV program. Airing in the fall of 1994, their show was entitled "Earth 2" and was set 200 years in the future. "Earth 2" painted a very dark future for mankind in which the Earth is no longer capable of supporting terrestrial life. Consequently, the surviving members of the human race have been living in orbiting space stations; but living in the sterile environments has created a sickness called the Syndrome. A wealthy woman named Devon Adair (Debrah Farentino) is convinced that the key to mankind's survival, including her Syndrome-infected son Ulysses 'Uly' Adair (Joey Zimmerman), is to once again live in a natural environment. Gathering 250 other Syndrome-infected families, she pursues the establishment of a colony on a planet named G889 orbiting a star 22 light-years away; but the current government has other plans for planet G889. Undeterred, Devon, her son and some of the other 250 families embark on a ship named "Eden Advance" for G889 to establish a community in advance of the main colonization; but the ship has been sabotaged. The ship arrives at G889, but the ship soon explodes. Stranded on G889, the ship's survivors attempt to settle and begin new lives on G889. The survivors include Devon, Uly, engineer John Danziger (Clancy Brown), his daughter True (J. Madison Wright), pilot Alonzo Solace (Antonio Sabato Jr.), Dr. Julia Heller (Jessica Steen), Earth-government representative Morgan Martin (John Gegenhuber), his wife Bess (Rebecca Gayheart) and Uly's cyborg teacher Yale (Sullivan Walker).

Unfortunately, lower than expected ratings for the series caused its cancellation after its first season; so only a total of 22 episodes were ever produced. These episodes include the following:

1. "First Contact (1)". The embarkation to G889, destruction of the ship and survivors reaching the planet's surface. G889 is inhabited by subterranean natives called Terrians.

2. "First Contact (2)". Uly is abducted by Terrians, but he is returned after they heal him from they Syndrome.

3. "The Man Who Fell to Earth (Two)". An astronaut who had previously crash-landed on G889, Gaal (Tim Curry), kills the commander (Richard Bradford). Solace has Terrian dreams.

4. "Life Lessons". Gaal tries to disrupt the survivors' encampment.

5. "Promises, Promises". Gaal abducts several Terrians; but the colonists free them. Gaal disappears underground and is never seen again.

6. "A Memory Play". The colonists discover a third escape pod with people infected by a woman that had been implanted by the government to sabotage the ship. Grendler saliva is the cure.

7. "Water". Devon & Dazinger search for water.

8. "The Church of Morgan". Morgan & Bess argue while Dr. Heller contemplates removing Uly's pineal gland; but Uly is becoming an evolutionary link with the Terrians.

9. "The Enemy Within". Dr. Heller injects some of Uly's DNA into herself, she goes nuts and is abandoned.

10. "Redemption". Dr. Heller rejoins the colonists thanks to Solace.

11. "Moon Cross". A woman, Mary (Kelli Williams), is found living among the Terrians, who want Uly to be their link with colonists.

12. "Better Living Through Morganite (1)". As Yale regains his memory, Morgan finds glowing rocks.

13. "Better Living Through Morganite (2)". Mary saves Yale from Terrian punishment after he's been captured (along with Morgan and Bess) and finds out he's not a criminal.

14. "Grendlers in the Myst". The colonists believe they have located a killer, but he's only the son of the real killer that's now only a hologram.

15. "The Greatest Love Story Never Told". Danzinger comes across a colony of reformed criminals

16. "Brave New Pacifica". Two scavenging Grendlers come across a box containing human blood.

17. "After the Thaw". Dazinger is possessed by a an evil Terrian's spirit.

18. "The Boy Who Would be Terrian King". A future version of Uly travels back in time to have Devon hide some his blood.

19. "Survival of the Fittest". Several colonists start to act strange after consuming a Grendler when they are stranded.

20. "All About Eve". Dying from a mysterious disease, the colonists find a crashed ship from 100 years ago whose computer may explain the cure.

21. "Natural Born Grendlers". Solace gets depressed about being marooned while Devon & Bess trade for supplies with a friendly Grendler.

22. "Flower Child". Dazinger & Bess have strange symptoms after being sprayed with a native plant's pollen.

Overall, I rate "Earth 2-The Complete Series" with 5 out of 5 stars. It's a shame that this show was not given sufficient opportunity to continue past its first and only season.

I was thrilled to see that an old favorite show that was killed too soon had finally come out on DVD. I really think it holds up very well 10 years later. Excellent acting via all the cast, and the beautiful N.M. outdoor settings certainly help. Though I am happy this is out, it is indeed unfortunate that there are not more extras on the DVD and that the episodes are listed in broadcast order (which is not really the correct viewing order). A poster on the boards of the internet movie database website provided the list below as the correct order to view the episodes, which I agree with:

The definitive order in which events occur in the series:
(numbers indicate the days since the crash according to Devon's journal)

Pilot (First Contact)
The Man Who Fell To Earth (Two)
Life Lessons
Promises, Promises
Natural Born Grendlers
A Memory Play
Water
The Church of Morgan (38)
The Enemy Within (49)
Redemption (51)
Moon Cross (61)
Better Living Through Morganite Part 1 (66)
Better Living Through Morganite Part 2 (68)
Grendlers In the Myst (72)
The Greatest Love Story Never Told
Brave New Pacifica
The Boy Who Would be Terrian King (104)
After the Thaw (109)
Survival of the Fittest (116)
Flower Child (130)
All About EVE

Other people here have lamented the fact that the series ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. Please note that the episode called "The Boy Who Would be Terrian King" gives glimpses of what life will be like for some of the characters 16 years after the time of the series.

Long-awaited by fans to come to home video, Earth 2 chronicles the first months of survival for a small party of human colonizers stranded on what seems to be an ideal terraform world. Emerging from a mildly dystopian, bureaucratic, and ecologically disastrous future in which much of humanity has moved onto space stations, this planet - G889, or "Earth 2" - is a veritable Shangri-La. Sabotaged by a manipulative orbiting government, however, the crew is faced with a paranoid landscape in which they cannot trust each other at first, or the initial appearance of G889. Some of these colonists intended to make landfall on the planet, others didn't, and none of them anticipated the trials they would face from the planet, from each other, and from a distant but subtly menacing Earth. They must form a cooperative band to not only survive, but acclimate to this strange planet while trekking to the site of their planned advance colony before a large colony ship arrives.

After a decade in which the only available copies of these 21 episodes were those recorded from the original (and occasional syndication) broadcasts, and after recent petitioning by a dedicated core of fans, Earth 2 finally comes to DVD. Though not inherently creative (many of the show's aliens, incidents and general plot themes could be found throughout science fiction literature and films), Earth 2 did weave together disparate fiction conventions in unique and often charming ways to produce a literal wagon train in the stars. Underlying themes of environmentalism, indigenous rights, female empowerment, and repentance, though, added a substance to what might have otherwise been a bland, repetitive imitation of other science fiction. Although occasionally hokey and even melodramatic (i.e., time-lapse cloud footage and poor music video-quality "dreamscape" scenes do degrade the show at times), this short-run series remained entertaining, consistent, and resonant to real-world issues; it continues to be on the eve of its return to television via this 3-disc DVD set. The set is likely scant on extra features, as the series was filmed before making-of specials for television shows had become the ubiquitous smorgasbord DVD consumers have come to expect on current series' releases. However, the episodes alone are worth the purchase.

Fans of more recent television series, such as "Firefly" (though Earth 2 admittedly lacks the verbal wit and relative sophistication of Joss Wedon's sci-fi series), may enjoy giving these discs a spin. Readers of Niven's "Ringworld" series or Robinson's "Mars" series may also be interested in giving Earth 2 a try.

Earth2 came out in 1994 and I caught a few of the first episodes. They were interesting, but being a fan of hard sci-fi and humor, they just didn't do as much for me as they could of. Well, when it came out on DVD I decided to watch it, from start to finish. Maybe I would enjoy it more now that time had passed? And I did enjoy some parts - the characters are all well developed (or still developing), some of the science - like the gear, Zero, the equipment - were well thought out and the aliens were interesting. And many of the female actors were hot.
But much of the science was fantasy. I'm just not into soft sci-fi in a TV series. Also, there was little, to no, humor and stories were not very strong. Two ghost stories in the same season? How many times did the Hummer and other groundcraft break down? How many people were in the crew total? New people seemed to pop up every few episodes! There was even time travel on the dreamscape!
Also, while the DVDs have the episodes in order in which they were aired, episode 20 should be viewed before episode 05 and episode 21 should be viewed after 17. Otherwise they don't make any sense. The extras are mixed - the blooper reel and deleted scenes were interesting, but why have a Slider bonus episode and a Cleopatra 2525 bonus episode? Surely they had more they could have placed on the DVD about behind-the-scenes or interviews?

I love this series and was so glad to finally be able to get it on DVD. The quality of the DVD's is excellent but I just can't give it a 5 star rating for several reasons.
1. The bonus features are awful! I could care less about seeing episodes of other shows, especially one I dislike and the episode from Sliders has to be one of the worse ones they could have picked. I want to see interviews with people from the show I'm watching........:)
2. One of the reasons I buy DVD sets is to sit back and relax and watch a show I love in chronilogical order. One of the problems with trying to watch many shows on tv, especially ones with season arcs (like Buffy and Angel etc), is the constant reruns and out of sequence episodes. So, I was VERY disappointed that the producers of this DVD set chose to put the episodes in AIRING order rather than follow the storyline. It really does ruin the enjoyability of the set for me, especially since the episodes would have made more sense if shown in sequence.
Over all I would have to give the set 3 stars, even though the series itself deserves 5+. I just have to subtract for bad packaging, bad extras etc.

Alright, to start with I have read all the reviews to date and decided I had to write my own. The lack of special features is the only valid complaint with the DVD set. As many others have already said it really would have been nice to have some input from the cast/crew. And the packaging is not the greatest out there. As with any series but scifi in particular, you have to take the good with the bad. If you are looking for comedy buy a comedy and if you are looking for Shakespearean dialogue look elsewhere. However if you consider yourself a TRUE scifi fan, then Earth 2 is a must. There are those that say the stories have been done and the aliens are not original. I can say the same for ANY scifi series out there. Earth 2 takes these so called "old" themes and puts an original spin on them. That is what make it a great and original series. You also need to take into account that it was aired on a network which accounts for the limited budget, its untimely demise, and the cliffhanger ending that will never be resolved. Having said all that if you are not a diehard scifi fan you will probably not like Earth 2, particular if you are unable to take the good with the bad.The bottom line is that this is a solid scifi series that without doubt does the genre justice.

In the future the Earth is toast. With the planet little more than a dead rock in space with orbiting space stations supporting the bulk of the surviving population of the planet, Devon Adair (Debrah Farentino) pays for an expedition to a recently charted Earth-like planet 22 light years away when a mysterious illness begins to slowly kill her son Ulysses. When the ship crash lands thousands of miles away from its intended landing area these explorers find themselves stranded on the wrong side of their new home.

Led by Devon and John Danzinger (the marvelous Clancy Brown who also does the cartoon character voice for Mr. Krabbs on "Spongebobsquarepants", the videogame voice for Dr. Neo Cortex in the "Crash Bandicoot" games and appeared in the classic film "The Shawkshank Redemption" among many others) on the long difficult journey, these settlers encounter a number of rather unpleasant native life forms including Grendlers and a race called the Terrians. The Terrians can sprout out of the ground instantly like weeds which and appear threatening at first. They also seem to have some sort of psychic link to both Ulysses (Joey Zimmerman) and the pilot of the Alonzo (Antonio Sabato Jr).

"Earth 2" always reminded me of "Lost in Space" during it's first season with its story of a group of colonists trapped on an alien world and at the mercy of its environment. No series like this would be complete without its own Dr. Smith and we get one in the form of Morgan Martin (John Gegenhuber). A thoughtful, well written show that used the science fiction genre as a parallel of the settlement of the American West, "Earth 2" received the short end of the stick with NBC yanking and moving the series around so often on their Sunday night schedule that fans finally gave up trying to find the series. That's too bad as the ensemble cast had just started to gel and the series began to pick up steam mid-stream suggesting a lot of interesting developments in the story arc developed for the show.

Although the network DID express some interest in bringing the show back, evidently NBC wanted to retool the show making it more of an action-adventure series. I'm guessing but I suspect they also would want to recast many of the key roles for the series as well. Perhaps it's just as well the series didn't survive into a second season although fans were cheated out of a resolution to the grand finale of season one.

A stellar transfer for "Earth 2" is a highlight of the series. There's minimal dirt and debris to mar the marvelous picture seen here. The images are bright with vivid colors. There are occasional issues with edge enhancement and other digital artifacts but the presentation is quite pleasing. The 2.0 Dolby Digital Surround Sound has nice presence and with the sound nicely placed around the speakers. Sadly, this is presented on two dual layered, dual sided discs and the holder won't protect them very well. I'd suggest picking up some DVD holders to prevent scratching and wear & tear.

We don't get any featurettes or vintage interviews in the set which is a bit of a surprise. We do get deleted and extended scenes however and a blooper reel of outtakes from the series' first and only season. There's also a cross promotional effort going on with this set as it includes an episode of the cheesy and fun series "Cleopatra 2525" and an episode from "Sliders: The Complete 3rd Season" entitled "Rules of the Game". The episode of "Cleopatra 2525" "Quest for Firepower" is the pilot from the series created by Robert Tappert and R.J. Stewart ("Hercules", "Xena"). Although the series didn't last more than a season, it did revive the career of "Firefly" and "Serenity" star Gina Torres (as well as "The Matrix Revolutions" and "The Matrix Reloaded") who first got her start on the cult series "M.A.N.T.I.S." back in 1994. Image quality of the pilot episode of the series is very good although the effects appear a bit cheesy even by the standards of the year 2000.

"Rules of the Game" is one of the best episodes from the third season of the Fox cult series "Sliders" which quickly declined in quality as writer/co-creator and co-producer Tracy Torme left the series after conflict with the Fox network and was replaced by writer/producer/director David Peckinpah who radically retooled the show killing off a major character (and eventually getting rid of a second major character) and generally recreating the series in his vision.

Sadly, there's no commentary from any of the cast members or the producers/writers/directors. That's too bad as some extras might have helped this boxed set to sell a bit better. Many fans of the series have probably recorded it onto DVD or video from the airing it had on the Sci-Fi Channel and in its brief syndicated run.

A very nicely done set from Universal, "Earth 2" looks and sounds exceptionally good on DVD. While extras are limited, the ones provided are nice although fans would probably have liked a few featurettes that focused on the creation of the show and what the producers were planning for the series during the unproduced second season.

Earth 2 was a really great show. My absolute favourite at the time. The characters and the scenery were all gorgeous and the storyline original and interesting. It's set in a future when the Earth is all used up and most people live in orbit on huge satellites. Amongst the space population a growing number of children are being born with a deadly syndrome that it is hoped may be cured if they could live in the natural environment of a planet. There is only one planet, 22 light years from Earth that has the potential for colonisation. Wealthy "Syndrome" families fund an independant mission to the planet, but their advance party is sabotaged and they crash onto the planet thousands of miles away from the chosen landing spot. With only two years before the hundreds of families on the colony ships arrive, they must salvage what little they can from the crash and travel overland to their original destination. As if their task isn't difficult enough with the aliens and the hardships of travel, they also must contend with the unknown saboteurs.

Earth 2 was ahead of its time with its strong female leads, and like all of the truly original and innovative sci-fi and fanciful shows it was cancelled before it even got through a full season. Most of the more modern shows like Firefly and Wonderfalls at least don't end with the main character in hideously dire straits, leaving you with a terrible feeling of doom and panic whenever you think about how it ended. Why oh why couldn't they have ended Earth 2 with more optimism? Why didn't they ever at least make a movie to finish the bloody storyline?

Aside from the awful "stopping" of the series, my only complaint is: "Why didn't they put the episodes in order on the DVD?" Natural Born Grendlers comes after A Memory Play, and Flower Child should come before the final episode, not both of them tacked on at the end as they were when the series first aired. They could have rectified this on the DVD, but they didn't! Are they complete idiots, or are some of their bits missing?

Anyway, aside from that, Earth 2 is still a great watch. Maybe not as witty as a Joss Whedon production, but still above average in its entertainment quota. It hasn't aged at all. It's still attractive and entertaining. Nice quality transfer. (I don't like the double-sided DVDs, but that's no big deal, you just have to be extra careful handling them.)

Cheers:-)

Earth 2 was one of those `almost' programmes, making it beyond the pilot but failing to get renewed at the end of the first season. Its admirers, unable, in the end, to affect "a Star Trek" and win its reprieve, have been waiting and hoping for the series to make its DVD debut for some time.

The premise is solid: in 2192 overcrowding and pollution is manifesting itself in congenital illness among Earth's children. Against government policy, a private expedition - the vanguard of an intended colonisation - sets out for an Earth-like planet 22 light years away, in hopes of securing a future for their children. After their ship crash-lands of the wrong side of the planet, the rag-tag survivors set out overland, discovering on the way that their new home has more than a few surprises in store for them.

From this cracking and well-realised beginning, Earth 2 settles down to a series of encounters, crises and obstacles. There is a story through-line, but many of the episodes stand on their own, and indeed, some of them played out of sequence (strangely reproduced on the DVD) when the series first aired. The cast is as solid as the premise - a strong through sometimes overbearing female lead (Debrah Farentino) is nicely balanced by a gruff, down-to-earth male lead (Clancy Brown). Other key characters include the expedition's doctor, who has a guilty secret to hide; the ship's pilot, who expected to drop the colonists off without ever setting foot on the planet himself; the self-serving government agent, who doesn't take well to a life without luxuries; and his wife, who's in every way a better person than him, but loves him anyway.

With a great look, an involving premise, and intriguing, three-dimensional characters, there's much to admire about this series, though it has its weaknesses too. The obligatory "cute-but-irritating-children" are unfortunately present and correct and landing everyone in trouble, and early on there's even an attempt at introducing the obligatory "cute-but-irritating-animal-companion" - though fortunately it's exposed as a pest and barely heard from again. Three-episode guest star Tim Curry plays a duplicitous castaway who runs close to pantomime villainy at times (although that disingenuous, dangerous grin of his is always a welcome sight to those of us who've followed his career since Rocky Horror days). Some of the science is distinctly dodgy (naturally-occurring electro-magnetic vacuum tubes that provide instant transport over thousands of miles - oh, really?), but some is pretty damn neat (`gear' communicators, burrowing bullets). There's a strong thread of mysticism running through the series, particularly in the expedition's experience of the `primitive' native races. It brings another element to the plot and presents the characters with some interesting dilemmas, but much of the time it feels a little half-baked and simplistic - the gospel according to Greenpeace with a touch of peyote shamanism thrown in. There are standout episodes that boast fine acting and challenging, thought-provoking storylines (Survival of the fittest), and others that feel like retreads of ideas that are already pretty familiar (After the thaw). As a personal high-point, seeing Clancy Brown play the good guy is always a delight.

For fans the important thing, of course, is finally having all the episodes available on DVD - which is just as well, as the extras are nothing to get excited about. The bloopers are amusing enough, but "bonus" episodes of Cleopatra 2525 and Sliders are a waste of space, and the deleted scenes are probably a "watch once only" feature. Unfortunately missing are some juicy commentaries, and - most regretted of all - any word from the producers and writers on what was planned for the series. Cancellation saw Earth 2 end for good on a cliff-hanger; the DVD was probably the only chance we had to find out what was supposed to have happened next. Still, perhaps not knowing is part of the attraction - there's nothing like having to use your own imagination!

Earth 2 was a short lived prime time sci-fi series that offered an interesting premise, but was far from original in it's delivery. Nearly 200 years into the future, Earth has come to the point where it can no longer support life, with remaining humans seeking refuge on orbiting space stations. Living in sterile environments has led to the birth of a new and deadly virus, which Devon (Debrah Farentino) believes can be cured and mankind saved if our race once again lives in a natural environment. A planet light years away, which seems very similar to the Earth of old, is the destination of Devon, her infected child, and a crew of families, to which they travel. The ship however, is sabotaged, and a crash landing ensues, leaving a handful of survivors. Among them are Devon, the ship's engineer (Clancy Brown), and the pilot (Antonio Sabato, Jr.), most of which do solid work throughout the series. Of course there are some alien beings to be found, and all doesn't go as well as one would hope for the survivors, but there is something that is oddly likeable about Earth 2. It never reaches for the originality and witiness of past sci-fi classics like Farscape or even Joss Whedon's short lived Firefly, but then again, it was never given the chance to come into it's own. Dedicated fans of the short lived series will doubt want to snatch this DVD set up, but for the rest who missed out on Earth 2 and are more suited to Farscape and Firefly, this is better left on the shelf.