Customer Reviews

Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict - Season One

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The first season offered Babylon 5 storytelling quality. Rich characters, even characters who you think of in terms of good/bad, black/white, will throw you for a curve. The main character, Boone, begins his journey into the Taelon mystery with a clear delineation of the Taelons as "bad guys" only to discover that Taelon/human relations are much more "shades of grey" filled with individual (human and Taelon) agendas.

All of which is tossed out beginning season two for a straight forward good human, bad Taelon, let the fighting begin and "oh yeah can the women of the show wear tighter sweaters and shirts?" Welcome to late 90s syndication sci-fi/fantasy storytelling. Keep it simple, keep it sexy.

Rather than ranting on; I'll merely offer you a single season one episode, "Sandoval's Run". Watch that Sandoval character in that episode versus the schemer and megalomaniac they turn him into in the later seasons. Season one Sandoval is a much more interesting character versus the one dimensional "bad guy" he turns into.

I remember back in the beginning of the season two days, a bunch of us fan boys and girls threw a fit on the usenet group over the simpler storytelling (dumbed down) the show descended into only to be told by a show rep the the creators were worried the season one storytelling complexities would chase new viewers off in later seasons who didn't follow it from the beginning. Well the new direction chased me off.

If you saw later seasons and didn't like it or thought it just never lived up to its full potential, try season one. I love it so much I bought it...

...but only season one.

As with many other fans, I have the ADV release of seasons 3,4 & 5. I was disappointed that after the dust settled with who really owned the rights to season 1 & 2, the winner released season 1 in full screen and only stereo. The 3 seasons from ADV are in widescreen and dolby 5.1. The resolution on the ADV seasons also look cleaner. I wonder how long we'll have to wait for season 2 to complete our sets.

Many fans of this series (including me,) have waited a very long time for this season to be released. Earth: The Final Conflict seasons 1 and 2 have been held up in a "rights" war. Basically, two studios were fighting over whom owned the rights to the series' first two seasons. Seasons 3 and 4 were not in dispute and therefore no "conflict" (forgive the pun,) held up their releases. Finally, it looks like all that legal crap is resolved and Season one is coming. This was an awesome show!!! Fantastic special FX and epic story telling. It is a MUST have for any sci-fi fan.

To glance at Earth: Final Conflict, you would likely be overcome with the sensation of "been there, done that" either through earlier shows Alien Nation or V, all of which sound remarkably similar in their synopsis. However, the trademarked title card precursor "Gene Roddenberry's" is a hint of the supremacy fans of science fiction staples such as Star Trek can expect in E: FC. And I can report with confidence that the entire first season delivers on that potential with one caveat: The remaining 4 seasons never manage to capture the magic of the first (reviewed here) and, as you will discover below, thanks to some legal snags in securing the DVD rights to the property, maybe this isn't such a bad thing after all.

Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict, developed on notes and story ideas the late Star Trek creator left behind, turns a common premise into a complex, character-driven tale of tensions between a race of highly evolved aliens who have arrived to Earth with intentions of serving mankind with knowledge and technology.
Co-developed and co-produced by Roddenberry's widow, actress Majel Barrett, Earth: Final Conflict aired for 5 seasons between October 6 1997, and May 20 2002. The story, unlike the rest of Roddenberry's properties, is set on Early in the 21st century when a race of alien beings (the Taelons) arrives on Earth after existing in orbit for several years. In exchange for refuge on our planet, the Taelons offer humanity access to their advanced technology and knowledge base. As a result, concepts such as disease, war, and global pollution are all but eliminated. Despite such seemingly good intent, there are some individuals highly suspect of the Taelons true intentions and hence an underground resistance movement is organized to "watch the watchers" as it were.

Perhaps the true brilliance of the show, at least as far as the first-season is concerned, lies in the simple realization that the conflict isn't a black & white/ good versus evil affair but rather an account of two groups of beings each doing what they feel is right in the name of survival. Developed as a serial, the ongoing story does a spectacular job of keeping the viewer guessing as to which side they should be supporting in the struggle. Often times I found myself convinced I had things figured out only for a later plot twist to force me into questioning my earlier conclusions.

The first season starts off a little shaky, with episodes that often resemble the formula found in series like X-Files, where a slightly peculiar mystery demands the expertise of double agents (and main characters) William Boone and Lili Marquette to close. By the last two discs of the first-season, however, the show settles into a very impressive rhythm, arguable the finest of the entire 5-year run, with emphasis on grander schemes and solid scientifically intriguing concepts.

I mentioned before that the first-season is typically regarded as the finest (and some fans go as far as to say the only worth even watching) and the reason for this is actually quite clear: E: FC works on the idea of character-driven drama and behind-the-scenes drama resulted in an unusually high turnover rate among the regular cast, due in part to contractual disagreements between the cast and the producers.

As a result, nearly all the show's major characters were killed off or otherwise removed within a season or two of being introduced. In fact, the only character to appear as a series regular during all five seasons was FBI Agent & Taelon liaison Ron Sandoval (Von Flores). Additionally directorial duties were often shuffled in subsequent seasons, with each new director brining a distinctive style to the show's look & feel.

So unstable was the formula that the fifth and final season of the show became radical departure from the storyline setup in the previous four seasons; with the Taelons being replaced by a new and more openly hostile alien race! In this case a group of interstellar energy vampires called the Atavus; a move that outraged dedicated fans of the mythos and crushed what desire to stay tuned remained in viewers whose interest was already waning due to the constantly rotating cast.

Now here's where things really get interesting. Back in 2003 ADV Films released the third, fourth and fifth seasons of Earth: Final Conflict on DVD as these were the only seasons they managed to secure the distribution rights for.

Six years later (May 5, 2009), Universal Studios Home Entertainment finally released Season 1 on DVD for the first time ever. The box set spans 5 discs and comes in at a runtime of 855 minutes. Extras are abundant and include cast and crew commentary tracks over several key episodes and a handful of featurettes and retrospectives involving many of the original actors and production members. Universal Studios also owns the rights to the complete second season of the program but at present, have announced no plans to release a DVD box set domestically.

In conclusion, recommending the complete first season box set of Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict is very easy thanks to solid storytelling, believable drama, interesting concepts, and a very thorough Universal Studios DVD box set treatment (the icing on the cake is the extremely welcoming MRSP of the set: Under $15 brand new at many retailers). However, the mindset required going in is to literarily convince one's self that this is the only season of the program that ever existed due to the fact that the second season never came to DVD and the out of production (ADV Films' released) third, fourth, and fifth are now nearly-impossible to find. As a small consolation, fans of the show are adamant about the notion that this was the best season anyway and after completing the box set last night, I must concur with their admiration.

If you're curious about this series, but don't have a lot of cash to spend, I recommend limiting yourself to seasons 1 and 4. Why those? Well as others have pointed-out very little happens in years two and three, which fell into a kind of Gilligan's Island syndrome. In every episode the characters discover a way to beat or expose the visiting Aliens as evil, but at the end they fail to achieve their goal, and there's a "reset" to return everything back to the status quo. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Seasons 2/3 are boring to watch.

But seasons 1 and 4 put in the effort to advance the story. Season 1 basically asks the questions and sets-up the mystery, while season 4 provides the answers with an ultimate conclusion to the Alien/Human story.

So that's what I have in my collection - 1 and 4. Taken together they resemble Babylon 5 or Deep Space Nine in complexity. The other seasons I owned at one point, but I eventually sold them off since they were so inferior.

When it came out originally, I thought that Earth:Final Conflict was some of the best television Sci-Fi ever made. Now watching the first season again on DVD, I can confidently say that it might have been some of the best television ever made, period. Comparisons to Babylon 5 are plentiful, and they would be accurate. E:FC's first season hinted at a very broad, heavy hitting story arc, and the characters were nuances on top of nuances. During the commentary on one of the early episodes, someone mentions that Kilner is having to play Boone from five different emotional angles in one scene, and they are right--all of the characters have a mix of good, bad, selfish, selfless, etc that never really let you feel who the good guys and the bad guys are.

It's bittersweet, though, because this will be the only season I purchase. I know there was some decent material in later seasons, but there was nothing of what I loved. The characters were flattened out (or replaced), and the arc is either forgotten or, when they do decide to move it forward, thrust in our faces.

I like to believe that Earth:Final Conflict never made it past season 1. Because of that, it was one of the best television shows ever made.

I am so glad they finally released Season 1 of EFC. It was by far the best season ever. Why did they kill off Boone I'll never know. Kevin Kilner was awesome in the role and it's a shame he left. He should have never left.

It has been worth the wait. A few years ago when Seasons 3-5 came out on DVD, I snapped them up immediately. I loved this show when it was originally on air in the 90's, especially the first season. The quality declined a little every year, and like a snowball rolling down hill got progressively harder to watch until Season 5 crashed and buried itself in an avalanche. Seasons 1 and 2 were held up in a rights dispute, which is now apparently resolved, and not a moment too soon! Season 1 is here and we can only hope that Season 2 is right around the corner.

Technically there is nothing fancy here. Five discs, with commentaries on some of the episodes, it looks good and sounds fine on my DVD player. Not as sturdy packaging as the older DVD sets, but pretty standard nowadays.

What you get is one of the best independent scifi shows of the last 20 years. Its smart, well written and well acted. The story arc unfolds deliberately, with little tidbits of information bearing on the central theme- what are the Taelons doing on Earth?- thrown out in each episode. But there are a few plot twists, and sometimes one piece of information given in an earlier episode is changed or taken back in a later one. The viewer is constantly trying to shift their focus like a kaleidescope, linking story threads, ideas and concepts, trying to see the hidden pattern. My wife, who had never seen the show before, was hooked immediately, and I am excited again, noticing subtle nuances that I had forgotten. She is already bemoaning the fact that we have to wait for Season 2.

The one thing that has really struck me watching the first season is how much of Season 3 really does build off the original premises of the series. After Season 1, the show was radicaly changed; new and changed characters and a simpler story line with more emphasis on action. Surprisingly, since I didnt really remember all the events and details of the first season, some things that are touched on in Season 1 come back in the later seasons, providing more continuity than I was aware off. I am looking forward to rewatching the later Seasons, as much for what the producers did right as what they did wrong.

In the meantime, I am going to fire up the DVD player, sit back and wonder why I cant have a CVI and a skrill.

Here is a case where the amazon recommendations where right on the money. At last after waiting over 2 years after buying seasons 3,4 & 5, I will get to again see the first season. As others have stated the first season was the best! I look forward to watching it again and hope season 2 will soon follow.

It was nice to finally have season 1 of Earth Final Conflict available on DVD. In my oppinion it is the best non Star Trek Gene Roddenberry created series. I have had season 3 and 4 for years but unless you have season 1 and 2 you're at a lost. It has a story ark that begins in season 1 and plays into season 2,3,4,5. So hopefully season 2 will be available on DVD soon so I can watch it as it is, a five year story.