Science Fiction (and Fantasy) on Television

External Links

The Earth: Final Conflict Site

The EFC site has a number of linked sites such as Augur's. Cool stuff!

Also see the EFC site at Roddenberry.com

Created from an old idea by Gene Roddenberry, this is a series about Aliens coming to Earth. The Taelons are, of course, much more advanced than us and offer to share their technology, etc. in a controlled way, to help Earth. Of course, you will be hard pressed to find any aliens in the history of Science Fiction that want to help humans just because we're nice people... But this series is a long way from being a simple "aliens want to take over Earth" scenario. The original concept was called "Battleground: Earth" and involved the aliens having taken over various political, business, etc. leaders minds. Although the series itself moved on from that, much of the basic questions asked by Roddenberry are the ones asked by many SF authors, particularly Philip K. Dick's "What is Human" question.

The series is set a little in the future, so we have all the peripheral concepts to explore, of megacorps, our own slightly more advanced technology, combined with the additional Taelon technology. The "Companions" as they want to be called make friends all around the Earth and set up their primary embassy in Washington D.C. in the USA. Chief ambassador is Da'an. The Director of interspecies relations is William Boone (Kevin Kilner) who also gets recruited by the underground who think that the Taelons have ulterior motives.

Boone has to work with Ronald Sandoval (Von Flores) - the primary FBI agent assigned to the Companions. He also has to work against him. But that isn't easy as all the humans close to the Taelons get implanted with chips to ensure loyalty. Also working both sides is Lili Marquette (Lisa Howard) - ex-marine pilot of the funky Taelon interdimensional shuttle. Leader of the resistance and also of a large corporation is Jonathan Doors (David Hemblen), who also appears to have conflicting aims. {Doors - like Gates and his Windows?} To complete the main cast, we need a computer/tech wizard and he is Marcus 'Augur' Deveraux (Richard Chevolleau). And quite rightly he is very cool, has acquired plenty of wealth and runs his own bar - just right for someone with his talents!

The series makes excellent use of this future and has a great many good plots and sub-plots and entire story arcs that drive us along, as we find out truths, conspiracies, lies, other alien species, real reasons for things and the fact that the first Taelon actually arrived on Earth centuries ago. We also get interspecies children - such as Liam Kincaid (Robert Leeshock), who is rapidly grown to adulthood and becomes the lead character - a Taelon protector - from Series 2. (Boone is now dead.) Liam's aim is to find the truth. We meet Zo'or (Anita La Selva)- a rival to Da'an with malevolent intent towards Earth; Renee Palmer (Jayne Heitmeyer) joins in Series 3 and like so many others her allegiance is ambivalent at the beginning; we meet more aliens with more interstellar travel and conspiracy; and later in Series 4 we get J Street (Melinda Deines) who is 'special'. And Majel Barrett Roddenberry (wife of the late Gene Roddenberry) guests as Dr. Julianne Belman.

The whole series is innovative, moves along through many changes in the characters' (and our) understanding of what is going on and who is really working for who, as stories twist and bend through this fascinating future. Allegiances change as understanding is imparted. People die. People change. This is life. Unfortunately, it is also scriptwriters changing their minds. While much can be put down to twists and turns, the nature of Kincaid makes a huge change. Only in Season 5 when most of those who started are no longer around and the plot goes zipping off in a new direction, does the series lose cohesion. They got to make an ending, but perhaps it should have come at the end of Season 4.

Most poignant at present is the fact that although the Taelons are all around the world, we see more of alien planets than other countries. Particularly weird is when the President of the USA appears to be also commanding the other 96% of the world - a prescient vision of current US government arrogance? Or as Gene Roddenberry wrote, "Should we orchestrate war?"

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