Kind of interested to not see a thread on this series. Its been a while so i dont remember exactly what I saw (i think the latter part of season 1 through mid season 2 and then the end of season 5), but I think that it was generally a good idea, but due to its scheduling I never was able to watch much of it. Does anyone have any opinions or new on this series?

Ah yes. Gene Roddenberry's Earth Final Conflict. It was a syndicated TV series that often got paired with Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda or Mutant X, though I may be off on the time frame.

This series was supposed to have a five year arc, but really the final year was all to wrap up the "conflict". I'm pretty sure it must have had some cult following since they published some novelizations. The funniest thing was during the closing credits of the later seasons they had ads about their online Sto 'or (store) which hawked series related merchandise.

You could tell somewhat which season you were watching by who the lead male character was.

Season 1: William Boone (Kevin Kilner)
Season 2-4: Liam Kincaid (Robert Leeshock?)
Season 5: none (though Boone reappeared in a couple of eps).

I'm going through my collection of the series now. The show was not bad but it did have some moments when you didn't know what the heck was going on. I think that it was a mistake to get rid of Boone,though. And Liam was a great character but Boone was by far the best of the whole cast.

What irritated me was the way they set up the abilities of the head implants (total recall, etc.) and then ignored it when it wasn't convenient. I mean, given those powers Sandoval should've busted them so many times...

Also kinda irritated me that they chickened out on exploring Liam's nature & abilities so many times.

Yeah, caper24, they basically seemed to have done away with the power of the CVI after season one. And they addressed Liam's nature a little more in one of the novels. But I agree, if they would have done it right, Sandoval would have caught them from the get go.

Earth: Final Conflict had a great first season, but the Suits at Tribune Entertainment screwed the pooch by firing the showrunner after the first season, and then not having the slightest idea what the five year plan was supposed to be, so they totally made it up as they went along. All sorts of interesting plot threads got lost, along with much of the continuity, which was a real shame, because there was a very interesting "X-files Meets Star Trek" sort of thing going on.

By the fifth season, the series was on its third lead (Renee something-or-other) and only one original cast member remained. The fifth season was also so completely unlike the previous four seasons as to be practically a different series ("Renee the Space Vampire Hunter").

If nothing else, the series spawned the word "Tribunization" to describe how Tribune Entertainment regularly screws up its promising series and turns them into giant cheesefests. (Because a guy being thrown through a window translates better to the desired overseas audiences than drama with actual plot and dialogue.)

See also, "Andromeda" whose showrunner was fired soon after the second season began, screwing all of that series' major plot threads and continuity, and "Adventure, Inc." (I think that's what it was called) whose showrunner was fired before the first season even aired. I believe similar Tribunization occured with "Mutant X," too, but I never watched that series, not being a fan of superhero/comic book sorts of shows. Oh, and something screwy went down behind the scenes at "Beastmaster" as well, but that show was cheesy from the get-go, so I don't know how it could possibly have been worsened by Tribunization.

Yep, it was all about the bucks with Tribune. And I have to say that all of the above mentioned shows had a great deal of potential, and was robbed of it because of alot of people who knew nothing whatsoever about plot and true storytelling.

I seem to recall that Tribune managed to deliver a final season of "Beastmaster" by repackaging early episodes and calling it "Season 5." (or was it "4"?) That's not only cheap, that's dishonest. But that's Tribune.

Anyway, E:FC had some real promise in its first season, and though the original plot was long gone by then, the fourth season wasn't all that bad either. What I really liked about it was the thought that went into that original season. There was an attempt at integrating the internet with the series by giving the various factions on the series their own websites. So you could go online and read about various plot threads from the point of view of the Taelons, or from the point of view of the resistance movement. There was a fascinating site that delved into the Taelon language, too.

Leni Parker was fantastic as Da'an, the enigmatic, androgynous Taelon who was the North American "companion." Even under all the makeup and prosthetics, she could communicate so much with just a look and a tilt of the head. Her chemistry with Kevin Kilner was solid, and the growing trust between Da'an and Boone (mixed with understandable suspicion) was the best part of the first season.

Some fans complained loudly that Kilner was too "wooden," forgetting that as a double agent he was supposed to behave as if he was completely devoted to (that is, controlled by) the Taelons. I often wonder if their complaints led to his firing, or if it was something else. Whatever the case, Tribune didn't even have the decency to tell him he was fired. They just sort of started up production of the second season without telling him.

Yeah, I was an original fan of the series, and the behind-the-scenes goings-on for this series (as well as for "Andromeda") would fill a few books. At one point I thought the actor who played Sandoval was actually planning to write a book about it. And I know that there's a book about what went down with "Andromeda" in the works.

As far as I know, the first two seasons of the series have not been released on DVD, and though I'd recommend picking up the first season if it ever does get released, it would be a recommendation with the caveat that if you like the first season, everything you like about it will be gone by about three minutes into the season season, and it will never come back.

As I've been going through the episodes of E:FC, I think that a great deal of the series would have reallly been intrestinf if Liam had been Zo'or's protector.

I really enjoyed the first season, but after two eps or so of the second season, I lost interest and never really watched it seriously afterwards, only watching if nothing better was on or I was waiting for Mutant X to start.

Could you share some details on the behind-the-scenes going-ons? I'm curious. I luuuuved season 1 EFC and Sandoval was my favorite character. I was quite disappointed how everything after Season 1 had me waving the WTF flag. I'm surprised Von Flores stayed on the whole series, though by season 3 I didn't care for him anymore.

Regarding "Andromeda"... there's really gonna be a book? O_o

That fifth season WAS rediculous...buffy in space.

(bnevs18)

I remember staying up to all hours of the night during high school just to see this show, thanks to the bizarre syndication scheduling. After it went off I kind of forgot about it, but a couple days ago I found a fanvid about the Taelons on YouTube and it all came rushing back. Right now I'm trying to find it on DVD but it looks like only seasons 3-5 are available. I'd gladly sacrifice season 5 to get season 1 on DVD. Hell, I'd gladly sacrifice season 5 just to make it and the Atavus disappear.

Have you checked Ebay or Amzaon.com for used sets? Not that anything past season one (and maybe a few eps of season two) is worth watching, IIRC.

I checked Amazon and some other places, but it appears that seasons 1 and 2 were never released for Region 1. And even if I could play the sets from other Regions, I can't find any. I blame the Atavus.

Strange, thinking about Michael Jackson's death I was reminded of this show. Weird, androgynous and highly dangerous aliens out to subvert humanity? The similarities are all right there for all to see.

Strange, thinking about Michael Jackson's death I was reminded of this show. Weird, androgynous and highly dangerous aliens out to subvert humanity? The similarities are all right there for all to see.

Hah, I do get that same disconcerting vibe from the Taylons as I did from MJ.