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Earth: Final Conflict Season One (1997)
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Movie Review by The Gravedigger
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09.01.08
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This is an intriguing science fiction series created by Gene Roddenberry and produced by his wife, Majel Barrett.
The series takes place a decade in the future, three years after an alien species called the Taelons have landed on Earth, saying they want to work with humanity. The Taelons have human helpers or implants, whose mental capacities have been expanded with a device called a CVI (Cyber Viral Implant). The down side of this is that it speeds up the person's metabolism and basically burns them out after a few years. This is one of the MANY underlying stories of the season. The human implants also have a Skrill attached to their arm, a living creature that sort of looks like an octopus and feeds off the human body, in return able to provide a weapon with these laser-like blasts. In one of the more interesting episodes it's revealed that these weird creatures are actually sentient and can control a human if they don't have a CVI. The biggest thing, though, with the CVI is that that Taelons have built in a behavior modification that makes their humans totally subservient to them.
The main character is William Boone (Kevin Kilner), a cop who agrees to become a Taelon helper after his wife (Lisa Ryder of ANDROMEDA) is killed. Only later does he find out that his wife was ordered killed by Agent Sandoval, another CVI implant, so that he would agree to the CVI procedure. Boone becomes the protector of Da'an (Leni Parker), the North American Companion.
In the first season the Taelons do seem altruistic and the Resistance group a bit extreme, but there's definitely the feeling that they are hiding something big from humanity. What that something is isn't revealed until the second season.
Other characters include Lilly Marquette, a former soldier who drives an inter-dimensional shuttle for the aliens. She is also part of the Resistance and gets Boone to join them. What the Taelons don't know is that a doctor working for the Resistance had modified his CVI so that the Taelons don't control him. He still has his own human will, and has to hide this from them. The techno-expert is "Auger", an African-American who gets sucked in to helping the Resistance. And Jonathon Doors, a billionaire industralist who is the head of the human rebellion.
The aliens themselves are really weird, both beautiful and creepy. They fit the general description of your typical ET, with large heads, greyish skin, yet this is only a facade they put on for humans. When in their natural form they look semi-transparent, formed of energy, as they are supposed to be bio-energy creatures, far more evolved than humans. All the Taelons are portrayed by female actors, which make them very ambiguous. The feeling is that the are asexual creatures.
While Da'an seems to have Earth's survival in mind, there's another Taelon who is no so altruistic. This is Zo'or, and their rivalry grows in the next few seasons.
What I like about this series is that it's unpredictable and the last episode is the clincher because they kill off the main character!
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Rating: nan out of 10.0 - 0 votes cast total
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