Earth: Final Conflict
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Template:Infobox television Earth: Final Conflict is a science fiction television series originally created by Gene Roddenberry. However, it was not put into production and subsequently televised until after his death.
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Setting
Early in the 21st century a species of aliens, called Taelons, come to Earth. They offer their advanced technologies to the people of Earth. In exchange, the people of Earth allow them to take shelter on their planet. With the new technologies, disease is almost wiped out, as is pollution and war. Despite all these advances, there are some people who think the Taelons are not as benevolent as they seem. A resistance movement is organised, and as the show progresses, the viewer understands that the fears of the resistance fighters may be correct.
The show is unusual in that ultimately, the Taelon aliens are not all-out evil (except for one character who eventually becomes the main villain in season 2 to season 4), nor are they actually trying to "conquer" the world. However, they do have a hidden agenda, and have no problem violating basic individual civil liberties to reach their goals.
Series
Template:Seealso The show's pilot episode aired on 18 October 1997, and ran for 5 seasons before finally ending with a series finale. The 5th season of the show was a radical departure from the storyline of the previous seasons, with the Taelons replaced by a new and more openly hostile alien race, a group of energy vampires called the Atavus.
The show is infamous for the unusually high turnover rate among the main cast, partially due to contractual disagreements between the cast and the producers. Almost all major characters were killed or otherwise removed within a season or two of being introduced (including Boone, who appeared to be the main character in the show's first season). In fact, the only character to appear as a series regular in all 5 seasons of the show was FBI Agent Sandoval, the show's main antagonist.
Cast
- Kevin Kilner - William Boone (Season 1; Recurring Season 5)
- Lisa Howard - Lili Marquette (1997-1999)
- Richard Chevolleau - Marcus "Augur" Deveraux (Seasons 1-4)
- Von Flores - Ronald Sandoval (Seasons 1-5)
- Leni Parker - Da'an (1997-2001)
- David Hemblen - Jonathan Doors (Seasons 1- 3)
- Anita La Selva - Zo'or (1998-2001)
- Jayne Heitmeyer - Renee Palmer (Seasons 2-5)
- Guylaine St-Onge - Juda (2001-2002)
- Melinda Deines - Juliet Street (2000-2002)
- Robert Leeshock - Liam Kincaid (Seasons 2-4; Recurring Season 5)
- Alan Van Sprang - Howlyn (Season 5)
Synopsis
The story begins three years after the Taelons arrived on Earth. The Taelons have used their advanced technology to help humanity achieve a better quality of life. The North American Taelon Companion, Da'an, is targeted by an assassin while making a speech. Instead, Jonathan Doors, a businessman with close ties with the Taelons, is killed. Police Officer William Boone is assigned to investigate the incident. He eventually tracks down the assassin, a person he knows, and kills him. Da'an is impressed by Boone's work, and offers him a spot as a Taelon Protector: a sort of personal body guard for a particular Taelon.
Season 1
Boone politely refuses do to so, due to the fact he wants to start a family with his wife. Also, deep down, he doesn't trust the Taelons fully. Boone's wife is murdered mysteriously, and Boone finds out that Jonathan Doors faked his own death, so that he could focus on his resistance movement. Doors believes the Taelons have sinister intentions, and wants to find out their true motives. He also believes that the Taelons had something to do with the murder of his wife. Because of this fact, Boone agrees to work as a double agent for the resistance in order to find answers. He accepts Da'an's offer to become a Protector, and receives a cyber-viral implant (CVI) that gives him enhanced brain abilities -- including perfect recall. The Resistance sees to it that the device does not change Boone's loyalties (as it does with most protectors). Agent Boone receives a biological weapon, called a Skrill, that attaches to his arm. Boone is joined by a fellow double agent and ex-marine Lili Marquette. She is an accomplished pilot of the Taelon shuttlecraft (that can travel in interdimensional space). On the Taelon side, Boone works with another protector named Agent Sandoval. Sandoval is apparently fully loyal to the Taelons.
Boone quickly finds out that Sandoval had his wife killed so he would join the Taelons. Sandoval explains that his own wife held him back and that he was forced to put her in a mental institution to get her out of the way. He didn't want Boone to have the same problem, so had his wife killed. Boone pretends to understand and continues his duties for the Resistance.
A strange satellite is found in an Amish community. Lili and Boone investigate. In later episodes, the satellite ends up in the Resistance base. It has the ability to make replicants and later kills a Resistance scientist. The probe later winds up in the hands of the Taelons.
Boone introduces Lili to Augur, a technical genius that Boone often hires when he needs technical skills. Later Lili and Boone become acquainted with Jonathan Doors's state of the art base for the Resistance. They learn that Augur was actually a member of the resistance all along.
Boone continues to search for the true motives of the Taelons and becomes good friends with Da'an. A less sympathetic Taelon named Zo'or is introduced. Boone finds out that a Taelon named Ma'el visited Earth centuries before and predicted that humanity would one day be equal to the Taelons. Sandoval meets an Irish Protector, Siobhan Beckett, who seems to fancy him.
Sandoval's CVI malfunctions and frees him of Taelon control. He saves his wife from the mental institution but came close to death. The Resistance captured the couple and Boone convinced Doors to turn Sandoval back to the Taelons. His wife was given safe passage. Sandoval received a new CVI and was made to believe that Boone killed his wife.
The fiancée of the resistance scientist killed by the previously mentioned probe becomes determined that he found a way to get his love back. The resistance breaks into a Taelon installation in which the probe is located. The scientist gets his fiancée back at the cost of his own life. The probe is supposedly destroyed.
An enemy of the Taelons named Ha'gel lands on Earth. The Taelons have apparently wronged his race (the Kimera) somehow. Ha'gal has the power to temporarily assume other forms, leaving his victims temporarily incapacitated. Ha'gel steals Sandoval's form and impregnates Protector Siobhan Beckett. Boone tries to confront the alien but Ha'gel is frightened. Boone winds up getting badly wounded, and Ha'gel is killed. Boone is in critical condition, as the Irish Protector goes into labour while in the custody of the Resistance. Zo'or seemingly vaporizes Boone's body.
Season 2
The Irish protector gives birth as the Resistance is saddened by the news that Boone has died. The protector's baby is a Kimera/human hybrid and grows at a rapid rate. He takes the name Liam Kincaid and immediately takes action as an adult. The Irish Protector's mind is wiped and sent back to the Taelons. The recovered fiancée is really a replicant of the mysterious probe, which is from another alien race known as the Jaridans. The probe replicant kills the leader of the Taelon Synod. Liam saves Da'an and is recruited to become his new protector. Liam joins the Resistance but doesn't get along with Doors. Lili is forced to work under Sandoval but continues her double agent duties. Zo'or becomes the new Taelon leader, with Sandoval becoming his protector.
Da'an realizes who Liam is, and the two become good friends. Da'an and Zo'or battle over each other's ideologies. Zo'or believes humanity should serve the Taelons, while Da'an thinks humanity should be their equal. The Taelons prepare Earth for war with the Jaridians who believe humans have sided with the Taelons.
The Resistance finds out that CVI's motivational imperative wears off after awhile, leaving the protectors restored to their own wills. Siobhan Beckett's CVI malfunctions and she has to deal with all the wrongs she has committed. Liam joins his dying mother and she remembers who he is as she passes away.
Doors decides to take the Resistance above ground and runs for President. The resistance members are pardoned in a deal Doors is able to make. Former resistance members come to Lili and Augur concerned over humanity's protection. The Resistance is reformed under Liam's leadership. Da'an doesn't betray Liam, yet thinks reforming the Resistance is a bad idea.
Zo'or sets the Resistance and Doors up when he has an assassination attempt made on President Thompson. Thompson survives and declares martial law. The Resistance members are targeted and many are brought to the mother ship. Liam and Augur try to rescue Doors but are pinned down. Lili tries to destroy the mother ship in a last ditch effort to save Earth.
Season 3
Lili's plan backfires and she winds up dead, finally exposed as a traitor to the Taelons. Liam and Augur are rescued by a Volunteer. Doors is, however, captured. Doors is able to cut a deal with Zo'or to give himself freedom while ensuring that his company can secretly resist the Taelons. The volunteer is really one of his people, Renee Palmer, and the new CEO of Doors International. Martial Law is repealed and many of the resistance members are returned. Lili turns out to be alive, and has been held captive by Sandoval. He changes her DNA and sends her off into deep space. Liam and Augur continue to lead the resistance.
Doors would work separately from the Resistance, but Renee would work with Liam on occasion. Over time they would become close partners. Da'an and Liam's relationship becomes strained. Zo'or continues his ambitious plans while Sandoval seems to have his own agenda. Lili is tricked into giving the Jaridians ID travel and realized she is on Jaridia. Jonathan Doors dies saving his son. Lili returns to Earth pregnant with a Jaridian-Human hybrid (Vorjack is the father). Liam and Renee help her through a difficult delivery.
Season 4
Da'an helps to make sure that the baby lives. The Jaridans are dying and Vorjack hoped that the hybrid child would hold the key to their salvation, but this does not happen as expected. Lili and Vorjack escape with their child with Liam's blessing.
Augur runs into trouble with the law and is forced into hiding. He offers his friend Juliet Street to take over his role in the Resistance, and she accepts. She is savy and intelligent.
The Resistance goes above ground once again when Renee and Liam team up with an international group dedicated to defending human interests against the Taelons.
Toward the end of the season, it is discovered that the Taelons are a dying race, their core energy is almost spent. It is also discovered that the Taelons and Jaridians were once the same species, but an evolutionary split caused problems for both. More and more Taelons are entering stasis, and Zo'or becomes increasingly desperate to save his species.
Finally, Liam and Renee discover a regeneration chamber hidden deep in a volcano, set in place long ago by Ma'el. Liam realizes that all species are interconnected and he must play a role in saving the Taelons. He brings them out of stasis. To conserve energy they combine their essence in just six Taelons who go down to the regeneration chamber, just as the Jaridian fleet led by Vorjack arrives on the scene. Zo'or, greedy to ensure his own survival, touches an energy pool in the chamber and is absorbed into it. Liam convinces the Jaridians to attempt a "joining" with the Taelons, which, it is believed, will return them to an earlier evolutionary form that is better suited to survival. As the volcano activates, the joining procedure begins with Liam's help, but it is unclear who will survive.
Season 5
Liam, the Taelons, and the Jaridians have disappeared in the volcano. With the Taelons and Jaridans gone, Renee and Street must prevent a new threat, the Atavus (who have been buried in stasis for the past several millions of years) from awakening all over the world and feeding off of humans. Things become more difficult for them when the government turns its back on Renee and doesn't believe what she says about the Atavus. Between tracking down and destroying Atavus chambers, fighting off the Avatus who have already awoken, and trying to convince the world the Avatus exist, Renee is kept quite busy this season.
Sandoval makes a deal to join sides with the Atavus leader Howlyn. Together, they are able to keep their presence hidden for much of the season. Their plan is to create an army of Avatus-Human hybrids by means of a joining process.
The last season sees brief returns of the Season 1 hero, William Boone, as well as the return of Zo'or with a whole new makeover.
Renee's final conflict comes in the series finale when she rejoins with Liam and races against Sandoval and Atavus to find the Avatus mother ship filled with elite atavus soldiers trapped in stasis.
DVD Releases
DVD Name | Release dates
| ||
Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4
| |
| The Complete 1st Season | N/A | April 3 2006 | N/A |
| The Complete 2nd Season | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| The Complete 3rd Season | August 5 2003 | N/A | N/A |
| The Complete 4th Season | September 16 2003 | N/A | N/A |
| The Complete 5th Season | October 28 2003 | N/A | N/A |
Trivia for "Earth: Final Conflict"
- On the desk of Dr. Julianne Belman, played by Majel Barrett, is a picture of Gene Roddenberry, Barrett's husband and creator of the concept for the series.
- The original title for the show was "Battleground: Earth", but the producers changed it because it sounded too much like L. Ron Hubbard's novel, Battlefield Earth.
The show originally starred Majel Barrett, the wife of Gene Roddenberry, as the character Dr. Julianne Belman. Barrett is in possession of notes Roddenberry kept of story and series ideas; after his death, these notes provided the basis for this series. Another posthumous creation of Roddenberry's is Andromeda.