Earth Final Conflict - Was It Ever Good?

[Technobuilder]

TBH, I think I just watched EFC because it was in my wheel-house of "sci-fi".

Gene Roddenberry's name did what it was supposed to do. It ignited the interest of a young Star Trek: TNG fan, who was old enough to know he enjoyed Trek, but not necessarily old enough to understand why.

I watched the first couple of seasons, but the show never really went anywhere more satisfying than an episode here or there. The cast kept changing and that was really annoying to someone trying to follow a faux arc-based series (which was in reality more of an episodic one.)

Overall, the attempt was shallow. The plot line and main series ideas were decent ones, yet they were executed poorly and on the cheap. (Not just financially, but artistically)

I wouldn't classify it as a pure fluff fantasy/fiction series, as unlike those types of shows which had no need to fall back on substance, EFC had just enough of both to make it unremarkable.

As a serious compelling character drama, it falls far short of shows like Babylon 5, Highlander and Farscape, as a light and fun action-adventure series it's never as enjoyable as Hercules, Xena, or Farscape.

Man, Farscape just did everything well.

[Jack Bauer]

The first season was really good. If they had kept the same cast and the original showrunner it would probably be considered a near classic sci-fi show. The second season was horrible especially at the beginning but it did show some improvement later on. Seasons 3 and 4 (and especially 4) were a lot better. It never topped season one though.

[Pauln6]

Season one had a fascinating, paranoid, mysterious feel that they could never keep forever if they wanted to move the story forward. I like Da'aan being more ambiguous and felt he became a bit too 'good' later on. I dislike it when leads are replaced between seasons - it's always better to give them a proper send off part way through a season so that you can build up a relationship with potential replacements instead of just having one step into their shoes the second they're written out. The changes in season two were just a bit too jarring for me - it was watchable but only watchable instead of good. The latter seasons suffered from scheduling in the UK and I don't think I've even seen seasons 4 & 5.

[Marc]

Pauln6 wrote:

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Season one had a fascinating, paranoid, mysterious feel that they could never keep forever if they wanted to move the story forward. I like Da'aan being more ambiguous and felt he became a bit too 'good' later on. I dislike it when leads are replaced between seasons - it's always better to give them a proper send off part way through a season so that you can build up a relationship with potential replacements instead of just having one step into their shoes the second they're written out. The changes in season two were just a bit too jarring for me - it was watchable but only watchable instead of good. The latter seasons suffered from scheduling in the UK and I don't think I've even seen seasons 4 & 5.

if you think it's bad for the viewers with the leads being being replaced between seaons, think about the actors for second!

Kevin Kilner didn't know he was being replaced until the scripts for season 2 didn't turn up.

[Angel4576]

Season 1 - Good
Season 2 - Very good
Seasons 3 & 4 - Meh
Season 5 - Sh1te

Personally I thought it was better than Andromeda, it produced a few standout episodes, and in Sandoval had a pretty decent character.

Sadly, it lost its way and never lived up to the initial promise.

[Lookingglassman]

It was a pretty good series.

[Isadorabelle]

Dream wrote:

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Season one was the best for me. I started to lose interest fast after Boone left the show.

The biggest problem I have with the EFC is all the characters kept leaving the series. There is a reason why nearly all shows keep the same cast for its entire run.

I agree, I feel like the show could've been much better if there wasn't a departure of one major character every season. Though, I'm happy that we had Zo'or and Da'an up until the end of season 4.

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Season 1 was the only good one. Had they continued on that path the show would surely be held in higher regard nowadays. But network interference (?) had to screw it up. More action, less plot, huh?

[Angel4576]

I view EFC as being similar to Andromeda - the first couple of seasons were definitely the show at its best, and then, from there, it was steady decline into mediocrity.

I don't really separate the first couple of years as I enjoyed the first season thoroughly, and preferred Liam to Boone, so season 2 is right up there for me as well. After that though, it became a bit meh! and eventually with season 5, it descended into utter banality.

We only ever had Season 1 released over here in the UK on DVD. If they'd released season 2 then I'd definitely have picked it up. Hell, for completeness I'd probably have even got seasons 3 and 4 as well, but season 5? No way. Awful.

Von Flores - agree, awesome. Best thing about the show IMO.

[hyzmarca]

The Borgified Corpse wrote:

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Agreed. Von Flores is frikkin' awesome. I wish they'd put him on something else. (The only other thing I recall seeing him in was when he had a small role as a gangster that was killed at the beginning of Darkman III.) I've been watching a little bit of Season 1 on DVD and I'm not so impressed with it, largely because Sandoval doesn't really get anything to do most of the time.

He played Sonny Hokori in first, second, and fourth TekWar movies. They were pretty decent.

[MacLeod]

It was ok up until the end of season 1.

[Isadorabelle]

PsychoPere wrote:

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Season five should never have existed.

Ditto. It would've done better as an entirely different sci-fi series, or maybe made for syfy movie. Season 1 was the best, though the other seasons had some merit.

[MacLeod]

Many shows are still fidning their feet in Season 1, if shows with an overall arc to tell, Season one can be more about laying the groundwork. With the later seasons expanding on it. Look at B5 for example, the first season introduced us to the chracters and started to lay the gorund work for later seasons.

[Sketcher]

I feel like season 5 could have been really good. At the end of season 4 we were left with the Taelons and Jaridians joining to make a new race. This is what we should have got, not awakened prehistoric aliens. We should have seen a new Atavus race and a character merged from Da'an and Vorjak. They could still be the bad guys - having their vampiric nature to deal with and the combined superiority complexes of the Taelons and Jaridians. We could have seen them evolve from feeling entitled to ruling Earth to becoming split over living beside or conquering humanity.
The real villain of the season should have been Sandoval. Like in season 5, he could have started as an ally to the Atavus, but over time usurp their power and become a threat to both humanity and the Atavus.
Boone really should have been brought back as the main protagonist. Renee just didn't have the personality to be an effective lead. It would have been interesting to see Boone tackling a new alien incursion, finding ways to thwart them and make peace while dealing with an increasing megalomaniac in Sandoval.

[Isadorabelle]

It would've been really interesting to see a Da'an/Vorjak, s5 style Atavas. Would Da'an's respect for humanity been enough to make the resulting Avatas a better leader, more conscious of Humanity, or would his need to feed have won out?

In my EFC forum I actually posed a question similar to this. Was it ever said in the series who re-awoke what Atavas?