Earth: The Final Conflict -- is it any good?

[Christopher]

Kiene & Reinkemeyer did good work under RHW's tenure, but after he left, their work went straight down the tubes and became just as incoherent and fanciful as the Bob Engels stuff that followed. Their only post-"Ouroboros" script that was any good was "Immaculate Perception," and that was written while RHW was still in charge and postponed. I've never understood why their work changed so much after Robert left.

 

[Galactus]

I liked it, up until the end of season 4 I think. There is no Season 5.

I still am trying to figure out what happened with Andromeda.

 

[Mr Light]

I too was greatly thrilled by the Andromeda website information and actually getting to interact with the writers online. The first season clearly suffered production wise but I was really hopeful this would be the next Babylon 5. It really crushed me when the show went off the rails like that.

 

[GalaxyX]

I liked it, up until the end of season 4 I think. There is no Season 5.

If you are referring to E:FC, then IMHO there is no S2, S3, S4, or S5.

It's the Enterprise you chattering piece of garbage!!! No bloody A, B, C, *or* D!!

I still am trying to figure out what happened with Andromeda.

I never got into the show. Never bothered to try it. Lexa Doing was one major hottie, but even this didn't reel me in. I did catch an episode here and there. There was one where Kevin Sorbo is giving a speech to Lexa, about how "the Avatar needs her Captain, she was born to have a Captain" and implying that Sorbo's character was the ship's "Soulmate" (after the failed romance of the other ship Michael Shanks?). I then understood what people were talking about when they kept referring to Sorbo's ego.

 

[Broccoli]

I have to disagree. While the show did change showrunners and gears to a more action-oriented production, it didn't wildly change the premise. While they were trying to regroup at the beginning of season 2, I felt they regained their sense of purpose by the middle of the season and the back half was really enjoyable.

No, it didn't change the broad premise, but it changed the approach, the voice, the characters, the style, the intelligence. The new showrunners may have been trying to tell the same rough type of story, but the emphasis and substance were completely different. Richard C. Okie was telling a challenging, sophisticated story about truly alien beings with alien agendas that could be both benevolent and dangerous due to their profoundly different outlook and priorities, and the quest of William Boone to defend humanity both by countering the Taelon's dangerous actions and trying to help Da'an gain a better understanding of humanity. Under Okie's successors, all of that changed. The Taelons were reduced to more humanlike characters, with Da'an falling into a "good guy" role while Zo'or increasingly became an overt and un-nuanced "bad guy." The idea of using the premise as a vehicle for commenting on the human condition was lost, and the premise became merely a vehicle for action. All the nuance and complexity were lost. All the characters were simplified, retconned, or replaced. I don't consider that the same show at all.

Perhaps, but to me, EFC was done in a way were the changes seemed legitimate enough where it was the same, evolving show. In short, I bought into the story they were trying to tell. I cannot say the same for Andromeda.

 

[Lord Garth]

I'm in the middle of watching "Miracle" and I had to hit pause. That took a sharp turn. First I thought it was going to be a small story type of episode, then Julie called Da'an a God. Wow. Didn't see that one coming...

On to the rest of "Miracle".

EDIT (pause again):

"You actually slaughter each other over questions of the spirit." Da'an's line reminds me of Q's "400 years before that you were mudering each other over tribal God images." I like the way Da'an puts it better.

Da'an is turning out to be my favorite character.

 

[Broccoli]

^ Just wait until you get to the episode where Boone, Sandoval, and Da'an all dress in drag, so they can sneak into a women's prison in order to help a wrongly incarcerated Lili break out.

Wait...that may not have happened...

 

[GalaxyX]

I'm in the middle of watching "Miracle" and I had to hit pause. That took a sharp turn. First I thought it was going to be a small story type of episode, then Julie called Da'an a God. Wow. Didn't see that one coming...

On to the rest of "Miracle".

EDIT (pause again):

"You actually slaughter each other over questions of the spirit." Da'an's line reminds me of Q's "400 years before that you were mudering other over tribal God images." I like the way Da'an puts it better.

Da'an is turning out to be my favorite character.

That episode was a classic. It's too bad the girl didn't get to keep her miracle, but it played great into the story (basically showing the Taelons were not gods, and their technology, while far more advanced, was still fallible).

A long time ago someone pointed me to a website where the S1 storyline continued in written episodes (ignoring S2-S5 completely as should have been done).

On a side note about E:FC. I actually happened to be walking by the filmset when Robert Leeshock was there, relaxing on a chair talking to someone else. I wanted to go up and meet him, but I wasn't sure I could say anything nice (buddy, they killed my favorite character in the show and replaced him with YOU!!)

And on a side note about Andromeda, I actually passed by the trailer of Laura Bertram, who played "Trance" on the show (they were filming this old Canadian Teen show in which she was a main character). I am exactly the same age as her, and I think I was 15 at the time. It was after school and I guess they were filming that evening. I took a peek into the trailer and saw her sitting down, I'm guessing reading over her lines? I didn't have the balls to say hi, partly because I didn't want to interrupt her, and partly because I was embarrased. In hindsight I should have tried, she could have been my wife today lol

 

[Lord Garth]

This series -- or at least this season -- is the best utilization of the Roddenberry philosophy I've ever seen. It wasn't fully formed yet in TOS. In early-TNG there were Roddenberry Humans versus Obtuse Enemies. From mid-TNG on, it seemed the only way Star Trek would incorporate Roddenberrianism was to put it up against other aliens. It always seemed like it was difficult.

Here, on E:FC, it realistically portrays that some in the human race would embrace the Roddenberry ideals while others wouldn't, and the Thaelons were left to be completely alien instead of the personification of modern humanity's negative traits, the way Star Trek aliens were.

 

[Lindley]

A long time ago someone pointed me to a website where the S1 storyline continued in written episodes (ignoring S2-S5 completely as should have been done).

http://efc.scifiminds.net/

It doesn't ignore S2-S5 *entirely*. Characters from those seasons do make appearances, including an adult Liam Kincaid, but their role in the story is a bit different.

Unfortunately their initial momentum was lost after a few months, and now it's been quite a while since they posted any new episodes.

The website is also host to a "Virtual Fifth Season" for those of us who feel that S5 is the only year which was really unsalvageable, but it has even fewer episodes available.