It was a pretty good series.
Earth Final Conflict - Was It Ever Good?
- Thread starter The Wormhole
- Start date
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
In my EFC forum I actually posed a question similar to this. Was it ever said in the series who re-awoke what Atavas?
The series was brain-dead after the first year, a total waste.
No kidden!!! What happened? I really liked where they were going until they essentially killed off Boone at the end of The first season.
I think the first season it greatly overrated and the show did get better until the final season when it appeared as though they ran out of money. But the real failure of the series is that didn't really live up or really explain it's title, so it's really a hard show to explain to somebody who's never seen it.
After they killed off Boone. I watched one or two episodes. They sucked and sucked hard. It appeared they had no idea what the hell the show was about. If they don't know, how the crap are we supposed to follow it or care to?
I think I stopped watching at some point midway though season 3 as honestly, I just lost interest in the characters and the overarching plot made increasing less sense. I caught the odd episode later on down the line, even a few of the very last ones and nothing I saw made me regret ditching the show.
It was never a *great* show, but at least in the first season it was *good* with the promise and potential to get better. Unfortunately that all got squandered. Partly because of the revolving door cast, but mainly because the quality of writing became more and more dumbed down.
What I really liked about the show in the beginning was the pervasive sense of moral ambiguity. There were no real villains or heroes and everything was just a shade of grey. Did Da'an really care as much about humanity as he appeared to, or did the Talons have an ulterior motive? Was Doors motivated by a genuine desire to protect Earth from the sneaky aliens, or was he just out to use their presence as a means to acquire power and influence?
Sandoval is perhaps the best example of how the characterisations deteriorated; early on he's played as very much the straight shooter. A little uptight, a touch amoral perhaps and loyal to the Talons (as if they thing in his head gave him a choice) but he was a fairly well fleshed out character. You may not always like or agree with him, but you understood his motivations and got what he was about.
As time when on though, all that depth and ambiguity melted away until at the end he was such a cartoonish parody of his former self that if he'd had a moustache, you can bet he'd be twirling the hell out of it.
It was never a *great* show, but at least in the first season it was *good* with the promise and potential to get better. Unfortunately that all got squandered. Partly because of the revolving door cast, but mainly because the quality of writing became more and more dumbed down.
What I really liked about the show in the beginning was the pervasive sense of moral ambiguity. There were no real villains or heroes and everything was just a shade of grey. Did Da'an really care as much about humanity as he appeared to, or did the Talons have an ulterior motive? Was Doors motivated by a genuine desire to protect Earth from the sneaky aliens, or was he just out to use their presence as a means to acquire power and influence?
Sandoval is perhaps the best example of how the characterisations deteriorated; early on he's played as very much the straight shooter. A little uptight, a touch amoral perhaps and loyal to the Talons (as if they thing in his head gave him a choice) but he was a fairly well fleshed out character. You may not always like or agree with him, but you understood his motivations and got what he was about.
As time when on though, all that depth and ambiguity melted away until at the end he was such a cartoonish parody of his former self that if he'd had a moustache, you can bet he'd be twirling the hell out of it.
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I completely agree. I loved how the first season kept me guessing week after week. The only characters I trusted completely were Boone and Lili. I hated Zo'or when he showed up, because he was such a clear "eeevil villain". With Da'an, there was an apparent genuine desire to understand humanity, but there always seemed to be a second, less benevolent motive lurking behind his actions.
The killing off of Boone's character was my first time losing a TV character I loved that way. I was SO angry, because as far as I was concerned, Boone WAS the show. I'm sure my hatred of Liam was informed by my loss of Boone, but I really thought he was stupid and made no sense. I didn't buy how he got there at all, much less how he was suddenly a grown man with knowledge and powers blah-blah-blah. And then he invited Da'an to the Resistance's headquarters, and my head exploded.
I managed to stick it out until they killed off Beckett. After that it was hit and miss for me, mostly miss. I came back for season 5 to point and laugh, and even then it was more cringe and groan.
I love Season 1. I might be willing to watch the rest if they show up on Netflix or something. But at the time, the betrayal I felt was very strong. It's funny how these things can have such an effect on you.
Here it is 2015, and I'm watching EARTH FINAL CONFLICT for the first time. I had never heard of it before!!
I have just completed watching seasons 1, 2, and 3. I started watching season 4 last night. Every night, I watch a couple of episodes.
I am enjoying, but I see many inconsistencies. Too many writers seem to be going in too many directions. I am intrigued with the character Da'an. At first, Da'an was "all good", but now there's gray. It's strange to me when people refer to Da'an as "he", because Da'an seems to me to be an ultimate mother figure, for some reason.
QUESTIONS:
If the Taelons have no emotions, why is Zo'or frequently angry? I've seen Da'an raise his voice at Liam, too.
If the Taelons rudely conquered the poor little Skrills, how come the Skrills then made humans loyal to their conquerors?
How do the Taelons reproduce, if there's no male or female?
How come Jonathan Doors never smiles?
How come the Commonality doesn't kick Zo'or's nasty butt out? He's barbaric. Can't they see/feel/sense this?
When the Taelon volunteers jab a thick pen-sized instrument into humans' stomachs to produce Kryss, how come the humans don't need a month or more to heal from this? I would. Ouch!
Why don't Da'an and Liam kiss and make up? They're both good people.
I have just completed watching seasons 1, 2, and 3. I started watching season 4 last night. Every night, I watch a couple of episodes.
I am enjoying, but I see many inconsistencies. Too many writers seem to be going in too many directions. I am intrigued with the character Da'an. At first, Da'an was "all good", but now there's gray. It's strange to me when people refer to Da'an as "he", because Da'an seems to me to be an ultimate mother figure, for some reason.
QUESTIONS:
If the Taelons have no emotions, why is Zo'or frequently angry? I've seen Da'an raise his voice at Liam, too.
If the Taelons rudely conquered the poor little Skrills, how come the Skrills then made humans loyal to their conquerors?
How do the Taelons reproduce, if there's no male or female?
How come Jonathan Doors never smiles?
How come the Commonality doesn't kick Zo'or's nasty butt out? He's barbaric. Can't they see/feel/sense this?
When the Taelon volunteers jab a thick pen-sized instrument into humans' stomachs to produce Kryss, how come the humans don't need a month or more to heal from this? I would. Ouch!
Why don't Da'an and Liam kiss and make up? They're both good people.
Excellent post, Wormhole. You and I are minorities in that we both prefer Liam to Boone. Boone was good, but a little blah. I did like how Da'an was teaching Boone the Taelon alphabet in season 1. I liked Liam's spunk, and Liam was more colorful than Boone.
Season 1 seemed more "realistic", where one could imagine aliens coming to our world, and how would we react. Seasons 2 and 3 got a little Hollywood and full of fantasy. I just started watching Season 4 last night.
Season 1 seemed more "realistic", where one could imagine aliens coming to our world, and how would we react. Seasons 2 and 3 got a little Hollywood and full of fantasy. I just started watching Season 4 last night.
Although all the Taelons are genderless (and are played by women) they are all uniformly referred to as "he" anyway. I think it's in the pilot episode they explain that although "he" is still inaccurate, but is allowed for convenience.
The skrills themselves don't influence their human hosts. The CVI does that, which although required to operate a skrill, is otherwise not related to them.
Keep watching, that's a plot point in season 4.
He's probably an unhappy guy.
Zo'or regularly schemes his evil plots on the mothership's bridge in front of those Taelons sitting in the domes, who don't seem to care. Or serve much of a purpose, really.
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