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yshyn.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2008-06-06 11:50 am
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Earth: Final Conflict Overview
Hello there, I'm ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
yshyn, and for the month of June, I'm going to be reccing the old science fiction TV series, Earth: Final Conflict.
Earth: Final Conflict Fandom Overview
Earth: Final Conflict. The series that didn't so much jump the shark as come back and do cartwheels over it a few times.
As far as the lifespan of television series go, Earth: Final Conflict (EFC) had a rather long lived run, at a total of five years. It is not to say, however, that those five years were consistent or uneventful. Between changing themes and changing cast members, it's hardly surprising that a lot of its viewership were alienated over the years, leaving behind a small loyal core fanbase that stuck through with it to the bitter end.
Most of the fandom was based on various forums, the foremost, for a long time, being Roddenberry.com's Philosophy Sphere. This, however, was hacked with some really quite obscene pornography (I admit that when I first saw it I didn't know quite what I was looking at), and all of the fanfic kept there was lost. A fair few authors recreated their stuff elsewhere, but there were a few stories, including some fascinating novel-length ones, never reappeared on the internet, and their authors haven't been heard from since.
The fanbase scattered to different boards and websites, and, with the demise of the series a few years ago, the fandom mostly died. There are still a few die-hard fans posting stories, however, so there may still be life in the old girl yet. A lot of the fanfic that's around, however, is rather difficult to locate. Few authors kept their own websites, relying on forum posts or group archives. A lot of these have gone under, or suffer from Dead Link Syndrome. It takes a little digging through the rubble to find the good stuff.
The Premise
EFC was created from notes left behind by the late, great Gene Roddenberry (he of Star Trek creation fame, if you aren't already aware of that) by his wife, Majel Barrett Roddenberry. She got the series into production, and even had a brief role in it herself. Supposedly, the notes sketched out a five year story arc, but I suspect that the result doesn't much compare to the original promise.
They came to Earth with the promise of peace...
At series opening, we are introduced to the Taelons, a race of energy beings who came to Earth three years before the start of the show, as Earth was struggling to recover from a massive conflict called the 'SI War' (which takes us four years to learn stands for Sino-Indian). They eliminated poverty, brought great medical advances and knowledge to the people of Earth. But not everyone is convinced that all this comes without a price.
The Taelons
The best description I heard of the Taelons was one given to Christian Bok (the man who initially created the Taelon's language, Eunoia) by the producers of the show. They were referred to as "electroplasmic superorganisms", which I think is just a marvellous description. The Taelons are energy based, their true form all lines of blue energy and sparkles, and the Human facade that they present to the world is simply that: a facade.
Once upon a time they were matter-based, like Humans, until a critical point in their history happened, triggered somehow by another race called the Kimera, which created the energy beings we know as Taelons, and forging their psychic connection, called the Commonality, which is sort of like a group mentality. But in this change to energy, they split off and formed a second species, called the Jaridians.
The Jaridians and the Taelons, presumably, didn't get along very well, and they fairly quickly set to fighting. By the start of the EFC series, this war has been going on for millions of years, and the only reason that the Jaridians haven't already won is because they don't have the Taelon's interdimensional drives (which are a form of hyperspace travel - it's implied that the Jaridians have faster-than-light travel, but it's still nowhere near as fast as interdimensional). But even with their advantage, the Taelons are losing their war.
The other, rather pressing, issue facing both species is that both are dying. The Taelons have sought perfection and lost the ability to procreate, and the Jaridians rarely survive to being born. It's implied that Humanity is the only way that both species can survive, and is the reason the Taelons came to Earth in the first place.
The Taelon's society is made up of castes (though we never see this, only hear of it). By the end of the series, the entire Taelon race is aboard their Mothership, in Earth orbit, and they are ruled by a body called the 'Synod', which is implied can control members of the Taelon race through psychic pressure, if the Synod so choses. It is stated that the reason one of the Taelons shows unusual aggression and drive is because the Synod wants it, and allows it, instead of dispersing such un-Taelon like emotions throughout the Commonality.
The Resistance
People around the world had varying reactions to the arrival of the Taelons, but the majority of Earth welcomed the new "Companions" and the advances they and their technology brought. It's even noted that the President of the United States would be whoever had Taelon backing. But not everyone believes that the intentions of the Taelons are good and honourable. Jonathan Doors didn't know what the Taelons were up to, but he was convinced it was generally bad for Humanity, and formed a Resistance movement which was at first hidden in the shadows, silently gathering information and placing its agents, and then, part way through the first season, reveals itself.
First under the command of Doors, and later Liam Kincaid and then possibly Doors again. It's a niggling thorn in the Taelons side until the end of the second series, when the President, clearly under Taelon influence to do so, orders a 'crackdown', arresting most resistance sympathisers. Cells that are left are revealed when Da'an proves his loyalty to the Taelons by betraying the Resistance (having previously known all about their super secret hideout and somehow not saying anything). The Resistance, after that, seems limited to Liam, Augur and Renee running around blowing stuff up, until we see some scientists at work in the fourth series, by which time is has been supplanted by the ANA, an international government level organisation which does not trust the Taelons and wants them gone. This is represented by Hubble Urick, the President's Chief of Staff.
Characters & Season Summary
EFC was, to put it mildly, appallingly bad at keeping its cast list straight. By the end of the fifth series, the entire lineup bar a single character had completely changed, and the series was virtually unrecognisable from what it had been. I, like a great number of fans, may have been able to endure the startling thematic change between series one and two, but it was one insult to the fans too far when you realised that the crunching sound you heard upon starting the fifth season was a paradigm shifting without a clutch.
There was a story arc, a progression, which I'll attempt to summarise here, but, personal objections to the last year aside, the story of the Taelons and Earth's conflict with them really does end at the completion of the fourth series. I refuse to even watch the fifth series and don't really want to think of the travesty that was the final year, but I hear some people enjoyed it. At the end of the day, EFC is a sad lesson of how good ideas can go bad, and how not to finish a TV series. And yet I still, to this day, hold it in great affection.
Season One
Da'an
Throughout EFC, Da'an is the central Taelon figure we deal with. The Companion to the United States (meaning that he is the Taelon permanently based in the USA, a sort of Ambassador to the US Government), not very much is known about Da'an initially. He holds Humanity in greater esteem than his fellow Taelons apparently do, convinced that they are capable of equalling the Taelons in time. While he counsels respect for Humans in their dealings with them, he is not entirely supported in this. As Boone says, Da'an is the only Taelon was a clear understanding of Humanity.
William Boone
The leading man of the series, a cop who is inivited to work for the Companions, an invitation he refuses, citing his wife and the possibility of having a family some day. He's prepared to forget about the Taelons, and then his wife is killed, apparently in an accident which is later revealed to be murder. The Companions approach him again to work for them, but so do a shadowy Resistance movement, who persuade him to become an agent within the Companion's ranks, and claim that the Companions had his wife killed. Boone accepts, and receives a CVI - a cyber viral implant - which is a part-Taelon piece of organic technology designed not only to enhance cognitive function, but also is supposed to enforce a 'Motivational Imperative' that forces the Implanted individual to put the Companions before any other concern, even their own friends, family, or life.
Zo'or
Initially introduced only as a CGI figure that was distinctly redder in hue than his fellow aliens, later introduced as the Companion to the United Nations. Over the course of the series, he would go from nothing to the main antagonist, to completely bonkers.
Ronald Sandoval
An Implant, like Boone, but with a fully functional Motivational Imperative, at least to begin with. In the first series he's the perfect Taelon agent, becoming, over the course of five years, a man with his own agenda, to destroy the Taelons, which eventually leads him to becoming something of a villainous figure in season five.
Lili Marquette
Ex-marine, shuttle pilot and Boone's aide, Lili is actually a resistance agent planted in the Taelon hierarchy. The reason they need Boone, though, is that the Taelons only truly trust those with a CVI.
Augur
The necessary hacker/techno freak that any series needs to survive, these days, Augur was the mercenary computer wiz (with a penchant for receiving his payment in the form of valuable artworks) revealed to be a member of the Resistance early on in the series.
Jonathan Doors
The man behind the Resistance. He was the man behind Doors International, a company with strong Taelon links. He faked his death and went underground to found the Resistance, and his motives never get clearly explained.
Siubhan Beckett
Another Implant, Protector to the UK Companion, and Irish (in the most cliched fashion possible). She wastes no time on hitting on Sandoval, and trying to persuade Lili to become an Implant to better serve the Taelons. She becomes suspicious that the woman has Resistance sympathies when she refuses, demonstrating that for all her cliched nature, she probably has more brains than anyone else in the cast.
EFC started life as a high concept scifi series, dealing with the fact that aliens have come to Earth and not everyone trusts their intentions. Their motivations are deliberately shadowy and mysterious, not nearly so clearly explicated as they are in future series. William Boone is a police officer who turns down a job as a Taelon agent, citing his wish to build a family with his wife who, coincidentally, is killed not long after.
The Resistance, a shadowy group who have not yet revealed themselves, make themselves known to Boone, say that the Taelons had his wife killed, and urge Boone to take the job with the Taelons, to become a double agent, because they have managed to get their hands on a CVI, and have their Doctor (Julianna Belman, aka Majel Roddenberry) edit out the nasty little motivational imperative. Considering the number of agents they seem to have managed to insert into the Taelon hierarchy, you have to wonder why they need one more, but let's not get to quibbling with the plot at this early stage (plenty of time for that later).
Boone, naturally, accepts, gets a nice little bit of alien hardware in his head, and goes to work for both the Taelons and the Resistance. Along the way, he discovers that Sandoval killed his wife, apparently out of completely good intentions to spare Boone the pain of having to split his allegiances between the Taelons and his family, although there is the implication that Da'an may have been the one to give the order for Sandoval to arrange it.
Over the course of the series, mysteries come to light, like a strange alien object which the Resistance assumes to be Taelon, but doesn't seem to be designed the way their technology is, being all green and crystalline. Boone and Da'an start to develop a rapport, a bridging between the two species that is exactly the sort of Humanist thinking you would expect from a Roddenberry series. We see that Da'an is unusual for thinking that Humanity is a species worthy of their respect, but that he seems to be bringing some of the other Taelons around.
It all comes to a head at the end of the series, when a bunch of enterprising Humans dig up a cocoon from the bottom of the sea to reveal Ha'gel.
Ha'gel is Kimera, a species older than the Taelons who are now all dead. When asked, Da'an says that they died, but privately, Zo'or sneers at him for lying, pointing out that in fact the Taelons killed the Kimera after they saved the Taelons from extinction. It's never clear how this happened, but the Kimera made the Commonality, the Taelon collective consciousness, and, given their appearance, probably influenced the creation of the Taelon energy form.
Ha'gel, as you might well do yourself if you'd been locked in a tiny coffin for a couple of million years, takes on Human form, copying the genetics of the guy who opened the cocoon and going and getting himself laid. He unfortunately kills the first poor girl who takes him up on his offer, but then he's a little out of practice.
The Taelons sensed Ha'gel's escape, and sent their agents after him, which is how Ha'gel comes to borrow Agent Sandoval's body, cornering Siubhan Beckett in a church that happens to be the Resistance hideout. Right after he catches up with her, and does *something* to her involving turning into an energy whirlwind, the Implants and the police catch up to him, and kill Ha'gel, but not before Ha'gel causes a pillar to explode, catching Boone full in the side.
The Resistance sneak Beckett into their secret lair while the Taelons have their back turned and discover that, surprise, she's pregnant. Somewhere else, in a Taelon facility, Boone is in a blue tank (and, incidentally, getting 'blue tanked' was a euphemism in fandom, as nothing good ever came of those things). Sandoval is watching, and Zo'or approaches. He puts his hand on the tank and completely dissolves Boone's body, killing him.
Which was actually a bit of a shock.
Season Two
Liam Kincaid
One third Kimera, two thirds Human, Liam Kincaid is a man 'more than Human', or so we're told by the show's opening narration. This never apparently manifests in more ways than a couple of artistically shot flashes of apparent foresight and some wicked cool glowing spots on his palm called shaqarava, but was important, as it enables our hero to go from screaming infant to fully grown in less time than your average commercial break.
Joshua Doors
Son of Jonathan Doors, briefly introduced in the first season as a lawyer who didn't mind prosecuting a Taelon in spite of the fact that it wouldn't make him very popular. In this series, he takes over his father's presidential campaign after Doors decides to run for office, in later seasons going on to run a large corporation, before disappearing into the bowels of the Mothership somewhere and never being heard from again. Had a brief fling with Lili Marquette, but it didn't seem to go anywhere.
Unfortunately, due to contractual arguments (so rumour has it), the demise of series lead Boone at the end of the first season wasn't just a cunning plan to keep us coming back for more, it really was a fairly final demise. The series changed its whole approach. Out went the highly cerebral storylines and in came slightly more mainstream "edgy" ones that usually ended in new lead Liam Kincaid having some sort of fistfight, Kirk-style, with the villain of the week.
Zo'or went from tagalong Taelon to the leader of the Synod, and would quickly take advantage of all power provides by immediately trying to subvert every project of his erstwhile mentor, Da'an, to convert Human into a slave fighting species through means of bioengineering. Da'an is portrayed as being highly sympathetic to the Resistance, even to the point where he's taken into their secret hideout and doesn't immediately blow their cover.
Season two also introduced us to the Mothership, the Taelon's massive homeship which was usually depicted as hiding behind the moon and out of sight. Its introduction opened the door for more Star Trek-ish space based stories on occasion. We got more of the stock scifi plots in series two. We got time travel, parallel universes, and genetic engineering, amongst others. Unfortunately, we also got some dodgy dream-world stuff as well.
The series opens with no one aware yet that boone has been killed and Beckett giving birth. It's definitely an alien baby, given that she's only been pregnant an hour. She has the child, and names him Liam. The Resistance wipes her memory and drops her off in the street for the Taelons to find, keeping the child. He grows to adulthood in a few quick bursts of growth (conveniently, since having a pre-toddler lead is very bad for the old ratings), and Lili is summoned to see Sandoval. She becomes his aide after being informed of Boone's demise, and, after Liam gets given a false identity by Augur, goes to Boone's funeral, then saves Da'an's life (while failing to save the life of the Synod leader, leading the way open for Zo'or to take power), he conveniently gets Boone's job, and even more conveniently, is allowed to go on without being implanted with a CVI.
In due course, he reveals that he's part-Kimera to Da'an, albeit accidentally, through using his shaquarava (around the same time, he finds out that Liam is part of the Resistance and where their base is), which were the main cause of a lot of accusations of Liam being superpowered. Having recently rewatched the whole second series, I'm not sure where the accusation comes from, but it was banded about by the sort of character-haters that exist in any fandom. Supposedly, Liam has a connection to the Taelon Commonality, and access to the racial memories of the Kimera species, though neither of these points are explored. In later seasons, these points would be dropped entirely, literally leaving Liam more Human than not.
Jonathan Doors, meanwhile, decides that the best way to fight the Taelons is to stand for election as President, with his son Joshua running his campaign. This eventually leads to the Resistance fighters deciding he's too visible and, after briefly considering selecting Lili as their new leader, apparently vote Liam into power, showing themselves to be remarkably democratic for a guerilla movement.
In this series, we also find out that the Taelons have an enemy, the Jaridians. They seem to spend most of the series trying to genetically engineer soldiers to fight them, or recruiting them from willing Volunteers (sic). While Zo'or briefly offers Doors a political alliance, when Doors refuses, he goes and throws the weight of Taelon approval behind Thompson, the opposing candidate. Thompson ultimately wins, orders a crackdown on the Resistance, and Doors is forced into hiding.
At the same time, Lili manages to get herself into the position of being able to blow up the Mothership. The season ends on a cliffhanger of her standing over the engine core, watching her communicator screen as Liam, Augur and Doors, who're in a safe house together, get attacked by Volunteers.
Season Three
Renee Palmer
The replacement to Lili, Renee Palmer is apparently an example of how a woman can have a fulfilling career in business and still have time to run around in skin tight leather outfits and Blow Stuff Up.
T'than
War Minister and Zo'or nemesis. T'than is something of a contradiction of earlier statements about there being no warriors amongst the Taelons, but if you've survived to the third series, you're not too worried about retroactive continuity.
In this season, the Taelons begin to be presented in a slightly more sympathetic light. Information about the various Taelons is revealed, including the information that Da'an is the parent of Zo'or, and that Zo'or is himself barren, and unable to have children (making him the only member of his species to be unable to procreate). Zo'or, it turns out, was the last Taelon born, over 1000 years ago, marking the first time he's characterised as more than just the villain and making his desperation and ruthlessness seem almost understandable.
After last year's cliffhanger, Liam et al are rescued by a 'blonde Volunteer' who turns out to be Renee, who also happens to be a Division Head at Doors International, Jonathan's company, which gives her an excuse to be on the Mothership a lot (really, you'd think that the Taelons would get suspicious given how often she makes the trips there to chat to people about 'coventures'). Lili, meanwhile, attempts to blow up the Mothership, and nearly suceeds, but is caught and apparently killed. Unbeknownst to anyone, however, is that Sandoval faked her death and kidnapped her. It was implied in the second season that his MI was failing, but this year we find out that he's working against Taelon interests, and apparently allied with the Jaridians. He's portrayed as a man with his own agenda, and bioengineers Lili to become non-Human and sends her offworld in a shuttle (later, it's revealed that he sent her to Jaridia).
Resistance activities are curtailed even further after the crackdown, Doors having already gone to ground, when Da'an abuses his knowledge of Liam's status as the leader of the Resistance to betray the cells, and the Resistance this year is more about Liam and Renee running around with a bit of will they-won't they tension. Liam is apparently becoming 'more Human the longer [he] remains on Earth' which was weak as far as justifications go, but means that we don't see as many hints of an alien heritage this year.
By the end of the year, Lili returns, this time pregnant with a half Jaridian child, so Sandoval collaborates wtih some Russian guy (who pops up a couple more times in later seasons) to kidnap Da'an, because Taelon energy is needed to help the child survive, though it might kill Da'an.
Season Four
Juliette Street
Augur decides that the best way to keep alive is to duck off the radar, so at the beginning of the fourth series, he disappears, leaving his friend Street in charge of being the hacker character. She's young, hip, and has all these kooky New Age habits like drinking plankton or something, so obviously she's cooler than Augur.
In this series, Zo'or apparently goes completely off the deep end. By the end of it, he'd almost be classed as insane. He murders T'than, stealing his energy for his own, drives another Taelon to suicide, goes on violent spree in a Human body, and seems to have an intimate moment with a pile of gold at one point (don't ask). In a way, this is almost understandable as we're introduced to what is apparently the ultimate threat to the Taelons: extinction.
This is a concept that's been bandied about a little in series three, as it's mentioned that no children have been born in 1000 years, but it's in this series that it's becoming desperate. In the course of a series, the Taelon race goes from a species that apparently spans star systems to virtually all dead (with very little sign of this onscreen) or in what they call 'stasis', which is as good as dead.
Which is why you'd think that the opener, in which Taelon energy is used to save Lili's child (before she, daddy and baby, hop in a shuttle and head back to Jaridia), would signal the beginning of the collaboration we've been vaguely promised for several seasons, where Humanity would help both species to survive. Alas, not so.
The Jaridians go from potential allies of Earth to enemies, at one point trying to destroy the planet because it's been contaminated by the Taelon influence. Liam and Da'an have a major fight over something, and stop getting on so well, and Liam loses the last of his Kimera genes, becoming Human in every way and not just name-only. Zo'or, as we said, apparently goes slightly insane, and Sandoval is clearly running things behind the scenes.
A theme running through series four is the research of a Taelon scientist called Ma'el, who appeared in the first series of EFC as a holographic ghost (he had lived on Earth thousands of years ago, researching Humans, and eventually died in Ireland) to give a warning to the Taelons that Humans would one day be equal to them, and was not really heard from since. This year he turns into the equivalent of Alias' Rambaldi, and his artifacts and research become of great interest to both sides of this little conflict. Jonathan Doors resurfaces, found to be digging up Ma'el's ship, before being killed off later in the year.
The season ends with the last of the Jaridians coming to Earth, and the Taelons mostly dead or in stasis, and the discovery of a cave in a volcano with several pods in it. This was Ma'el's plan, to combine Jaridians and Taelons and let them both survive. The Taelons combine their entire species into only a few individuals, and step into the pods with the Jaridians (Zo'or, however, sticks his hand on a glowing pool and vanishes and isn't really heard from again, unless you count a sort of appearance in season five). Liam stands at the centre of Ma'el's pods, controlling the process, and as Renee et al escape in a shuttle, the volcano explodes. I'm not entirely sure why it exploded, but it did.
Season Five
What season five?
Eheh.
Oh, well, if you insist.
By this point, EFC was on the ropes. The budget was slashed massively, and instead of using the opportunity to create well written and thoughtfully explored character stories, the producers/writers took that to mean our special effects are going to be bigger to try to hide the fact that they're so CHEAP.
All the characters, bar Renee, Street and Sandoval, were gone (save from brief appearances by one or two individuals later in the series). Instead of the Taelons who were, let's face it, the protagonists and, even, the plot of the series, were gone, and in their place were Atavus, which was a concept vaguely introduced in the second season, but these Atavus looked nothing like their old selves. Instead they were apparently much more sexed up.
Renee apparently spends the series running around trying to blow them up. As I say, I didn't watch the fifth series, and don't personally consider it a part of EFC's rather strained canon. The Wikipedia entry on the subject describes it better, especially considering that the major problem with not having seen the last series is that I can't summarise the new characters for you.
And so Earth: Final Conflict ended, with a year long whimper, and, having alienated a lot of its previously very loyal fans, a lot of the fandom died a quiet death as well.
Key Links
Unfortunately, it's extremely difficult to find any active links these days, and there aren't even any active LJ comms devoted to the series (the series being in the days before fandom became an LJ concern). The official sites have vanished into the ether, but I did manage to dig up one or two. They're pretty much dead these days, but they're at least still online, as opposed to completely gone.
Kaarpaaj (information site)
http://kaarpaaj.tripod.com/
Seven's EFC Central Fanfiction (forums)
http://earthfinalconflictcentral.yuku.com/forum/view/id/4
yshyn, and for the month of June, I'm going to be reccing the old science fiction TV series, Earth: Final Conflict.Earth: Final Conflict Fandom Overview
Earth: Final Conflict. The series that didn't so much jump the shark as come back and do cartwheels over it a few times.
As far as the lifespan of television series go, Earth: Final Conflict (EFC) had a rather long lived run, at a total of five years. It is not to say, however, that those five years were consistent or uneventful. Between changing themes and changing cast members, it's hardly surprising that a lot of its viewership were alienated over the years, leaving behind a small loyal core fanbase that stuck through with it to the bitter end.
Most of the fandom was based on various forums, the foremost, for a long time, being Roddenberry.com's Philosophy Sphere. This, however, was hacked with some really quite obscene pornography (I admit that when I first saw it I didn't know quite what I was looking at), and all of the fanfic kept there was lost. A fair few authors recreated their stuff elsewhere, but there were a few stories, including some fascinating novel-length ones, never reappeared on the internet, and their authors haven't been heard from since.
The fanbase scattered to different boards and websites, and, with the demise of the series a few years ago, the fandom mostly died. There are still a few die-hard fans posting stories, however, so there may still be life in the old girl yet. A lot of the fanfic that's around, however, is rather difficult to locate. Few authors kept their own websites, relying on forum posts or group archives. A lot of these have gone under, or suffer from Dead Link Syndrome. It takes a little digging through the rubble to find the good stuff.
The Premise
EFC was created from notes left behind by the late, great Gene Roddenberry (he of Star Trek creation fame, if you aren't already aware of that) by his wife, Majel Barrett Roddenberry. She got the series into production, and even had a brief role in it herself. Supposedly, the notes sketched out a five year story arc, but I suspect that the result doesn't much compare to the original promise.
At series opening, we are introduced to the Taelons, a race of energy beings who came to Earth three years before the start of the show, as Earth was struggling to recover from a massive conflict called the 'SI War' (which takes us four years to learn stands for Sino-Indian). They eliminated poverty, brought great medical advances and knowledge to the people of Earth. But not everyone is convinced that all this comes without a price.
The Taelons
The best description I heard of the Taelons was one given to Christian Bok (the man who initially created the Taelon's language, Eunoia) by the producers of the show. They were referred to as "electroplasmic superorganisms", which I think is just a marvellous description. The Taelons are energy based, their true form all lines of blue energy and sparkles, and the Human facade that they present to the world is simply that: a facade.
Once upon a time they were matter-based, like Humans, until a critical point in their history happened, triggered somehow by another race called the Kimera, which created the energy beings we know as Taelons, and forging their psychic connection, called the Commonality, which is sort of like a group mentality. But in this change to energy, they split off and formed a second species, called the Jaridians.
The Jaridians and the Taelons, presumably, didn't get along very well, and they fairly quickly set to fighting. By the start of the EFC series, this war has been going on for millions of years, and the only reason that the Jaridians haven't already won is because they don't have the Taelon's interdimensional drives (which are a form of hyperspace travel - it's implied that the Jaridians have faster-than-light travel, but it's still nowhere near as fast as interdimensional). But even with their advantage, the Taelons are losing their war.
The other, rather pressing, issue facing both species is that both are dying. The Taelons have sought perfection and lost the ability to procreate, and the Jaridians rarely survive to being born. It's implied that Humanity is the only way that both species can survive, and is the reason the Taelons came to Earth in the first place.
The Taelon's society is made up of castes (though we never see this, only hear of it). By the end of the series, the entire Taelon race is aboard their Mothership, in Earth orbit, and they are ruled by a body called the 'Synod', which is implied can control members of the Taelon race through psychic pressure, if the Synod so choses. It is stated that the reason one of the Taelons shows unusual aggression and drive is because the Synod wants it, and allows it, instead of dispersing such un-Taelon like emotions throughout the Commonality.
The Resistance
People around the world had varying reactions to the arrival of the Taelons, but the majority of Earth welcomed the new "Companions" and the advances they and their technology brought. It's even noted that the President of the United States would be whoever had Taelon backing. But not everyone believes that the intentions of the Taelons are good and honourable. Jonathan Doors didn't know what the Taelons were up to, but he was convinced it was generally bad for Humanity, and formed a Resistance movement which was at first hidden in the shadows, silently gathering information and placing its agents, and then, part way through the first season, reveals itself.
First under the command of Doors, and later Liam Kincaid and then possibly Doors again. It's a niggling thorn in the Taelons side until the end of the second series, when the President, clearly under Taelon influence to do so, orders a 'crackdown', arresting most resistance sympathisers. Cells that are left are revealed when Da'an proves his loyalty to the Taelons by betraying the Resistance (having previously known all about their super secret hideout and somehow not saying anything). The Resistance, after that, seems limited to Liam, Augur and Renee running around blowing stuff up, until we see some scientists at work in the fourth series, by which time is has been supplanted by the ANA, an international government level organisation which does not trust the Taelons and wants them gone. This is represented by Hubble Urick, the President's Chief of Staff.
Characters & Season Summary
EFC was, to put it mildly, appallingly bad at keeping its cast list straight. By the end of the fifth series, the entire lineup bar a single character had completely changed, and the series was virtually unrecognisable from what it had been. I, like a great number of fans, may have been able to endure the startling thematic change between series one and two, but it was one insult to the fans too far when you realised that the crunching sound you heard upon starting the fifth season was a paradigm shifting without a clutch.
There was a story arc, a progression, which I'll attempt to summarise here, but, personal objections to the last year aside, the story of the Taelons and Earth's conflict with them really does end at the completion of the fourth series. I refuse to even watch the fifth series and don't really want to think of the travesty that was the final year, but I hear some people enjoyed it. At the end of the day, EFC is a sad lesson of how good ideas can go bad, and how not to finish a TV series. And yet I still, to this day, hold it in great affection.
Season One
Da'anThroughout EFC, Da'an is the central Taelon figure we deal with. The Companion to the United States (meaning that he is the Taelon permanently based in the USA, a sort of Ambassador to the US Government), not very much is known about Da'an initially. He holds Humanity in greater esteem than his fellow Taelons apparently do, convinced that they are capable of equalling the Taelons in time. While he counsels respect for Humans in their dealings with them, he is not entirely supported in this. As Boone says, Da'an is the only Taelon was a clear understanding of Humanity.
William BooneThe leading man of the series, a cop who is inivited to work for the Companions, an invitation he refuses, citing his wife and the possibility of having a family some day. He's prepared to forget about the Taelons, and then his wife is killed, apparently in an accident which is later revealed to be murder. The Companions approach him again to work for them, but so do a shadowy Resistance movement, who persuade him to become an agent within the Companion's ranks, and claim that the Companions had his wife killed. Boone accepts, and receives a CVI - a cyber viral implant - which is a part-Taelon piece of organic technology designed not only to enhance cognitive function, but also is supposed to enforce a 'Motivational Imperative' that forces the Implanted individual to put the Companions before any other concern, even their own friends, family, or life.
Zo'orInitially introduced only as a CGI figure that was distinctly redder in hue than his fellow aliens, later introduced as the Companion to the United Nations. Over the course of the series, he would go from nothing to the main antagonist, to completely bonkers.
Ronald SandovalAn Implant, like Boone, but with a fully functional Motivational Imperative, at least to begin with. In the first series he's the perfect Taelon agent, becoming, over the course of five years, a man with his own agenda, to destroy the Taelons, which eventually leads him to becoming something of a villainous figure in season five.
Lili MarquetteEx-marine, shuttle pilot and Boone's aide, Lili is actually a resistance agent planted in the Taelon hierarchy. The reason they need Boone, though, is that the Taelons only truly trust those with a CVI.
AugurThe necessary hacker/techno freak that any series needs to survive, these days, Augur was the mercenary computer wiz (with a penchant for receiving his payment in the form of valuable artworks) revealed to be a member of the Resistance early on in the series.
Jonathan DoorsThe man behind the Resistance. He was the man behind Doors International, a company with strong Taelon links. He faked his death and went underground to found the Resistance, and his motives never get clearly explained.
Siubhan Beckett
Another Implant, Protector to the UK Companion, and Irish (in the most cliched fashion possible). She wastes no time on hitting on Sandoval, and trying to persuade Lili to become an Implant to better serve the Taelons. She becomes suspicious that the woman has Resistance sympathies when she refuses, demonstrating that for all her cliched nature, she probably has more brains than anyone else in the cast.
EFC started life as a high concept scifi series, dealing with the fact that aliens have come to Earth and not everyone trusts their intentions. Their motivations are deliberately shadowy and mysterious, not nearly so clearly explicated as they are in future series. William Boone is a police officer who turns down a job as a Taelon agent, citing his wish to build a family with his wife who, coincidentally, is killed not long after.
The Resistance, a shadowy group who have not yet revealed themselves, make themselves known to Boone, say that the Taelons had his wife killed, and urge Boone to take the job with the Taelons, to become a double agent, because they have managed to get their hands on a CVI, and have their Doctor (Julianna Belman, aka Majel Roddenberry) edit out the nasty little motivational imperative. Considering the number of agents they seem to have managed to insert into the Taelon hierarchy, you have to wonder why they need one more, but let's not get to quibbling with the plot at this early stage (plenty of time for that later).
Boone, naturally, accepts, gets a nice little bit of alien hardware in his head, and goes to work for both the Taelons and the Resistance. Along the way, he discovers that Sandoval killed his wife, apparently out of completely good intentions to spare Boone the pain of having to split his allegiances between the Taelons and his family, although there is the implication that Da'an may have been the one to give the order for Sandoval to arrange it.
Over the course of the series, mysteries come to light, like a strange alien object which the Resistance assumes to be Taelon, but doesn't seem to be designed the way their technology is, being all green and crystalline. Boone and Da'an start to develop a rapport, a bridging between the two species that is exactly the sort of Humanist thinking you would expect from a Roddenberry series. We see that Da'an is unusual for thinking that Humanity is a species worthy of their respect, but that he seems to be bringing some of the other Taelons around.
It all comes to a head at the end of the series, when a bunch of enterprising Humans dig up a cocoon from the bottom of the sea to reveal Ha'gel.
Ha'gel is Kimera, a species older than the Taelons who are now all dead. When asked, Da'an says that they died, but privately, Zo'or sneers at him for lying, pointing out that in fact the Taelons killed the Kimera after they saved the Taelons from extinction. It's never clear how this happened, but the Kimera made the Commonality, the Taelon collective consciousness, and, given their appearance, probably influenced the creation of the Taelon energy form.
Ha'gel, as you might well do yourself if you'd been locked in a tiny coffin for a couple of million years, takes on Human form, copying the genetics of the guy who opened the cocoon and going and getting himself laid. He unfortunately kills the first poor girl who takes him up on his offer, but then he's a little out of practice.
The Taelons sensed Ha'gel's escape, and sent their agents after him, which is how Ha'gel comes to borrow Agent Sandoval's body, cornering Siubhan Beckett in a church that happens to be the Resistance hideout. Right after he catches up with her, and does *something* to her involving turning into an energy whirlwind, the Implants and the police catch up to him, and kill Ha'gel, but not before Ha'gel causes a pillar to explode, catching Boone full in the side.
The Resistance sneak Beckett into their secret lair while the Taelons have their back turned and discover that, surprise, she's pregnant. Somewhere else, in a Taelon facility, Boone is in a blue tank (and, incidentally, getting 'blue tanked' was a euphemism in fandom, as nothing good ever came of those things). Sandoval is watching, and Zo'or approaches. He puts his hand on the tank and completely dissolves Boone's body, killing him.
Which was actually a bit of a shock.
Season Two
Liam KincaidOne third Kimera, two thirds Human, Liam Kincaid is a man 'more than Human', or so we're told by the show's opening narration. This never apparently manifests in more ways than a couple of artistically shot flashes of apparent foresight and some wicked cool glowing spots on his palm called shaqarava, but was important, as it enables our hero to go from screaming infant to fully grown in less time than your average commercial break.
Joshua Doors
Son of Jonathan Doors, briefly introduced in the first season as a lawyer who didn't mind prosecuting a Taelon in spite of the fact that it wouldn't make him very popular. In this series, he takes over his father's presidential campaign after Doors decides to run for office, in later seasons going on to run a large corporation, before disappearing into the bowels of the Mothership somewhere and never being heard from again. Had a brief fling with Lili Marquette, but it didn't seem to go anywhere.
Unfortunately, due to contractual arguments (so rumour has it), the demise of series lead Boone at the end of the first season wasn't just a cunning plan to keep us coming back for more, it really was a fairly final demise. The series changed its whole approach. Out went the highly cerebral storylines and in came slightly more mainstream "edgy" ones that usually ended in new lead Liam Kincaid having some sort of fistfight, Kirk-style, with the villain of the week.
Zo'or went from tagalong Taelon to the leader of the Synod, and would quickly take advantage of all power provides by immediately trying to subvert every project of his erstwhile mentor, Da'an, to convert Human into a slave fighting species through means of bioengineering. Da'an is portrayed as being highly sympathetic to the Resistance, even to the point where he's taken into their secret hideout and doesn't immediately blow their cover.
Season two also introduced us to the Mothership, the Taelon's massive homeship which was usually depicted as hiding behind the moon and out of sight. Its introduction opened the door for more Star Trek-ish space based stories on occasion. We got more of the stock scifi plots in series two. We got time travel, parallel universes, and genetic engineering, amongst others. Unfortunately, we also got some dodgy dream-world stuff as well.
The series opens with no one aware yet that boone has been killed and Beckett giving birth. It's definitely an alien baby, given that she's only been pregnant an hour. She has the child, and names him Liam. The Resistance wipes her memory and drops her off in the street for the Taelons to find, keeping the child. He grows to adulthood in a few quick bursts of growth (conveniently, since having a pre-toddler lead is very bad for the old ratings), and Lili is summoned to see Sandoval. She becomes his aide after being informed of Boone's demise, and, after Liam gets given a false identity by Augur, goes to Boone's funeral, then saves Da'an's life (while failing to save the life of the Synod leader, leading the way open for Zo'or to take power), he conveniently gets Boone's job, and even more conveniently, is allowed to go on without being implanted with a CVI.
In due course, he reveals that he's part-Kimera to Da'an, albeit accidentally, through using his shaquarava (around the same time, he finds out that Liam is part of the Resistance and where their base is), which were the main cause of a lot of accusations of Liam being superpowered. Having recently rewatched the whole second series, I'm not sure where the accusation comes from, but it was banded about by the sort of character-haters that exist in any fandom. Supposedly, Liam has a connection to the Taelon Commonality, and access to the racial memories of the Kimera species, though neither of these points are explored. In later seasons, these points would be dropped entirely, literally leaving Liam more Human than not.
Jonathan Doors, meanwhile, decides that the best way to fight the Taelons is to stand for election as President, with his son Joshua running his campaign. This eventually leads to the Resistance fighters deciding he's too visible and, after briefly considering selecting Lili as their new leader, apparently vote Liam into power, showing themselves to be remarkably democratic for a guerilla movement.
In this series, we also find out that the Taelons have an enemy, the Jaridians. They seem to spend most of the series trying to genetically engineer soldiers to fight them, or recruiting them from willing Volunteers (sic). While Zo'or briefly offers Doors a political alliance, when Doors refuses, he goes and throws the weight of Taelon approval behind Thompson, the opposing candidate. Thompson ultimately wins, orders a crackdown on the Resistance, and Doors is forced into hiding.
At the same time, Lili manages to get herself into the position of being able to blow up the Mothership. The season ends on a cliffhanger of her standing over the engine core, watching her communicator screen as Liam, Augur and Doors, who're in a safe house together, get attacked by Volunteers.
Season Three
Renee PalmerThe replacement to Lili, Renee Palmer is apparently an example of how a woman can have a fulfilling career in business and still have time to run around in skin tight leather outfits and Blow Stuff Up.
T'than
War Minister and Zo'or nemesis. T'than is something of a contradiction of earlier statements about there being no warriors amongst the Taelons, but if you've survived to the third series, you're not too worried about retroactive continuity.
In this season, the Taelons begin to be presented in a slightly more sympathetic light. Information about the various Taelons is revealed, including the information that Da'an is the parent of Zo'or, and that Zo'or is himself barren, and unable to have children (making him the only member of his species to be unable to procreate). Zo'or, it turns out, was the last Taelon born, over 1000 years ago, marking the first time he's characterised as more than just the villain and making his desperation and ruthlessness seem almost understandable.
After last year's cliffhanger, Liam et al are rescued by a 'blonde Volunteer' who turns out to be Renee, who also happens to be a Division Head at Doors International, Jonathan's company, which gives her an excuse to be on the Mothership a lot (really, you'd think that the Taelons would get suspicious given how often she makes the trips there to chat to people about 'coventures'). Lili, meanwhile, attempts to blow up the Mothership, and nearly suceeds, but is caught and apparently killed. Unbeknownst to anyone, however, is that Sandoval faked her death and kidnapped her. It was implied in the second season that his MI was failing, but this year we find out that he's working against Taelon interests, and apparently allied with the Jaridians. He's portrayed as a man with his own agenda, and bioengineers Lili to become non-Human and sends her offworld in a shuttle (later, it's revealed that he sent her to Jaridia).
Resistance activities are curtailed even further after the crackdown, Doors having already gone to ground, when Da'an abuses his knowledge of Liam's status as the leader of the Resistance to betray the cells, and the Resistance this year is more about Liam and Renee running around with a bit of will they-won't they tension. Liam is apparently becoming 'more Human the longer [he] remains on Earth' which was weak as far as justifications go, but means that we don't see as many hints of an alien heritage this year.
By the end of the year, Lili returns, this time pregnant with a half Jaridian child, so Sandoval collaborates wtih some Russian guy (who pops up a couple more times in later seasons) to kidnap Da'an, because Taelon energy is needed to help the child survive, though it might kill Da'an.
Season Four
Juliette Street Augur decides that the best way to keep alive is to duck off the radar, so at the beginning of the fourth series, he disappears, leaving his friend Street in charge of being the hacker character. She's young, hip, and has all these kooky New Age habits like drinking plankton or something, so obviously she's cooler than Augur.
In this series, Zo'or apparently goes completely off the deep end. By the end of it, he'd almost be classed as insane. He murders T'than, stealing his energy for his own, drives another Taelon to suicide, goes on violent spree in a Human body, and seems to have an intimate moment with a pile of gold at one point (don't ask). In a way, this is almost understandable as we're introduced to what is apparently the ultimate threat to the Taelons: extinction.
This is a concept that's been bandied about a little in series three, as it's mentioned that no children have been born in 1000 years, but it's in this series that it's becoming desperate. In the course of a series, the Taelon race goes from a species that apparently spans star systems to virtually all dead (with very little sign of this onscreen) or in what they call 'stasis', which is as good as dead.
Which is why you'd think that the opener, in which Taelon energy is used to save Lili's child (before she, daddy and baby, hop in a shuttle and head back to Jaridia), would signal the beginning of the collaboration we've been vaguely promised for several seasons, where Humanity would help both species to survive. Alas, not so.
The Jaridians go from potential allies of Earth to enemies, at one point trying to destroy the planet because it's been contaminated by the Taelon influence. Liam and Da'an have a major fight over something, and stop getting on so well, and Liam loses the last of his Kimera genes, becoming Human in every way and not just name-only. Zo'or, as we said, apparently goes slightly insane, and Sandoval is clearly running things behind the scenes.
A theme running through series four is the research of a Taelon scientist called Ma'el, who appeared in the first series of EFC as a holographic ghost (he had lived on Earth thousands of years ago, researching Humans, and eventually died in Ireland) to give a warning to the Taelons that Humans would one day be equal to them, and was not really heard from since. This year he turns into the equivalent of Alias' Rambaldi, and his artifacts and research become of great interest to both sides of this little conflict. Jonathan Doors resurfaces, found to be digging up Ma'el's ship, before being killed off later in the year.
The season ends with the last of the Jaridians coming to Earth, and the Taelons mostly dead or in stasis, and the discovery of a cave in a volcano with several pods in it. This was Ma'el's plan, to combine Jaridians and Taelons and let them both survive. The Taelons combine their entire species into only a few individuals, and step into the pods with the Jaridians (Zo'or, however, sticks his hand on a glowing pool and vanishes and isn't really heard from again, unless you count a sort of appearance in season five). Liam stands at the centre of Ma'el's pods, controlling the process, and as Renee et al escape in a shuttle, the volcano explodes. I'm not entirely sure why it exploded, but it did.
Season Five
Eheh.
Oh, well, if you insist.
By this point, EFC was on the ropes. The budget was slashed massively, and instead of using the opportunity to create well written and thoughtfully explored character stories, the producers/writers took that to mean our special effects are going to be bigger to try to hide the fact that they're so CHEAP.
All the characters, bar Renee, Street and Sandoval, were gone (save from brief appearances by one or two individuals later in the series). Instead of the Taelons who were, let's face it, the protagonists and, even, the plot of the series, were gone, and in their place were Atavus, which was a concept vaguely introduced in the second season, but these Atavus looked nothing like their old selves. Instead they were apparently much more sexed up.
Renee apparently spends the series running around trying to blow them up. As I say, I didn't watch the fifth series, and don't personally consider it a part of EFC's rather strained canon. The Wikipedia entry on the subject describes it better, especially considering that the major problem with not having seen the last series is that I can't summarise the new characters for you.
Liam, the Taelons, and the Jaridians have disappeared in the volcano. With the Taelons and Jaridians gone, Renee and Street must prevent a new threat, the Atavus (who have been buried in stasis for the past several million years) from awakening all over the world and feeding on 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 Atavus who have already awoken, and trying to convince the world the Atavus 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 Atavus-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 Atavus mothership filled with elite Atavus soldiers trapped in stasis.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Final_Conflict#Season_5
And so Earth: Final Conflict ended, with a year long whimper, and, having alienated a lot of its previously very loyal fans, a lot of the fandom died a quiet death as well.
Key Links
Unfortunately, it's extremely difficult to find any active links these days, and there aren't even any active LJ comms devoted to the series (the series being in the days before fandom became an LJ concern). The official sites have vanished into the ether, but I did manage to dig up one or two. They're pretty much dead these days, but they're at least still online, as opposed to completely gone.
Kaarpaaj (information site)
http://kaarpaaj.tripod.com/
Seven's EFC Central Fanfiction (forums)
http://earthfinalconflictcentral.yuku.com/forum/view/id/4
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I have to admit, I watched the show when it first aired, eagerly anticipating every episode (I preferred Kincaid to Boone - much better looking). Even my love for the show couldn't make me keep watching after halfway through the second episode of season five, and after re-watching the first and second season I have to say that while the first season is actually quite awesome, the rest just doesn't hold up.
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Still, I look forward to your fanfic recs - I'm curious to see how people make sense of this story.
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So when Boone came back, did he get to live? Or did they all end up dead anyway?
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+ I've got the PS archives from the great 2000 crash to until the end, organized by author. If you're ever looking for something that doesn't appear to be online any more, let me know.
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You might be able to find something here: http://www.taelon-bibliothek.de/fanfiction/char/k-english.html
If you're willing to put some effort into the search, you could try using the Wayback Machine (archive.org) on Skrillwerks, accessible from http://www.thirdsphere.net/ or on Foxfeather's old archive at http://members.xoom.com/Foxfeather/
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Don't be a n00b: say thanks when someone takes the time to find something for you.
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I definitely didn't mean to offend^_^ I just wanted to know if there was a fandom left, considering how many years since the show aired.
Thank you.
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Thanks for sharing this.
-Esti (Angel Island)
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