Earth: Final Conflict (1997-2002)
Earth: Final Conflict is a Canadian science fiction television series based on story ideas created by Gene Roddenberry (the creator of Star Trek), and produced under the guidance of his widow, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry. It was not produced, filmed or broadcast until after his death. It ran for five seasons between October 6, 1997, and May 20, 2002.
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 executive producer was Majel Barrett-Roddenberry. She also appeared in some early episodes as the character Dr Julianne Belman. Barrett was in possession of notes Roddenberry kept of story and series ideas; after his death, these notes provided the basis for this series.
Plot
Early in the 21st century, a race of aliens, the Taelons, arrive on Earth. In exchange for being allowed to take refuge on our planet, the Taelons offer the people of Earth access to their advanced technology. As a result, disease, war and pollution are nearly eliminated. Despite all these advances, there are some people who think the Taelons are not as benevolent as they seem. A resistance movement is organized.
Ultimately, it is discovered that the Taelon aliens are not purely evil, nor are they actually trying to "conquer" the world (except Zo'or, the main antagonist in seasons 2–4). They can no longer reproduce: Da'an was the last Taelon to have a child (Zo'or was the last child to be born but Zo'or is barren) and are on the verge of extinction. Their initial goal is to see if they can use humanity to extend their lives. However, they do have a hidden agenda: to bioengineer the human race to help fight their mortal enemy, the Jaridians (who are of Taelon origin). In doing so, they have no problem violating human civil liberties to reach their goals. The Jaridians believe that the Taelons' inability to reproduce is psychological.
Series
The show was premiered on October 6, 1997 and ran for five seasons. The finale was broadcast on May 20, 2002.
The show is famous for the unusually high turnover rate among the regular cast, partially due to contractual disagreements between the cast and the producers. Almost all of the show's major characters were killed or otherwise removed within a season or two of being introduced. In fact, the only character to appear as a regular during all five seasons was FBI Agent Ronald Sandoval (Von Flores), the show's main antagonist.
The fifth season of the show was a radical departure from the storyline of the previous seasons, with the Taelons being replaced by a new and more openly hostile alien race, a group of energy vampires called the Atavus.
Cast and Characters
Kevin Kilner as William Boone (season 1; recurring season 5)
Robert Leeshock as Liam Kincaid (seasons 2–4; recurring season 5)
Lisa Howard as Lili Marquette (seasons 1–4)
Richard Chevolleau as Marcus "Augur" Deveraux (seasons 1–4)
Von Flores as Ronald Sandoval (seasons 1–5)
Leni Parker as Da'an (seasons 1–4)
David Hemblen as Jonathan Doors (seasons 1–3; recurring season 4)
Kari Matchett as Siobhan Beckett (seasons 1–2) and as Rho'ha, Taelon Scientist (season 1 episode 14 "Pandora's Box" and episode 18 "Law and Order")
Anita La Selva as Zo'or (seasons 2–4; recurring season 1,5)
Jayne Heitmeyer as Renee Palmer (seasons 3–5)
Miranda Kwok as Kwai Ling Hong (season 1)
Guylaine St-Onge as Juda (season 5)
Melinda Deines as Juliet Street (seasons 4–5)
Helen Taylor as Ra'Jel (season 5)
Alan Van Sprang as Howlyn (season 5)
Dean McDermott as Brent Michaels (season 5 recurring; McDermott also guest starred in season 2 as the 'real' Liam Kincaid, the man whose name the series' main character had adopted)
Alien Species
Season 1
The Skrill are introduced. Skrills are a race genetically re-engineered by the Taelons to act as weapons.
Cyber Viral Implant are fusion of a Taelon germ and a computer chip. At the end of season 1, the Kimera are introduced, a race that the Taelons have nearly wiped out. (However, Haa'gel is the last of the Kimera, who sought a mate. He found a female protector in Siobhan Beckett, and joined with her to create Liam Kincaid.)
There is also an alien probe (it is Jaridian, but they are not revealed officially until Season 2 by name) which consumes bio-matter then replicates a deadly living version, hence we see butterflies killing Amish farmers.
There is a Taelon virus which mutated and began to kill humans. It was stolen from a hospital and administered in a homeless shelter by white-supremacists against the other races of people living and working there. However, the plot failed as everyone was infected, including the Taelons. William Boone nearly died but he was able to create antibodies prior to a world pandemic.
Season 2
The Jaridians are officially introduced. (After the Atavus merged with the Kimera, they split into two races: the Taelons and the Jaridians.) They are the species with whom the Taelons are at war with throughout the first four seasons.
After a dangerous experiment, Dr. Joyce Bellman (daughter of Dr. Julianne Bellman) made herself into a new species by injecting a sample of pure Jaridian DNA and Taelon Core Energy into herself. She manifested Kimera-like abilities, and tried to convince Liam to come and join her "new world" with beings created in "her own" image. He declined and showed her she was wrong. The last scene shows her in the park transforming into pure energy and dissipating into the sky.
An inter-dimensional portal malfunction caused Earth and the Taelon mothership to be infested with energy eating creatures. They were given no name and each time they fed on Taelon Core Energy they replicated. They were eventually returned to their realm by Liam and Lilli.
The Mothership model has changed from an obscure blueish shielded object to a magnificent transparent purple/blue ship with visible veins of energy running along its ventricies. In season 1, the Taelons said the mothership was organic; however, in season 2 the Mothership is described as a living ship with a core mission.
We see the Taelon split side of the Atavus (i.e. minus the Jaridian side) after Augur replicates Da'an's Commonality signal. This caused Da'an to separate from the Commonality link (one link per Taelon frequency) however, while Augur was "experiencing" the Commonality; the Atavus Da'an followed the traced the signal to Augur and tried to kill him. This was the episode that showed Liam's Kimera powers, just like this true Atavus version he had the Shakara'vah which Atavus Da'an used to kill but which Liam used to re-link Da'an to the Commonality. The Da'an Atavus used its Shakara'vah to kill people via extracting their life force from a distance with a purple burst of light.
Season 3
A Taelon Plant is grown to make an addictive energy substitute drug purified and called Kryss. Human devotees and abductees alike are given the plant to eat. When they experience delirium and what looks like labor pains (in both men and women) they hold their stomachs screaming until the Taelon Volunteer Soldiers come to collect it via sticking a long (and sharp) hollow tube into their stomachs through the belly button and sucking out the base Kryss product. It is then purified and ingested by Taelons to supplement their Core Energy. At one time it was their food, but to the present Taelons it is an addictive drug.
Ku'don, a Taelon who is wrongfully banished, shows a new state of Energy into which the Taelons evolve into if they are exiled. Ku'don is capable of melting and burning anything. He is cast out of the Commonality with a Core Energy Crystal on top of a staff. Once his injustice was avenged by Liam Kincaid, Ku'don to Zo'or's great relief began to "fade away". Zo'or explicitly stated, "Ku'don can no longer haunt me now."
A Taelon virus called the "Peshtal" only infects Taelons disorients Zo'or. Na'eg eventually cures him.
In the episode, "A Little Bit of Heaven", a male and female Taelon-Human hybrid are breeding more ½ human and 1½ Taelon babies in their home, as per Da'an's request. At the end, a human looking baby is held by Da'an who has an instant psychic connection with the infant and causes it to flash into the transparent blue Core Energy that a Taelon usually look like in their revealed without their exo-covering (as they appear during an energy shower).
The true and final form of the Skrill is revealed, looking like a bird made of energy. It even makes a pleasant melodical cooing sound.
Lilli is transformed into a ½ Jaridian, ½ Human hybrid and sent off to Jaridia by Sondoval.
Season 4
Julliet Street replaces Augur. She has multi-dimensional thinking and abilities and in season five as an Atavus-Hybrid she was able to harness those powers to free herself from metal shackles with a psionic pulse generated from the unifying field.
A true "Atavus" is seen before the split of the two races (Taelon-Kimera Fusion and Jaridian). Da'an merges with a Jaridian scientist (an ally who wants to end the conflict). Da'an used a portable cold-fusion generator on Federoff's space station (orbiting in the rings of Saturn) which, to quote Da'an, "provides 9 million dynes per second, convertible to any known energy" (except Core Energy apparently). The fusion worked for a few minutes but destabilized after destroying a few Volunteer Storm Troopers with an explosive Shakara'vah blast which instantly vaporized the Volunteers. Da'an survived and regained 80% of his health while the Jaridian died due to having a non-equal life force to Da'an.
Liam Kincaid's Kimera father comes back to make Liam fully human physically and loses his Shakara'vah. (According to Majel, Humans are the genetic link between Taelons and Jaridians, which was necessary in order to re-fuse into Atavus.)
In the episode "Hearts and Minds", Renee Palmer's boyfriend is electrocuted into a "living death" by Zo'or's blast of angry energy. He manifests himself only to Renee in her mind which has created a "Human Commonality" with Renee who is the only one who can see and talk to him. (Renee consented to carry a residual amount of Da'an's Core Energy inside of her in the episode "Dark Matter".)
In the episode "Trapped by Time", three future astronauts are uncovered and revived in the past. They said theirs was a world where the Taelons had long since been "gone" and that Skrills were illegal.
In the episode "Lost Generation", it is revealed that no two CVIs can have identical signals. Protector Brodee was killed by the yet unborn infant due to CVIs being replaced with a new version and being implanted into the fetus of a pregnant woman. This happened because the CNI takes genetic material from parents implanted with CVIs and mixes them. However, because his wife was not an implant, only his CVI DNA was used. The new version of the CVI is called a CNI (Cerebral Neural Implant). The role of the implantation into a fetus was to augment the development of a fetus and grow a CNI from birth rather than being implanted later on with a CVI as CVIs were no longer capable of controlling the Protector's loyalties towards a Taelon. CNI from birth was the way the Taelons thought they could circumvent the human immune response to CVIs.
African Bloodworms modified by human scientists using Taelon technology were turned into a lethal weapon implanted in the attacker's army of soldiers. All feeling of self-preservation was destroyed and the host soldier either committed suicide via bombing or the bloodworm killed them after one hour. They were used to attack Resistance cell leaders at a neutral agreement, Sandoval carried out secret orders from Zo'or to implement this plan.
Lili Marquette comes back with her Jaridian mate. She is pregnant and has almost physically transformed into a Jaridian. She gives birth to a Jaridian-Human hybrid who needs Taelon energy to keep her temperature cool. They kidnapped Da'an who, after giving Lili enough Core Energy to have the baby, faked his own death. In the end, Da'an said the baby would not survive because the Taelons too had to try to create various hybrids with humans with both Jaridians they had captured or Taelons who volunteered, all of which had the hybrids die.
Protector Malley was "adopted" by the Mothership as her guardian due to his malfunctioning CVI. He called her "Mother" and had total access to the Mothership. He could pass through walls with a special device constructed for his use by the Mothership. He was killed when the Mothership no longer read him as Taelon due to foolishly challening Zo'or while holding a cryo-static Taelon embryo. He clearly stated, "She will not allow them to develop while Zo'or is in power."
Season 5
The original Atavus (before there was either Taelon or Jaridian and prior to their merger with the Kimera) are now the prime antagonists. They have a bio-matter/energy physiology (two components can be separated but as in Renee Palmer's autopsy of the dead female Atavus once the life-force is separated from the corpse the body vaporizes). All that was left is the life force energy in the containment unit. They also feed off the life force of humans. In fact, they were on Earth 8 million years ago when an asteroid storm forced them into long term stasis. They used to feed on primitive humans, but after Naeema (female Atavus from another clan with a temporal inter-dimensional portal) brought Renee Palmer and battled in front of the Leader Howlyn. Howlyn was intrigued with Palmer, but her associate was killed and the body left there. Back in the future, the archeologist who found Naeema said Howlyn might have used the DNA from the man's corpse to evolve humans to a higher level. Howlyn's son played a crucial role, as his mother's wish was that he not feed on the life force as she had refused to. She died in a weakened state. However, their son Yulan followed his mother's wishes and did not feed. Taelon core energy is deadly to the Atavus.
An Atavus-Human hybrid created by infusing Atavus DNA into a human host. They must get into stasis pod with a living Atavus, the rock wall of the stasis pod turns transparent and you see the humans in agony as they are altered genetically and while still conscious. However both Renee Palmer and Ronald Sandoval were immune because of the Taelon energy in their system. An antidote was created but was destroyed by hybrids.
Only one Taelon-Atavus hybrid was created. Zo'or was brought back into a weakened but physical form and fused with a dead Atavus. The process was successful, and it was here that Howlyn asked the newly female Zo'or, "I'm curious as to how an asexual being like yourself feels after gaining a sex, particularly female." Zo'or's response to this was, "When the alternative is death, quite well."
Synopsis
Season 1
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. However, the North American Taelon Companion, Da'an, is targeted by an assassin while making a speech. Jonathan Doors, a businessman with close ties to the Taelons, is killed while Da'an is unharmed. Da'an is impressed by Police Commander Boone's work in protecting him from the assassination attempt, and offers him a spot as a Taelon Protector, a personal bodyguard and envoy for a particular Taelon.
Boone politely refuses because he wants to start a family with his wife. Also, deep down, he doesn't trust the Taelons fully. Subsequently, Boone's wife is mysteriously murdered and Boone finds out that Jonathan Doors faked his own death so that he could focus on an underground resistance movement that he founded in secret. 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 Boone's wife. Because of this, 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 mental abilities – including perfect recall. While most CVIs alter the minds of their hosts so that they become singularly loyal to the Taelons above all others, including friends, family, and the human race as a whole, the Resistance sees to it that Boone receives a modified CVI that leaves his loyalties the way they were. Agent Boone receives a bioengineered weapon, called a Skrill, that attaches to his arm. Boone is joined by 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, Agent Ronald Sandoval. Sandoval is apparently fully loyal to the Taelons, thanks to his CVI.
Boone soon finds out that Sandoval had Boone's wife killed so that 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 did not want Boone to have the same problem, so he had his wife killed. Boone (who would be forced to agree if his CVI were not modified) 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 Marcus Deveraux, a technical genius and computer hacker better known by the nickname "Augur," who Boone often hires when he needs technical skills. Later Lili and Boone become acquainted with Jonathan Doors' 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 actually 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 ago 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 comes close to death. The Resistance captures the couple, and Boone convinces Doors to return Sandoval to the Taelons. Sandoval's wife is given safe passage, while Sandoval receives a new CVI and is made to believe that Boone killed his wife.
The fiancé of the resistance scientist killed by the previously mentioned probe becomes determined to find 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'gel has the power to temporarily assume other forms, leaving his victims temporarily incapacitated. Ha'gel steals Sandoval's form and impregnates Siobhan Beckett. Boone tries to confront the alien but Ha'gel is frightened. Boone is badly wounded and Ha'gel is killed. Boone is in critical condition, as Beckett goes into labour while in the custody of the Resistance. Zo'or seemingly vaporizes Boone's body.
Season 2
Beckett gives birth as the Resistance is saddened by the news that Boone has died. The protector's baby is a Kimeran/human hybrid and grows at a rapid rate. He takes the name "Liam Kincaid" and immediately takes action as an adult. Beckett's memory is wiped and she is 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 Jaridians. 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 personal protector.
Da'an realizes who and what Liam is, and the two become good friends. Da'an and Zo'or battle over each other's ideologies. Zo'or believes humans 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 the CVI's motivational imperative wears off after a time, leaving the protectors restored to their own wills. Liam senses that his mother, Protector Siobhan Beckett's, CVI has malfunctioned and attempts to locate her. Beckett has to deal internally with all the wrongs she has committed while in an altered mental state. Also concerned, Zo'or sends Sandoval to locate Beckett, but Liam locates her first. He joins his dying mother and shares with her energetically/telepathically revealing his true origin. She realizes 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, who knows, 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 Taelon Mothership. Liam and Augur try to rescue Doors but are pinned down. Lili tries to destroy the mothership in a last-ditch effort to save Earth.
Season 3
Lili's plan backfires and she is believed dead, and exposed as a traitor to the Taelons. Liam and Augur are rescued by a Volunteer. Doors, on the other hand, is 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 alters 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 (interdimensional) travel before she realizes she is on Jaridia. Jonathan Doors dies saving his son. Lili returns to Earth pregnant with the child of a Jaridian named Vorjack. Liam and Renee help her through a difficult delivery.
Season 4
Da'an helps to make sure that the Human/Jaridian hybrid lives. The Jaridians are dying, and Vorjack had hoped that the 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 the opportunity to take over his role in the Resistance, and she accepts. She proves savvy 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 as well; their core energy is almost spent. More and more Taelons are entering stasis, and Zo'or becomes increasingly desperate to save his species.
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 erupts, the joining procedure begins with Liam's help, but it is unclear who or what will survive.
Season 5
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 does not 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 the previously androgynous Zo'or, resurrected as a female Atavus.
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
