Earth: Final Conflict is a science fiction television series based on ideas developed by Gene Roddenberry. The series was produced under the guidance of his widow, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, who possessed notes kept by Roddenberry that would provide the conceptual basis for the series. It ran for five seasons between October 6, 1997, and May 20, 2002.
Setting
Early in the 21st century, a race of aliens, the Taelons (often referred to as "the Companions"), travel to Earth and take up residence in limited numbers. The Taelons possess highly advanced technologies, many of which they share with humanity, seemingly out of generosity and good will. As a result of these advances, disease, war and pollution are nearly eliminated within three years of their arrival. Despite this, some question whether the Taelons' motives are as benevolent as they appear, and a resistance movement forms to halt the Taelons' ever-growing influence on humanity.
Development After the cancellation of Star Trek in 1969, its creator Gene Roddenberry began working on other projects, producing scripts and pilot episodes that were shown to various networks, including Genesis II and The Questor Tapes. He began early planning for a project called Battleground: Earth, a science fiction series set in the near future when a group of aliens land on Earth under a banner of peace. Roddenberry wrote the initial for the series in 1976 long before the similarly themed 1983 TV miniseries V.
20th Century Fox Television expressed interest in producing a pilot episode for the series, but Roddenberry's busy schedule prevented it. When the order for the pilot came in, he was in England filming a TV movie, which was followed by work on the Star Trek films and later the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation. When he died in 1991, Battleground: Earth had yet to be produced.
In the mid-1990s, Roddenberry's widow, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, began to develop the project. The series was put into production by Atlantis Films and syndicated by Tribune Entertainment with the companies hoping to tap into the blockbuster success of Independence Day. It was renamed Earth: Final Conflict to avoid confusion with L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth. The success of the show led to the development of one other posthumous Roddenberry project, Andromeda.
Alien design For the design of the Taelons, Stephen Roloff referenced Buddha, Bodhisattvas, Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs, Jesus Christ, and other religious and spiritual figures for their humanoid design, while their true form was created using 100% computer-generated imagery provided by Calibre Digital.
Series
The show premiered on October 6, 1997, and ran for five seasons. The finale was broadcast on May 20, 2002.
The show had an 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), one of the show's antagonists.
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 Kevin Kilner as William Boone, Companion Protector/Resistance agent (season 1; two episodes in season 5) Lisa Howard as Lili Marquette, interdimensional shuttle pilot/Resistance agent (seasons 1–2; recurring seasons 3–4) Von Flores as Ronald Sandoval, Companion Protector (seasons 1–5) Richard Chevolleau as Marcus "Augur" Deveraux, Resistance hacker (seasons 1–3, recurring season 4) Leni Parker as Da’an, the North American Companion (seasons 1–4) David Hemblen as Jonathan Doors, Resistance leader (seasons 1–3; recurring season 4) Robert Leeshock as Liam Kincaid, Companion Protector/Resistance agent (seasons 2–4; the last episode of season 5) Anita La Selva as Zo’or, United Nations Companion, later Leader of the Taelon Synod (seasons 2–4; recurring seasons 1 and two episodes of season 5) Jayne Heitmeyer as Renee Palmer, Companion business liaison/Resistance agent (seasons 3–5) Melinda Deines as Juliet Street, Resistance hacker (seasons 4–5) Guylaine St-Onge as Juda, Atavus warrior (season 5) Alan van Sprang as Howlyn, Atavus leader (season 5) Helen Taylor as Ra’jel, Sire of the Synod (season 5) Majel Barrett-Roddenberry as Julianne Belman, Doctor and CVI expert/Resistance agent (season 1; recurring season 2 and 3)
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. Nonetheless, 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. Deep down, he doesn't trust the Taelons completely. Subsequently, Boone's wife is killed in a mysterious automobile accident 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. Boone 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 death of his 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 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 former 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 have been forced to agree if his CVI had not been 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," whom Boone often hires when he needs technical skills. Later Lili and Boone become acquainted with Jonathan Doors's 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 spiritual and very charismatic being who seems to personally hold humans in high regard. 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 and give Sandoval's wife safe passage. While Sandoval is made to believe that Boone killed his wife to make him feel the same pain he inflicted upon Boone, before he is reimplanted and feels nothing again.
The Taelons order an investigation into a psychic invasion of their commonality, leading Boone and the resistance to learn that Ma'el gave humans psychic abilities so they would have a chance to be seen as equals when Taelons and humans met again.
The resistance successfully infects the Taelon headquarters in Washington with a computer virus, which unexpectedly spreads through Taelon technology world-wide, leading to a threat to human technology that is connected to Taelon technology. Boone and Sandoval work to destroy the virus. An enormous mothership appears in the skies, before disappearing in inter-dimensional space.
Boone discovers more Taelon experiments performed on humans while they are traveling through a new, world-wide, inter-dimensional travel system. Some humans are given an implant similar to a CVI, while others, including his sister, are used for some unknown breeding experiment. The continued use and function of this travel system appears to be another point of contention between Da’an and Zo’or.
A virus is extracted from the strange probe for testing. It is highly contagious and communicable between Taelons and humans. White supremacists steal a sample of the virus and unleash it in a housing center, affecting the entire surrounding area. A cure is discovered, but not before hundreds are killed.
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 ancient Taelon pod is discovered to have landed in Earth's past, and inside is an enemy of the Taelons named Ha'gel. Ha'gel is of the Kimera species which the Taelons had apparently wronged millennia ago. 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 labor 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.