½ Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict
, in syndicationCaution: spoilers.
The Backstory:
Millions of years ago, some Aliens called Atavus came to Earth. Apparently, while they were here, they had to feed on the life energy of some primitive creatures who would later evolve into human beings. They didn't need to do this on their homeworld. I don't really get that. But anyway, there was a comet or meteor or something about to smash into Earth, so they all went into stasis chambers. So, while they weren't out and about, the human race evolved and started their own civilizations.
What else? At some point there was an alien race called the Kimera. I don't know what to say about them. They mostly died off a long time ago, I guess, but they were pretty advanced and stuff. Also, elsewhere there were still Atavus back on their homeworld and I suppose on other worlds in the galaxy or whatever. And they later evolved into two separate races, the Taelons and the Jaridians. And they were at war with each other. The Jaridians were fairly physical and strong beings, but they didn't have as great a technological level as the Taelons, like no ID (inter-dimensional) travel. So they couldn't travel between stars that quickly. The Taelons were more energy-based than physical. And much more advanced technologically. And they had something called the Commonality, which was like a linking of all their minds. Sort of. Anyway... 2000 years ago, a Taelon named Ma'el came to Earth. He mainly stayed in Ireland, I think. He wanted his people to coexist peacefully with humanity, but some Taelons had other ideas.
I should mention that this show started in 1997, but was set several years after that. I'm not sure exactly when, but sometime in the early 21st century. Around the tail-end of what was called the S.I. (Sino-Indian) War, the Taelon mothership showed up. I think the Taelons helped end the war. And they provided us with all kinds of advanced technology and stuff. So people liked them, but some people didn't trust them. This included multi-billionaire businessman Jonathan Doors. Their arrival was 3 years before the start of the series.
The Show:
Jonathan Doors staged his own death and was secretly in charge of an underground resistance against the Taelons. The Taelons, meanwhile, had human protectors who were implanted with CVI's (cyber-viral implants) which would greatly enhance their memory and other stuff, as well as allowing them to use their other implants, skrills, which were small organisms that attached to the person's arm and could fire sort of energy blasts. Also the CVI's included an overriding moral imperative which made the Taelons the person's top priority.
One such protector was FBI agent Ronald Sandoval. A newer recruit was William Boone (Kevin Kilner), whose wife was killed. But he was also secretly recruited by the resistance, and Dr. Belman (Majel Barrett), who worked for the Taelons but also the resistance, altered Boone's CVI so that it wouldn't control his loyalties. There was also a woman named Lili Marquette, who was like a marine captain or something, who piloted a Taelon shuttle but was also secretly in the resistance. And there was this super-genius called Augur, who was very cool and created all kinds of technology for himself as well as the resistance, and he was a hacker and I think he owned the Flat Planet Cafe, and did all kinds of other stuff....
Anyway, around the end of the first season, Boone died (but he came back in the final season). There was a new guy named Liam Kincaid, who was half human and half Kimera, or something. I dunno, I'm not real clear on this. He was born to an Irish Taelon protector named Siobhan Beckett (Kari Matchett) as well as this ancient alien, a Kimera named Ha'gel. But this series always screwed with my head and I think later they said Sandoval was his father somehow. Actually I have a terrible memory and missed some episodes, too. I think Ha'gel had possessed Sandoval or something. Whatever. Liam grew up real fast, in like one episode, but I think I missed most or all of his first season on the show. Later, Marquette also left the show, was sent off to Jaridia or something.
Oh yes, the Taelons actually wanted to use humanity to fight the Jaridians. And um... eventually Augur left the show. But there was also a woman named Renee Palmer, who was an executive at Doors International, who took over the business while Doors was supposedly dead, and later when Doors actually did die, and um, the corporation worked on joint ventures with the Taelons, but she was secretly also in the resistance, and she and Liam were the main characters when Boone and Marquette were gone. And she was the main character almost all by herself in the final season. But also there was a woman named Juliet Street, another genius who was an old friend of Augur's, who kind of took his place when he went into hiding or whatever. She could think like 9th-dimensionally or whatever, and solved some ancient Taelon riddle left by Ma'el.
Meanwhile, the main Taelons on Earth today were Da'an, who ended up helping the resistance, and Zo'or, who was just insane and power-mad and the leader of the Synod, which was the council of leading Taelons. Eventually, the Jaridians finally showed up and at the end of season 4 we got rid of them and the Taelons somehow, and Liam died, too. Then in season 5, the final season, a bunch of Atavus were revived from their ancient stasis chamers. Now the Atavus, led by Howlyn, are feeding on us and wanting to take over the world again, and creating a bunch of human-Atavus hybrids. And Renee and Street have to stop them, with some help from a few other people sometimes, including Hubble Urick, who's like in the government, FBI director or something. And Liam returns in the final episode. And Sandoval is now working for the Atavus. And everything keeps getting more and more complicated, things keep changing. But the defining sentiment for this series seems to be, "The more things change, they more they stay the same." At least that's how it seems to me. Anyway... That's about it. Heh heh, I won't tell you how it all ends. (Actually, I don't even remember anymore.)
Yeah. It was all kind of weird, from the start, and just got weirder. It's a lot like Andromeda, that way. Still, it was interesting enough. It was okay, I guess, but... whatever.