This show is pretty awesome, although old. I had thought William Boone dying would ruin it but instead I think that revitalized the series because his character was to 1 dimensional. Liam Kincaid was so much more interesting especially because he didn't always do the predicted things. For example he didn't listen to the resistance when they told him to not take action sometimes, also I was sure that hybrid taelon / human that became like Q would be killed but instead he just joined with it and let it live. Pretty neat Over-all this show was pretty great, I had fun watching it as well as seeing Sandoval evolve from taelon follower to resisting and betraying them. VERY COOL What did you all think of it?
The first season was pretty good, but the following three seasons got worse and worse. Having Zo'or become just another antagonist for the sake of being an antagonist just ruined any subtlety or nuance in the show. Fifth season? What fifth season? *fingers in ears* "La-la-la I can't hear you."
If my distant memory of it is not playing tricks on me... Boone was actually brought back in the fifth season for a few episodes, then abruptly killed in an off-screen manner via nothing more than mention of it in the course of a conversation. Like so many of the series' meandering dead-end changes and additions, there seemed little point to Boone's return and subsequent final extinction other than providing filler. Especially since some of his behavior didn't really fit his personality of the first season (as if a new creative staff simply resurrected a character they had no prior experience with). I watched it to the bitter end for little more reason than fascination with how bad a slow-motion train wreck could ultimately become. Though that's not to blame the introduction of the Kincaid character for the overall, wandering mess.
I don't know if it's being shown on any channels anymore, but it may be available somewhere online like Netflix or Hulu and so on. (I don't have those so I'm just guessing.) It was created by Gene Roddenberry (who created Star Trek).
The most boring development in the show by far was the Atavus, particularly the character Howlin. If they could have done away with the character early and replaced him with something a bit more complex, it would have been a big improvement. Sandoval's demise was a huge disappointment for a character that was so thoroughly developed, and would have been better without a one dimensional character like Howlin to play off of. With the Taelons gone, it made no sense for Sandoval's implant to cause him to serve an Atavus instead. He should have been redeemed. I doubt I'll watch it again.
Season 5 was an obvious pilot for a different sci-fi series that they'd hastily re-written to ride on Earth: Final Conflict's coattails.
I think Roddenberry's idea with ETFC was to try and get away from the three Musketeers theme which pervaded the Star Trek franchise since its inception, from Sulu's D'Artanion impression to the dog named Porthos. And that was a boring idea. Conflict resolution from interaction with a third party usually left some element of suspense until the mystery was solved. The only show that bucked that trend successfully was the X-Files, and eventually they had to add more characters to keep the series from going stale and formulaic. There are a great many folks who would balk at something like a duplicate of the UK's Dr Who franchise, which my wife can no longer stand to watch, despite some fine examples of bad acting to be found there. The third character allows also for better character development of the different relationships, hence more depth and interest. Take another hard look at the success of the Harry Potter Franchise. If anyone else does that again, it evidently won't be Canada.
I agree that the show lost its sense of direction. I wasn't disappointed when it was terminated. Considering that TV was showing marvelous future-sci-fi like Farscape and Babylon 5, and even the Stargate and Star Trek franchises managed to retain their integrity and maintain their sense of direction, I thought Earth Final Conflict fell apart completely.
