Earth: Final Conflict

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.

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 but keeps his secret, 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 is worthy of being their equals. The Taelons prepare Earth for war with the Jaridians, who believe humans have sided with the Taelons.

Augur's experiments accidentally sever Da’an's connection to the Commonality, causing him to revert to a primitive state the Taelons call an Atavus. Zo’or orders Da’an's death, claiming he is a threat to the Synod and that Da’an will never be able to rejoin the Commonality. Liam is able to reconnect Da’an to the Commonality, restoring his physical form.

Zo’or tries to destroy the Liberation by manipulating human brain waves, but a lucky trip through a time-portal gives Liam the hints he needs to prevent it.

An attempt by Doors to have Liam killed results in Liam and Augur being cast into a parallel dimension, where they see humanity without the influence of Ma’al. They return with Maya, who was Kayla's (Lili's) sister and Jason's (Sandoval's) wife in her dimension.

Augur is arrested in Russia and sentenced to death. A Taelon representative, Lazarus, recruits him for an experimental procedure to create super-soldiers. Lazarus regains his memories, restores Augur's memories then attempts a coup on the Taelon mothership.

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 (a human foot soldier who has been augmented to a lesser degree than a Protector). 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, the new CEO of Doors International. Martial law is repealed and many of the Resistance members are returned. Lili is revealed to be alive, but in secret captivity, under Sandoval's control. He alters her DNA and sends her off into deep space. Liam and Augur continue to lead the resistance.

Though Doors proceeds to do work separately from the Resistance, Renee and Liam find their interests frequently overlapping, and occasionally assist each other. Their relationship gradually develops into a close partnership. At the same time, Da'an and Liam's relationship becomes strained, as Zo'or continues his ambitious plans from his position of leadership. Meanwhile, Sandoval seems to be working towards a clandestine agenda of his own, as he begins concealing information from the Taelons. Unbeknownst to anyone else, Lili arrives at the alien planet Sandoval sent her to, but because her perception is being altered, she does not realize this. The alien planet turns out to be the homeworld of the Jaridians, and Lili is tricked into delivering Taelon Inter-Dimensional (ID) travel technology to their leaders.

After the illusion ends, she realizes that she is in fact, on Jaridia, and is horrified once she figures out that the ID drives she unwittingly gave her new captors, are exactly what they needed to invade Earth. Time passes back on Earth, during which it is revealed that Zo'or is Da'an's child, Jonathan Doors dies saving his son, and Renee continues to work with Liam. Lili eventually leaves Jaridia, bound for Earth, with a Jaridian named Vorjack, whose half-human, half-Jaridian child she is carrying. Their arrival complicates the plans of both the Taelons and the Resistance, particularly as Vorjack struggles with the atmospheric conditions on Earth. As the new hybrid baby is about to be born, Liam and Renee help Lili 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. Before Vorjack dies from being on Earth for too long for his body to handle, Liam thinks quickly and saves his life. Lili, the Jaridian, and their hybrid child, manage to escape as Liam wishes them well.

Augur runs into trouble with the law and is forced into hiding. He offers his friend Juliet Street, a.k.a. J.Street, the opportunity to take over his role in the Resistance, and she accepts. She proves savvy and intelligent, eventually revealing that she has the rare ability to think and calculate in multiple dimensions, which makes her a target for the increasingly desperate Taelons.

The Resistance goes above ground once again when Renee and Liam team up with an international group, the Atlantic National Alliance, 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, despite all the trouble they have caused. He brings them out of stasis. To conserve energy, they combine their essence into just six Taelons who go down to the regeneration chamber. At the same time, the remainder of Vorjack's Jaridian fleet 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 but their efforts, far from saving everyone, have doomed the galaxy: they have awakened a version of the Atavus protospecies, a race of energy vampires that preceded the Taelons and Jaridians. Renee and Street are the only ones who know the truth of what's happening: the Resistance is disbanded and the human governments are in no rush to accept the beginning of another war with an alien race. Their only ally is Raj'el, the first and now the last of the Taelons, who is forced to provide covert support from the heart of the Taelon mothership.

To make matters worse, Sandoval, left in control of the Taelon mothership, allies with the Atavus leaders Howlyn and Juda. 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, then use the hybrids to awaken other Atavus hives hidden around the world.

As the season progresses, a few familiar faces re-enter the fight: William Boone is brought back as a trap for Renee, but he quickly joins her side. In response, Sandoval and Howlyn revive Zo'or, giving him a new body as a female Atavus, but Renee and Boone are able to defeat their nemesis once and for all.

Final Conflict comes to a head when Liam returns to help Renee stop Howlyn from unleashing his elite warriors from the long-buried Atavus mothership. At the end of the series, Liam, Renee and Raj'el depart in the Taelon mothership, resolving to bring the few trustworthy Atavus home and indulge in a little adventure along the way.

Broadcasting

The series was first shown on CTV in 1997 and ran for two seasons until the network decided to cancel it due to low ratings. The show was, however, resurrected by Chum Limited and was moved to their New Net network for the remainder of its run. The series was broadcast in syndication in the United States.

The series has been re-shown daily on Bravo, and later by Horror, in the United Kingdom, Showcase in Canada, Jimmy in Italy, and Bangladesh Television in Bangladesh. In 2024, it is available on Tubi in the U.S. The series aired in the Republic of Ireland on RTÉ Two from 22 March 1999 to 2005.

Home media

Region 1

ADV Films released seasons three, four, and five on DVD in 2003. Due to different companies owning different rights for different seasons, these were the only seasons they were able to negotiate the distribution rights for. The episodes are presented in uncropped 16x9 widescreen on six discs per season. There were only minimal extras.

On May 5, 2009, Universal Studios Home Entertainment released Season One on DVD in the US. The episodes are presented in 4x3 full-screen on five discs with a small handful of extras included. The episodes appear uncut but are time compressed, running at a slightly faster pace, resulting in each episode running approximately two minutes shorter than in their original unaltered forms. On July 27, 2010, Season Two was released on DVD in the US.

Alliance Home Entertainment has released all five seasons on DVD in Canada. All of these are bare-bones releases, no extras at all and are presented in 4x3 full-screen on six discs per season with both English and French audio tracks. Season One is presented at its original pacing.

Regions 2 and 4

Universal Pictures UK released the first season on DVD in the UK on April 3, 2006.

Pandastorm Pictures started to release the series in Germany on May 29, 2015. Season 2 followed on September 18, 2015. Season 3 followed on January 29, 2016, Season 4 on April, 15th, 2016 On February 4, 2019, the German publisher Pandastorm Pictures had to announce via their Facebook page, that so far it was impossible to find all of the rights holders for Earth: Final Conflict – season five – it is quite likely by now, that they will not be able to publish season five in Germany. They announced the release of Series 1 and Series 2 as region free, sound: German DD 2.0, English DD 2.0 and subtitles: English.

Via Vision Entertainment has released all five seasons on DVD in Australia.