EARTH 2-AFTER THE THAW to ALL ABOUT EVE (the last five episodes of season one)

 

EARTH 2-AFTER THE THAW

 

Well, it’s a less visceral THE THING isn’t it? And darned great, too. The world looks like a snowy one, and the scenes are all filmed well, especially the snow stuff. I entirely forgot the guiding hand from Ragmuffin and the advice from The Elder, both from THE GREATEST LOVE STORY NEVER TOLD. The mystery of the thing is a good one and the explanation----that it is the sum of all Terrian raw emotion all stuffed into one Terrian ---is a great plot device. I also had no idea the first time who it was in, the energy.

 

Baines: now this is not phobic comment but I always felt this, this actor now plays a gay man on 911 on Fox and I always felt that Baines was played as a gay man. This doesn’t mean because he hides in the TransRover (mentioned by Alonzo in a later episode, possibly the greatest episode FLOWER CHILD) but just his while demeanor. Devon displays more sound leadership as she doesn’t come against Baines and decides to act against the real possessed person: Danziger.

 

 

Clancy Brown plays John, usually, as a strong but flawed, usually gentle man, who loves his daughter and would do anything for his friends. He even would protect Morgan whom as Devon says, “He seems to be the Morgan Martin…we’ve come to know and love.”  John usually has a calm, if frustrated demeanor and acquiesces to Devon as leader, almost all the time. Here, as the villain, he’s chilling, not quite as he was in the original HIGHLANDER where he was the best thing about that movie.

 

Giving Alonzo the hero role is a nice one but I am not sure I like the last lines where he says Danziger would have done the same for him and Danziger says, “I wouldn’t have.” He would have. Then he adds, “He couldn’t,” which makes more sense due to the fact that he doesn’t have the Terrian dream power that Alonzo does.

 

This episode is probably the closest to horror the series has come to and there are some incredibly isolating, chilling moments, especially but not limited to, after Magus finds the imploded (poor thing) Grendler. The Grendler for its part was trying to WARN them, thus furthering that Grendlers are not evil.

 

There’s nice visuals, a feeling of mistrust that is eventually overcome, and an atmosphere of horror that makes this episode unique, dangerous and different. That said, it’s good and yet…since BETTER LIVING THROUGH MORGANITE there is a sense that the series is borrowing more than it did before. This doesn’t detract from its enjoyment. I DID feel I wanted to see them on the move again but that won’t come until the end of the excellent FLOWER CHILD.  

 

Oh and an evil Terrian is terrifying. Maybe not as terrifying as a John Carpenter Thing but still…

EARTH 2-THE BOY WHO WOULD BE TERRIAN KING

 

A lot going on here. It’s weird. I’m writing about an episode that aired in 1995 that was about the present of say 2214 but has a large portion of it 16 years into the future from that date…and in reality it is some 25 years after that show aired…the actors could depict  the characters some 25 years later NOW. It’s just odd.

 

I don’t know what my problem was with this episode back in 1995 but to me, it always was the worst episode and I can’t for the life of me think why now. I also felt that way about THE GREATEST LOVE STORY NEVER TOLD but truth be told, nothing about either episode is bad. I guess I always felt that the actor playing the evil Max (Nicholas Sadler and a great villain as he’s a Syndrome Kid who’s father refused to let the Terrians get near him and he’s filled with hate and economics) and the actor playing 25 year old Uly ( a great Michael Reilly Burke who also had a bit part in at least one SEAQUEST—NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH) should have had each other’s roles. I don’t think that now, actually. The other thing I thought I remembered was that future Devon is killed and that soured the episode for me. She doesn’t. I guess in my mind the fairy tale ending that I wanted for them…was that they reach New Pacifica and the Syndrome children arrive and are healed and all is well. This flies in the face of that. A lot and treats it like the Europeans treated the Native Americans. Still, this episode is not as tragic as I thought: I thought they left Uly without his Terrian abilities, too. The actress playing future True, in a small role, does a great job, too. All in all, a great dilemma for present day Devon AND future Devon. I really felt for Devon having to let her nine year old (he had a birthday in this ep) go alone into a winding den cave of Terrians, who may not be sympathetic to him! It was an interesting dilemma.

 

The hatred I had of this episode made me forget the B story: a nice little one of True enlisting Yale to help a wounded Koba who may be trying to hibernate and who might be dying. MAGNIFICENT. I like when Yale asks where it is as he sits on an Eden Advance crate and True says, “You’re sitting on him.” 

 

The episode is much more optimistic than I remembered, too. As always it is a character study…this time of Devon and Uly’s mother/son bond that reaches out over time and heals and has two species learn from each other.

 

Just great.  

 

Oh and while the Kobas are very cute and even the Grendlers (they are not in this episode) can charm and be cuddly looking, the Terrians, despite their mostly benign nature, are actually quite terrifying and at one point, when it looks like nine year old Uly IS in danger from them, it’s truly chilling. They’re frightening.

 

Okay, so I haven’t come across any episodes that are…bad. At all. Three left and of those three two are…well, good but really sad.

EARTH 2-SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

 

SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU REALLY WANT TO SEE THIS.

 

Of course it is a 25 year old episode but…still…

 

 

This is a difficult episode to watch. It’s a tragedy. It’s sad. It’s depressing. Even the title is something I loathe about nature: survival of the fittest, sounding cold and inhumane, rough and strong only get to live and the weak and victims get to die. I hate that idea. On the other hand, this is one seriously dramatic and unexpected episode. Knowing the outcome…I might have forgotten most of or parts of the other episodes and almost all of SEAQUEST, many of which I never saw, but I never forgot this episode. The first 15 to 20 minutes is a survival story. The rest is the stuff from that survival story told in RASHOMON fashion :

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashomon

 

…though I don’t think anyone was dishonest in their telling of the horrible events. If I reveal here, which I won’t, hopefully (SO MAYBE SPOILERS?)…

 

 

….you’ll be crying like I was through the WHOLE episode as it does not deal with lying but with grief. It’s not an episode I think I will ever return to. The acting is strong and the last scene with John pleading for his daughter’s life is amazing, Brown should have been given an Emmy for this scene alone. I don’t think Danziger, though an asshole through most of this episode, really purposefully meant to track the Grendler to purposefully kill it and eat it. Morgan, he, Alonzo and Julia would have died without doing that as they were stuck without food when the rail crashed.

 

First, let me say, that John caused all of this. He really is a dick in this episode. First, despite not having enough food and water for the trip to find the Cargo Pod number nine, John decides to go for it despite Morgan’s desire not to. It’s an almost fatal mistake and would have been if he didn’t kill the Grendler, he says by mistake and as it is fictional, I’ll have to believe him or try to. Nothing about the other episodes indicate he’s that manipulative or evil. He just didn’t want to die. Second, he is driving and turns his head to threaten to beat up Morgan and causes the crash of the dune that hurts Morgan’s back and almost kills him. Third, he decides, against Julia’s first wishes and Alonzo’s regret, to go after the Grendler…which would have been fine as it might have had food and water…(acid dripping from the roof? Why’d they include that?)…but the C word takes the Mag Pro gun with him. Fourth, he misinterprets the Grendler…sure, it looked upset and scared but it didn’t seem, from Alonzo’s perspective to be attacking him…but once John suits up the gun to fire, it seemed to launch at John and John kills it, the C&*t. I really hate him in this episode until he apologizes and begs for True’s life and then buries the “friend” of the Grendler. The friend was the mate.

 

I don’t know why but this was never expressly said. Yet…and it’s never said that the Grendler was pregnant right out but horridly, Julia seems to find a dead baby inside the Grendler and that IS seen. She was doing this while cutting up the body of the female Grendler for them to eat (and drink, apparently).

 

The scene where everyone returns before we know most of this is charming as everyone seems happy to see everyone; Yale pats Walman; Eben greets John; and everyone seems happy…but everyone is not.

 

Their tales are prompted by the grieving male Grendler outside the camp, just sitting there, reminding me of Native Americans who sat on their land as the army tried to take it. Did take it. Or maybe I’m thinking of a story about a Native American that sat on the land. I can’t remember the title of the story or the real life character I think was in it.

 

Bess supports Morgan, glad he’s alive. She doesn’t seem to care what else happened out there. Oddly, Morgan was right not to want to proceed after the cargo and if he were listened to by the other three, none of this would have happened.

 

Less sympathetic are both Baines (who’s a fearful little P(*&^ again) and Walman (who thinks Grendler’s are stupid and it doesn’t matter if he blasts one away and even if they aren’t stupid, he doesn’t feel like it is the same thing if they eat the Grendler compared to if they had to eat one of their own kind, the ass). Walman, previously helping Yale, seemed okay but later on he just seems rather bloodthirsty and almost as fearful as Baines. Both of them come off badly here, though the acting is strong and believable. Both are controlled by a strong leader like Devon who is not quick to judgement, though I do wish we saw more shots of her when John declares that True is his whole life and all he lives for.

 

For her part, True’s grown up already and her seeking out the Grendler and communicating with it to find out what Yale relays to us, it just wanted to know why, wanted remorse and some acknowledgement of its grief. True is the voice of reason and peace here and gets John not to shoot again when he believes it took her to hurt her which it did not. A truly hard to forget episode and one which supersedes any show  that is just about warring spaceships blasting away at each other. BUT it’s hard to watch because it’s so tragic and I was crying throughout the entire episode this time, knowing that John shot a pregnant Grendel, the others somewhat unsure if he did it on purpose to get a food supply (THAT is unacceptable and horrid and doesn’t fit in with what we know about John from past episodes) and knowing it could have been avoided several times. A difficult choice was made after it was shot, one Alonzo didn’t want to partake of but which he must have. Me? I think I’d rather have died. BUT it’s easy to say when not in the situation.

 

I also wonder...I guess they found a pass out of the area they were in and less snow in that area of the place the cargo pod was in...or possibly the pass wasn't enough for the TransRover to fit through, otherwise why not just take that?

 

For the (mostly emotional) reasons above this is possibly the best episode and one of the hardest to rematch and I’m sure I will never watch it again as it’s just too tough and rough and sad. For that reason it might also be one of the worst. Now at FLOWER CHILD, I realize this series, against what I formerly thought about THE GREATEST LOVE STORY NEVER TOLD and THE BOY WHO WOULD BE TERRIAN KING, does NOT have any bad episodes. I mean every single one is great.

 

 

EARTH 2-FLOWER CHILD and ALL ABOUT EVE

 

The final two episodes. FLOWER CHILD is the ultimate pen ultimate episode, literally. Filmed for the second to last episode, it was aired last because of some

pre-emption crap, probably a football game. What I don’t understand is how the makers of the original Region 1 DVDs kept it last.

 

No matter FLOWER CHILD is the best episode. For one thing, it and ALL ABOUT EVE might resemble each other on the surface as it faces a bit of body horror and a seeming disease but other than that they are the total polar opposites of each other. The threat…and as it turns out, the salvation of finding a way out of the area they are AND the weather getting warmer into a fast spring, is all in one. Danziger and Bess get too close to beautiful plants and are sprayed with what they, at first believe is pollen but what Yale later discovers just resembles living organisms. The issue of Bess not wanting anyone doing anything to her body without her permission flies out the window when she just wants to go north, even barefooted and without a jacket on and hurts Morgan when the substance inside her thinks he was trying to hurt her…he wasn’t. In fact, although there are a number of other Morgan scenes and whole episodes that are great contenders, this IS Morgan’s finest episode and his best moments as he sticks by his wife through thick and thin, to chase her north and later to kiss the substance from her lips when she is too tired to go on. Other life forms have died doing this including a Grendler and it’s possible that penal colonists have as well. The dialog is sharp, funny, and pointed. There’s a “let nature take its course” discussion between Julia and Alonzo as they try to track Morgan who’s tracking Bess on foot and they just about make it save their lives in  a spectacular scene on top a mesa and overhanging a cliff…

 

…just wonderful, and uplifting in a way to see humans interacting this way with each other (everyone really but especially Morgan and Bess; Julia and Alonzo) and a positive outcome even though this resembles a bit of alien nature from an HP Lovecraft kind of alien nature. It is my favorite episode.

 

On the other hand, ALL ABOUT EVE is really all about the end…of the series, which it should never have been. Ending, that is.

 

Morgan, back in form, is duped by what seems to be one of the members of a Council ship from about 130 or so years ago and on his orders he revives them but only two survive! The guest actors playing Bennett and Catherine are quite good even if it’s difficult to see them kiss. They reveal a lot about the planet, Reilly, and the council.

 

First, Eben Sinh (the credits get the last name as Syne) dies, the first victim of a disease hitting the group. The two new arrivals (or rather old arrivals) thought they were going to wake up back home on Earth by the stations. They explain that the Council, using flu shots probably, have implanted everyone with a microbot robot thing that runs through their nerve endings and brains. Since the computer in orbit is going wrong and is called Eve, it’s affecting the microbots and killing them. While Bennett wants Eve to die and he himself dies first, he won’t help them stop the faults and cure Eve to get them better. When he dies, Catherine does help them by curing Eve. Reilly, it turns out was always a computer hologram image, another side to Eve.

 

Before she dies, Bennett and she dying from Cold Revival Syndrome or something, Catherine reveals that the reason Bennett wanted Eve to die was he didn’t want anyone coming here. The reason: no one can live here. Even now, she claims all the colonists will die as the planet rejects them all.

 

Devon’s scene as she tried to convince Bennett to help was Farentino’s finest moment among hundreds of moments. She is a convincing, fair, calm and loving leader who thinks first and tries to take everyone’s POV first…but not in the scene where she attacks Bennett, who is easy to loathe.

 

The end wasn’t a shock as Devon didn’t seem affected by the implant malfunction. It was, however. And Devon is put in the last few minutes, in cryo with Uly’s staff over the chamber to watch her. End of series.

 

That’s right. That’s how this series ends. Well, only to the unimaginative. Anyone who has a creative mind or brain, will imagine a way out for Devon and the others, more adventures on the way to New Pacifica and then after that, perhaps with delays on the way (two more seasons worth?), they find the area called New Pacifica and set up base. The colonists arrive and a new town is set up.

 

There are hundreds of fan fics, pre and post net about these things as well as more in between episode adventures. There was a planned second season with a two hour opening and at least five more episodes planned, which I changed to insure Yale and Morgan were not killed off. ROM, a teen cyborg was to enter the season as well as Ford, a kind of new leader who will tame the New West frontier town they set up. It sounded mostly awful. On you tube there is a video entitled EARTH 2 season two promotion film. It’s awful. It was clear the makers of the show or those that would have handled the never to be made second season had NO idea what made the series work for the fans that loved it. More on that next time…