User reviews

The pilot episode written by Gene Roddenberry is excellent, but the show goes nowhere, all hugger mugger and no real story. Roddenberry's basic idea, that contact between humans and superior aliens will not be all black and white but will be filled with ambiguities, is a good one. Later writers, however, think in terms of good aliens and bad aliens. The use of female actors to play androgynous aliens was a good idea, but in later seasons everybody except Da'an overdoes it. In the third season, there are a number of scripts by Howard Cheykin, who is an excellent writer, and who wrote some memorable episodes of The Flash TV series, as well as some great graphic novels. However, he is unable to do anything here, because he is locked in to what is really not a workable story line. I have not watched the fifth season, but I have read that it throws out most of what was established in the first four. For scifi completists only.

Believe me I wanted this series to work, but the early departure of Kevin Kilner dealt a near death blow after season one. Robert Leeshock just wasn't right for the part and Jane Heitmeyer did an admirable job as lead but the series just got too messy and confused at that point. I don't know what happened in Season Five, what a mess. Sometimes its time to drop the red cape and just stick the sword in the bull, if you know what I mean. The only consistent thread holding the series together were the amazing performances of Leni Parker and Anita LaSelva as the two Taelons in quiet idealogical conflict. If not for their talents and well-written dialogue they would have been two weird bald man-chicks in a B-movie series.

If only this series could have ended at season 4 and picked up later by SyFy...

Over 20 years later this show still holds up as original and prescient. It managed to combine under the general theme of evolution a complex discussion of our reliance on technology and animals, how we conceive of 'the other', the relationships between entrepreneurs, revolutionaries, organized crime, and governments, all while admitting to the absurdity of the sci-fi form and drama itself. Season 1 is standard and unremarkable but enjoyable, seasons 2-4 are where the series shines as perfected melodrama. Season 5 is not that great, overly focused on what it is to be beastial, however this was necessary to draw the series to conclusion. It's a true shame this show gets midling reviews, as its perfect melding of cast, concept, and writing should be enjoyed by all.

Watching Final Conflict on IMDB now, never saw the final season in 2002. The show does start out very promising & for me continues thru season 3 were i am now. I also found the " humanizing" of Liam disappointing.wish there could be a re-make with great si-fi writers.

I never heard of this series when it was running...pretty busy during those years. I accidentally came upon it at Amazon and hunted down the first episode. I WAS HOOKED!! I can't stop! This series is amazing! Mystery, intrigue, twists and turns.....just when you think you know whats going to happen...BAM, something else happens! The story lines are extremely well written and the characters, and their development, are fabulous, especially the two main Taelon characters, Zo'or and Da'an. The actress who plays Zo'or is amazing at portraying haughtiness and arrogance! I love hating the character!

I am in the middle of Season 3 and find it hard to stop watching one after another. I watched all five seasons of Andromeda two years ago, proclaiming it as my all time fav, but this series has knocked it out of first position. Earth Final Conflict is now my all time favorite and I HIGHLY recommend this series!

I could not trudge through more than a couple of episodes. And apparently, it starts off brilliantly then falls on it's face. It's hard to imagine that. Did they invent technology in the later season to actually punch viewers in the face?

From the start it's just horrible. 1960s soap opera horrible. Wooden acting, but at least they have unconvincing dialogue to deliver badly. Comical effects and prosthetics, which no one can see so they leave in the part where everyone is impressed by the weak spaceships and tiny sets. Impossibly trite storylines. Stupid characters, who cannot see the obvious and argue because that is what is on the page.

I'll give low-budget SF a chance if it tries. Babylon 5 is watchable to me, as an example. Hell, I watched half of The Starlost, and it was badly butchered and is cheap as hell. But no, just no to Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict.

It was clear from the beginning of the series that the story had been fairly carefully mapped out. The early ambiguous characterization of the Taelons became clearer as their motivations were revealed, and the righteous fear of the Resistance was confirmed; such gradual exploration of a complex storyline is one of the best elements of Sci-Fi television (I have no idea what semantic distinction is supposed to exist between "science fiction" and "SciFi"--fanatics are always inventing new layers of obfuscation to objectify their opinions). Unfortunately, E:FC has suffered from apparently unplanned cast changes: the departures of Kevin Kilner after the first season and Robert Leeshock after the fourth (though both have made brief return appearances) have plainly disrupted the story. The latter disruption has sapped the drama of its narrative drive, unfortunately; Jayne Heitmeyer's Renee was fine as a secondary character, but just doesn't have the stuff to carry the show. The introduction of the Atavus has the feel of last-minute scrambling too. The Taelons were a deft, sophisticated creation of a fascinating mind, while the atavistic hybrid that succeeded them would be more at home in a cheap horror story. If I'm wrong about the ad hoc storytelling, then Gene Roddenberry's bible wasn't as good as I had thought. In either case, the final season of Final Conflict has been a distinct disappointment.

If I had to give two reasons why this show failed I think I'd go with: low budget and bad writers. Unfortunately the scripts are dire, the dialogue is difficult to watch and the science is more than a little sketchy. Each episode tries to play like the x-files but it just doesn't work. They'll introduce one new character and then flood you with endless reams of dialogue with this character that you know is going to vanish in the next episode. At the end of the episode you will come away with one tiny additional fact about the main characters and be left thinking '45 minutes for that'. EFC might have been better as a trilogy of movies as the information revealed during one season could be encapsulated in 90 minutes of video. For its time the scifi was up to scratch and combined with the androgeny of the alien species you are dragged through season one by sheer fascination. However, the novelty fails when nothing changes in season two and the sci-fi budget appears to drop like a bomb. Could have been a very good show - I cant really go into much detail about the isolation of the plot but you'll get the jist in a few episodes.

Their are literally thousands of earth like planets in the universe and for an alien race to pit itself against humanity for this planet seems really unlikely for an advance race that has the ability to transform a dead planet into an actual earth. Their are no bad aliens just bad humans. So many of these movies demonize Intelligent life forms as evil beings which is not plausible at all. Sorry Gene you missed the mark on this story telling. RIP.

I'm shocked to see so many negative ratings. Earth Final Conflict presents a storyline in which the concept of humanity is constantly being challenged. Rather than focusing on a battle between "good" and "evil", EFC focuses on the shades of gray in between. If you're looking for a series with loads of scantly-clad alien chicks, explosions and lightsaber battles then this is not the series for you. The strength of this series lies in its social commentary and also in its exploration of refreshing concepts: aliens that are weak and charismatic rather than predatory; strong and unique female characters; cutthroat villains that are somehow tragic and admirable.

As for EFC's weaknesses: William Boone is somewhat monotone in his delivery, yet by the end of the series he still comes across as a likable character. Liam Kincaid is the stereotypically perfect, morally righteous character. While every other character undergoes moments where their moralistic nature fails, Liam comes across as a Jesus figure, which may be accepted by some while scorned by others. It's true that Season 5 completely destroyed the series. It felt like a complex battle of wits and treachery was suddenly transformed into an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That said, Season 1-4 presents a science fiction that is fresh and captivating.

This was so boring during the first season. The aliens were so dull, and characters uninteresting. The sci fi aspect wasnt up to my hopes. I gave it one season and like 5 episodes on season 2 but that was it. Now i will admit season 2 was kind of starting to get a little interesting, but its just that the characters did nothing for me at all. One characters quote in the pilot is the only real reason i continued on for as long as i did. That quote was something like "once you get to know me youll never question my loyalty again". I was expecting much more from this quote, but was not given much.

Because technology is what it is now in 2022, looking at this 1997 series is laughable..., but enjoyable. Kincaid is hilarious! Augur is more hilarious!

One of the best things about this series is there is no PC scripting, no cookie cut characters, and no over sexualization.

If this show is ever rebooted, I'll probably hate it, but I really would like a good, well written reboot.

I had intended to watch this show for years, I finally started a few months ago. Now I wish I had not, the writing and the acting are beneath soap opera standards. Pitiful.

E:FC Review:

This part goes for the first season: E:FC was one of the most promising science fiction series I ve ever seen. The talons where so completely differnt from all the other alien races in other series. These were no humans with cheap makeup in the face (star trek anybody?), or the nasty nasty aliens from trash sci fi. This race were different. They had their goals, they had their owns definition of moral. But even though they have made "mistakes" in the first season too you always believed that they wanted to help the people. But not only the talons were good. The leading character (Boon), a spy working for the talons and the resistance at the same time. Wearing a alien life form as weapon, lost his wife due to the deeds of the talons, getting a good friend of Da'an. This character was really promising. So was Sandoval, who acted like he acted cause he had a working CVI. IMO the best story of the show was Sandovals freed from the CVI for a short time. Thats were you were able to see the real depth and tragedy of this character.

Now to the later seasons:

I hate them. They destroyed everything that was differnt about E:FC. Just take the new main character Liam. This guy got no past, no personality and he even loses his alien side! "Wheres your shakarawa liam? Oh, I lost it..." DOH!!! And on the top of this the talons became more and more the evil aliens we all know from thousand other science fiction stories...

I suggest you watch the first season of this series. Its really worth it. But then forget it. Dont watch the later seasons. They are destroying everything.