Gene Roddenberry's
Earth: Final Conflict

After five seasons, Earth's final conflict truly begins, as a new villainous species is unleashed

	Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict—"Unearthed"
	Starring Jayne Heitmeyer, Melinda Deines and Von Flores
	Written by John Whelpley
	Directed by Andrew Potter
	Syndicated
	Premieres the week of Oct. 8

By Kathie Huddleston

s Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict enters its fifth and final season, the series heads into uncharted territory with its first female lead and a new direction for the story. In last season's cliffhanger, in order to avoid extinction, both the Taelons and the Jaridians were forced to join one another in an Atavan energy chamber. Liam Kincaid (Robert Leeshock) sacrificed himself in the hope that the aliens and humanity could reach a higher level of evolution, while Ronald Sandoval (Flores) appeared to perish when the mother ship was hit with a nuclear weapon.

The season premiere, "Unearthed," opens with Renée Palmer (Heitmeyer) facing a board meeting where she's given an ultimatum: get back to work and stop using company resources to try to find Liam, or resign. She tosses her briefcase into the trash and walks away from the corporate world. The rest of humanity may have moved on, but Renée is determined to do whatever it takes to find Liam.

A weak signal has been located that might be from Liam's global. The energy chamber was caught in the path of an erupting volcano, so all Renée has to do is find it. Renée and J Street (Deines) outfit a submarine for the search, complete with a crew. They quickly locate the chamber, which was trapped in a lava bed. They cut through the hatch to investigate, but are suddenly viciously attacked. The survivors retreat. But something follows them back to the sub.

Renée and the others end up in a fight for their lives against creatures called Atavus, who are the primitive forebears of the Taelons and the Jaridians. The Atavus must feed off the life force of humans to survive, and they start with the crew of the sub. Renée knows she must stop these creatures before they escape or they very well might bring about the destruction of the human race.

A new enemy for the final season

For a series with a revolving door of cast members, uneven story lines and questionable heroes, Earth: Final Conflict has always remained interesting. While the writing has been inconsistent, the casting, the production and the special effects have continually come through and made the series watchable. And when it's good, this series can be very good.

The season premiere, "Unearthed," is an exciting, top-notch episode that drives the series into a new direction and effectively showcases Heitmeyer. Earth: Final Conflict has reinvented itself once again, with another change in cast and new baddies, who just might end up being the best yet. Heitmeyer throws herself into the role of action hero, and it appears she can kick alien butt better than Liam or Boone ever did.

The new villains, the Atavus, are too human-looking, but they do have some interesting features, which include laser-like claws that can rip the life force right out of a person. They also have a sensual and evil way about them. Unlike the Taelons, there is no doubt that these are the bad guys. Sandoval is also around to cause trouble.

"Unearthed" certainly appears to be taking the series away from the murkiness it has suffered from in the past and into clearer waters. However, there is one big problem that the series hasn't gotten past. If Liam and Renée are the good guys, then why would the Earth have been better off if they'd never been born? Liam saved the Taelons countless times and was directly responsible for creating the Atavus. Now in "Unearthed," Renée is responsible for accidentally unleashing the Atavus on the Earth. So Liam created them and Renée let them go. That's a bad thing. How can we look at Liam and Renée as heroes when they are actually just trying to clean up their own mess? William Boone (Kevin Kilner) isn't included in this group, mainly because things were even murkier in the first season when he was around. He certainly had opportunities to at least knock off Sandoval, which would have been a no-brainer and saved countless human lives.

In this final season, let's hope the series' producers do it right and prove to us that what we went through had a purpose other than just surviving the good guy's mistakes. Humans have to get something out of all this trouble or we'll discover that Earth: Final Conflict's heroes aren't so heroic after all.

How the series will do without the duplicitous and superior Taelons is a question mark. Many fans are not happy about the loss of their favorite characters. However, Earth: Final Conflict will benefit from a battle that is more black and white in nature, especially if this final journey is worth the trip. — Kathie

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Also in this issue: Roswell, Soulkeeper, and The Prisoner: Box Set 5

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