Earth: Final Conflict - 1st time watch thread

[The Wormhole]

Your reviews are certainly more entertaining than this season was. But you're right, The Seduction was the exact same episode as Pariahs.

The Atavus hybrids are basically a way for the show to save money. See, Atavus who don't need foreheads, wigs and green versions of the outfit Mr Daniels wore on Enterprise.

Yes, the Atavus are stupid, in addition to being horny and constantly hissing. I actually forgot about the hissing until it was pointed out in this thread. Now it's all I can think about. And yes, Ra'jel is useless. You want to know why he doesn't fly the Mothership into the sun? Good question, since we will learn that he can control the Mothership and override command the Atavus try to give it.

The best part? There are much worse episode yet to come.

 

[The Habs Fan]

The Atavus hybrids are basically a way for the show to save money. See, Atavus who don't need foreheads, wigs and green versions of the outfit Mr Daniels wore on Enterprise.

I guess that makes some sense.

The best part? There are much worse episode yet to come.

I seriously can't wait to see the really bad episodes, those should be hilarious.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

There's one guest starring Rachel McAdams called "Atavus High" that was simply horrendous. It's episode 12. It's one of those horrible sci-fi plots involving annoying teenagers. Yuck.

 

[The Wormhole]

The best part? There are much worse episode yet to come.

I seriously can't wait to see the really bad episodes, those should be hilarious.

I'll try to keep this vague, but you know them Atavus hybrid chambers? We're basically going to have Atavus hybrid chamber of the week. In each episode Renee finds a hybrid chamber somewhere on Earth. Hospitals, health spas, high schools, monasteries, Egyptian pyramids, the list goes on.

Old friends return, you know people Renee has an intimate past with that the audience never met. But also, some actual old friends that the audience has met.

And two clip shows.

 

[The Habs Fan]

And two clip shows.

Really? That's horribly bad news.


Subterra

In an attempt to expose the Atavus and their plot to take over the Earth, Renee and Street team up with a down and out former reporter. During their hunt below the ground for an Atavus hive however, Renee learns that the FBI is officially ready to exonerate Sandoval, allowing him to pursue the alien agenda on Earth.

Why doesn't Renee give up already? I think a 2 year old child could do a better job fighting the Atavus than her.

The episode ends with all of the evidence she collected being burned in a fire since she trusted a reporter that obviously was turned into a hybrid. This is the 4th straight episode where her plan to take down the Atavus backfired horribly.

Thank goodness Sandoval is in this season, because despite being 100% evil, he is still the best character on the show.

I did kind of like the dark ending with Joe getting killed, but really that's all I liked.

And regarding the Atavus, why do we ever only see Howlyn and Juda? Are there no more Atavus? I think I remember more being beamed up by Sandoval in the first episode.

Oh, and Howlyn is the stupidest name ever for a character.

RATING: 1/5

 

[The Wormhole]

The show really didn't have a budget this season, they probably couldn't afford to show too many other Atavus aside from Howlyn and Juda. Again, that's why we have the Atavus hybrids, who are essentially "plain-clothes" Atavus.

There will be more Atavus characters throughout the season, but usually these are speaking characters with actual parts in the episodes.

Watch for other budget savers: this is a very dark season. No, I don't mean dark content, I mean literally dark. Most of the time, the scenes aren't well it. The Mothership no longer has lights on, for that matter no lights are on in a lot of the places featured. Dark caves and so on. Most of the action even takes place at night.

Oh yeah, and two clip shows

 

[Peacemaker]

On the plus side, there's a new Atavus character in a few episodes who is a lot of fun - in fact, I really liked her in that episode...That's all I will say for now.

 

[The Habs Fan]

Boone's Awakening

Hoping to lure Renee into a trap, Sandoval revives William Boone from stasis knowing that Renee will do whatever it takes to save a member of the Resistance. But when Boone and Renee escape, Howlyn decides its time to take matters into his own hands.

Boone's back! And now the show has returned to the goodness that was season 1! Boone and Lili, I mean Renee... fighting the Taelons, I mean Atavus, together. Ok... maybe not.

Let me get this straight: Boone's atoms or whatever were just floating in this tank the whole time just waiting for someone to come by and press a button to reconstitute his body? What purpose would Zo'or have for keeping Boone around? Maybe he foresaw a time when he'd have to use Boone to lure a woman named Renee to the mothership because an Atavus stupidly named Howlyn wants her?

And just how stupid is that plan? I expected more smarts from Sandoval. Maybe Howlyn's stupidity is contagious. Anyway, for those who don't remember, Sandoval's brilliant plan is to use Boone to lure Renee to the mothership (and Howlyn). Why not just wait a few minutes until Renee, with no convincing needed, somehow boards the mothership again and fails magnificently at whatever her plan is this episode? Boone is not required to lure Renee to the mothership. If there's anything this season has taught me, that's it. Also, what guarantee is there that Boone will actually seek out Renee and help her?

And why didn't he turn Boone into a hybrid? That would actually make it a bit more believable.

I like how the writers invented Boone's sister just so she could be killed off. Does Boone run on the fuel powered by dead loved ones? I think the only purpose for the character of his sister was so that we could get a callback to Boone's "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO...". I'm sure the fans really wanted to hear him say that again. It's like "KHAAAAANNNN" but less specific.

This episode also felt like a huge missed opportunity. Why not bring Boone back in an earlier season when there were still Taelons? It would have been nice to see a scene with Da'an, or Lili, or Augur, even Liam would have been interesting. Why not bring any of these actors back this episode as well? At least we got a short scene of Boone and Sandoval, but it wasn't all that great.

And does everyone have to fall in love with Renee this season? Boone is just the latest to fall under her spell.

Of course, Boone and Renee board the mothership with that amazing ID shuttle she has. I applaud the writers for not inventing some technobabble plan for getting onto the mothership this time. It's really not important. The fact of the matter is they got on and now they're lurking down the hallways with a purpose. Mind you, I have no idea what that purpose is, but I'm sure it's a plan to eradicate the Atavus. (They may have mentioned what their plan was this time but I think I was too busy trying to decipher through all of the stupidity of this episode to listen.)

Anyway, their plan fails horribly when Boone gets captured by those crazy volunteers who somehow survived the nuclear blast. Renee, who is about to blow up the hybrid chambers, abandons her plan and instead saves Boone with a blinding ball of light. They somehow escape as the next shot we see is of both of them running down the corridor.

Here's another strange thing: doesn't Sandoval convince Howlyn to remain on the mothership so as to not reveal the Atavus to humanity? Yet, in what feels like the very next scene, there's Howlyn on Earth observing Boone's sister eat her first meal as a hybrid. Then he orders her to bring him Renee. Why can't this idiot get Renee himself? He has super strength after all and is basically invincible. Oh yeah, Renee has somehow defeated him twice already. In this episode it's Boone's turn beat up Howlyn in a fistfight, further cementing Howlyn's status as the most useless invincible villain of all time.

The end of the episode has Boone noticing the colour of Renee's hair and deciding to leave before he's killed while carrying out her next idiotic plan that will end in failure. I was kind of disappointed to see him leave since his presence in this season would have made it more bearable to watch. At least the writers surprised me and didn't kill him off. (I notice that there is another episode with Boone's name coming up so I'm sure he'll be in that one. By the way, how stupid is it of the writers to ruin the surprise of Boone's return with his name in the episode title?)

RATING: 2/5

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Ah, but there's more stupidity yet to come on the Boone front.

 

[The Wormhole]

By the way, how stupid is it of the writers to ruin the surprise of Boone's return with his name in the episode title?)

At the time, it didn't really matter. Boone's return was quite publicized, with Starlog doing articles about it a month or so in advanced. So really, it came down to audience looking through their TV guide (remember, this was 2001, we still had TV guides printed with our newspapers) and seeing this week's EFC was titled Boone's Awakening. "Oh sweet, Boone's returining this week, I got to watch this.

But yeah, Boone's Awakening was terrible. I remember it being way too predictable too, though I don't remember now what was so predictable about it. The other Boone episode you mention is actually somewhat decent, by season 5 standards anyway. Unfortunately, by the end of the season the writers completely fuck Boone over. I've said too much without spoiler coding already.

 

[The Habs Fan]

By the way, how stupid is it of the writers to ruin the surprise of Boone's return with his name in the episode title?)

At the time, it didn't really matter. Boone's return was quite publicized, with Starlog doing articles about it a month or so in advanced. So really, it came down to audience looking through their TV guide (remember, this was 2001, we still had TV guides printed with our newspapers) and seeing this week's EFC was titled Boone's Awakening. "Oh sweet, Boone's returining this week, I got to watch this.

But yeah, Boone's Awakening was terrible. I remember it being way too predictable too, though I don't remember now what was so predictable about it. The other Boone episode you mention is actually somewhat decent, by season 5 standards anyway. Unfortunately, by the end of the season the writers completely fuck Boone over. I've said too much without spoiler coding already.

This whole season is predictable, so I'm not even going to bother mentioning that in my episode reviews.


Termination

Desperate to find a way to kill the Atavus, Renee breaks a homicidal doctor out of prison in hopes that she will be able to discover the reason for Atavus regeneration. But when Sandoval learns what Renee is planning, he makes arrangements to lure the doctor over to his side.

Dare I say it? This episode was actually ok. Though it did have some strange parts and Season 5 Renee stupidity.

Renee's latest plan is to break a notorious serial killer/doctor out of prison and get her to find a way to kill the Atavus. I liked seeing Margot Kidder as the serial killer, but I think Renee may be the only one stupid enough to try this plan. Especially since nothing changed by the end of the episode except for the killer being free from prison.

Where did Renee and Street get the Atavus body they had at the beginning of the episode? Why did they bring Dr. Mataros to Sen Dep prison? There are certainly some weird parts in this episode, but I still enjoyed it.

Maybe it's because Tate was in this episode, or maybe it's because there was no Howlyn, but this kind of felt like an EFC episode.

RATING: 3/5

 

[MacLeod]

Still your fast appraoching the best part of the season., The end of the credits of the final episode. When we are finally put out of misery of watching what was once a good show.

 

[Peacemaker]

Hmmm, seems you have 2 episodes to go until you get a little treat. It's a small oasis in the desert that in Season 5.

 

[The Wormhole]

I don't really remember the Margot Kidder episode being that much better than the standard fare of the season, but then it has been a decade.

As for why they didn't have her in a sen dep prison, maybe the use of sen dep varies from state to state? Much like how not every state practices capital punishment and the ones that do vary on the method?

 

[The Habs Fan]

Hmmm, seems you have 2 episodes to go until you get a little treat. It's a small oasis in the desert that in Season 5.

Boone's Assassin or Entombed?

 

[Peacemaker]

Boone's Assassin.

 

[The Habs Fan]

Guilty Conscience

When Renee and Street learn of a plan to mass-produce Atavus chambers for producing hybrids, its a race against time to stop Howlyn and Sandoval before they can put the project into action.

2 moderately good episodes in a row? What's going on?

This episode kind of reminded me of Season 3 style EFC. In that season, Zo'or seemed to have a new mad plan every episode that ended up getting foiled by Liam and Renee. (Except for the time he stole all the gold, that one actually worked.) Just switch Zo'or with Sandoval and Liam and Renee to Renee and Street and you basically get the gist of this episode.

Sandoval's latest mad plan is to mass produce the "joining" chambers. (I can't remember the actual name of those things.) Long story short, Renee blows them all up, as well as the building they are in. Yay, a plan by Renee that didn't backfire horribly!

I also liked the use of the acronyms and how it ended up paying off in where the disc was. Strangely though, shortly after Zack's dad finds the disc, Sandoval enters the joining chamber with the disc. Later on in the episode, Zack's dad seems fine. How did Sandoval get the disc? Did he ask nicely?

Overall, an ok standalone episode. (I'm disappointed that they stopped continuing the storyline from one episode to the next as they did for the first 3 episodes this season.)

RATING: 3/5

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Oh man, Boone in Season 5.

Oh man.

 

[The Wormhole]

I don't actually remember this episode. I vaguely remember something about a bunch of hybrid chambers getting blown up, but then that seems to happen every second episode in S5.

 

[The Habs Fan]

Entombed

After capturing a live Atavus from an ancient hive underneath Stonehenge, Renee and Street transport it to an abandoned Doors research facility in the Arctic to study it. However, when Street finds herself drawn to the Atavus, her true loyalties are put to the ultimate test.

2 minutes into Boone's Assassin and Renee tells Boone about a crystal that Street found in Stonehenge. Strangely, that hadn't happened yet but I chalked it up to normal Season 5 problems. Then I remembered that the next episode on the DVD is called Entombed. I checked the summary online and sure enough, it's about Renee and Street finding an Atavus in Stonehenge. As if this season isn't confusing enough, now the DVD has the episodes in the wrong order!

So I watched Entombed first and yes Street has a crystal at the end. Problem solved.

Unfortunately, this episode kind of sucked. On a positive note, this is the 3rd episode in a row with another Atavus not named Howlyn and Juda. In fact, I don't think Juda has even appeared since the 4th episode, weird for a main character, but maybe not as weird as Doors being a main character in season 3.

Anyway, this episode is about Street falling for an Atavus named Gren who seems good at first but turns out to be just as bad and hissy as the other Atavus and eventually is killed by Renee. Yes, thats's not a typo, I meant to write killed. I thought it was just a few episodes ago when Renee was trying her best to figure out how to kill the Atavus, even going so far as breaking a notorious serial killer out of prison, whom is still at large, probably killing innocent people. I was expecting a line from Renee saying something to the affect of, "Oh... I guess that's their weakness." But nothing.

Which brings me to a huge problem I have with the plot. The beginning of this episode has a soldier in 16th century Britain, exploring a cave underneath Stonehenge. He is startled by a female Atavus whom he proceeds to stab with his sword a few times until she dies. He is then killed by Gren in a fit of rage. But that's not important. What is important is that he managed to kill an invincible Atavus with a few stabs of his sword. You can shoot them 50 times and they will re-generate. You can cut them open with a scalpel and they will re-generate. You can cut off their hand and they will grow a new one. But the minute you stab them with a sword, they die. Yeah... that doesn't make any sense at all. Then at the end of the episode, Renee beheads Gren with the same sword and he dies. I can maybe understand how a beheading could kill an Atavus, but a few stabs of a sword?

The only way this episode will be redeemed is if Renee throws her gun in the garbage and uses a sword in all future episodes. Somehow, I doubt that will happen because this season is not about making sense.

How convenient is it that the whole team that beamed over to document the Atavus died? Once again, no one believes Renee. How convenient for the writers to keep this stupid plot going.

Another strange plot point occurred near the beginning when a beam of light pointed the way to the Atavus. Renee had a line that said a similar thing had happened when they found the hive in Kamchatka. How come I don't remember this? Did this actually happen in a previous episode or is this in a future episode on the DVD that is also in the wrong order? Or is this something that happened off screen and the writers are pretending that they planned this whole season in advance?

Guess what? I have another complaint. Gren takes Street as a hostage. So far so good. But as far as I can figure out, his purpose for taking her is to use her to retrieve the all-important crystal. Why can't he get it himself? Because the Atavus are scared of cold, dark, and confined places. Uhhh... since when? Isn't the "joining chamber" itself a dark, confined place? Isn't the mothership dark and cold?

RATING: 1/5