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Earth 2
We open with a narrative - everyone lives on space stations orbiting the Earth, and the young boy Ulysses is one of the unlucky ones who've developed a syndrome from living on the stations their whole lives - a syndrome caused by lack of disease, lack of fresh air or fresh water. But they're planning a mission to leave the stations, 250 families with syndrome children who want to find a new planet to live on, an Earth that isn't polluted where they can live alongside nature. And then they up the tension - the ship intercepts a government broadcast that the ship explodes on departure, coded to broadcast an hour after they leave... So they decide to leave a fraction early. Between the bomb and the fact that their medical staff was off the ship when they departed, leaving them with the junior doctor. It's a 22 year journey, but a small number are going on ahead of the main colony ship to make sure the place is set up and habitable before the rest arrive. Antonio Sabato Jr. plays the older-than-he-looks pilot, and there's clearly a potential connection between him and the cute woman doctor... The engineer has a young daughter (the only other child on the advance party) who wants a pet cat. The government guy on board comes across as the guy from Aliens (I want to say it was Paul Reiser, but I'm not sure). Then there's the Yale - a criminal re-programmed to be a tutor... which might not be a good idea considering the rest of them remembered their criminal past and went psychotic! And then the cargo pods won't release, and the transport craft is being dragged down to the planet. The government guy and his wife take one of the evacuation pods. And so, in the final pod, we have the Captain, pilot, and random other crewmember, the engineer and daughter, the doctor, the mother and son, plus Ulysses and the Yale, and a couple of random people we can kill off... as we haven't focused on them yet. Oh dear, the pilot managed to break his leg on landing... and it's going to have to heal naturally, without the help of modern medicine. The young girl's desire for a cat sees her befriend an animatronic creature from the planet, which she's decided to bring with her. And then they find one of their cargo containers - but it's already been looted. Fortunately, they missed one of the cargo bays, which gets them a robot, Zero, and a couple of landrovers. Oh, and a mini dune buggy thing for Ulysses. And then we need to kick off the connection to the natives - the pilot starts having dreams, something he'd lost the ability to do due to prolonged cold sleep, and he sees the grey men who live there. The Captain gets speared by the cat-creature and dies. Then the natives appear in daylight to the rest of the team (before disappearing in a sunflare). Then the government guy and his wife turn up. Then the pilot has another vivid dream of the natives. Then I decide to abolish the word "then" because I seem to be using it too much! So, Ulysses is kidnapped by the Terrians, and the pilot and the boy's mother (Devon) have to go in to a dream to get him back. They make some sort of bargain, but they don't know what the cost is. Once he's returned, they take a vote on whether to proceed to New Pacifica (which, clearly they win, as otherwise there wouldn't be much of a show). And finally, Tim Curry shows up standing on a rock watching them drive off (looking dishevelled and crazy). 02 - The Man Who Fell To Earth (Two) "The Man Who Fell To Earth (Two)" sees more of the mysterious Tim Curry, this time having his pet alien (a Grendler) dig up the Captain that the colonists had buried believing him dead. The episode is narrated by the engineer, Danziger. There's certainly some mistrust of the mysterious guy they find - Gaal (Tim Curry) - who claims his sleep timer malfunctioned and he crashed on the planet 15 years earlier. The politician guy get stung by True's pet rodent, but when he dies Gaal gives them the bad news - he's not dead, just in a coma for a couple of days. So they rush back to find out what happened to their commander, and find the grave dug up. Gaal then tells them Grendlers got there first... what is he up to? "Life Lessons" sees the continuation of Gaal's deception. After blaming the Captain's second death on the Terrians, he's looking for allies within the camp. After Danziger's commentary introducing last episode, we get True this time, and she's chafing under the rules she now has to live under. When Gaal brings in a mysterious crate, they manage to grow a live horse in a matter of hours. But True is clearly jealous of Uly's attachment to the animal, and she wants one of her own... so she sneaks in and sets another canister off... what's this one going to be? Oh, okay, it's going to be dead, and the first one's not stopping growing and will be dead in 48 hours unless Julia can fix its genetic problems. Meanwhile True gets seduced by Gaal, and Yale finally finds out who he is... by hacking the government files in his head. It seems the government have been sending convicts and other undesirables to Earth 2, using it as a penal colony. "Promises, Promises" sees Alonzo doing the commentary, having dreams of the Terrians, who need their help. The colonists experience rain for the first time. And Devon's promise to the Terrians comes back to haunt her when Uly starts getting sick again. It seems Gaal has laid his hands on some control collars, and he's been capturing Terrians with them. He's also still out for one of the vehicles from the colonists, and True still seems to want to see him. "A Memory Play" puts us back with Devon giving the episode commentary. But we're really focusing on the government guy, Morgan, who keeps seeing Grendlers everywhere. The colonists locate evidence of one of the other evacuation pods when they find freshly dug graves, but those still alive are dying of some contagion. Morgan is feeling guilty for ejecting the evac pod prematurely. Yale is digging in to what happened to cause everyone to have to abandon ship... and he's discovered an anomaly in his memories of the disaster. "Water" opens reminding us that Julia has some secret agenda, and she's communicating with someone already on the planet. Bess gives the commentary this episode. Guest Star Terry O'Quinn appears to be Julia's mysterious contact... and he's making noises that he wants to help them, but clearly Julia doesn't trust him any more, especially after this "Council" caused the crash... Devon and Danziger bond over a search for water (they go off on their own and have many adventures... Terrians, buried rovers, being trapped by plants, finding lakes that are electrically charged, being saved by Terrians and cacti), while Alonzo finally gets his mobility back when Julia's search for a cure leads to a quick healing medicine. "The Church Of Morgan" sees Julia giving the episode commentary, and she's struggling with her dual loyalties and keeping secrets from everyone else. Ulysses appears to be gaining the Terrians' ability to travel through earth without disturbing it - and Julia is being pressured by her evil superior to harvest his pineal gland to discover the secrets of the planet. Morgan and Bess seem to be having marital difficulties - Bess is having thoughts about another man and leaning on Yale for confession, and Morgan is panicking that his four year marriage contract has lapsed due to the 22 years in cold sleep. "The Enemy Within" sees Julia still on commentary duty, and still trying to guard the secrets of her check-ins with the Council. Having decided against harvesting Uly's pineal gland like the Council want, she decides to start injecting herself with Uly's DNA to try and cause the same transformation in herself that the Terrians caused in him. Of course, this sends her slightly crazy, having memory blackouts, attacking Morgan, and generally acting strung out. Of course, the rest of the group don't take too kindly to her actions, taking all the medical supplies with them and abandoning her. "Redemption" and Devon finally gets another commentary. They're all struggling with the decision to abandon Julia, Alonso most of all, which is why he decides to go back for her alone. But there's another threat on the planet, Zeds, convicts trained to have no emotion, just to be killing machines... and Julia needs to talk to Riley to find out about it. They find out that Riley is in orbit in some sort of satellite station, and that he can't locate them because they're in some sort of blackout area where the satellite surveillance doesn't cover. "Moon Cross" sees Uly having to deal with ornery Terrians when a sacred time comes upon them, the time when Earth 2's two moons cross each other, and when the Terrians submerge themselves in a sacred pool. There's also a young human girl who's lived most of her life with the Terrians after her parents (who were clearly among the convicts, but who seem to have a thing for greenhouses - considering they comprised a bunch of radical biologists) died. 13 - The Greatest Love Story Never Told "The Greatest Love Story Never Told" makes it feel like Kindred guest star night, with an episode of Earth 2 guest starring Patrick Bauchau. Of course, to pile one guest star on top of another, we've also got Roy Dotrice (Father from Beauty And The Beast), and the young kid who played the Annoying One on Buffy. "Brave New Pacifica" sees crazy Grendlers out for blood, spiders, and a rapid transit system that may actually get the colonists to New Pacifica waaaaay ahead of schedule. Of course, There's the Julia / Alonzo and Devon / Danziger love interests to deal with, and there's reeeeaaally silly explanations for the reason why the transit system operates. "After The Thaw" sees Alonzo on commentary duty, with the colonists struggling through the long winter, scouting to replenish their dwindling food supplies. When they stumble on the frozen-in-ice remains of a 300 thousand year old Terrian, there's much debate over what to do with it... so obviously they bring it back to camp and strange things start to happen. It seems all the anger and passion of the individual Terrians was absorbed in to this one member of the species, who was then trapped by the earth... and now all that energy is hiding out in another host - one of the colonists! "Survival Of The Fittest" sees Danziger, Alonzo, Morgan, and Julia out in the middle of nowhere, already two days past their failsafe point, when they get a fix on cargo pod 09, which contains foodstuffs and other sorely needed supplies, and they decide to make a run for it, even though it's yet another day further from camp. Unfortunately, the pod has been broken open when they get there and the contents are gone - burned up in the atmosphere or stolen by grendlers - and they're forced to turn back with almost no supplies left. Meanwhile, Devon sends a search party out to retrieve them. "Natural Born Grendlers" sees another curiously out of order episode. After Devon was frozen in to the cryo tube in the last episode, here we have her up and walking around, and Alonzo still with a broken leg (how long ago was that healed?!). The colonists are in a forest looking for food, but struggling to find anything edible. |
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