Earth 2 (TV Series) First Contact (1994) User Reviews

It's a shame it was cancelled.

[cosmic_quest · 8/10 · 12 September 2002]

'Earth 2' will always be one of my favourite sci-fi shows. The plot took the simple idea of exploring and turned it into something more unique. It was interesting seeing the survivers struggle each day, facing new problems and even conspiracies that took them to the heart of their own government back on the stations.

Most of the characters were likeable and concrete in their own right, even the two children were not the typical annoying brats usually found on such shows (Wesley Crusher anyone!).

I never really understood why it was cancelled so prematurely after only one season when trash like 'Power Rangers' and other such shows get longer. I think it would have fare well if it was allowed to flourish but now I just have to content myself with re-runs on the Sci-Fi Channel.

A show of infinite promise

[gizmo_goddard · 7/10 · 12 January 2004]

A show that had great promise in both its premise and its characters, it soon began to suffer at the hands of the writers, who couldn't seem to decide what the central focus of the storyline should be. While most of the individual episodes were well enough done, the overall story seemed to head off in one given direction for a few episodes, only to stop and stumble off in another direction at seemingly random intervals. Unfortunately, it aired on a major network, whose executives had neither the foresight nor the patience to give this show the time it needed to find its center.

Promising Series

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 22 December 2022]

In the future, Earth is destroyed and the last generations have been raised in space stations. When Commander Broderick O'Neill (Richard Bradford) suspects that government agents have planted a bomb in his spacecraft, he prepares the crew and colonists for a twenty-light-year trip to Earth 2. When they wake-up, they see the planet, but there is a gravitational problem and they need to leave the spacecraft in survival crafts. O'Neill, Devon Adair (Debrah Farentino) and her debilitated son Ulysses "Uly" Adair (Joey Zimmerman), Dr. Julia Heller (Jessica Steen), the mechanic John Danziger (Clancy Brown) and his daughter True Danziger (J. Madison Wright), the children tutor Yale (Sullivan Walker) and the pilot Alonzo Solace (Antonio Sabato Jr.) are among the survivors. Soon they learn that they are not alone and there are humanoids in the planet. What do they want?

"First Contact" is the pilot episode of the promising series "Earth 2". Released in Brazil on VHS only, this episode has a confused beginning, with the introduction of several characters and the status quo of the survival earthlings. But then the plot is full of action and adventure. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Projeto Eden - Um Futuro Desconhecido" ("Eden Project - An Unknown Future")

It was great!

[hybiscus · 9/10 · 9 June 2000]

Ack. They cancelled the series on me. The MEANIES!!!!! But not until they tortured me with time changes and missed weeks. Me sitting there biting my nails for weeks and weeks before I heard they had cancelled the show.. Egads.. How rude.. I loved this series.

It was so cool. Real people, great actors, great set, and great plot... Come on... why the cut?

Best Sci-Fi series ever; best TV any genre since Soap.

[wcb · 10/10 · 22 September 1998]

Yes, yes, I know, the horse in a can was stupid; the guy in The Greatest Love Story Never told was a slime-ball; the special effects in Flower Child are laughable, etc., etc. But the major characters in this show are so real I feel as though I've always known them and always will. The premise is well thought out and convincing. The Terrians are great 'creatures.' The subtext is always amusing and relevant. The so-called 'cannibalism' episode is the most powerful hour of TV I have ever seen. The three Tim Curry episodes bristle with tension. I LOVE THIS SHOW.

It could be brought back...

[mlleslie · 10/10 · 25 April 2004]

This show was horrifically corny but it worked. It was one of those series that just kept you hooked, even though it didn't seem to follow any of the particular rules. I'd forgotten about them freezing Deb Adair (I did howl at that one). It was a good sci-fi premise, with good characters and with the lack of intelligent sci-fi now, it might be worth another shot. The interesting part about the show was the idea that they could interact based upon characters who didn't really get along rather than as some sort of a unit. I wasn't much for the sand people (too much like the Slestax of my childhood) but I guess it is always necessary to have a tall, mummy-like alien to keep things sci-fi.

Politically correct absurd Premises and Puts you to sleep.

[Jim15936 · 20 July 2005]

The show lost me from the first episode. It has the following politically correct Hollywood clichés: (1) A super smart child barely out of diapers who is wiser than adults (shades of Star Wars episode 1. 2) A cripple (the kid again) whose physical disability means that (while white) he is a minority Above Criticism.

3) An Older Black Man (who resembles the Slimy UN boss Kofi Annan) who hovers over the kid, like a substitute father, but whose enthusiasm for little boys makes him appear to be a possible molester. (at least in Subtext).

SPOILER BELOW: 4) Absurd opening premise: Why would Earth spend billions creating a fully outfitted colonist ship, and plan to blow it, if on the off chance they found a new Earth offering "hope?" Because the colonists were supposed to fail so that some mysterious military junta world Government (The UN?) can maintain "control." If that was so, why build the ship? The whole mood feels like it was written by a bunch of anti-military left-over hippies who flunked their science courses in college, since they were so stoned on weed From the opening premise on, it simply makes no sense whatsoever. If the creators wanted to show that the colony was good, and that some evil UN-type junta took over by force, and that the colony represents freedom, that might have been more plausible.

The worst sin: It literally put me to sleep. I cant stay awake to finish the opening episode. Network News excites me more! It starts off with glacial slowness, and we never are given a reason to care one whit about any character. If they all died I wouldn't care less.

The annoying genius cripple kid is simply not believable, and he is subtly obnoxious, shoving his disability in your face, as though it gives him the right to park all over you. Someone put him in an airlock -- PLEASE! The hovering African man looks like a potential child molester, who simply hasn't purchased his own Wonderland Zoo -- yet. The kid's Mom is boring, her acting is flat and unconvincing, and her cool relationship to the old black man makes her look like a desperate single mom whose an enabler to a potential abuser.

The set design was better in Star Trek: the Original Series, from the late 1960s! I'm returning my box set. Ads on TV are more entertaining.

Imma pass on this one.

[bombersflyup · 3/10 · 4 November 2019]

Earth 2 - First Contact is overly long for little return. The characters are uninteresting to the point where you're in two hours and the best character's a nine year old girl. The plot with the inhabitants taking and releasing the boy and the dream state, unbearable. If the opening episode run-time's going to be mammoth, it needs to be one of the show's best.