Jean: A Legend In My Own Mind (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
zouzounaki) wrote2005-08-09 01:31 pm
zouzounaki) wrote2005-08-09 01:31 pm
Entry tags:
Earth 2 All Over Again
Some little time ago, just last month as a matter of fact, a dream of mine came true. It wasn't what you'd call a monumental thing though it seems it to me: Earth 2, the short lived scifi series which ran from November of '94 to May of '95, was released in a comprehensive, complete series DVD set. While it lacked EPK (electronic presskit) material, it does include both deleted and extended scenes and a blooper reel, both of which I wouldn't have even dared to wish for!
You see, Earth 2 affected me profoundly when it first aired and does so even more now that I've lost my parents. Earth 2 was the first and only show in my lifetime that became a "family event" to watch; we all were sat down every Sunday night at 7 (though football was usually running over into its timeslot!) to see what was going to happen next! I was devestated when word came down that it had been canceled and I cried. Yes, I cried for a tv show, something I had never done and have not done since, because it had become such an intregal and exciting part of our otherwise mundane lives. Turns out there was bloody great reason it was canceled, which I didn't know at the time, but suffice it to say, if it had gone on, it would have been as great a travesty as the second season of SeaQuest DSV (see the greatest fansite for the show on the web: http://www.earth2tv.com/ for i8nfo on what would have been a disasterous second season!)
So, the question was: would the show still have the same impact on me now, 11 years later? The answer? No. It had a completely different though no less potent impact! I was able to understand some of the emotions I hadn't before, appreciate what they were doing with the storyline and characters. Characters I didn't care for previously, I've warmed to and episodes that I've held the most viscious rancor for for these long years don't seem quite as bad now as I can isolate the elements that bother me and appreciate it as a whole. It is no longer a wham-bam scifi show (with a brain) that I watched back in the mid-90s but a carefully plotted, character-driven scifi piece that was far ahead of its time.
It's no small wonder that Browncoats (fans of Joss Whedon's Firefly/Serenity for the uninitiated) in general have fond memories of this show as it definitely comes across as a forerunner for that sort of adult scifi. It uses elements and metaphors of the Old West as the pioneers on G889 make their way across a continent to their brave new world; the American West would also provide inspiration for Firefly. Earth 2 contains a running story arc, something very rare at the time and a dangerous choice as "mythology" was generally being blamed for X-Files not nabbing enough viewers as critics believed it deserved. As a matter of fact, that would have been eliminated from a second season all together, so frightening was the idea of establishing a weekly audience who kept coming back to see the advancement of a simmering, well-developed story instead of 'Ooh, shiny special effects!'
And the F/X, well, as this was done before the digital revolution (Jurassic Park was only a year before the series debuted), its ambition has to be admired even if some of the opticals are, to our modern eye, now pretty cringe-worthy. Again, it's scope, its granduer, was far ahead of its time!
Something that is not cringe-worthy are the characters, especially the females, who seem ahead of their time now, in 2005. Beautiful but not glamorous mature women, their complex relationships with their children, their fellow pioneers, always seemed so real to me but now that I've matured more, I can appreciate it all the more! Jessica Steen as Julia as she struggles with the emotionless life she's supposed to lead (it's in her chromosomes!) while falling in love with beefcake Alonzo (Antonio Sabata Jr.), making some of the most Gawdawrful decisions as she's backed into a corner and her ultimate redemption remains to me one of the most interesting and complex female scifi character arc!
The series isn't without it's rocky bits, as a matter of fact, after a ganbusters pilot episode, the following three episode storyarc is rather dreadful and I can just picture viewers slowly turning away as it developed each week. It hits its stride immediately afterwards however with a bit of awkwardness for an ep or two but that doesn't matter in the long run. And the long run was a mere 21 episodes with one helluva cliffhanger!
So, why, with all of this going in its favor, no season 2? NBC wanted to renew, UPN wanted to pick it up after NBC ultimately passed but again the ball was dropped. Why? Stupid fucking Universal who, unhappy with the ratings it was getting, brought in a new producer who wanted to change just about everything about it. And both networks knew the proposed ideas were shite as both balked when they saw the document. In the end, it wasn't the networks' fault but the actual makers of the show; they were its ultimate downfall.
Devon and Julia were to be taken out of their leadership roles and both of their romances would have come to a halt. They would have become more "caring, warmer" whilst Yale and Morgan were to get the ax. Bess was going to sleep with anything that moved and a cute widdle Grendler was going to join the party as well as a know it all teenage cyborg. The party would get a new, male leader and all story arcs would be gone. Nothing spiritual would remain and Alonzo would have super strength. What. The. Fuck?!
So, yes, in the end, I'm happy I didn't get THAT season 2 though my heart will always be a little sad for the season 2 I could have, should have gotten. And I still have the DVDs to pop in whenever I need my Earth 2 fix which seems something of a small miracle to me!
Peace, Ghani
You see, Earth 2 affected me profoundly when it first aired and does so even more now that I've lost my parents. Earth 2 was the first and only show in my lifetime that became a "family event" to watch; we all were sat down every Sunday night at 7 (though football was usually running over into its timeslot!) to see what was going to happen next! I was devestated when word came down that it had been canceled and I cried. Yes, I cried for a tv show, something I had never done and have not done since, because it had become such an intregal and exciting part of our otherwise mundane lives. Turns out there was bloody great reason it was canceled, which I didn't know at the time, but suffice it to say, if it had gone on, it would have been as great a travesty as the second season of SeaQuest DSV (see the greatest fansite for the show on the web: http://www.earth2tv.com/ for i8nfo on what would have been a disasterous second season!)
So, the question was: would the show still have the same impact on me now, 11 years later? The answer? No. It had a completely different though no less potent impact! I was able to understand some of the emotions I hadn't before, appreciate what they were doing with the storyline and characters. Characters I didn't care for previously, I've warmed to and episodes that I've held the most viscious rancor for for these long years don't seem quite as bad now as I can isolate the elements that bother me and appreciate it as a whole. It is no longer a wham-bam scifi show (with a brain) that I watched back in the mid-90s but a carefully plotted, character-driven scifi piece that was far ahead of its time.
It's no small wonder that Browncoats (fans of Joss Whedon's Firefly/Serenity for the uninitiated) in general have fond memories of this show as it definitely comes across as a forerunner for that sort of adult scifi. It uses elements and metaphors of the Old West as the pioneers on G889 make their way across a continent to their brave new world; the American West would also provide inspiration for Firefly. Earth 2 contains a running story arc, something very rare at the time and a dangerous choice as "mythology" was generally being blamed for X-Files not nabbing enough viewers as critics believed it deserved. As a matter of fact, that would have been eliminated from a second season all together, so frightening was the idea of establishing a weekly audience who kept coming back to see the advancement of a simmering, well-developed story instead of 'Ooh, shiny special effects!'
And the F/X, well, as this was done before the digital revolution (Jurassic Park was only a year before the series debuted), its ambition has to be admired even if some of the opticals are, to our modern eye, now pretty cringe-worthy. Again, it's scope, its granduer, was far ahead of its time!
Something that is not cringe-worthy are the characters, especially the females, who seem ahead of their time now, in 2005. Beautiful but not glamorous mature women, their complex relationships with their children, their fellow pioneers, always seemed so real to me but now that I've matured more, I can appreciate it all the more! Jessica Steen as Julia as she struggles with the emotionless life she's supposed to lead (it's in her chromosomes!) while falling in love with beefcake Alonzo (Antonio Sabata Jr.), making some of the most Gawdawrful decisions as she's backed into a corner and her ultimate redemption remains to me one of the most interesting and complex female scifi character arc!
The series isn't without it's rocky bits, as a matter of fact, after a ganbusters pilot episode, the following three episode storyarc is rather dreadful and I can just picture viewers slowly turning away as it developed each week. It hits its stride immediately afterwards however with a bit of awkwardness for an ep or two but that doesn't matter in the long run. And the long run was a mere 21 episodes with one helluva cliffhanger!
So, why, with all of this going in its favor, no season 2? NBC wanted to renew, UPN wanted to pick it up after NBC ultimately passed but again the ball was dropped. Why? Stupid fucking Universal who, unhappy with the ratings it was getting, brought in a new producer who wanted to change just about everything about it. And both networks knew the proposed ideas were shite as both balked when they saw the document. In the end, it wasn't the networks' fault but the actual makers of the show; they were its ultimate downfall.
Devon and Julia were to be taken out of their leadership roles and both of their romances would have come to a halt. They would have become more "caring, warmer" whilst Yale and Morgan were to get the ax. Bess was going to sleep with anything that moved and a cute widdle Grendler was going to join the party as well as a know it all teenage cyborg. The party would get a new, male leader and all story arcs would be gone. Nothing spiritual would remain and Alonzo would have super strength. What. The. Fuck?!
So, yes, in the end, I'm happy I didn't get THAT season 2 though my heart will always be a little sad for the season 2 I could have, should have gotten. And I still have the DVDs to pop in whenever I need my Earth 2 fix which seems something of a small miracle to me!
Peace, Ghani
no subject
I remember watching the show when it aired, with my mother. I watched it mostly for Clancy Brown (YUM) and Tim Curry. We liked the first few episodes and then it started to get a little...weird... kind of like BSG2003. A great premise that, for us, became a bit too surreal and slid into incomprehensibility. We did stick it through till the end, and things were looking up. Of course then came the cancellation.
I, too, would be interested in checking it out again, just to see whether I would still be all confused. :)
I'm glad it has those memories for you, though! Embrace it! ::hugs:: The scifi stuff my family would gather religiously around the TV to watch (Battlestar Galactica 1st series, Space: 1999, Buck Rogers) is almost unwatchable for me now. I've become jaded by the timelessness of Star Wars and the better special effects of the 90s and 00s.
no subject
The message boards all started hoppin' after YEARS of silence! It was a bit jarring cos of its unexpectedness but very cool nonetheless! *g*
***mooncross writes Earth-2 fanfic and has seen a bunch more reviews come in (from fanfiction.net, I think she's AmandaK on there).***
Ooh, cool! Thanks for the heads up! I feel sometimes like I'm still completely new to the 'net cos my puny efforts (years ago!) to find E2 ff never turned up anything interesting so bless you muchly for the recommendation! :-D
***I remember watching the show when it aired, with my mother. I watched it mostly for Clancy Brown (YUM)***
DROOOOOOL! Yay, another Clancy fan! Was Danziger a stud or was he a stud?! Sigh, and with Carnivale gone, another high quality scifi show he stars in gone :-/
***and Tim Curry. We liked the first few episodes and then it started to get a little...weird... kind of like BSG2003. A great premise that, for us, became a bit too surreal and slid into incomprehensibility. We did stick it through till the end, and things were looking up. Of course then came the cancellation.***
Naturally. The whole thing feels like it was a set-up for what was to come. Of course, we'll never know what that was... My mom followed the "mythology" of the show, excuse the expression ;-), religiously and oftentimes had to explain it to me though I do find I understand it a helluva lot better watching it now :-)
And, despite the fact that I keep following BSG2003, I agree: it's become awful low on characterization and big on a lot of abstract ideas that I'm not particularly interested in but that's a post for another day! ;-)
***I'm glad it has those memories for you, though! Embrace it! ::hugs::***
Thanks! :-) I must admit, it made me a little sad watching it without my mum (nothing like seeing RotS without her though!) but it kinda became a rather comforting feeling after a while, like she was with me again!
***The scifi stuff my family would gather religiously around the TV to watch (Battlestar Galactica 1st series, Space: 1999, Buck Rogers) is almost unwatchable for me now. I've become jaded by the timelessness of Star Wars and the better special effects of the 90s and 00s.***
Oh, I understand though I'm such an inbred fan of Doctor Who, I think someone could use a cardboard cut-out of a space ship and swish it by the camera (which, erm, Doctor Who's actually done! LOL!) and I'd shrug it off! ;-) LOL!
Peace, Ghani
no subject
I have a secret. I looove redheaded men. Slurp. And I love big men, no surprise since I'm 6' myself, but isn't he like 6'6 and that deep voice Mrrowrr?
I think someone could use a cardboard cut-out of a space ship and swish it by the camera (which, erm, Doctor Who's actually done! LOL!) and I'd shrug it off! ;-) LOL!
I've not seen Dr. Who though I've been curious since discovering that Paul McGann was DW for a while... and that's another thing many on my f-list are into. Something about "Ten?" Anyway, I do admit a bit of inability to handle cheap special effects anymore... I'll say it all stems from reading the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, and then finding the British TV series, and taking it home from the local Blockbuster and being like OMFG all these people need to be shot and they need to be shot now! (What's with that Trillian, BTW? WTF?) My friends who saw the TV show originally or saw it before the books say they can handle it much better. ;)
And Sharpes... Poor
So I'm sci-fi shallow. Know where we could find those McGann Whos, BTW?
no subject
The series has been resurrected in England (and plays in Canada) but Paul was passed over and they chose to start anew with Christopher Eccleston post-McGann regeneration. Now Eccles has left so we're on our, wow, double digets, tenth doctor (in a span of over 40 years, mind!), played by Devid Tennant.
Anyway, I do admit a bit of inability to handle cheap special effects anymore... I'll say it all stems from reading the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, and then finding the British TV series, and taking it home from the local Blockbuster and being like OMFG all these people need to be shot and they need to be shot now! (What's with that Trillian, BTW? WTF?) My friends who saw the TV show originally or saw it before the books say they can handle it much better. ;)
I would be in the latter camp: saw it before I read it. Trillian's kinda the least of the worries (I tyhought her side ponytail was so cool circe 1986! LOL!); Beeblebrox's second head is a travesty! It must be said that it was time they were working in and, more importantly, like Doctor Who, the money they had to work with. Doctor Who's f/x in the new series revival are actually quite, quite good!
And Sharpes... Poor sharpeslass loves that stuff but after A&E's Horatio Hornblower and its lovely production values (Go America, spend, spend!)
Amen to that! ;-)
no subject
ROTFL!!! I can relate.
no subject