Review(s): DVD Earth Final Conflict - Face the Horizon
A word of warning about season five
Most reviews I've scanned for this product take fire at the storylines like the writers just woke up one day and decided to change everything. Whereas in fact, business got in the way.
E:FC suffered over the years due to budgetary constraints, but season five had very, very tight constraints. Hence most of the cast are removed to make way for cheaper alternatives, and even some of those don't see the whole season through.
And the writers tried, they really did, to keep this show going in terms of quality. Against very tough conditions, they created a season that isn't too bad. It has some interesting aliens in form of the Atavus, and has some great guest appearances (of particular note is Margot Kidder). It also has some nice continuity with the preceeding four seasons.
But the writers weren't miracle workers, and as a fifth season of E:FC it is hard to stomach; it feels very much like a new show. Plus the reinvention of Rene, and supposedly old-time friends of hers coming out of nowhere soon grows tired.
In the US, 100 episodes is key. This way the show can be sold into syndication. Is is blatantly obvious that season five is there just to get to that figure. I think the writers tried their best, and I would recommend this box set to any E:FC fan so that they see how the show ends (and the end episode is very good, and fitting of E:FC). But please, don't just attack the fifth season. Go in open minded, but go in bearing in mind there were so many limitations, the writers did the best they could and as a season of entertaining sci-fi you could do worse.
Please read this before judging review "not helpful"
I watched every single episode of EFC, and I followed all the plot lines carefully, so believe me when I tell you that season 5 is an insulting slap in the face. Season 4 ended with the Taelons and Jaridians merging in some volcanic chamber, and then bang.
Ok, so now we have season 5. Augur is mysteriously gone for good after barely making an appearance in season 4. Instead we have Street, who just wasn't given the right material. But whatever. Here's the kicker.
THE ENTIRE STORYLINE set up in the first 4 seasons is tossed aside without a thought. All the work done with the Taelons and the Jaridians, gone without any meaning. Done, gone, the end. No more Taelons (except the one guy who got away somehow), no more Jaridians. No more Liam till the last episode where he just shows up without explanation.
What happened to the Jaridians that got away? From the website "When the Jaridians board the Mothership, they find themselves trapped in a force field set by Ronald Sandoval (Von Flores). He strikes a deal, promising to lead them to the Taelons if they spare Earth and elect him ruler of the planet. Sandoval and the Jardians make their way to a portal, just as Hubble opens fire on the ship. As Sandoval collapses, badly wounded, Vorjak and the others escape." If they escaped, where are they??
Instead they go on with this ridiculous plotline about the Atavus, who look NOTHING like the way they did when Da'an turned into one, instead they come across as leather freaks into S&M and vampirism. Yes we get to see Zo'or in a catsuit. Wow. And then she dies stupidly. Yes Boone comes back. But he dies. Stupidly. Off screen. He gets a one liner about how he died heroically, blah blah blah.
Every other story set up over the 4 years, gone. This season attempts to create a whole new story arc and fails miserably. Go ahead and buy it, its cheap. But don't expect to be happy.
Greatest Modern Sci-Fi
EFC is not the greatest show ever made, but it is one of the top shows. Ignore reviews that just nit pick about things that aren't even about the show it self. Although initally I was mad that Liam died in the privious season, the Atuvus more than makes up for the lost character - who i believe makes a comeback at some point ^^. This isn't Star Trek, its a low budget Canadian show, like Andromeda - but unlike Andromeda this show is so good you don't notice the odd SFX, but by this time in the show the creators got into their groove and the sfx flows much better. I was greatly pleased when i found out that this was a Canadian show, although most of it was controlled by an American company. I would buy every season if i had the money!
Related DVD's Earth Final Conflict - Face the Horizon
The first and only spin-off of Babylon 5, J. Michael Straczynski's short-lived sci-fi series Crusade had its roots in the B5 television movie A Call to Arms, in which Earth was battling a Drakh invasion at the end of the Shadow Wars. When Crusade begins, the Drakh have released a deadly virus that threatens to wipe out all 10 billion humans living on Earth unless a cure can be found in five years. To take on this monumental task, Captain Matthew Gideon (Gary Cole) is assigned command of the state-of-the-art Destroyer-class ship Excalibur. His crew includes telepath John Matheson (Daniel Dae Kim); pompous but brilliant archaeologist-linguist Max Eilerson (David Allen Brooks); Dureena, a member of the Thieves' Guild and the last surviving member... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Tony Dow DVD Release Date: Released the 07 December 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $59.98 Your Price: $35.99YOU SAVE $23.99!
Buy it
Alright, to start with I have read all the reviews to date and decided I had to write my own. The lack of special features is the only valid complaint with the DVD set. As many others have already said it really would have been nice to have some input from the cast/crew. And the packaging is not the greatest out there. As with any series but scifi in particular, you have to take the good with the bad. If you are looking for comedy buy a comedy and if you are looking for Shakespearean dialogue look elsewhere. However if you consider yourself a TRUE scifi fan, then Earth 2 is a must. There are those that say the stories have been done and the aliens are not original. I can say the same for ANY scifi series out there. Earth 2 takes these so called "old" themes and puts an original... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Debrah Farentino DVD Release Date: Released the 19 July 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $49.98 Your Price: $37.49YOU SAVE $12.49!
Buy it
Created at least in part due to popular demand, Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars will provide some closure to fans who were dismayed by the demise of the popular science fiction television show in 2003 and campaigned mightily to bring it back. Indeed, this miniseries (originally broadcast over two nights on the Sci-Fi Channel) will likely appeal primarily to the Farscape faithful, as the somewhat convoluted storyline may prove baffling to the uninitiated.
A brief bit of backstory explains how John Crichton, an astronaut from Earth, went through a wormhole and ended up on Moya, a living spaceship, with a motley group of aliens, including D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe), Chiana (Gigi Edgley), various puppet characters (designed by the Jim Henson Company), and Aeryn... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Brian Henson DVD Release Date: Released the 18 January 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $19.98 Your Price: $14.99YOU SAVE $4.99!
Buy it
Under intense scrutiny, the debut season of Enterprise earned a passing grade from critics and Star Trek fans alike. Voyager ended its seven-season run just four months earlier, and fans were skeptical when Enterprise premiered (on Sept. 26, 2001, on UPN) with a theme song ("Where My Heart Will Take Me," composed by Diane Warren and performed by Russell Watson) that defied Trek's revered theme-music tradition. This and other early reservations were dispelled when "Broken Bow" got the series off to a satisfying start, beginning in the year 2151 and establishing a pre-Federation focus on humanity's delicate relationship with the Vulcans, the controversial launch of the NX-01 Enterprise on an exploratory mission, and the potentially devastating... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Scott Bakula DVD Release Date: Released the 03 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $129.99 Your Price: $103.99YOU SAVE $26!
Buy it
I have read a lot of negetive reviews about the shorter version of the episode "Threads" being on this set rather than the longer more boring version. I just picked up the set and have only watched the episode "Threads" (I watched the season when it aired). I thought the shorter version was better and quicker to get to the point, there was a lot of padding in the longer version. Although I don't agree with MGM's Decision to not to put the broadcast version on the DVD, I'm glad they didn't. I don't think I will trade in my set to get the longer version. More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Richard Dean Anderson DVD Release Date: Released the 04 October 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $55.95 Your Price: $39.17YOU SAVE $16.78!
Buy it
