Earth 2 is one of several science fiction series that emerged in the 1990s with high hopes, but rapidly lost its viewers and fizzled out after one season. But it has maintained a certain reputation, and this new edition of the complete run will be very welcome in some quarters. As for me – I’m not really sure. Because while entertaining enough, I can’t help thinking that the show is lacking real direction, with the style ranging from straight-faced, rather sombre drama to camp space opera.

Set in 2192, the pilot reveals that the surviving population had fled an uninhabitable Earth to live aboard orbiting space stations, where they live under the control of a vaguely totalitarian government (and whatever disaster had destroyed the earth seems to have only spared Americans, funnily enough). Life aboard the space stations has had a disastrous effect on some children borne there – the lack of an Earth-like environment causing a degenerative illness that kills the afflicted by the age of nine. Unsurprisingly, the parents of these children are keen to settle on an Earth-like planet 22 light years away, and led by Devon Adair (Deborah Farentino), a group of settlers escape the space station – despite efforts by government agents to sabotage their ship – and sit in suspended animation until they crash on the ‘wrong’ side of the planet. Survivors then head out to their planned landing site of New Pacifica – though how they know this will be any more hospitable is something that is rather fudged in explanation.

Along the way, the group encounter various alien races – the mysterious Terrians, the scavenging Grendlers – as well as other humans, as it is revealed that the planet was a former penal colony. Meanwhile, the authorities on the space stations are planning to use the group to seize control of the planet in order to resettle it – which rather begs the question of why they had tried to blow up the ship and sabotage the mission in the first place. Anyone would think the writers and producers were making it up as they went along.

The problem with Earth 2 is that the show doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be. On the one hand, we have Farentino being as intense as she can and tales of betrayal and mistrust, with the metaphysical Terrians coming across as half-baked versions of Ray Bradbury’s Martians from The Marian Chronicles; on the other, there is the sense that the show is little more than a revamped Lost in Space, complete with a scenery-chewing Tim Curry as a guest villain in early episodes. While plenty of shows have successfully balanced lightweight episodes with a descent into darkness very well – Buffy the Vampire Slayer being a prime example – Earth 2 doesn’t quite pull it off. If the show had continued, it’s likely that this balance might have become more convincing, but in this single season, it feels a little off. Of course, the show also fails to have a satisfactory conclusion. Not planned as a single season, there are inevitably story strands and events that are not tied up convincingly.

All that said, the show is pretty entertaining on its own level. While the characters are often difficult to connect with, it does its best to develop the whole of the rather large cast – to the extent of having different characters provide a voice-over on each episode. The aliens are effective animatronic characters and the developing story of the native Terrians and their psychic connection to their planet is an interesting one.

While I can’t honestly recommend this to new viewers, fans with fond memories of this from its initial run will be glad to see it back, and if you are into lost cult TV, then this is sure to be a welcome release.

DAVID FLINT

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