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Sunday, November 6, 1994
The Calgary HeraldEarth 2 needs boost into smoother orbit
By Kinney Littlefield
Stereotypical plot, characters fill space drama
EARTH 2, airs today at 7 p.m. on Ch. 7-7-2 and at 8 p.m. on Ch. 3.
Trudge on, space travellers. In the limited world of prime-time science-fiction series, there are more hospitable planets than NBC's uneven Earth 2.
Set 200 years in the future, after Earth has become uninhabitable, Earth 2 follows Devon Adair (capable Debrah Farentino) and her fellow space colonists as they flee their orbiting space station in search of a new beginning on an Earth-like planet.
Devon's son Ulysses (Joey Zimmerman) has developed a sort of lethal allergy to the space station's sterile environment, so this interstellar quest is all the more urgent.
While we're in orbit, Earth 2 shows plenty of arresting, suspenseful moves. But once we crash land on terra infirma, it's hard to tell where we are, psychologically or narratively.
Presumably, Earth 2 intends to bring us a parable of new beginnings and new environmental consciousness -- hey, real air, let's treat it right -- in its 21 coming episodes.
Right now, though, Earth 2's executive producers, Michael Duggan (Law & Order), Carol Flint (China Beach), and Mark Levin (The Wonder Years), can't seem to settle on a look or mood, mixing the New Mexico landscape where Earth 2 is filmed with X-Files-style slimy amphibian creatures, Gremlins-style mini-monsters and clunky Road Warrior retro-mobiles.
And group leader Devon's cohorts -- especially the selfish, cowardly government flack Morgan (John Gegenhuber) and Ulysses' kindly cyborg tutor-mentor, Yale (Sullivan Walker, the only nonwhite actor on the show) -- are stereotypically drawn.
With Farentino's character, television again has a chance to give us a woman in a strong leading role. But what we see of her is too emotionally pliant and deferential. And as Devon and her bickering humans trek across Earth 2's desert in search of a new home, you can't help but feel a little nervous. Please, NBC, not another endless, simplistic, moralistic TV march a la Stephen King's The Stand.
Still, anything can happen on such journeys, especially when the cosmos is the limit.
Given Farentino's intelligence and the creative talent involved here, Earth 2 just may spin into a smoother orbit with time.