By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Back in the 90s, we didn’t know how good we had it. Not one, but three separate Star Trek series were airing, The X-Files was redefining sci-fi, and networks experimented with original shows like Space: Above and Beyond, Dark Skies, and SeaQuest DSV. One of the other one-season wonders was a bold experiment from NBC, Earth-2, that wasn’t ahead of its time thanks to the plot about colonizing a distant, Earth-like planet. It was ahead of its time because it was the first sci-fi series with a woman as the Captain.
Earth-2 Beat Voyager By Two Months
You’re likely thinking that Star Trek: Voyager was the first to have a female Captain thanks to Kate Mulgrew’s historic portrayal as Captain Janeway. Voyager premiered January 16, 1995, while Earth-2 debuted on November 6, 1994, beating Voyager by two months. Debrah Farentino broke the barrier as Devon Adair, but it’s Voyager that received all the credit.
Devon Adair was an incredibly wealthy woman who wanted to help her son, Ulysses Adair, survive despite his crippling disease known as “the syndrome.” To the government of Earth, Adair was not a waste of resources. That meant Devon had to look to the stars, and the planet G889, as part of the Eden Project. With her son and a ship full of colonists, Devon set out to overcome the alien landscape, native life, and a government conspiracy involving The Council and the influential Church of Morgan, to carve out a new life for everyone.
The most notable of the colonists is John Danzinger, a former servant, now the self-styled protector of the group, played by the one and only Clancy Brown. John’s daughter, True, bonds with Ulysses, forming the core of the Earth-2 crew. Lost’s Terry O’Quinn, Virginia Madsen, and Tim Curry pop in as recurring characters, with Curry, naturally, stealing every single scene he’s in as the villainous Gaal.
NBC Sabotaged Their Own Hit
Earth-2 manages to develop a mystery around G889 that, oddly for a 90s sci-fi show, gets solved within the first 10 episodes. That was also the show’s high-water mark of viewership. The initial strong ratings started to fade as the series, which made a point of marking how many days it had been since the ship landed on G889, started airing episodes out of order. Whenever a network does that, it confuses the viewers and soon, they stop tuning in.
It didn’t help that Star Trek: Voyager was part of a long-running franchise with the cool concept of a Federation ship stuck across the galaxy in uncharted space. Earth-2 was focused on G889. It was also airing opposite Space: Above and Beyond, a fantastic military sci-fi series that focused on war and dogfighting. Compared to exploration and space battles, surviving on an alien world seems to be a lot less exciting.
Which is a shame, as Earth-2 is one of the best sci-fi shows about colonization. It’s unavailable to stream anywhere at the moment, not even on Tubi or Peacock. One of Clancy Brown’s best performances, and a series that broke new ground for network sci-fi, is in danger of becoming lost media.
