This is an essay to combat the unfair complaints against Earth: Final Conflict—a good and intelligent show despite mishandling and a very bad reputation. I enjoy it very much, and decided to do research to refute the claims that Star Trek was in no way similar to Earth: Final Conflict. I like to think I've been successful...

I wrote this in the middle of S3 — a few parts are no longer relevent, but I hope nonetheless my point remains.

The first and most famous of all serious science fiction shows was Star Trek, the "brainchild" of Gene Roddenberry. Nearly thirty years later another TV show was created from old notes and scripts of Gene Roddenberry's, Earth: Final Conflict.

The two shows, aside from their source, have an almost uncanny link between them and what happens to them.

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Star Trek had a bumpy ride from the beginning, as a controversial little cult show with a following of high-IQ fans who wrote fanfic and discussed the nuances of the show. EFC has a similar following, though more conflicted.

Ratings: Star Trek's ratings were on the slip throughout the third season, the origin of which nearly killed the show before the third season had even begun; while after EFC's controversial (and often unforgiven by the fans) second season, the ratings noticeably suffered.

Episode Quality: Quality is definitely a point when it comes to these two shows. EFC's quality has always suffered the ups and downs of the average science fiction show. Star Trek's wobbling was slightly worse, in that the third season showed a sudden decline in quality, producing the abysmal, "Spock's Brain," "All Our Yesterdays," "Cloudminders," and so on.

Considered particularly bad among EFC's worst are "Pad'ar," "Scorpion's Dream," and "Between Heaven and Hell", and so on. EFC's worst episodes have, thankfully, never gone down to the level of Trek's worst.

Character Treatment: Many of the supporting cast of Trek felt that their characters were badly represented, particularly Walter Koenig and Nichelle Nichols. Ms. Nichols was irritated by the treatment of her character, Uhura, who often had one uninteresting line and little else.

Mr. Koenig disliked the treatment of his character, Chekov, who underwent rapid personality swings. Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock, was also angered by the odd reversals of personality that his character underwent. It was said that the writers and producers didn't seem to care.

There has often been dissatisfaction with the characters on EFC, because of seeming personality swings from episode to episode, particularly Augur, Da'an, and Renee Palmer.

Uncaring TPTB: Though the producers of EFC seem to be more clueless than openly avaricious, there are marked similarities.

Star Trek's TPTB repeatedly attempted to sink the show, discouraging Mr. Roddenberry himself. Determined fans kept ST afloat for a time, but fans were drifting from the show (possibly discouraged by some of the worser episodes) and it was assigned to bad timeslots. They had little respect for this odd little space show.

EFC has even worse timeslots, while the TPTB often make unpopular decisions. Fan feedback often takes a long time to register with them, sometimes as much as a year. They appear to be trying, though often the attempt to satisfy goes too far. Sadly their latest attempts have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that often they do not bother to listen at all.

Budget: Star Trek's budget was repeatedly slashed to below average budget, requiring them to cut back on cast money and set money.

EFC's budget difficulties have shown in sometimes-unconvincing special effects shots, a lack of guest stars, particularly in the Resistance, and severe cutbacks on the airtime of some regulars. This has met with a great deal of indignation, which is currently being written about.

Fans: I doubt that all fans followed blindly in the 60s—undoubtedly there were some who left the fandom in disgust. But both had/have a small, usually loyal core audience who does not hesitate to announce what we wish to see on the show.

Also, there is a great deal of fanfiction (once published in fanzines, now largely a product of the Internet) which places the characters in situations that the fans would enjoy seeing them in, or chronicling the inner feelings as the author sees them.

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The difference between these two shows? 30 years. Earth: Final Conflict is a current show, while Star Trek ended nearly thirty-five years ago.

Star Trek was kept alive in the hearts and minds of the loyal fans, who caught reruns whenever they could and continued the stories of their favorite characters. Even now, because of their devotion to the show that captured their imaginations, the original Star Trek is a classic, with three successful spinoffs and several movies.

EFC, still raw and controversial, has had none of the time-polish that ST has had, despite similar quality and rough spots. EFC's future has still to be pieced together, but it is possible that someday, it may reach the ranks of such classic SF as ST.