Earth 2

What is Earth 2?

Earth 2 was an Emmy award winning television series first broadcast on NBC in 1994 and cancelled after only one season of 21 episodes. Originally produced by Michael Duggan, Carol Flint and Mark Levin for Universal Studios and Amblin Entertainment, it was one of the first, if not the first Science Fiction TV series with an actual plot, with repercussions for a characters ections in the following episodes.The characters were well fleshed out, and the series had a certain mystique about it. It was new, fresh and I was very disappointed when it was cancelled. Hey, it even had Tim Curry

Premise:

The series is set about 200 years in the future, a time in which mankind has polluted Earth to a point where is nearly uninhabitable, with most humans having evacuated into space to live space stations, sterile and artificial habitats for the last of humanity. In fact, being so sterile, newborn children developed new illnesses that could spell the end of mankind after all, if they cannot find a new natural environment.

And so a colony ship carrying 250 families is sent to the earthlike planet G889 to set up a colony at a site called New Pacifica. But a group within the government has different plans and when unable to stop the mission, sabotaged the advance ship, causing it to break up in the orbit of G889. Half the crew manages to evacuate, but is now stranded far away from the original landing site where most supplies were dropped. And with the main ship arriving in two years timne, the team must pull together and find a way to get to New Pacifica in time to set up the colony. And that is only their least bit of trouble as the planet is not as uninhabited as they thought...

The survivors:

Devon Adair:
Growing up priviledged in a wealthy household, and head of her own megacorporation, Devon gave all that up to organize, fund and then lead this expedition in the hope of finding a cure for her sick son.

Ulysses Adair:
Son of Devon Adair, and born with The Syndrome, a disease caused by the lack of a natural environment. He is a bright and curious boy, who shows maturity beyond his age.

Yale:
Yale is a human who was turned into a cyborg in the Yale Program designed for criminal rehabilitation. Criminals in the program had their minds erased and replaced with a computer-like memory and an encyclopedia of knowledge. They also had his left arm replaced with a cyborg arm capable of creating holograms and were then used as tutors to the children of wealthy families. Yale was the personal tutor of Devon Adair. He doesn't even remember his name, nor what he did to incur this punishment. But sometimes there are flashes of memory...

John Danziger:
John Danziger grew up in space as a worker drone, paying off the debts his grandparents incurred in order to be lifted off the earths surface. Determined to pay off his debts to ensure freedom for his daughter, he takes on high-danger, high-pay assignments such as this mission. He is very pragmatic thinker, making him and Devon a perfect leadership team, if only they would listen to the other.

True Danziger: John's daughter came with him on this mission as not to be left behind for 44 years. Still a little girl, exhibiting a childlike wonder at the new world, she is nevertheless very technically apt for her age, able to fix things others would consider beyond repair.

Morgan Martin: Not directly involved in the Eden project Morgen and his wife Bess came on this mission as the Government Liaison. Used to the comforts on the stations, he absolutely hates being stranded on this planet, entering VR whenever there is an opportunity. He is extremely self-serving, thinking only about his own welfare, and doesn't work well in teams.

Bess Martin:
The only crew-member to be born and raised on Earth, Bess adapts to life on the new planet the fastest. Wanting to be a part of the team, she usually helps her husband around his own nature.

Julia Heller:
The only doctor in the mission, but without most of her equipment, she improvises to keep the group alive. But she is also in contact with the very group of people who sabotaged the mission in the first place.

Alonzo Solace:
Alonzo was the pilot of the starship that brought the crew to the new world, and was never supposed to land himself. Breaking his leg in the crash, and feeling responsible for not being able to prevent it, he becomes desolate and suicidal. But he also is the only member of the crew able to communicate with the terrians on the dream plane, and slowly finds a new role in life.

The Aliens:

Terrians:
A sentient race of humanoids living underground. The are able to communicate with the planet itself through the dream plane, though which they can also communcate with Alonzo Solace. They are pacificsts at heart, trying to cause no harm, but also never forget harm done unto them, as the Martins once almost found out.

Grendlers:
Intelligent creatures, but not linked to the planet. Their saliva is a great antidote against all kinds of illnesses. They love new things and are likely to trade with the cast-aways. Oh yes, and they react to human blood the same way humans react to drugs and alcohol...

Kobas:
Appearing even less intelligent, but with a great ability at mimicry, they are friendly unless provoked in which case they defend themselves by shooting their fingernails which induce a death-like coma for a few days.

earth 2

I'm looking at the cover of this album. I like it. At first glance, it seems pretty simple: thick, solid blue takes up the bottom three quarters, with a white bar taking up the rest. "Earth 2" in giant black letters is printed across the white field, with "Special Low-Frequency Version" beneath it. (As far as I know, both the reissue and the original pressing were Special Low-Frequency Versions. There was a Special Low-Quantity Version handed out at early shows, but that was never made widely available, obviously.) White, black, and blue; pure unassuming colours. No message except the title, and all that imparts is that this is Earth's second album (after Extra-Capsular Extraction, an EP from 1991).

Upon more than just a passing glance, one notices a green strip along the bottom. Looking closely, it becomes clear that there are small animals near the bottom, along this green line, which turns out to be grass. Suddenly the album cover takes on a whole new form. The blue block that covers most of it is not a simple blue block, but sky, a thousand feet of it, and far below are minuscule animals living their lives on a grassy plain. They are blissfully unaware of the unbelievable amount of sky and its incredible mass that is constantly pressing down on them.

This is an accurate portrayal of the music contained within. Take a heavy metal song. Take out the drums, and the vocals. If there was a keyboard, take that out too. Leave the guitars and bass. Now slow it down. Slower. SLOWER. Now, LOWER. I don't want this chord progression to take four seconds, I want it to take four minutes. Find the right position in front of the amp to get a feedback loop going. Good, that's right, get that sound to come out of the amp and back in through the guitar, down the cord and out of the amp again. Around and around. Now turn it up until I begin to question the structural capabilities of my skull in extremely low frequencies and high volume. Earth 2.

The sound of Earth 2 is so massive, it fills my mind with progressively heavier presences. Rhinoceros, elephant. Pyramid, glacier, mountain range. Tectonic plate. The Moon. The Earth. The celestial bodies are so beautiful in their contradiction. Such a mind-cracking weight, and hanging in empty space like that, gliding around on an oval track. The rumbling overtakes the music eventually. By the third song on the album, most of the traces of conventional music have fallen away, leaving a jeweled core of freeform noise. The amplifier is suffering tremendous labour, having this sound forced through it, a sound far more monumental than it was designed to cope with. It is a conduit for something far greater than itself.

Tracklist:
1. Seven Angels (15:35)
2. Teeth Of Lions Rule The Divine (27:05)
3. Like Gold And Faceted (30:21)

Earth 2 is important; it was one of the first drone doom albums. The remarkable thing is how totally Earth embraced the genre. While Melvins' Lysol incorporated drone doom in 1992, only Earth was daring enough at that time to make a 73 minute album exploring the concept. This is a piece of music that tests limits. It may take multiple listens to appreciate, and still more to willingly reach the end. Still, it inspired the very existence of SUNN 0))) and Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine. With the exception of the inimitable SUNN 0)))/Boris collaboration Altar, there is no other album that comes closer to being drone doom incarnate.

Earth 2 - Earth - 1993 - Sub Pop