Most conspicuously featured is the symbiotic relationship of the Terrians to
their home planet, which is first made explicit in episode eight wherein
Reilly, the agent of the nefarious Council, explains that they must control the
Terrians if they are to gain the planet for their own uses. "The very planet
would die without them" he admits.[1]
In the episode "Water," we learn that what appears to be a fresh-water lake is
some sort of acid that the Terrians dip their lightening shafts into for
recharging. They use the acid in turn to recharge the planet. The episode "Moon
Cross" deals, in part, with the yearly ritual the Terrians perform when their
two moons are in conjunction. In this ritual they
return
to the earth -- a kind
of dying that they consider "heaven." But it is in the two-part episode "Better
Living Through Morganite" that features the symbiotic nature of the planet and
the Terrians most prominently.
The colonists discover some glowing rocks that store and release energy.
They hope they can be used as an energy source and ask Julia, who also serves
as their resident scientist, to analyze the rocks further. As they explore the
underground caves where they found the rocks, Danziger and Bess witness the
Terrians as they perform a ritual with their lightening staffs that results in
an earthquake followed by the appearance of more "sunstones." When they tell the group what they saw, Julia reports that her analysis indicates that the
rocks resemble the Terrians and perhaps the planet and the Terrians are one
species. She speculates that the veins of rock may be "nerves, or circulation
or intelligence -- it could be their communication network."
[2]
Morgan and Bess Martin have acquired a device called a Geo-Lock
which is used to make mining claims by petrifying user-specified sections land.
Morgan has figured out the code that allows him to turn the geo-lock on, but
hasn't bothered to decode the release key. In greedy haste to lay claim to the
sunstones before anyone else can, he turns it on anyway so that it freezes an
area one kilometer in diameter. Morgan's rash action sets off a crisis. The
geo-lock has not only killed one of the Terrians, but has frozen what Julia
says is a vital part of the living planet. The Terrians take hostages who they
intend to kill in response if the geo-lock isn't released by the next day.
Morgan is doing his best to crack the code but time is running out as Devon and
Bess watch. Julia breaks in on communication gear to say that she thinks the
sunstones can help release the geo-lock.
Julia: I've started communicating through the sunstones but not because I've
learned their language. They've learned mine.
Devon: How do you know that?
Julia: I was trying to signal some basic syntax. Just, you know, rudimentary
English and they sent back a language more complex than I've ever seen
before.
Devon: So what are you thinking?
Julia: I'm thinking that the Terrians are so furious, not because we froze some
extraneous nerve endings of the planet but because we froze a significant
portion of its cerebral cortex.
Devon: Well then how can it help us?
Julia: Well it's impaired but it's still powerful It figured out the binary language of my scanner in minutes. I'm wondering how long it would take to crack the geo-lock.
Devon: Julia, if there's any chance at all then do it. And hurry.
[3]
Well, the plan works, the geo-lock is released, the kilometer of dead land and
the Terrian who was frozen come to life. Another crisis is solved in time for
the commercial and we have established with certainty that planet G889,
Earth2, is sentient. This episode is one of many in which the symbiotic
relationship of the Terrians to their planet is illustrated. But there are
hints along the way that the invaders from Earth have choices to make about
entering into their own symbiotic relationship with the planet or be expelled.
This too fits with popular interpretations of Lovelock's scientific theory:
[W]e have to live with the Earth in partnership, otherwise the rest of creation
will, as part of Gaia, unconsciously move Earth itself to a new state, one
where we humans may be no longer welcome.[4]
In the season finale, "All About Eve," the colonists discover people in a
cryogenic state on an Earth ship that landed some thirty years ago. Two of
them, scientists who temporarily survive resuscitation, warn the new arrivals:
"You have no chance here. We discovered the truth about this planet. You can't
live here. The planet will reject you." Devon, in the final scene says, in
narration: "Our only hope may be my son and his special link to this world."
She adds: "I'm scared that I will be the first of our kind to prove that we
cannot live here" just before collapsing from a "total systems failure" in the
episode that was meant to be the cliff-hanger season finale[*].
