Introduction

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This graphic was originally at the top of the offical Earth2 homepage published by MCA/Universal. They removed the Earth2 pages when NBC canceled the series.
Earth2 is a 22-segment science fiction series co-produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment & Universal Television. The series executive producers are Mark Levin ("The Wonder Years"), Carol Flint ("China Beach") and Michael Duggan, ("Law & Order") none of whom have previous science fiction credits. NBC scheduled Earth2 to play opposite CBS's ratings star, "60 Minutes" and just before "SeaQuest DSV," another Spielberg science fiction production for NBC. It premiered on November 6, 1994, with the two-hour "First Contact." By close of the season in June, 1995, the program had been preempted eleven times. Earth2; does not fit the mold for science fiction adventures, the series is shot in the open vistas of northern New Mexico and is short on special effects. It features strong leadership roles for four females and spiritual or nurturing attributes for some of the male characters.

Considering Spielberg's involvement it is not surprising that Earth2 would have a mythic base similar to "ET" but on Earth2 it is we who are the aliens. Set 200 years in the future when the depleted Earth(1) is mostly uninhabitable, this series turns us back on ourselves to reconsider our relationship to our own planet, indigenous peoples and other species. While post-colonial and frontier metaphors abound, it is the metaphysical themes and the unique semi-sentient planet that set this program apart from other science fiction and adventure series. I will argue that the series uses archetypal figures and mythic themes to promote ideas of connectedness and wholeness as found in popular conceptions of the scientific theory known as the Gaia hypothesis.


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Earth 2: A Gaian Hypothesis homepage