Season One

Episode Highlights

First Contact (2-Hour Premier)

11/06/94

Earth has become almost unlivable, and much of the population has moved to space stations orbiting the planet. But the sterile environment of the stations has caused the "Syndrome" a medical condition that affects most of the children, resulting in their deaths by the age of nine. A young billionaire woman named Devon Adaire, whose son Ulysses is afflicted with the Syndrome, has funded the "Eden Project," a plan to resettle 250 families with Syndrome children on an Earth-like planet. The hope is that living in a unpolluted, but open atmosphere, will help her son and the other children. However, Earth's government opposes the Eden Project and plot to sabotage it, even destroying the transport ship if necessary. After 22 years in suspended animation, the advance ship arrives at the planet and the crew begins preparations to land. (A larger vessel with the 250 families will be arriving about 26 months later.) However, something goes wrong and the advance ship plunges to its destruction in the planet's atmosphere. A small group survives in escape pods. On the planet, they encounter strange and apparently dangerous beings, including the Terrians, who can burrow through the ground. After the group's pilot, Alonzo Solace begins to have dreams in which the Terrians attempt to communicate with him, Devon has herself sedated so that she can try to communicate with the Terrians. Eventually, they take Uly (Ulysses) underground and cure him of the Syndrome.

The Man Who Fell to Earth (Two)

11/13/94

(Day 3) Gaal, a man who mysteriously appears in the colonists' camp, identifies himself as an astronaut from an exploratory ship that crashed on the planet many years before. He tells them that he can communicate with the Grendlers, another lifeform native to the planet, who are scavengers. He warns them to be careful of the Terrians. Later, Commander O'Neil, the advance ship's captain, who was apparently killed by a poisonous creature shortly after they arrived on the planet, suddenly shows up at the camp alive and well. Apparently, the poison does not kill, but puts the victim in a deep, but temporary coma. O'Neil finds a cavern containing equipment and supplies that have been disappearing from the camp, along with human remains. He confronts Gaal, who admits that he is one of 20 prisoners exiled to the planet and then kills O'Neil. Gaal tells the colonists that the Terrians killed O'Neil.

Life Lessons

11/20/94

(Day 14) True, the young daughter of John Danzinger, the group's engineer, becomes angry about having to follow the rules set down by Devon and her father, and goes off to sulk. Gaal goes to her and befriends her, convincing her to do things for him that, in reality, are causing problems for the colonists. Meanwhile, the colonists learn about Gaal's true identity and a confrontation ensues, during which Danzinger chases Gaal away at gunpoint.

Promises, Promises

11/27/94

(Day ?) Uly suddenly contracts the Syndrome again, while Alonzo has more dream- like communications with the Terrians. Apparently, the Terrians are in some danger, and have made Uly ill again to attract the attention of the humans because they need help. Unknown to the colonists, Gaal is capturing and enslaving the Terrians with shock collars, and plans to destroy the colonists. True, convinced that the Terrians are hurting Uly for evil purposes, calls Gaal with a special whistle he had given her; but later, when she sees Gaal mistreating the Terrians, she turns on him and helps the colonists and the Terrians defeat him. The Terrians take him underground to justice.

A Memory Play

12/04/94

(Day 21) The colonists discover a grave marked with the jacket of an Eden Project crew member and realize that there must have been other survivors in another escape pod. Meanwhile, tensions among the colonists increase, as evidence begins to show up suggesting that the crash of the advance ship was not an accident. When Danzinger finds the other escape pod, he discovers that the other survivors have contracted a disease that is affecting their brains and most have already died. Danzinger also contracts the disease, and while they await medical help from the colonists' medical officer, Dr. Julia Heller, Danzinger learns that one of his counterparts had sabotaged the ship. Meanwhile, back at the camp, Julia discovers that saliva from the Grendlers will kill the virus and sets out to formulate the necessary antidote. Later, upon conducting an autopsy of the dead crewmates, it is discovered that the saboteur had a brain implant that allowed her to be controlled by someone in the Earth government.

Natural Born Grendlers

05/28/95 [See Note]

(Day 28) When food becomes scarce for the colonists, Bess Martin begins bartering with a Grendler who lives in a nearby cave. Although the Grendler can not supply very much in the way of food, it does have in its cave a large cache of equipment that it took from one of the colonists' cargo pods, and Bess uses her talents at trade to get some equipment back from the Grendler. Meanwhile, Alonzo is troubled by more dreams involving the Terrians, but when his depression over his helplessness with a broken leg lead him to try to commit suicide, a Terrian stops the attempt.

[NOTE: Although "Natural Born Grendler" did not air until after the first season finale, chronologically the story takes place about four weeks after the colonists crashed on the alien planet.]

Water

12/11/94

(Day ?) Julia uses a virtual reality communicator to talk to an Earth government contact who is apparently in another part of the planet. He claims that although the government wants the planet colonized, they want it done on their terms, not Devon Adaire's. Julia reluctantly agrees to continue giving him reports of the colonists' progress. Meanwhile, the Grendlers dump the colonists' only water supply, making it necessary for Devon and Danzinger to go in search of a natural water supply. After they face several dangers, including a lake of pure acid, the Terrians give them a helping hand in their search.

The Church of Morgan

12/18/94

(Day 38) Bess Martin asks Yale, a former convict who has a brain implant, to access his database for information on Catholicism because she wants to go to confession for having lustful thoughts about one of the men in the group. Yale tells her that he is not a priest, but suggests that she speak to her husband, Morgan, about her feelings. As the couple tries to deal with their feelings towards each other, Alonzo approaches Julia and tries to get her to acknowledge feelings for him, which he believes she has. In the meantime, Julia informs her Earth government contact that Uly is beginning to exhibit Terrian characteristics. The contact orders her to start a line of experimentation that will allow them to defeat not only the human colonists, but also the Terrians, leaving the planet open for the government's own colonization.

The Enemy Within

01/08/95

(Day 49) Julia's contact again pressures her to continue her experiments on Uly regarding his symbiosis with the Terrians. However, after some initial tests, she instead injects herself with Terrian DNA. (During their communications, it is revealed that Julia's mother was a member of the Earth Council.) The Terrian DNA almost immediately begins to affect Julia, whose behavior becomes more and more irrational. During one of her virtual reality communications with her government contact, she is found out by True, who reports back to her father. At first, no one believes True's story, but when Yale taps into Julia's computer files, the truth is revealed. The next morning, Julia awakens to find herself completely alone. The other colonists have moved on during the night leaving her behind.

Redemption

01/22/95

(Day 51) Several days away from where they left Julia, the colonists begin to have second thoughts about what they have done. Alonzo goes off to get her and bring her back to camp. Meanwhile, Danzinger takes the all terrain vehicle to scout ahead. Soon after Alonzo and Julia return, Yale is shot in the shoulder with a projectile that worms through his body. Upon removing it, and contacting Reilly (her Council contact), they learn that a bio-engineered human/killing machine was responsible for shooting Yale and that the bullet will explode 1 hour after being fired. As the group try to hunt down the Z.E.D. (as the cyborg is called), it also shoots Danzinger and begins to torture him for information about how much he knows about the Terrians. Eventually, Julia risks her life to save Danzinger and destroy the Z.E.D., winning the colonists' acceptance of letting her rejoin the group. Meanwhile, they also learn that Reilly is in orbit of the planet, trying to find their location so he can kidnap Ulysses, who is the key to controlling the Terrians.

Moon Cross

02/05/95

(Day 61) As winter approaches and the colonists search for a place to camp until warmer weather, Ulysses mysteriously guides them to a domed shelter. Once there, the spirit of a woman haunt the dome and Alonzo has dream contacts with the Terrians. It is an important time of year for the Terrians when, at the crossing of the planets two moons, those who are ready are allowed to return to the ground in peaceful, eternal sleep. However, a band of outcast Terrians are prevented from the larger group to participate in the ritual. Meanwhile, a young woman named Mary, who lives with the Terrians, is befriended by Alonzo and brought to the camp, where it is learned that the outcasts had killed her parents many years earlier and she was adopted by the Terrians. Under a mysterious spell, Ulysses intercedes on behalf of the outcasts and persuades the Terrians to let them participate in the Moon Cross ritual so they can have eternal rest. Once this is done, the colonists realize that Ulysses has become an emissary between the humans and Terrians.

Better Living Through Morganite (Part 1)

02/19/95

(Day 66) When lightening strikes an area not far from the camp and starts an earthquake, the colonists go to investigate and find a cave containing a mineral that can be used as a source of energy. Morgan soon gets the idea of staking a claim on the supply of "Morganite," almost killing all of the colonists in the process. Meanwhile, Yale begins to experience dreams and memories of his criminal past, and all of the colonists except Devon begin to fear that the cyborg implants are beginning to fail, meaning that he will revert to that past personality.

Better Living Through Morganite (Part 2)

02/26/95

(Day 68) As the Terrians threaten to kill the human who caused the destruction of their "sunstones," Mary (see Moon Cross) intercedes on behalf of Yale who, wanting to die so as not to be a danger to the colonists, tells her that he was the reponsible party. However, when he comes in contact with a sunstone and has a full flashback to his past, he realizes that we was wrongfully accused of massacring a group of scientists and no longer wants to die. Meanwhile, at great physical pain to himself, Morgan manages to unlock the geolock that he had activated to protect his claim to the "Morganite," reactiving the sunstones that were affected by the geolock and restoring the trust of the Terrians in the peaceful intentions of the human colonists.

Grendlers in the Myst

03/05/95

(Day 72) When they track a Grendler to its lair, Danzinger and the other men find a cache of winter clothes, which they take back to camp. Soon after, the colonists begin to dream about a woman, who they associate as their mother, and begin picking up broadcast messages from the same woman to someone named Whalen. As they investigate, they are tracked by a man wearing a bronze mask. Eventually they learn the story of the three tragic figures: Whalen and the woman, Dell, were a husband and wife who faced off many years earlier and killed each other, leaving a son who survived only through the aid of the Grendlers. The man with the bronze mask is that son.

The Greatest Love Story Never Told

03/12/95

(Day ?) When Danzinger is injured while scouting ahead of the colonists, he is taken to a cave where a group of humans, who apparently have a symbiotic relationship with the Terrians, live. In a dream, Alonzo learns of Danzinger's location and is told that Devon must go alone to recover him. When she arrives at the cave, Devon learns that the leader of the cave dwellers is a man named Sheppard who, with the help of the Terrians, had appeared in Devon's dreams when she was in the Earth- orbiting space station and had beckoned her to this planet. A relationship begins to develop between the two, and Sheppard agrees to go with the colonists, leaving an elder member of the group in charge. But the man's evil sister, who had aged dramatically when her cryosleep chamber malfunctioned enroute to the planet, kills him rather than see him leave her. Later than night, Sheppard again appears to Devon in her dreams.

Brave New Pacifica

03/26/95

(Day ?) When two Grendlers show up at the colonists' camp with blood and other supplies from the supply pods that are awaiting them at New Pacifica, Danzinger and Alonzo set out to scout ahead, believing that they must be closer to New Pacifica than originally thought. But Devon and Julia find a cave, used by the Grendlers, which contains some kind of natural transport portal. A Grendler first abducts Julia and takes her through the portal to its cave, where it demands that she supply it with more blood. Meanwhile, Devon, Danzinger, and Alonzo follow through the portal to try to find and rescue Julia. They find themselves on a continental shore and believe they have reached the vicinity of New Pacifica, but they later realize that they are actually on the opposite continental coast from New Pacifica -- 6,000 km in the wrong direction. After they find Julia and try to return, the portal stops functioning and spiders that have been biting both the Grendlers and several of the colonists hold the key to reactivating the portal.

After the Thaw

04/02/95

(Day 109) It is winter and food is scarce to come by. While foraging through the forest, Julia stumbles on the frozen remains of a 300,000 year old Terrian and has it taken back to camp for analysis. During the night, neural energy that was previously present in the Terrian body disappears and soon after, strange things begin to happen in the camp. The next day, the colonists find much of Julia's equipment destroyed and the mutilated body of a Grendler just outside the camp. Returning to the cave-dwelling humans they found a few weeks earlier, Devon learns that the prehistoric Terrian was the embodiment of all of the evil emotions of the now pacifist Terrians. This evil has escaped the prehistoric Terrian's remains and now inhabits the body of one of the colonist -- but which one? Alonzo holds the key to identifying and defeating the evil creature among them.

The Boy Who Would Be Terrian King

04/23/95

(Day ?) On Ulysses's 9th birthday, his future self from 16 years ahead appears to Devon in her dreams to get her and young Ulysses to help him save the Terrians from persecution and extinction at the hands of expansionist colonists; but a tribe of Terrians (in the present) who do not want contact with humans pose a threat to both young Ulysses and Devon.

Survival of the Fittest

04/23/95

(Day 117) While searching for one of the cargo pods ejected from their crashing ship, Danzinger, Julia, Alonzo, and Morgan run out of food and water and, after an accident in their "rail" vehicle, are stranded in the desert. After they are rescued by another group from camp, they are haunted by their dreams and a nearby Grendler, which remind them of what they had to do in the desert in order to survive.

Flower Child

05/14/95

(Day 130) Scouting for food, Danzinger and Bess come across some flowers that spray them with a powder. Later that evening, both begin experiencing severe pain and Julia tries to treat them. Danzinger lets Julia pump the powder from his lungs, but Bess refuses. Next day, she wanders off towards the north, obsessed with taking the entity within her to a specific location. Although Julia and Morgan catch up with her and try to stop her, she eventually arrives at a deep crevice in the earth. Realizing she will jump, they manage to tie her legs so that she just hangs over the edge. When the powder leaves her body, the crevice explodes in a spray of color and warmth -- Bess has given birth to spring!

All About Eve

05/21/95

(Day ?) While engaging in a virtual reality program, a strange man appears to Morgan and directs him to take the colonists to a certain nearby location. Morgan program's the colonist's vehicle to stop at the desired location and, when they arrive, they find the wreckage of a 50-year old Earth sleeper ship. Inside, Morgan activates the mechanism to awaken the still-alive occupants of the craft, but only two survive -- a man and a woman who were scientists working for the Earth government. The survivors are able to diagnose an ailment that is killing the colonists as the result of the malfunction of neural implants that the Earth government placed in the colonists without their knowledge. The scientists also disclose that a powerful Earth government computer, named "Eve," is in orbit around the planet and has been monitoring the colonists' activities through the implants. With the aid of the two scientists, the colonists determine that by establishing an interface between "Eve" and Yale, the cyborg who is a member of their group, they can correct errors in "Eve's" program. Before the scientists die from the effects of their long cryogenic sleep, they warn the colonists that they will all die because the planet will reject them. Later, after the other colonists have regained their health Devon callapses from an unknown ailment that is related to the planet's rejection of the humans. The colonists place her in a cryogenic chamber in the wrecked craft, with the hope that Uly's symbiosis with the Terrians will someday provide a cure for Devon.