ORBzine - Codename: Eternity May 2000

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 1] Ethaniel's Story
shown Second Week, May 2000
shown 21st October 2001 [Saturday]

In a forest in the USA, a UFO is shot down by a SWAT team. They move in and bag and tag the survivors - one is the show's token star Olivier Gruner (the French martial-arts star from Nemesis ). One of the survivors fights his way through the SWATs (bare-handed!) and is found by locals, who take him to hospital.

In hospital he meets a psychologist named Laura (the show's babe - Ingrid Kavelaars ), who tries to help him get his memory back. His amnesia disappears when the villains arrive - he and the babe go on the run from them.

The plot is simple - the survivor and his three companions were alien soldiers sent to neutralise the show's major villain, an alien master-criminal posing as a human being.

As ever, the villains have english accents! One, Mr Dent, is a robot with a holographic exterior - a cross between T1000 ( Terminator 2 ) and Agent Smith ( The Matrix ).

Another SF standard cliche is the use of a PSI-powered operative (a CIA remote viewer in this case).

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 2] The Mission
shown Third Week, May 2000
shown 28th October 2001 [Saturday]

The pre-credits sequence summarises Ethaniel's arrival on Earth in the first episode. Now, he and the babe-shrink Laura ( Ingrid Kavelaars ) are under arrest for murder. The babe's records have been destroyed - her credit cards and even her driving licence have been annulled - she is a non-person. Even worse, Mr Dent is back, repaired after the previous episode.

The arch-villain has Ethaniel's ship, and wants to read the computer's memory so he can discover how much his enemies know. He also wants Ethaniel captured; Ethaniel's conversion to human form was more permanent, and the villain needs to duplicate. Mr Dent is taken aback to discover that his creator is less than perfect.

We find out Ethaniel's mission - to find his brother and to stop the villain. We also find the villain's goal - to un-terraform Earth so the aliens can inhabit it.

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 3] The Hunter
shown Fourth Week, May 2000
shown 3rd November 2001 [Saturday]

Ethaniel and Laura ( Ingrid Kavelaars ) are still based on their giant motor-yacht. In an interesting development, Ethaniel observes his doc-babe in the shower. The duo get a new lone gunmen type sidekick, played by the youngest of the Baldwin brothers. This week the villains are constructing a giant planet-wide spy satellite system that can detect and locate Ethaniel's brother for them - or for Ethaniel, if he is fast enough ... Mr Dent is replaced as major villain by a beardy guy with a leather coat.

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 4] The Long Drop
shown First Week, June 2000
shown 10th November 2001 [Saturday]

A hi-tech company's stock is artificially dropped so that Banning can buy the company ultra-cheap. Ethaniel's brother tells the CEO the truth - but Dent kills the CEO before he can do anything. Ethaniel and the lady doc, Laura ( Ingrid Kavelaars ), investigate - Dent frames them for murder.

Dent gets short-circuited by a lampstand, which makes him more or less a walkover for the heroes the next time they meet him, since they now know his weakness. The climax takes place in a helicopter over Niagra Falls.

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 5] The Watery Grave
shown 17th November 2001 [Saturday]

Banning has assigned Mr Dent to assist another Theran (Nigel Bennet - Lexx ) in the theft of a strange megalith known as the Stone of Sorrow. It contains a substance that they can use to de-terraform Earth.

Ethaniel and Laura ( Ingrid Kavelaars ) take the nerdy guy along with them on their investigations. They get captured, and spend most of the episode trying to escape.

Bennet's character, unlike most he plays, has a certain amount of depth. He wants to help his species by changing Earth's biosphere, but he admires the genius of the human species and does not want to render them extinct.

Mr Dent manages to disobey Bennet's direct orders. Also, here Dent's limbs appear to be solid - not the interlocking snooker balls system shown in later episodes.

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 6] Never Go Home
shown Third Week, June 2000
shown 24th November 2001 [Saturday]

Banning and Dent kidnap Laura's Remote Viewer friend, and try to coerce him into pinpointing Ethaniel's location.

Laura ( Ingrid Kavelaars ) takes Ethaniel home to meet her parents. As always in this kind of show, there is a certain amount of conflict.

Guest starring ... Billy Dee Williams ( Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back ) as Laura's old boss!

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 7] Tawrens
shown Fourth Week, June 2000
shown 1st December 2001 [Saturday]
shown 9th February 2002 [Saturday]

Yet more of the Canadian Eco-orientated SF thriller show, now with a new title sequence.

Bannings sends Mr Dent to obtain a chemical formula from an industrialist. Along with the usual hit-squad comes Tawrens (Olivier Gruner - Nemesis ), an ass-kicking Savate expert who kills with minimal provocation. It turns out to be the same character he played in the pilot episode: Ethaniel's best friend, on the same mission as Ethaniel. He uses a Theran weapon, a combination of blaster and buckler.

Ethaniel captures his ex-friend and takes him back to the Doc babe Laura ( Ingrid Kavelaars ), who acts as a reluctant deprogrammer.

Dent and Bannings track down the good guys, and set a trap for them. Dent is learning to be irreverent to his boss, and we see him reconstitute himself after he gets blown up.

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 8] Making Love
shown First Week, July 2000
shown 8th December 2001 [Saturday]
shown 9th February 2002 [Saturday]

Ethaniel gets the hots for a supermodel he sees on a TV commercial, but it turns out her boss (a fashion designer) is financed by the arch-villain Banning. Ethaniel and the Doc-Babe Laura ( Ingrid Kavelaars ) fly to NYC to investigate.

This has to be the best SF TV show on air these days - slick presentation, attractive cast, good SPFX - pity Channel 4 choose to broadcast it in a dead-end time slot. In fact, this reviewer is probably the only one who tunes in regularly to see it, which is a real pity.

Dialogue of the week:
Ethaniel: I really like this body.
Supermodel: Thank you.
Ethaniel: No, I meant MY body.

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 9] Death Trap
shown Second Week, July 2000
shown 15th December 2001 [Saturday]

A techno-nerd breaks into one of Bannings' hi-tech buildings, with Ethaniel's nerd Baldwin-brother pal running backup. Unfortunately, he gets caught by a boobytrap.

Ethaniel and the doc-babe Laura ( Ingrid Kavelaars ) sneak into the building in a tour group. Bannings plans to rent the building's office-space out to aerospace companies and government contractors - companies with a need for top-security, disaster-proof building with a computer network (with military-grade firewall). In other words, he will be able to obtain all their top-secret info.

The villain of the week is Matthew Porretta, last seen as the bearded title character in New Adventures of Robin Hood . Here his beard and hair are gone - he plays a younger-looking yuppie Theran.

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 10] The Bounty Hunter
shown Third Week, July 2000
shown 5th January 2002 [Saturday]

Ethaniel is kidnapped by Myrock, an alien who had double-crossed arch-villain Banning and gone freelance. The Doc babe Laura ( Ingrid Kavelaars ) teams up with Ethaniel's brother Thorbur to guard an informer who has a computer disk that Myrock and Banning both want. Myrock's aim, however, is to have a hand-to-hand duel with Thorbur. And of course, Mr Dent pops up just long enough to be threatening and get his ass kicked.

The Baldwin Brother nerd gets to babysit the informer's irritating pre-teen brat.

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 11] Thief
shown Fourth Week, July 2000
shown 12th January 2002 [Saturday]

Banning and his cohorts attempt to perfect a process that can extend their human forms. Tawrens (Olivier Gruner - Nemesis ) tries to steal it, but is beaten there by a female human cat-burglar.

The burglar-babe is a Valley Girl and her BF/fence is a drunken slob. However, she manages to outwit the main players several times, and shows herself to be completely untrustworthy.

Banning is extremely worried that he may not get regenerated before he reverts to his original Theran form. Dent is STILL indignant, and answers back to his creator several times. Dent tells Tawrens he intends to be superior to all humans AND all Therans - does this include Banning himself? Oh yes, we have villains with character development! :)

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 12] Lose Your Dreams
shown First Week, August 2000
shown 19th January 2002 [Saturday]

Ethaniel has recurring nightmares that Banning is going to kill him - and Ethaniel believes it will come true! The doc-babe Laura ( Ingrid Kavelaars ) takes him to see a friendly rival of hers from shrink-school - Eva Habermann!

Ethaniel's amnesia is cured - he undergoes a complete personality change (or rather, he develops a personality). He remembers that he is really a human who works in a bakery in Chicago. When the doc-babe takes him to Chicago he recognises everywhere, and everyone in the area recognises him as James Henry.

However, only the doc-babe realises the real problem: how the hell can Mr Dent the indestructible cyborg be a halucination.

This is a very nice Phil K. Dick type story, in the style of Blade Runner and Total Recall. Cameron Bancroft is excellent as both Ethaniel and the human, James Henry.

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 13] 24 Hours
shown Second Week, August 2000
shown 26th January 2002 [Saturday]

Ethaniel is reverting to his non-human form, and it is killing him. While he spends the episode in a cryo-tank, the doc-babe Laura ( Ingrid Kavelaars ) and Thorbur (Ethaniel's brother) search for the cause. It seems to be a human virus that he contracted off a slapper in a nightclub.

Thorbur develops symptoms of the virus as well - he becomes irrational and violent.

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 14] Deep Down
shown Third Week, August 2000
shown 2nd February 2002 [Saturday]

A couple of salvage divers check out a plane wreck owned by a Banning front-company - and one of the divers disappears.

Best moment of the episode: when Ethaniel goes to the beach, and frolics in the shallows.

Obvious questions: why the hell did Dent not kill the diving couple at the earliest opportunity? They were both witnesses, and keeping them alive was sloppy writing!

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 15] Fatal Error AKA Final Countdown
shown Fourth Week, August 2000
shown 9th February 2002 [Saturday]

Banning uses a new android, remote-operated by Dent, to take over a US nuke silo. The doc-babe Laura ( Ingrid Kavelaars ) and Tawrens (Olivier Gruner - Nemesis ) end up trapped in the silo, chased by the android while Ethaniel tries to destroy it by uploading a virus into its systems ...

Dent uploads the virus too, and starts to have some extremely strange symptoms ... Yes, he has emotions!

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 16] Sold Out For A Song
shown first week September 2000

Caraldo, a Presidential candidate being backed by Banning (in exchange for all NASA's projects) is having an affair with Mona Knight, a pop star. The fact that he is already married to a selfish bitch means that his family values image will be ruined.

Walsh, a freelance human hit-man who Banning uses for deniable Ops, is sent after the woman. Ethaniel, Tawrens (Olivier Gruner - Nemesis ) and the doc-babe Laura ( Ingrid Kavelaars ) sneak into a concert to protect her. As ever, Tawrens falls for the babe.

The hit-man is a fat amateur, so Banning gives him a Theran weapon to use. It fires DNA-seeking bullets - designed by Ethaniel's brother. Note: once it is used, Banning can no longer consider the Op to be deniable!

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 17] All The News
shown 2nd week September 2000

Banning framed a cop for murder - now the cop is on Death Row, and Banning wants to ensure the execution takes place. He kidnaps his arch-enemy Myrock, and forces him to go after Ethaniel's doc-babe, Laura ( Ingrid Kavelaars ).

Also after Laura is an enthusiastic journalist, who wants to save the cop.

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 18] Laura's Story
[shown 3rd week September 2000]

This episode is mostly told in flashback to the pilot episode. Laura ( Ingrid Kavelaars ) tells Tawrens (Olivier Gruner - Nemesis ) about her old job, as an ESP researcher in an institute financed by Banning. Guest starring ... Billy Dee Williams ( Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back ) as her boss!

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 19] Project Midas
shown 4th week September 2000

A pair of hi-tech thieves use a limpet mine to take out an armoured truck and steal an experimental cold fusion device. Banning wanted the device - and since it has been stolen he tries to kidnap the female scientist who invented it.

Dent captures Laura ( Ingrid Kavelaars ), and Banning tries to recruit her. Banning has an extra sidekick now - a female Theran.

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 20] Dark of Night
shown first week October 2000

Ethaniel uses a Theran tazer-grenade to take out Dent, temporarily. Of note, the characters cannot talk of something being Terran, because phonetically it sounds like Theran. Hmm, that was smart.

Ethaniel and Laura ( Ingrid Kavelaars ) go on the run. They take the first plane out, which is going to Calgary (a remote town in the middle of snowy Canada).

Thanks to Banning's intervention the plane crashes. As always in TV shows, aboard there is a pregnant woman who gives birth. Dent pops up in time for the climax. Carolyn Dunn (Tropical Heat) has a tiny cameo, and Lynda Mason Green (War of the Worlds TV show) is the airport receptionist.

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 21] Not a Bite to Eat
shown 2nd week October 2000

A teenager sneaks into a warehouse, and gets chased by the guards. He manages to get away with some of the product they are potecting ...

It turns out that Banning has developed a GM food crop with absolutely no nutritional value at all. The scary fact? This is probably science fact, not science fiction!

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 22] The Box
shown 3rd week October 2000

Ethaniel and Laura ( Ingrid Kavelaars ) have to break into a warehouse and defuse a bomb. However, it is guarded by a Militia who have decided that intruders must be terminated on sight.

The Militia used to do Banning's dirty work for him, until they discovered that he was worse than the other enemies they had. Mr Dent turns up to retrieve the bomb.

Ethaniel and Dent must team up to defuse the bomb. Our hero claims to know Dent's true origins, and the reason Banning does not have an Army of Dents! Unfortunately there is no reference to the earlier episode where Dent developed a personality.

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 23] Underground
shown 4th week October 2000

Ethaniel, Laura ( Ingrid Kavelaars ) and Tawrens (Olivier Gruner - Nemesis ) meet up with someone who has stolen Banning's technology. They are chased into a tunnel by one of Banning's thugs, and an explosion brings the roof down. They spend most of the episode having flashbacks to previous adventures. One flashback is from an episode not yet shown ...

Banning's female Theran aide is back again. Dent is not to be see, however - probably away working on First Wave . Instead we get an albino type with a grudge against Tawrens. Yes, we get more Olivier Gruner martial arts!

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 24] Chameleon
shown 5th November 2000

Tawrens (Olivier Gruner - Nemesis ) is captured by the backstabbing Myrock, who ransoms him to Banning. However, Banning wants to kill Myrock as much as he wants to kill Tawrens.

Meanwhile, Laura ( Ingrid Kavelaars ) and Ethaniel steal the new plot device, Dent's holographic disguise. Ethaniel and Dent run around disguised as each other - or do they? Dent tries to seduce Laura, which raises questions about the three characters.

The climax from this episode was used as a flashback in the previous episode.

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 25] All Fall Down
shown 12th November 2000

Laura's father is working for Banning, to create a pharmaceutical skin-patch. However, Banning uses the patches to send the wearers into a coma!

Banning's female associate Marlene has a kung-fu fight with Tawrens (Olivier Gruner - Nemesis )!

Codename: Eternity [Season 1, Episode 26 - Finale] The Shift
shown 19th November 2000

Tawrens' new love interest, Sasha ( Christina Cox ), coincidentally happens to be on Banning's hit list. Her father designed a McGuffin that can turn air into an atmosphere breathable to Therans by lethal to humans. He gave it to her, but she is unaware of its purpose!

Banning captures Ethaniel and Laura ( Ingrid Kavelaars ). There is no sign of Mr Dent! Instead we get a white-bearded guy believed killed in a prior episode.