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Title: Epoch

Theatrical release: 2000 (made for TV)

Details:

David Keith

Stephanie Niznik

Ryan O'Neal

Brian Thompson

Director: Matt Codd

Score: -

The Review: The theme of "discovering, exploring and attempting to understand an alien artifact" is well-established in the science fiction literature; it happens to be a favorite plot device of mine, in the same category as lost and hidden documents. Clute & Nicholls' "Encyclopedia of Science Fiction" covers some of these artifacts under the generic theme "big dumb objects" (BDO's), and classifies other smaller objects (particularly their exploitation) under an "alien artifact" sub-theme of "discovery and invention." Past examples include Larry Niven's "Ringworld" series (1970+), John Brunner's "Age of Miracles" (1973) and "Total Eclipse" (1974), Arthur C. Clarke's "Rendezvous with Rama" (1973), with more recent entries such as Greg Bear's "Eon" series (1985+), Gregory Benford's "Artifact" (1985), Jack McDevitt's "The Engines of God" (1995), and Alastair Reynolds' "Revelation Space" (2000). In each case the discovery and deciphering of an alien artifact (large or small) is the primary plot focus, usually involving xeno-archaeology, among other specialties.

However, for whatever reason, this theme has only been translated into a very few film versions. Perhaps its analytic subject excludes the typical focus on character development, but Clute & Nicholls suggest that the difficulty is simply one of scale: screen real-estate is small, and such objects tend to be enormous (Benford's "artifact" to the contrary). Some primary examples that come to mind include Forbidden Planet (1956: the planet itself), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968: the monoliths), Star Trek (I; 1979: V'ger), and Mission to Mars (2000: the "Face"). Considering the large population from which one might choose, it is surprising that essentially no films with this theme emerged from the Cold War era of sci-fi movies in the 50's and early 60's; the emphasis then seemed to be more on fear than on exploration.

The following movies exist on the periphery of the discussion: Alien (with Giger's horrific nightmare, 1979), Contact (1997), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Stargate (1994), and X-Files (1998). These might qualify for the category of "alien artifact" to some degree, however the theme is not fully developed, and more to the point, while the artifact may be the centerpiece of the movie (as a device or McGuffin), its exploration and deciphering is not.

And here's the problem. In the primary category -- with the exception of Contact (its artifact does not have quite the same "stumbled-upon" origin, and it certainly is not dumb!) -- none of the film treatments of this theme have been done particularly well. The awe and wonder, and the intellectual excitement, of exploring something totally novel and completely alien has not yet been satisfactorily captured on film. Alas, Epoch does not repair this gap, and fails even more miserably.

Epoch is a made-for-TV, unusual alien artifact, end-of-the-world, science fiction flick. It might have looked better on the big screen, but it never made it. It hearkens back to the grade-B sci-fi "thrillers" of the 50's and 60's -- with similar simplicity, poor acting and lack of depth -- but it has no topical novelty or thematic character and is not quite in the same class. The concept of an alien artifact is a fascinating one, so I'm predisposed to find something of interest in any treatment. Alas, this tendency has been so often disappointed (see above), and Epoch is no different.

An object rises out of the high desert of Bhutan -- a very large (dumb) object -- and immediately U.S. expeditionary forces are "invited" in to investigate. The artifact appears to have healing powers. A bogus territorial scuffle ensues. Some exploration gets done -- a clever method is proposed for "opening the hatch" -- but most progress is impeded by the classic 50's conflict between the military and the scientist mind-set about exploring the unknown. This is tiresome and repetitious, and only a few minor icon-busting character switches distinguish this from the many ways in which this tension has been explored before. The hero (David Keith) is a strategic weapons engineer with Rambo-like approaches to research methodology, and intuitive MacGiver-like approaches to technology-limited crises. The back-room politicians are portrayed as inept idiots and assigned asinine dialog; I suppose this might be intended as incisive satire, but it is much too stupid for this. Eventually the artifact gets bored with the lack of plot progress, and starts to do nasty things.

Misnomers abound: although the artifact is called "the Torus," it resembles nothing so much as an irregular, inverted funnel cloud frozen into rock -- rock that seems to exhibit anti-gravity features, but rock nonetheless -- nothing even vaguely toroidal is visible. A few pseudo-mysteries are invoked periodically in the plot to allow the Torus effective deus ex machina status: e.g., an explanation of "evolutionary jumps" in our (incomplete) fossil past. Right.

Low SFX budget, and production qualities appropriate to the (TV) medium. Populated mostly by unknowns (actors and director), except for Ryan O'Neill, who seems to be slumming.

There are no special features on the DVD, and little reason to own or to rent it. Avoid.

(15-Sep-02)

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