G vs E
Encyclopedia
G vs. E is an American
fantasy-based television action series that had its first season air on USA Network
during the summer and autumn of 1999. For the second season the series switched to Sci Fi Channel
in early 2000. The series stars Clayton Rohner
, Richard Brooks
, and Marshall Bell
.
G vs. E pitted a group of agents who are assigned to "the Corps," a secret agency under the command of Heaven
, against the "Morlocks", a group of evildoers from Hell
.
The series has a 1970s retro-hip style that is similar to Quentin Tarantino
's Pulp Fiction
. The show is fast-moving and harkens back to the blaxploitation
films of the 1970s. It also mixes spy-fi
elements with the end of the millennium
Zeitgeist
of the late 1990s.
NBC Universal
's horror
-themed cable channel Chiller
, which launched on March 1, 2007, aired G vs. E as part of its premiere schedule.
), is murdered on his 35th birthday. He is then recruited as an agent of the Corps and becomes a partner to Henry McNeil (Richard Brooks). Henry was killed in the 1970s and still dresses like Shaft
. The Corps, best described as God
's police force on Earth, has the mission of locating citizens who have made a Faustian-style bargain with the agents of evil. When the Corps find a lost soul, they must decide whether to rehabilitate them or eliminate them from existence if they are beyond redemption.
Overseeing their patrols are Decker (Googy Gress) and Ford (Marshall Bell
), who give the weekly assignments. Deacon Jones
acts as series narrator and appears on screen as "the Deacon". The Deacon is the representation of the wrathful, Old Testament
version of God. He is very strict, bad tempered and unforgiving.
Chandler's teenage son Ben, played by Tony Denman
, occasionally appears. Chandler guides him in subtle ways.
The Corps itself functions much like any police force does, with various departments and a city-based structure. Paramedics, supply officers, spies, intelligence agents, forensic specialists, therapists, and munitions experts are all on hand to help with cases. They operate throughout the world in various cities. Chandler and Henry work out of the Hollywood station. They are based at Ravenswood, a high-rise art-deco establishment, which also doubles as purgatory
.
All the agents of the Corps have gone through a violent, mortal death, but merely being alive again does not render them immortal. They can "die" again, and they face immediate judgement upon dying, which may be a problem for those who have not completed their redemption. Injury can happen to them, as can all the usual mental anguish that mortals suffer. Corps agents have no magical powers to give them an advantage over the opposition. Another limitation is that agents of the Corps cannot have any intimate contact with mortals. They also cannot overtly contact their friends and family from before they died.
The Corps battle with two types of foes: Faustians and Morlocks. The Faustians are ordinary people who have made a deal with the forces of evil and bask in the fortunes that such a deal allows them on Earth. The Morlocks are Faustians who have died their mortal death and are now the ground troops for the dark side, evil's equivalent to the Corps. They are identifiable as people who have suddenly become sarcastic and courageous to extreme degrees. In addition, mirrors reveal the true nature of Morlocks; their reflections are twisted and demonic. Unlike Corps agents, Morlocks have superhuman resilience, and they cannot be easily killed. Any member of the Corps who dies at the hands of a Morlock immediately becomes a Morlock as well.
Both Morlocks and the Corps have double agent
s planted in each others' ranks.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
fantasy-based television action series that had its first season air on USA Network
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
during the summer and autumn of 1999. For the second season the series switched to Sci Fi Channel
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
in early 2000. The series stars Clayton Rohner
Clayton Rohner
Clayton Rohner is an American actor. He is known for his role as Rick Morehouse in the 1985 comedy movie Just One of the Guys. He also starred in the 1986 film Modern Girls as Clifford and Bruno X. He is a main character in the 1994 film Caroline at Midnight. Other credits include the films April...
, Richard Brooks
Richard Brooks (actor)
Richard L. Brooks is an African-American actor, singer, and director. He is best known for his role as Assistant District Attorney Paul Robinette during the first three seasons of the NBC TV drama Law & Order .Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Brooks studied acting, dance, and voice work at...
, and Marshall Bell
Marshall Bell
Archibald Marshall Bell is an American actor. He has appeared in many character roles in movies and television. His best-known movies are probably A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge , Stand by Me , Twins and Total Recall .-Early life:He was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he lived until...
.
G vs. E pitted a group of agents who are assigned to "the Corps," a secret agency under the command of Heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
, against the "Morlocks", a group of evildoers from Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
.
The series has a 1970s retro-hip style that is similar to Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
's Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction (film)
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...
. The show is fast-moving and harkens back to the blaxploitation
Blaxploitation
Blaxploitation or blacksploitation is a film genre which emerged in the United States circa 1970. It is considered an ethnic sub-genre of the general category of exploitation films. Blaxploitation films were originally made specifically for an urban black audience, although the genre's audience...
films of the 1970s. It also mixes spy-fi
Spy-fi
-Definition and characteristics:It often uses a secret agent or superspy whose mission is a showcase of science fiction elements such as technology and ideas used for extortion, plots for world domination or world destruction, futuristic weapons, gadgets and fast vehicles that can travel on land,...
elements with the end of the millennium
Millennium
A millennium is a period of time equal to one thousand years —from the Latin phrase , thousand, and , year—often but not necessarily related numerically to a particular dating system....
Zeitgeist
Zeitgeist
Zeitgeist is "the spirit of the times" or "the spirit of the age."Zeitgeist is the general cultural, intellectual, ethical, spiritual or political climate within a nation or even specific groups, along with the general ambiance, morals, sociocultural direction, and mood associated with an era.The...
of the late 1990s.
NBC Universal
NBC Universal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is a media and entertainment company engaged in the production and marketing of entertainment, news, and information products and services to a global customer base...
's horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
-themed cable channel Chiller
Chiller (TV channel)
Chiller is a 24-hour American cable and satellite television channel specializing in horror and suspense programming. conglomerate NBCUniversal.- Origin :...
, which launched on March 1, 2007, aired G vs. E as part of its premiere schedule.
Plot
Chandler Smythe (Clayton RohnerClayton Rohner
Clayton Rohner is an American actor. He is known for his role as Rick Morehouse in the 1985 comedy movie Just One of the Guys. He also starred in the 1986 film Modern Girls as Clifford and Bruno X. He is a main character in the 1994 film Caroline at Midnight. Other credits include the films April...
), is murdered on his 35th birthday. He is then recruited as an agent of the Corps and becomes a partner to Henry McNeil (Richard Brooks). Henry was killed in the 1970s and still dresses like Shaft
John Shaft
John Shaft is a fictional character created by schoolteacher/screenwriter Ernest Tidyman as a sort of African American version of Ian Fleming's James Bond. He was portrayed by Richard Roundtree in the original 1971 film and its two sequels, with Samuel L. Jackson portraying his nephew in the 2000...
. The Corps, best described as God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
's police force on Earth, has the mission of locating citizens who have made a Faustian-style bargain with the agents of evil. When the Corps find a lost soul, they must decide whether to rehabilitate them or eliminate them from existence if they are beyond redemption.
Overseeing their patrols are Decker (Googy Gress) and Ford (Marshall Bell
Marshall Bell
Archibald Marshall Bell is an American actor. He has appeared in many character roles in movies and television. His best-known movies are probably A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge , Stand by Me , Twins and Total Recall .-Early life:He was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he lived until...
), who give the weekly assignments. Deacon Jones
Deacon Jones
David D. "Deacon" Jones is a former American football defensive end in the National Football League for the Los Angeles Rams, San Diego Chargers, and the Washington Redskins. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980.Jones specialized in quarterback sacks, a term attributed to him...
acts as series narrator and appears on screen as "the Deacon". The Deacon is the representation of the wrathful, Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
version of God. He is very strict, bad tempered and unforgiving.
Chandler's teenage son Ben, played by Tony Denman
Tony Denman
Anthony Richard "Tony" Denman is an American actor.-Filmography:*Little Big League , Phil*Angus , Kid*Fargo , Scotty Lundegaard*Go , Track suit guy...
, occasionally appears. Chandler guides him in subtle ways.
The Corps itself functions much like any police force does, with various departments and a city-based structure. Paramedics, supply officers, spies, intelligence agents, forensic specialists, therapists, and munitions experts are all on hand to help with cases. They operate throughout the world in various cities. Chandler and Henry work out of the Hollywood station. They are based at Ravenswood, a high-rise art-deco establishment, which also doubles as purgatory
Purgatory
Purgatory is the condition or process of purification or temporary punishment in which, it is believed, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven...
.
All the agents of the Corps have gone through a violent, mortal death, but merely being alive again does not render them immortal. They can "die" again, and they face immediate judgement upon dying, which may be a problem for those who have not completed their redemption. Injury can happen to them, as can all the usual mental anguish that mortals suffer. Corps agents have no magical powers to give them an advantage over the opposition. Another limitation is that agents of the Corps cannot have any intimate contact with mortals. They also cannot overtly contact their friends and family from before they died.
The Corps battle with two types of foes: Faustians and Morlocks. The Faustians are ordinary people who have made a deal with the forces of evil and bask in the fortunes that such a deal allows them on Earth. The Morlocks are Faustians who have died their mortal death and are now the ground troops for the dark side, evil's equivalent to the Corps. They are identifiable as people who have suddenly become sarcastic and courageous to extreme degrees. In addition, mirrors reveal the true nature of Morlocks; their reflections are twisted and demonic. Unlike Corps agents, Morlocks have superhuman resilience, and they cannot be easily killed. Any member of the Corps who dies at the hands of a Morlock immediately becomes a Morlock as well.
Both Morlocks and the Corps have double agent
Double agent
A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
s planted in each others' ranks.
Episode list
| No. | Season 1 — Episode | Air Date |
| 1.01 | "Orange Volvo" | July 18, 1999 |
| 1.02 | "Men Are From Mars, Women Are Evil" | July 25, 1999 |
| 1.03 | "Buried" | August 1, 1999 |
| 1.04 | "Gee Your Hair Smells Evil" | August 8, 1999 |
| 1.05 | "Airplane" | August 15, 1999 |
| 1.06 | "Evilator" | August 22, 1999 |
| 1.07 | "To Be or Not To Be Evil" | August 29, 1999 |
| 1.08 | "Choose Your Own Evil" | October 3, 1999 |
| 1.09 | "Sunday Night Evil" | October 10, 1999 |
| 1.10 | "Lady Evil" | October 17, 1999 |
| 1.11 | "Cliffhanger" | October 31, 1999 |
| No. | Season 2 — Episode | Air Date |
| 2.01 | "Nurse Evil" | March 10, 2000 |
| 2.02 | "Renunciation" | March 10, 2000 |
| 2.03 | "Immigrant Evil" | March 17, 2000 |
| 2.04 | "Ambulance Chaser" | March 24, 2000 |
| 2.05 | "Wonderful Life" | March 31, 2000 |
| 2.06 | "Love Conquers Evil" | April 7, 2000 |
| 2.07 | "Cougar Pines" | April 14, 2000 |
| 2.08 | "M is for Morlock" | April 21, 2000 |
| 2.09 | "Relic of Evil" | April 28, 2000 |
| 2.10 | "Portrait of Evil" | May 5, 2000 |
| 2.11 | "Underworld" | May 12, 2000 |