Terra Nova

A sci-fi version of Seventh Heaven is a very apt comparison, lol.

Over-all I enjoyed the show, even though it did have some glaring problems.  The first of which are the kids.  I like how his son is all like "If dad isn't here, I'm not leaving!" when they're marching to the time rift, and the moment they're through, he's all like "I hate my dad!  He doesn't understand meeeeeee!"  Oh, and the bulk of the action in the second hour revolves around him and his friends being fuckin' stupid.  Not a good way to ingratiate us to a character.

I thought it was funny how the first thing Jason O'Mara says to Stephen Lang "Give me a badge and a gun and let me do what I do best!"  The first thing that popped into my head was "Aw shit, it's DINO-COP!"  And the second thing was "Wait a minute, the thing he seems best at is breaking out of a high security facility and then breaking into a high security facility."

The appearance of the Sixers was interesting, so the mystery about who sent them and why has me wondering what that angle is all about.  I guess Taylor's missing son is the guy leaving all those crazy writings on the cave walls, and they have something to do with the real reason Terra Nova exists, which is another cool mystery.

The two daughters were annoying.  Don't really care much for them, though the older daughter being a geeky know-it-all will probably come in handy in future episodes.  I'll just call her "Little Miss Exposition" from now on.

The whole thing about Terra Nova being an alternate timestream was interesting.  I guess that means nothing is set in stone, including any extinction event like the meteor that killed the dinos and stuff.  Speaking of the dinos, the CGI wasn't all that great, and when they did show up, I found myself getting bored.  it reminded me why I didn't much care for Jurrasic Park and its sequels.  I hope they don't rely too much on them in this show.  They'll get old fast.

So it wasn't a horrible show, in fact I was entertained through most of it.  Here's hoping it gets better as time goes on.

The older kid was the tv version of Justin Chatwin in War of the Worlds, so that's one strike against him from the start.  Plus, he seems way too white be the offspring of the two parents.  Maybe that will be a plot point somewhere down the line.

Still, enjoyed it for the most part.  The rebel faction, the rock drawings by Lang's missing son, this supposedly being an alternate timeline, etc. is enough to get me back next week.  Also, I dug Kings, so Allison Miller showing up was a welcome surprise.  Glad they didn't go the obvious route of her being Stephen Lang's daughter.  I was waiting for that twist to come, and it thankfully never did.

As for folks wondering about the K-T extinction event, well, they only have 20 million years or so left, so it's not exactly a pressing concern.

I enjoyed it. I echo the sentiments about the FX but I figure a lot of the budget did go elsewhere. I don't think it's going to break any new ground but it seems like it could be a solid adventure sci-fi outing and with high profile names like Spielberg being attached there's not much worry of it getting Firefly'd before it has a chance to show its worth.

A $20 million, 90 minute pilot episode and not a single character to give a shit about.

Enjoyed it. Nothing offensively stupid in it ("what are you waiting for?" and "get down!" stand out) and I didn't mind the FX too much.  I imagine a lot went into rendering the future city - that was really interesting.

Also caught my interest with the sixers, and the equations.  Wonder when she will "do the math" on the star positions and realise something or get dran into deciphering the equations.

So I'm in.  Let's face it, I made it all the way through Falling Skies so unless this one goes South very quickly I'm in for the season.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy Bain 

Enjoyed it. Nothing offensively stupid in it 

You mean other than the daughter of the head security officer freaking out and running into the jungle full of killer dinosaurs alone after having "grown up" on that planet?

That's definitely Falling Skies territory of dumbassness for the sake of plot.

I liked how the dinosaurs were drawn in over the video in colored pencil. Such an interesting choice

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottieFerguson 

The older kid was the tv version of Justin Chatwin in War of the Worlds, so that's one strike against him from the start.  Plus, he seems way too white be the offspring of the two parents.  Maybe that will be a plot point somewhere down the line.

 

This bothered me a bit too.  WotW kid is perfect comparison.

There is no way for them to know about the alternate timeline.  I still wouldn't be surprised if it's the future, or that they know Terra Nova failed because tey are communicating with the future.  I just hope it doesn't take too long to get an answer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by donde 



They try to get around this by having the brainy sister mention how the initial probe sent back through the portal was never found. I can think of a million reasons for this but that's the route they're taking for the moment.

I know that's the reason they gave-same as the anomoly That only allows them to travel to this point and not back.  They had to "answer" those question or there would be huge holes in the logic for the show.  I think it's an obvious lie-it is coming from the government. 

And how come it took 160+ days between Avatar guy coming and his buddies following?  How come every other time is they all come together?

WE DON'T WANT YOUR QUESTIONS! WE JUST WANT YOU TO TURN YOUR BRAIN OFF!

*click*

OOOO SHINEH DINOSAURS LIKE IN DEM PICATURE BOOKS! HEY DARLENE, LOOKY HERE, DAT FELLA DONE GOT A BEARD!

Fuck this show and everyone that writes for it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simon West will kill Again 

You mean other than the daughter of the head security officer freaking out and running into the jungle full of killer dinosaurs alone after having "grown up" on that planet?

 

That's definitely Falling Skies territory of dumbassness for the sake of plot.

didn't bother me really.  Teenage girl, trapped in a car being attacked by dinosaurs, shit I'd probably run for it.

The complete ineffectiveness of the Slashers bothered me though.  Nibbling on some guys foot?  Catching that girl but she walks away?

There are too many plot holes to go into but there are enough interesting ideas to keep me hooked and at least it doesn't have fucking Jimmy and annoying Christian girl so that's a win.

I thought the premier was okay. The kids definitely were more plot points than characters but there is potential. I like that the show is at least attempting to set up a more muddled world than "society with dinosaurs." We'll see if they succeed, but for now I'm on board. Seeing a lot of familiar (and talented) names in the credits will probably get me to stick with this 1st season even if it doesn't blow me away.

The future looked great, too bad so much went into establishing that world that we'll never see again.

The Sixers creates a nice enough mystery scenario, and Steven Lang is the only actor in the show with any kind of screen presence. The dinosaurs were laughably bad (in the daylight anyway, the nighttime attack was actually pretty well done). This did not look like 20 million dollars, at all.

I'll watch it just for Dino chomping and the guy from Life on Mars. Thought it was a good premiere.  

I watched the pilot, and while I thought there was a core of a good idea there, the execution was just awful. This is why I'm often down on Spielberg. He's supposedly our greatest living director and a national treasure, but this is the kind of product he'll put his name to, this and Michael Bay movies with stepin fetchit robots. He tries his hand at an 'event' network TV show, and then teams up with one of the biggest hacks in the business - Bragga

My thoughts, in depth...

First off, everyone was pretty and vapid. The people from the future should look like refugees, gaunt and pale. Instead they're all glam vacationers. These are people who spent their lives without sun or breathable air, and who don't have fresh fruit in their diet. There should be a great contrast between the people fleeing the future, and the people already established on Tera Nova. Instead the whole thing plays like Dino Camp (Oh, and the set, despite it's obvious cost, has no lived in look. All the plants look like they were just potted the week before. They're is no sense that anything has weathered or aged)

What's more, the characters are utterly loathsome. The despicable son, with his spite, whining and disrespect... what were they thinking? Some distance between father and son after the jailing is one thing, but it's just repugnant, the way that kid conducts himself. The father was jailed for trying to protect his sister from thugs. Surely he can wrap his head around that. And yet after a relatively brief time (three years is not so bad, in the grand scheme of human experience), he's reunited and the whole family has fresh air to breath and a chance to start over. For this the kid has not one ounce of gratitude, and is instead brimming over with contempt. There is no sense that he understands the privilege of being there. He comes from a dying world, and yet when he gets to this amazing new paradise, his only reaction is to role his eyes. These people have to carve out a new future for the species, and the only people being brought along are the ones with something to contribute. Everyone has a job, and everyone works. And yet the kid just tells his dad to fuck off, skips orientation (because he's too cool for school, I guess), and goes to drink and party while everyone else labors in the sun?

Eff that kid. And for the record? Eff this show. I am not spending another minute of my life in the company of such cretinous characters

PS at least the brachiosaurs looked better than the ones in JP

PPS If I were making this pilot, the future would have been MUCH grimmer, and we'd have spent the first hour there. No need for giant CGI cityscapes. Those indicate a society with flourishing economy and tech. If it's a world on it's last breath, it should look like it. I'd have appreciated a statement about how earth had few fossil fuels left, and the energy required to run the portal meant that there would only be a few people who could make the journey before it would become impossible. It would make getting to go seem like a bigger deal, rather than simply a nice bit of luck. One of my favorite lines from SUNSHINE is when Cillian Murphy says that they'd "mined all of earth's fissile materials for the second payload.. there wouldn't be another shot". This was chilling to me, it said that humanity may have the technology to save itself, but just barely. It would be down to the wire, and it might not work. They'd earned themselves one final shot, and no more. Instead there doesn't appear to be a good reason why they can't just transport most of the population over to Terra Nova right now

I'd also have appreciated how the knowledge that past practices destroyed the earth impact politics on Tera Nova, and philosophies for  the future

If I were making this pilot it'd be about dinosaurs coming through the fissure into that Bladerunner-y future.

Primeval kinda did that already.

Speaking of which, dinos in Primeval.  Better or worse looking than in this?  I want to say better.

This show sucks. I'm out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by alobek 

A $20 million, 90 minute pilot episode and not a single character to give a shit about.

This, this - a thousand times this.

When will Hollywood realize that all that money spent means fuck all if you've gone cheap on the script.

Good stories, good characters.

It's not fucking string theory.

Am I the only one who was pissed off that they perpetuated the myth that moss grows on the north side of a tree in the first five minutes of the episode during the 'survival' class?

With all that money to send tons of crap back through time and they couldn't afford a dome or roof of some kind?

FUCK THIS SHOW. 

I'm done.

It was nice of Terra Nova to give the writer/director of Birdemic: Shock & Terror a boost of confidence.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fafhrd 

Am I the only one who was pissed off that they perpetuated the myth that moss grows on the north side of a tree in the first five minutes of the episode during the 'survival' class?

Nope. That pissed me off as well. I am surprised that they don't seem to have a cartographer of any kind as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fafhrd 

Am I the only one who was pissed off that they perpetuated the myth that moss grows on the north side of a tree in the first five minutes of the episode during the 'survival' class?

That is actually true, north of the equator. Moss will favor the north side of a tree, as it gets the least light

I love how they glossed over the only two potentially interesting parts of the story. Dad takes truck to go get a bird, after commercial break he's magically back. Two guys get in truck and the birds start following them, next commercial break they're magically back with cuts and bruises. Instead we get the son awkwardly clutching his girlfriend's necklace after the hottie in the village kisses him.

No dome, ok, I can understand that, but not even a bunker?  And they have currency?  Why?

I loved the evacuation\taking shelter montage after the birdemic attack.  They linger on a bucket brigade moving fruit out of the market...

"Oh my god, we're all in danger! SAVE THE FRUIT BASKETS!"

This is on top of what everyone else has pointed out.  The stupid is strong with this one, amusingly so.

Love the two male leads, they deserve a great show to center around... the rest of the cast is shit and the rest of the show is shit but I'll watch for the hopes of it getting better. This would be better on the CW.

With the CW's budget?  Expect all the dinosaurs to be dinos in human suits or off-screen.  With Smallville level acting and writing.

I'm catching this on hulu, but for something that has some ambition going for it, it's weird that it delves this deep into cliche.

Have they even addressed why the family had a third kid?  They already had two which were healthy enough and in the prologue seemed decent enough, was there really a reason to skirt the law and have a third?

Quote:

Originally Posted by neoolong 

With the CW's budget?  Expect all the dinosaurs to be dinos in human suits or off-screen.  With Smallville level acting and writing.

 

So in other words, an improvement?

Quote:

Originally Posted by neoolong 

Have they even addressed why the family had a third kid?  They already had two which were healthy enough and in the prologue seemed decent enough, was there really a reason to skirt the law and have a third?

In the future they believe the pull out method is the best form of birth control.

Cool, another gods-awful show I don't need to watch to garner entertainment from, because this thread will invariably end up more enjoyable than anything said show could come up with.

Have at it kids.

Haven't seen the show, but you all make it sound like a spruced up version of Land of the Lost. Are these "Sixers" the Sleestak?

I started episode 2 on HULU PLUS, and HULU inexplicably kept freezing up telling me my connection was too slow (it's not. NETFLIX continues to play in HD). Realizing I didn't care enough to go try and boot up the HULU PLUS APP on my APPLE iPad 2, I decided to just give up

Good luck to those of you who continue to brave the wilds of TERRA NOVA. I'm out

Episode 3 was an improvement, mostly because there were stretches in the 2nd half where the characters hardly spoke.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Allen 

Haven't seen the show, but you all make it sound like a spruced up version of Land of the Lost. Are these "Sixers" the Sleestak?

I guess you could sort of say that.  They're not evolved dinosaur humanoids, but for the time being they are filling the primary antagonist role.  They're members of the sixth pilgrimage (sixers, get it?) back in time, who were sent to sabotage the colony for reasons the writers probably don't even know yet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by neoolong 

With the CW's budget?  Expect all the dinosaurs to be dinos in human suits or off-screen.  With Smallville level acting and writing.

 

I'm catching this on hulu, but for something that has some ambition going for it, it's weird that it delves this deep into cliche.

 

Have they even addressed why the family had a third kid?  They already had two which were healthy enough and in the prologue seemed decent enough, was there really a reason to skirt the law and have a third?

Smallville was kick ass. At least if this was on the CW they'd give it a full season to flesh out and see where it was going, these ratings make me think it's done before christmas.

C'mon now.  Don't forget who you're talking to.  Nobody should be getting nostalgic for Smallville yet.

Jeebus that was fucking awful.

I mean, apart from adding an unwanted potential love triangle into the mix did that episode progress the story in any way whatsoever?  The very definition of 'filler' episode and only on ep 3.

And how long till annoying teen son's new bird is shown to be the mole for the sixers?

So, so, so stupid.  

There's no way in hell this gets any better.

Have they mentioned anywhere in the show that a huge ass asteroid is going to crash down on the Yucatan and kill everything larger than a dinomole at around 65 million years? It's listed on my OnDemand as available to watch but I don't have the energy. I'd rather watch anything else on my HBOGO right now.

I doubt they care what's going to happen to anyone 20 million years into the future, same as we don't now. We've only been around about 200,000 years and we'll soon find a way to destroy ourselves.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Murder 

I doubt they care what's going to happen to anyone 20 million years into the future, same as we don't now. We've only been around about 200,000 years and we'll soon find a way to destroy ourselves.

yay humanity!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Murder 

I doubt they care what's going to happen to anyone 20 million years into the future, same as we don't now. We've only been around about 200,000 years and we'll soon find a way to destroy ourselves.

I know but if I'm sending someone back in time I'd place them sometime "after" an Extinction Level Event not "before". I mean they had to have done some kind of research study amirite? Just sounds lazy to me. I don't know. I'm at work and i have 30 minutes left and my mind is mush.

That assumes they can control the portal.  I don't think they can.  They're just lucky it's not 65.0000000001 million years in the past.

Quote:

Originally Posted by neoolong 

That assumes they can control the portal.  I don't think they can.  They're just lucky it's not 65.0000000001 million years in the past.

That makes sense. It's not like they can dial it in like a Stargate I guess.