Terra Nova - Page 2

20 million years is such a long time compared to how long we've been around, if we haven't found a way off the planet by then, we deserve to be extinct, and hey, humanity sprung up after the ELE didn't it? Why wouldn't it in this scenario? If their theory is that there are different time streams, that means that humanity keeps doing this over and over again, eventually they'll get it right.

Well, the show hasn't (yet) addressed a paradox that any of the smarter characters should've been able to see through: if it's a different timeline, and nothing they send through the portal ever makes it back to the present, then there should be no way to communicate with the present, or for them to even know where the portal led to.

 

So, obviously the "new timeline" bit is bullshit, and the show seems to acknowledge this from some of the foreshadowing scenes... but any character that hasn't figured it out already is dumb as bricks.

 

I really like the guy from Life on Mars, but it seems like there are much better shows hiding in this premise:

 

First, the prologue on future-Earth was way more interesting than Terra Nova.

 

Second, having the entire settlement destroyed and half these characters killed in episode one would've made me far more engaged.

 

I'm a sucker for sci-fi, so I'll keep watching, but I'm not going out of my way to recommend it.

Surprised to see the praise here for Future Earth. It looked to me like every '80s-vintage sci-fi dystopia.

 

The thing that's bugging me most about this show is that there's no real sense of 'roughing it'. From episode one, there's electricity and fancy hardwood floors for all. Not to mention all the high-tech equipment-- do they have a manufacturing facility or just a shitload of spare parts? A settlement like this ought to be independently sustainable in the extreme and I'm not seeing it. Here's hoping there's a game-changing catastrophe planned for, say, episode six.

 

I am glad to see that, for the moment, we're not following up on the very LOSTy 'mysteries' from the pilot. Really, intricate stone carvings in a Forbidden Zone and the immediate suggestion that Captain Avatar isn't what he seems? Take your time, show.

urgh.  If that is the case then I'm out.

 

As long as Christianity (well all organised religions actually but Christianity in particular really does seem as dumb as a bag of spanners)gets kicked into touch we should be OK

 

I couldn't agree more. Tera Nova should take care to recognize where humanity went wrong in the future, so they can avoid those mistakes in the past. With a unique opportunity like they have, it should be theoretically possible to abolish religion altogether, to painlessly excise it from the human experience once and for all

But since this is a Brannan Bragga show, I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for them to take things in such an interesting direction. As others have stated, it seems the show is to be a hodgepodge of love triangles and Dino shenanigans. Tis a shame.. 

PS Though if they wanted to bring back the gods of the Roman Pantheon and establish a Dinotopia, I wouldn't mind that either

Dinotopia did this better ten years ago and and Dinotopia was, on the whole, shit.

 

Remember when DS9 turned from shit to totally awesome? I really hope that happens with Terra Nova because there's so much they can do with this concept and they're fumbling the ball right out of the gate.

When Jake Sisco shaved his head, shit got real.

 

I work Monday nights, and I'm to lazy to record this (no DVR here). If it gets better, I'll rent the season on blu-ray. If it sucks, I dodged a bullet.

What bothers me is that all the exciting things happen off screen. When The Skipper and Sherrif Lobo return from their mission, bloody and tired, lamenting how bad it was for them.....off screen.

 

An adventure show with no adventure. Who produced this, Jerry Seinfeld?

 

"I mean....what's the deal with these dinosaurs....they used to be lizards.....now they're supposed to be birds.....c'mon scientists......make up your mind....."

 

 

as far as TN goes, I guess every generation needs a  "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" to look back on.....
 

 

Question: why are their fences made out of wood, a substance dinos are used to breaking through in the wild? Surely they should at least add some barbed wire to deter them or something right??

I feel like this is not a terribly nit picky question

That would be 'V'. If we're lucky.

...the fuck. Why does this even matter? If that isnt a nitpicky question im not sure what is.

I hate to say it but she does have a point. If you were going to keep dinos out and you had future technology and money at your finger tips would you use wood? To further that wouldn't you throw on dome on that fucker?

1. There is no indication that the dinosaurs on this show are in fact accustomed to crashing straight through trees. The great majority of the forest is still standing.

 

2. I would hope that people from a horribly polluted and overurbanized future would, given this chance to start over, favor low-impact building methods and naturally-occurring materials.

 

3. I doubt that anyone actually involved with producing the show is thinking it through to this degree.

I imagine this is the sole reason.

 

I think they may have based it on this:

 

 

from raptors661 post in the "Childhood Toys You Miss" forum

1.Right but metal would be kind of bitch to break or chew through right? One is stronger and one is weaker. I feel like I might want to be safe.

 

2.Yeah but it's your safety....they don't seem to take that tactic with anything else except for the solar power.

 

3.Your right, the wood just looks neat.

 

Considering how much the small crate of meteoric iron got the Sixers in the pilot, I'm thinking that more advanced materials than lumber may be harder for them to get/make than people realize.

Well, the wood for their fences looks like pressure treated telephone poles, and I assumed they sent it through from the future. Same goes for most of the stuff in the compound: I may be wrong, but the building materials for the huts ETC seem to be cardboard tubes, and lots of long thin sections of various plastic components assembled together. I assumed that was all stuff that fit through the portal, sent piecemeal, like a QUANTUM IKEA. If they can send people through, and guns, and little tiny cars,I don't see why they couldn't send a person through with a few rolls of razor wire to keep the dinos at bay (or a big block of steel or something too)

Unless I am missing something

I don't think logic is going to work on this show.

and yet they can get trucks, cars, guns, enough shit for wind turbines etc etc etc through the wormhole\timerift\whatever

 

Agree with Farsight, logic does not apply here I feel.

It would entertain me immensely though if they found a shed load of fossil fuels mind you :) (admittedly my lack of knowledge could be at fault here as fossil fuels may have come from single celled organisms but I don't think so)

 

How long until they find a hatch and/or installation from the future that no one will know about?

Finally saw the episode.........birds.....wow.

And tomorrow night it's going to be a memory erasing virus...  This show is like some relic from mid 90's UPN.

 

Also, regarding the fence.  It's not wood.  It's some super awesome future material made to look like wood...  to be more aesthetically pleasing, or something.  I've just given this more thought than the writers did.

Braga, remember?  It wouldn't surprise me if they're just running through old Star Trek plots.

Quick! What is the most interesting thing that could happen to someone living on the planet 80 million years ago? If you said "lose their memory", congratulations, you're Brannon Braga

It's almost hard to take this seriously, on some level it feels like one big practical joke
Edited by Princess Kate - 10/9/11 at 10:02pm

Two words: Hoover Lips.

Wow, amnesia virus. Stunning. So they're already abandoning dinosaurs? In their third episode? I think this will be my last episode, just for the comedy.

Brannon Braga ladies and gentlemen.

 

For once my pessimism worked in my favor.

so I caught up with episode 2 yesterday and still thought it was decent enough except for the fact that Boy who longed after guitar, never got it at the end of the episode. Maybe we will see him playing it in episode 3.  I mean this whole show is about a Dino rock band right?

 

Yeah, I said the same thing to my kids this weekend. Third episode and they're already pulling the amnesia plot out the barrel? What's the over/under of this thing going more than 6 episodes?

 

Watched the pilot and second ep over the weekend. I'm sort of in shock people are unironically enjoying this. It's lazy, by-the-numbers network TV at its worst. It seems very apparent to me that because the show is (I assume) so expensive, the network played it extremely safe WRT plot and character. Which is too bad; the premise is a neat one, and could have all sorts of fun and interesting plots and world building. None of which we saw on display, not even a hint. Each plot point was easily called way ahead of time, and the dialogue is the textbook definition of cliched and trite.

 

 

 

Yup like they introduce this other doctor but we both know there is no real threat. They aren't going to make the wife leave her husband. 

 

Go from the sublime finale of Breaking Bad to this?  I don't think so.  Out.

swine, you've perked up my interest again...

 

Problem is, that was five minutes of good after 35 minutes of lame.

 

The "everyone's acting crazy" story is common scifi theme to play with, but it only works if the audience knows the characters well enough to appreciate the contrast. It also helps if you don't shy away from any interesting ramifications of your premise.

 

I love scifi, but I think I'm out. Two teen romantic angst storylines? Each more milquetoast and timid than the last? Nooooo.

Not defending this ep or anything, but Star Trek TOS's "everybody shows their crazy side/true selves" episode, "The Naked Time", came very early in its run too.

Yeah, but STAR TREK wrote the rulebook and TERRA NOVA, quite obviously, didn't.

 

Also: TOS did that shit 45 years ago. It's been done countless times since, and most of that better. TN is playing it horribly safe; plots and characters are straight from the boilerplate barrel, with no compelling specificity or unique qualities.

 

Merriweather is quite correct: TOS pioneered broadcast SF, while TN slavishly follows the path, adhering firmly to the middle of already-trod ground.

Fox cancels Back 9 Order.

 

Finale in Dec.

Wow FOX continues their proud tradition of not fucking around.

 

EDIT: Ok so that doesn't mean cancelled right? Apparently this was always in the cards for them.

To be clear this is just the back 9 episodes, not an official cancellation. It doesn't bode well, though.

The Ratings seem to be holding fairly well. Though I've heard that each ep is pretty expensive (a few mil?).