Terra Nova discussion

[justTripn]

Hi guys. I'm really liking this show Terra Nova. It's also really crying out for some fanfiction. Really cool set up. Hot lead actor. But some really stupid holes in the story and/or unsatisfying aspects in terms of character reactions to events. A perfect storm for fanfiction. Did anyone see it?

And why aren't there any Black people in this future? There are one or two. Although there are plenty of brown people. The lead woman is maybe Indian or Pakistani.

[Cogito]

I haven't seen this yet. It sounds as if it's going to be "lost in space" redone as "lost in time". Is it any good?

[justTripn]

Well, it is REALLY REALLY good looking. Spectacular special effects. Very, very pretty. The set up of the story is brilliant. The environments are really cool and inviting--you want to hang out and explore this imaginary world. Lots of eye candy, including the actors. I've been thinking about this show all day. I want to rewatch it.

I have a suspicious this is supposed to be a family show--nothing shocking or edgy or even too realistic as far as family dynamics. They all hug and make up at the end after the oldest son runs off and almost gets himself killed. That sort of thing. The father busts out of jail after two years and rejoins the family, then escapes to the Cretaceous period, has big adventures, and that night, they put their kids to bed and kind of laugh about the lack of privacy (seems in in the future, house are breezy with lots of curtains but no doors on the rooms, lol . . .) and well . . . he goes and sleeps on the couch so his 4-year old can have the big bed. ?????? Whatever . . .

BUT ITS REALLY REALLY COOL.

[justTripn]

OK, just rewatched it. Yes, it's that good. Now I understand everything a little better. AND!!!!! The couple is a little cool towards each other NOT because this is a family show, but because there is some unresolved trouble between them >:-) !!!! To be explored in next week's episode!

Did I mention both Brannon Braga and Steven Speilberg have their names on this?

[justTripn]

I agree with this reviewer:

What's the Verdict on Terra Nova?

[justTripn]

Hi, the mysterious advertising-powers-that-be just invited me to this big beautiful professional-looking fanfiction website for Terra Nova, that apparently has no other members but me, lol . . . Would I like to post the first comment? Would I like to upload a story? It's kind of like being thrown into Terra Nova itself. The only thing there besides trailers of the show is a very positive review of the first episode, probably written by a paid professional.

[Cogito]

Wow, you're famous!

I've never been invited to join a fanfic website. In fact I suspect I'm more likely to get chucked out.

[putaro]

I watched the intro for this first. They spent a lot of time talking about how cool the sets are, how big the sets are, etc. Not a lot of emphasis on how cool the story is!

For the first two episodes, the effects and the sets were, as promised, good. The basic story is a good one but we didn't get a whole lot of it so far. We'll see how it goes.

[justTripn]

OK, more later, but the second episode of Terra Nova proves it's going to be a silly kid's show. This isn't LOST where they will astound you with a character's complicated emotional backstory. The CGI was alot less impressive, but then the first episode was on a level with Jurassic Park. The script was great and the actors are great. The lead actor is pretty much ideal. And they give that character lots of excuses to take off his shirt. He works security, so his job is catching bad guys and fighting dinasaurs. The whole story is terribly charming.

[Cogito]

I tried to watch the first two episodes this week when they came out in the UK, but so far I haven't warmed to the family that it's presumably going to be all about. To be fair, it wasn't helped by a flaky satellite signal that meant the audio kept dropping out. I'm afraid that after ten minutes I gave up.

[Elessar]

I would agree with Ann, we were just talking about what an interesting concept it has going... I'm enjoying it. It has some nay-sayers that say it's like "JurAvatar 2" but it's got a unique premise, something I can't recall having seen done quite this way. Has some Lost-esque overtones as well.

[justTripn]

Terra Nova continues to wow. The characters, the whole Shannon family, are completely adorable. The stories are well scripted. Never a dull moment: shocking, cute, surprising. This week, the dinosaurs were awesome. 3 different species made an appearance. . . . A Tyranasaurous, many Ovoraptors, and a Bracheosaurous. The romance was hot. I'm going to jinx this if I say . . . might be as good as Enterprise? Ut oh.

[putaro]

. . . might be as good as Enterprise?

Naw, no sexy aliens and if they have dinosaur people, I'm bailing!

[justTripn]

I'm kind of hoping for dinosaur people, that is, intelligent dinosaurs. If they don't have them, I just might have to write some fanfic. >:-)

But seriously, it's very Trek-like. We have the red-shirt equivalents. The one or two people each week who get eaten by dinosaurs, without anyone feeling too sad about it. We have the cozy family of characters who will get beat up, but ultimately survive the adventure of the week in some heroic fashion. We have the exotic out-of-this world setting that everyone learns to take for granted. We have scientific technobabble, justifying some absurd plot. Mmmm . . . mmm Good!

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

I've now seen all the aired episodes and it's nothing earth-shattering, but not as bad as I thought it would be (otherwise I'd have given up on it by the third episode). It's pretty entertaining but certainly not deep or complex.

There hasn't been a lot of dinosaurs actually, and the show could just as easily have been set on some alien world with dino-like creatures instead of on Late-Cretaceous Earth. The set up was pretty silly - depleted future Earth and some Stargate-like portal. I'd have preferred if it had been a colony on another planet, much like in Earth 2 (remember that show?). The Terra Nova settlement is a bit too squeaky clean to be really believable, but I can buy it.

Oh, and there's shock full of pretty ladies. The mommy doctor, the female lieutenant, the daughter and last but not least the girl who snuck out with the son to jump off a cliff in her bikini. Rowr, she looks like a young Dina Meyer (and I love DIna Meyer)! But what she sees in the whiny son I cannot fathom...

Small nit pick: This is supposed to be 85 million years ago, then why does the Terra Nova logo show Pangea? That super-continent was 250 million years ago.