Terra Nova: Win Or Fail?

For those of you who haven't heard about it already, Fox is debuting its new sci-fi drama "Terra Nova" tonight at 8:00 PM US Eastern; from what I've seen in the previews it looks like it could either be a spectacular triumph or a mind-numbing flop. I've set up this poll so that the rest of you can put in your two cents about whether or not the new series will catch on.

The Reader's Digest version is that it's about a family using a time warp to flee the pollution and overcrowding of 22nd century Earth; those of you who want a more detailed summary can find one at this link:

The Official "Terra Nova" Home Page

I call it Jurassic Park: The TV series

Lessee...the hero is a bad cop who in a polluted overpopulated world decides to violate the very reasonable restriction of two children per family, "because it felt like the right thing to do." I guess he thinks the law doesn't apply to him. Then he hides his crime, gets arrested, escapes from prison with the help of his wife who is complicit in his crime, and finally uses deception, bribery, and violence to get his entire dysfunctional family into the past, ahead of law abiding people, where he can help build a new civilization that is supposedly going to 'avoid the problems of greed, stupidity, and war' that destroyed the earth. Of course he can't stand being an agricultural laborer so he does a little schmoozing with the head honcho and does a little heroic cop violence and gets to be promoted to warrior...er, I mean security.

And what do we see? Forests being chopped down, armored SUVs tearing up the jungle, and armed soldiers shooting up the wildlife. And to top it off we see the beginning of a war between two opposing factions. Let the dinos eat the whole damnned bunch.

zootie wrote:

Lessee...the hero is a bad cop who in a polluted overpopulated world decides to violate the very reasonable restriction of two children per family, "because it felt like the right thing to do." I guess he thinks the law doesn't apply to him. Then he hides his crime, gets arrested, escapes from prison with the help of his wife who is complicit in his crime, and finally uses deception, bribery, and violence to get his entire dysfunctional family into the past, ahead of law abiding people, where he can help build a new civilization that is supposedly going to 'avoid the problems of greed, stupidity, and war' that destroyed the earth. Of course he can't stand being an agricultural laborer so he does a little schmoozing with the head honcho and does a little heroic cop violence and gets to be promoted to warrior...er, I mean security.

And what do we see? Forests being chopped down, armored SUVs tearing up the jungle, and armed soldiers shooting up the wildlife. And to top it off we see the beginning of a war between two opposing factions. Let the dinos eat the whole damnned bunch.

It's premiering here tomorrow night, and you know, I had a feeling the MC would be something like this. We can't have normal, boring citizens simply trying to survive - we gotta have personal drama and the shrugging off of the very same corruption they're trying to escape on top of it!

So it's like Stargate: Universe, but with dinosaurs.

I saw the premiere. And, y'know, I think it's a decent premise. Has good effects, for he most part.

My dad thinks otherwise. He's giving it four season before it gets canned. He thinks it's going to turn into LOST and, in his words, "become a soap opera".

My dad. He's comparing a show that's just starting to a show he never finished watching. And it frustrates me he honestly thinks he's right. LOST had a plot, but it was so piled with complexities it wasn't fully visible. Terra Nova, at least, looks to have some straightforward storytelling with a few conspiracies peppered in. I'm keeping an open mind about it, I think it's going to be a hit.

I'm going to laugh when the season finale has them accidentally prevent mammals from evolving and they cease to exist.

At the very least there will probably be a scene at the end of season one where someone tries to go back to the future, only to find it isn't there anymore. Or is run by Nazis. It doesn't matter that they're causing changes millions of years in the past, which should result in massive changes to all of history from that point on. No one can write a time travel based series without at least once consideirng a "What if the Nazis won WW2?" plot. Bonus points if they try to be clever and have a world ruled by the Soviets.

Of course it's just as likely the show will be cancelled after 6 episodes.

Was half-watching it a few nights ago and it seemed generic and cliched as fuck. Awful.

Meh... it's OK. I'll give it a fair viewing before I decide. The CGI/animatronics are pretty good.

I'm doing a write-up of the first episode as I watch it. Finished the first twenty minutes, and oh good god, this guy is the protagonist?



We open on the moon: “At the dawn of the 22nd century the world is on the verge of environmental collapse”, the helpful scroll-over text informs us, while we zoom in on a dusty planet Earth. For all that it looks like a glass marble someone dropped in the dirt, the image is quite striking. “Mankind's only hope for survival lies 85 million years in the past”. And whoosh, we travel through the dusty atmosphere and pan over a futuristic city. You can tell it's futuristic, because all the skyscrapers are ugly. We see a man in a breathing mask, walking down a dark and dirty hallway and going through a door. He just got home.

He presents his family with an orange, and everybody is appropriately impressed while he just sits there and smiles like a smug asshole. His family, in order of appearance: teenage son, wife with British accent, very young daughter. Anyway, the orange is A BIG DEAL.

The wife (Elizabeth) is a doctor, and she starts rattling off patient histories, just to underscore how toxic the air is. Yes, show, we get it. We got that when you showed us the dingy planet Earth, we got that when you showed us that you need breathing masks just to pop over to the grocery store. Shit is fucked up. We get it. We can move on.

The final member of the family comes in, the teenage daughter. She runs through the door and warns the family about “them”, because there's always a “them”, and they're always out to get the heroes.

They stash the little girl in the wall while people bang on the door.

It's the authorities! Population Control, to be exact.

And we find out that our hero is a cop. 'Kay. Just throwing that in there.

Anyway, they start turning everything over, and make such a ruckus, that the little girl in the wall frightens and starts crying. Yep, they find her.

One of the officers tries coaxing the girl out of the wall, by making a “come here” gesture and telling her to, well, “come here”. He doesn't even touch her, but Our Hero flips his everloving shit and starts attacking people left and right. Great example you're setting for your already scared daughter, shithead. Really awesome, grade-A parenting.

He gets tazed and that's the end of that.

Timeskip!

Gulag—er, I mean, Golad Prison, 2 years later.

Elizabeth is visiting Our Hero in prison. She paid for five minutes, the prison guard helpfully informs us from offscreen.

They hold hands through the little opening in the cheap plastic—no, I'm sorry—ultra high-tech futuristic glass door, and Our Hero starts coughing. Because nobody cares if prisoners' lungs rot out, so yeah. A realistic detail, that.

Big news! The recruitment people from Terra Nova have contacted her. By the puppy dog looks they're exchanging, I'm guessing taking along her violent tempered husband was not part of the deal. But the problem is, they won't let her take youngest daughter (Zoey) along either, because they “can't be rewarded for breaking the law”. So instead, they're punishing a little girl?... Actually, yeah, coming from the authorities, that's pretty realistic, too.

Anyway, either Elizabeth goes with only Maddie and Josh, the two teenagers, or none of them go.

But that's okay, Elizabeth found a loophole! And by “loophole”, I mean “prison break”. She gives Jim her breathing mask. Not quite a map tattoo, but hey, prisoners with rapidly decaying health can't be choosers. Inside the mask is a... lego piece? No, a laser. He uses it to cut a cup in two.

We pan over the city. On a screen, some lady is talking about the tenth pilgrimage to Terra Nova. Apparently, they're using a fracture through time and space to travel.

Elizabeth and her two teenage sprog step off a train, anxiously discussing the plan.

Jim is on a train. He cuts into his skin and takes out what I presume to be a tracking device. Okay, what's the point of these things if they're so easy to take out? Put them somewhere harder to reach at least, like that place on the back where it's really hard to reach when you have an itch.

Anyway, he gets out, uncovers a care package filled with such thoughtful things as a fake ID, money and a gun. What a doting wife Elizabeth is!

The family passes through customs. Josh has a final moment with his girlfriend, promising to see her again. She's slightly more realistic about the future of their relationship.

We pan over the city at night, and hey, the darkness hides all the ugly! Jim gets a bag from some twitchy backroom dealer. Is Zoey in the bag? Nah, she's probably too big now. Why would anyone stick a kid in a bag, anyway? That would be silly.

Jim catches up with the rest of the family. They are being herded with the rest of the people through some shiny blue portal.

The authorities saw Jim skulking through the back alleys on their surveillance equipment and start giving him the stink-eye, and Jim has to exchange packs with Elizabeth. He gets pulled out of line and has to bullshit the futuristic TSA agent.

The family is reluctant to pass through the portal without him, but they all do after some hesitation.

When Elizabeth finally moves through, he falls back on his old tactic of punching authority figures in the face. He runs through the portal before they can stop him.

He falls on his ass flat as he's on the other side, because he's not used to the oxygen rich atmosphere. Unfortunately, a guard sees the gun in his hand. And what does Jim say? “Get away from my family”. Way to be monumentally stupid, dude. They had no way of knowing you were related to anyone there until you flat out TOLD THEM SO. Seriously, stop protecting them. You suck at it. In fact, they're much better at saving YOUR sorry ass, considering you wouldn't be here without them.

Anyway, he surrenders, and the guards want to check his pack for more weapons. And... holy shit, Zoey really was in the pack? Okay, fuck. They really DID put a kid in a bag.

So yeah, family reunited. The guards lower their weapons, probably in shock that anyone was fucking crazy enough to smuggle in a kid in a backpack.

We see the pilgrims walking through the primordial jungle, or whatever (yes, they're pilgrims. They're calling this a pilgrimage, so they're pilgrims. That's how it works). A guard exposits on her radio: “Yes, two stowaways. And adult male and a five year old girl”. Thanks for the update, guard lady.

The Shannons discuss the deep shit they are in.

In a cute touch, Zoey is incredulous about how white the clouds are. Jim asks Zoey if she remembers him. Before she can answer, a dinosaur interrupts with a well-placed roar. Phew, awkwardness averted!

That's all I've seen for now, but my predictions for the next 20 minutes:

-Jim punches some more people
-Zoey gets put inside more stuff
-Elizabeth has to fix her idiot husband's fuck-ups yet again
-the teenage children get more character development beyond "they are teenagers"

Azzandra wrote:

His family, in order of appearance: teenage son, wife with British accent, very young daughter.

Micro-nit-pick: I'm English, and I hear the wife's accent as some kind of Australian or Kiwi (can't tell the difference...)

Macro-nit-pick: please please PLEASE!!! There is no such thing as a "British" accent, just as there is no such thing as an "American" accent. We have regions, just as the US has, and each region has its own accent.

Dixie wrote:

Azzandra wrote:

His family, in order of appearance: teenage son, wife with British accent, very young daughter.

Micro-nit-pick: I'm English, and I hear the wife's accent as some kind of Australian or Kiwi (can't tell the difference...)

Macro-nit-pick: please please PLEASE!!! There is no such thing as a "British" accent, just as there is no such thing as an "American" accent. We have regions, just as the US has, and each region has its own accent.

You expect Americans to recognize cultural and dialect differences in other countries? PFFT. PFFT, I say to you!

^ Especially considering the regions that make up our regional accents are each larger than all of England (unless you are picking apart different east coast accents, but they all sound the same to me). I mean COME ON.

Dixie wrote:

Azzandra wrote:

His family, in order of appearance: teenage son, wife with British accent, very young daughter.

Micro-nit-pick: I'm English, and I hear the wife's accent as some kind of Australian or Kiwi (can't tell the difference...)

Macro-nit-pick: please please PLEASE!!! There is no such thing as a "British" accent, just as there is no such thing as an "American" accent. We have regions, just as the US has, and each region has its own accent.

It's a Kiwi accent, but it's not the broader type I'm used to. Generally you can tell because vowels get swapped around a lot (it's why Aussies usually try to make fun of Kiwi accents they pronounce 'fish and chips' as 'fush and chups').

I just don't understand the premise. If you go back 85 million years, won't your civilization peak even earlier than the 22nd century because you're still human and presumably you'll make the same human mistakes all over again? So then, you'll have to go back even farther to avoid the people camped at the 85 million marker and...I just don't get it.

Soylent Green wrote:

I just don't understand the premise. If you go back 85 million years, won't your civilization peak even earlier than the 22nd century because you're still human and presumably you'll make the same human mistakes all over again? So then, you'll have to go back even farther to avoid the people camped at the 85 million marker and...I just don't get it.

You got it in one good buddy. Anyone for fried trilobite on a stick with a side order of Crinoid stems.
That will be followed by a generous portion of boiled Brachiopods and some raw ammonites. Yum Yum!

Boiled trilobite, baked trilobite, trilobite stew, trilobite pot pie, trilobite burgers, trilobite salad, trilobite sashimi, barbeque trilobite, trilobite surprise, trilobite lasagna, trilobite sausage, trilobite burritos, trilobite sandwiches.

...and pretty soon...no more trilobites!

I got frustrated very very quickly.

Brannon Braga? Oh, the guy who was really good on TNG when he had other writers to reign him in, then went to a level of gonzo that David Lynch wouldn't touch when there wasn't.

Let's see. Stereotypical corporate-run Orwellian-cyberpunk sh*thole. Overpolluted, everything dying off like flies, everyone living on soylent and marveling over an orange. The requisite, stylish looking future!Nazi-style brute squads being the best-looking folks in town...

I'm actually shocked the brute squad didn't just blow the little girl's head off. Y'know, population control. Would have fit in with the setting.

Y'know, this sets off a massive powder keg with me. I'm one of those 99% types you see on the news, busting my can, calling Congress, marching in the streets, passing petitions. I'm more into politics than I am fanfic. Why? Because sci-fi showed me worlds I wouldn't mind living in. From Bellamy and Welles, and Verne, Piercy's odd Maripoisett, to Snyder's Green Sky, to the United Federation of Planets as depicted in TOS and TNG. They had trouble, they could be flawed, but they worked inside their world to overcome those flaws. They fought, they struggled, and came out better for it. Technology could help improve the human condition. Humanity had it in them to pull their heads out of their collective asses and leave their grandkids better off. That's why I started to pick up signs, pass around petitions, get off my can, and fight!

I like Firefly. I've read 1984 and Fahrenheit 451. I appreciate sci-fi as a warning bell for paths we don't want to walk. However, that's ALL sci-fi seems to be now. Even the worlds that used to be worth fighting for, like the New Republic and the United Federation of Planets are depicted as dismal places run by scheming, power-hungry bastards - they just have a little a little gold paint to cover them up. Blake's 7, the prototype of squabbling antiheroes on a personal vendetta who get progressively more ruthless and disturbed, then lose in a horrific fashion seems optimistic in comparison. We're treated to nothing but an endless parade of bleak futures, and the only "hope" (which I call the Terra Nova idea questionable at best) is to literally return to the past?

What happened to a future worth fighting for? Where's the message that things are even capable of getting better? Do we even have it in us to imagine what a good future would look like?

Because nobody believes in a future anymore. See also: Space program.

And I think shows like this are part of the issue. Probably just me, but I'd like a backlash.

Soylent Green wrote:

I just don't understand the premise. If you go back 85 million years, won't your civilization peak even earlier than the 22nd century because you're still human and presumably you'll make the same human mistakes all over again? So then, you'll have to go back even farther to avoid the people camped at the 85 million marker and...I just don't get it.

The whole point of going to Terra Nova is explicitly to avoid making the same mistakes twice.

Besides, they explained that by going in the past, they created a new timestream. They're not actually in their past, they're in an alternate past Earth.

Allronix wrote:

And I think shows like this are part of the issue. Probably just me, but I'd like a backlash.

I'd say that you're both right and wrong on this.

You're right because science fiction can inspire. Science fiction can lead us to pursue the ragged edge of technology and make us want more. The wrong comes from the fact that science fiction is largely driven by the culture that inspires it. And right now the culture inspiring sci-fi is "we may be technologically advanced, but it won't stop the suck."

Allronix wrote:

And I think shows like this are part of the issue. Probably just me, but I'd like a backlash.

I fully agree. I'm part of the 99% too. Not as active as you but signing petitions and contributing a bit of cash. This show is just a feel good fantasy for the proles. Like shows before it it avoids the hard issues to keep from getting cancled by corporate funded networks. Better to run from your problems than face them. Let the dying hordes die! I've got mine and screw the rest. Goddess help us if corporations can keep the public from realizing that they can and should impose their will on the powered interests. The 99% movement is a hopeful sign.

Overpopulation? Mandatory sterilization after 2 kids and abortion on demand? Nope that's 'socialism'!

Poisoned air and global warming? Stop burning fossil fuels? Nope that's 'socialism'!

Destroyed and polluted land? Strict laws on industrial growth and urban sprawl? Nope that's 'socialism'!

In a country where Al Gore is demonized for his warnings and where politicians actively work to outlaw a womans reproductive rights over her own body any show that seriously tried to confront the ugly dystopias that special effects men create is doomed to never even become a pilot.

Yeah, that's what hit me. If it's to the point of a "head count Gestapo," then tubes tied/vasectomy is NOT out of line. We did worse in the name of "eugenics" in the past. It'd be another matter if there was some fluke with the sterilization (which can happen) and decided to risk it rather than report to the government abortion center. (Because even someone like me, who funnels a couple hundred bucks a year to NARAL and PP thinks coerced abortion is as bad as coerced birth)

Between the logic bomb regarding the tyke and the fact that the world itself is a writeoff like every other SF show since the Nineties, forget it.

Watched it a couple of days ago, and decided it was a no-go.

There seems to be an uprising about shows about families. Fallen Skies is about a dad with loads of sons, who all miraculously survive an alien invasion. At least the main character's (Dad) wife died, so there's room for romance, but really, what the fuck?

I cannot understand the target group of a show like Terra Nova. It can't be teenagers, because there's way too much focus on the stupid dad and mum. But it can't be adults either, because there's too much focus on the incredibly stupid teenagers. I really don't need another 'you're my dad but you left us and now I won't respect your authoritah' teenage rebellion show.

The characters. I all hate them.
There is a cop husband who breeds children because 'it felt like a good idea at the time'--hello, pisscop, unless you give us a good reason I feel no sympathy for you for breaking the 2-children-only rule. Earth is dying. It wasn't an accident, you consciously chose to have this last baby. And if you did, why the FUCK didn't you build a better saferoom for her? Small children do tend to burst into tears when they get scared, you know? He is arrogant, belligerent and insensitive--if somewhat nice to look at. Did you notice how well his pecs were preserved in that cell that rotted his lungs away?

Related question: Why don't they shoot the child? or the father? If having too many people is a serious problem and getting a third child an offence, why not just shoot one of the two? Just wondering...

The wife. She was prepared, I guess, for Terra Nova. But when she shows up in the hospital she seems completely at a loss how to deal with the giant leech--and yeah, seems like a GOOD idea to place the local wildlife that may host bacteria you haven't even heard of on/in someone's blood stream. For the rest, she seems stubborn and belligerent and has no character otherwise.

The boy. Sorry, I forgot all of their names, like, immediately. He is so annoying. Your standard typical teenagers: doesn't accept authority, especially not his dad's, and thinks it's a good idea to explore the world he knows NOTHING about because he couldn't be arsed to do ANY research and apparently he doesn't want to know anything, either. Off he goes with that old-looking girl, into the world OUtside The Fence.
Ok, i can actually understand why he'd want to do that, but god, he is so STUPID and whiny. I cannot imagine even teenagers wanting to know what kind of shit this kid's going to pull in further episodes.

The eldest daughter. Argh. The Know-it-all. The little professor. The caring, baby-sitting girl. I hope she gets eaten by a dinosaur. What made the producers think this would be an interesting character?

The youngest daughter. Has no character.

The whole setting. WTF. Ok, you have these pilgrims. And then there are the Sixes. The Sixes are people who came in on the sixth Pilgrimage and then discended, or something. They went away, stole a bunch of supplies, weapons and jeeps, and built their own strong hold. Every once in a while they come buy and threaten to kill people in order to get more supplies.

At one point, the leader of the Sixes is herded into the compound by a rampant dinosaur. Uhuh. She is at the mercy of the head of the compound, and he...gives her medicines and sends her on her way.

Ebbeh? Why doesn't he take her prisoner and lock up her cronies as well? I'm sure there's a whole backstory I'm not aware of, but the whole situation was just...weird. And none of the standersby were doing anything. No one questioned what was going on, why the Sixes were given precious supplies, why they were allowed to leave after one of them held The Wife hostage, etc.

So.

Character huggability: 2 out of 10 (the little girl is somewhat cute)
Setting: Oh look, it looks just like earth. Duh, it IS, only very long ago.
Chance I'm going to follow this series: 0

Fail.

Well, I like it.


OK, having Zoe was stupid. Punching out the Population Control grunt was stupid. You have to bear in mind, though, that people generally get married because of this weird phenomenon called Love. Elizabeth made arrangements for Jim to be sprung out of jail because she wants her husband back and for her kids to not be in Terra Nova without their dad, which in my mind is totally reasonable. The Sixers' and Taylor's motives for doing the things they do are just one of the mysteries that will no doubt be solved in later episodes.

I agree with kleine_kat about Josh, though, he needs a punch in the head, followed by a kick up the arse and finished off with a dinosaur nibbling on one of his limbs for good measure.