Terra Nova

Loved the series, I just wished they gave it another season or two :(

It still saddens me to this day that this show was never picked up for a second season. While it's far from perfect, it had a genuinely interesting concept and some fun ideas, though the execution could have used some work. I would have loved to see them potentially work some of the issues out with a second season, but unfortunately it seems we'll probably never get one.

For some reason then it took me five years to get around to watching "Terra Nova", despite the fact that a friend told me good things about it when it was showing back in 2011. But I happened to come across it in a second hand DVD store, and decided to give it a chance.

I must say that I have been missing out on something quite entertaining. Sure, while the concept idea is not original, and might actually be a rip off at certain stages, it still proved to be quite entertaining.

What worked for me here, was a myriad of things. Let's start with the concept idea of time traveling back to the prehistoric time and starting a colony, which was the focal point of the movie. That worked out quite well, and made for a good foundation for the series. Although there were some blanks here and there in the background of it all. And the storyline in the series was also quite good, lots of interesting things happening here, and the writers were good at including multiple people and families in the events that took place in and around the Terra Nova colony. And finally, the characters in the series. There was clearly a lot of thought being put into the characters, as they had good details and often an elaborate background story to be told as well.

The effects in "Terra Nova" were good, well most of the time anyway. There were some moments when the dinosaurs looked quite fake and it was painstakingly clear that it was CGI. But for most parts it was working out nicely, and the dinosaurs were well animated and looked realistic enough.

However, the driving force of "Terra Nova" was the cast. They had managed to put together a great ensemble of cast for this series. Especially Stephen Lang, he was shining in this role.

Normally I am not overly keen on Sci-Fi as per se, but creators Kelly Marcel and Craig Silverstein managed to put together something quite entertaining here with "Terra Nova".

If you haven't already seen the series, I can warmly recommend that you take the time to watch all thirteen episodes, as it is quite entertaining. I am rating "Terra Nova" a solid score of seven out of ten stars.

When I heard Spielberg was exec producing a show about dinosaurs, I half expected Jurassic Park: The Series. All the makings are here. Same for LOST, the two things that this show will inevitably be compared to. It shoots for the mystery and stranded feel of LOST, while throwing in the dinosaurs and the family dynamic of Jurassic Park. Sadly, this is neither, but something in between just shy of the quality of both.

For those unaware of the story, we are taken to the future first, where Earth has become an overpopulated, uninhabitable mess. To solve this problem, for a reason yet to be explained, humanity decides to time warp back 85 million years ago, where they can live in peace and harmony with dinosaurs. Or, as the first episode would like us to believe, can run and scream in terror as carnivorous dinosaurs keep people penned in their little colony and out of the jungle. The focus of the show is the Shannon family, new pilgrims to the colony who quickly learn what's what around Terra Nova. Of course, the most entertaining and interesting character is Stephen Lang, who plays a friendlier version of his character from Avatar. After all, who can't get enough gruff, military commander Stephen Lang.

For the most part, Terra Nova is entertaining, interesting, yet wholly disposable television. It has the Spielbergian touches and is somewhat reminiscent of early 2000, late 90's sci-fi TV. Where those similar aspects in LOST were unfolded in a slow burn to let things sink in for the viewer, or where our introduction to the danger of the dino's in Jurassic Park was slowly brought forth, here it's thrown at you in force. Not for a while, as we have to get acquainted with our main characters, but dangerous thunder lizards are soon enough thrown our way. The carnage shown is a bit surprising considering it's basic TV, yet there are no known deaths, just a few strong, gory moments (depending on your definition of gory) here and there. The dinosaurs themselves are less than desirable. Whereas Jurassic Park, which essentially perfected dinosaurs with a mix of practical and cg effects, had pleasing dinosaurs, here they seem a bit awkward and out of place. Almost completely cg, these dinosaurs look about 5 or 6 years old in the cg department. It would appear that the budget for creating the dinosaurs was less than sufficient, which sadly translates into poorly animated dino's.

Now, it's not all bad. Again, Stephen Lang is entertaining here as the military commander of the colony. The show also presents an interesting plot which I suspect could become more interesting as the season goes on. And while a show like LOST should have ended at probably it's fourth season, Terra Nova has life in it. Sadly, if it doesn't get better than the pilot, than I can't say we will see a season 2. And FOX is quite famous for canceling shows. Maybe the power of Steven Spielberg will save the show. Who knows. I'll ride it for as long as I can, I suppose. But for a pilot, the show was disappointing. What should have been a titanic, impressive two hours turned into a lackluster event with a lack of dinosaur action (and what is up with those names? Slasher? really? We couldn't go with real dinosaurs like velociraptors, compy's, or T- rex's?), turns out to shoot for the moon but only get so far as our atmosphere.

This show is one of my all time favourites. I've watched and rewatched it multiple times and I never get bored of it.

It'll be great if they could bring this show back, with all the original actors in the lead, of course, because they all did a fantastic job portraying their respective characters.