Anyone Watch The Terra Nova Premier? Spoiler Alert!

I watched the first episode and was thoroughly underwhelmed. It felt like the show was trying too hard to be Lost, and failed completely. The acting was mostly meh, the production values were meh, and the writing was meh. It felt like I was watching a SyFy original movie. Some of the plotholes were big enough to portal back to 85 million years through. The fact that Dayton likes it convinces me it's terrible, but I'll give episodes two and three a chance.

so I watched last nights episode on Hulu just now and...it's actually pretty good.

Not "Damn what a show!" or anything but definitely better than the "recycled Voyager plot" we were anticipating last week. the show doesn't have to be "GREAT!" for me because it's a genre show, it just can't be tedious and predictable. i liked this better than the pilot for sure.

I will have to watch it online since my local FOX affiliate was showing the baseball game instead of programming!!

It was the Naked Now (or Naked Time) episode - the stupid "we lost our memories only 2 episodes in because we don't want to think too hard about character development yet" episode.

No, it wasn't "Naked Now" at all - that's inhibition reduction which was not what this was about.

this was more a disassociational memory loss, like we see all the time in Alzheimer's patients (where you think you are at some past point in your life) - I remember my Grandma talking as if she were living in Arkansas in the late 40's for hours on end.

The writing was completely credible on that point.

Maybe it was DS9's babel...who knows.

I got bored halfway through and turned it off

Disappointing *sigh*

Funny, I thought the first half was the better half.

I already stopped watching this show and deleted it from my DVR.

Fail.

Okay, this week's was much better. Yeah, the A plot was predictable. But the details fleshed out the arc slightly, and adds a bit of depth to the Sixers, which they badly needed, and documented Taylor's paranoia and Jim's willingness to go along with it. The treetop hideout is only somewhat convincing - it's not like nothing carnivorous can climb trees in 85 million BC.

The B plot (what tiny bit of it there was) was a welcome bit of character development for Maddy and whatshisface, her boyfriend.

I still like the scenery and the fact that the majority of the show seems to take place outdoors. A really nice change of pace.

This show is still on?

Of course it is.

It is going to be on regardless for awhile because according to wikipedia, Fox went ahead and paid for 13 episodes.

Also, the show is already being aired overseas in numerous countries.

I would not doubt that the show gets a chance at a second season. I'm for it. I'm tired of reality tv and police procedurals.

Well, I've watched a few episodes now and all I can say is "meh." Sometimes you have to take a little time to establish background before you can get your main story arc moving, but there's really been spectacularly little potential establishment of background so far. I'm pretty sure that whatever happens in the remaining episodes, if you've missed all the episodes so far you could catch up and know all you need to know in order to follow the ongoing story with about five minutes or less of clips from previous shows.

I'm also willing to bet that we get a big reveal that either 1) this isn't really an alternate timeline or 2) two-way travel and not just two-way communication through the portal is possible, with Taylor and the sixer leadership knowing this. There's no good way to keep up the tension between the sixers and the main settlement unless there's more to their squabbles than personal pique and grievances carried back from a non-causally related future, and the most likely way to make the "mysterious" rock calculations meaningful is as some sort of proof of this kind of reveal.

Bland plot was bland.

I've seen the first three eps, and it's so-so. I find the concept more engaging than the people, and it feels a little like Primeval in reverse.

It'd be more compelling if they pulled a City on the Edge of Forever and have a pilgrimage come through that causes the future to disappear.

I went against my better judgment and saw the latest episode.

God, this is a mess.

If nothing else, the plot contrivance of the "good cop" not telling Taylor what he heard is simply astonishing.

I took that to mean that Mira had sown some doubt in Shannon's mind.

I like Taylor, as a character, a good bit. one of the big things bothering me about this show is I get a strong sense he's going to turn out to be a villain.

I have a feeling that there has been a backstory change already.

I think the character of Taylor was originally supposed to be some kind of meglomanic dictator type with delusions of grandeur. A version of Lang's military man character from Avatar.

But I think that Lang has already made the character so much his own that the producers after the pilot was shot have quickly backed off the "evil Taylor" idea.

Me. I want to see more of the 22nd century. How did the environment get in such bad shape? How did the time portal get opened in the first place?

If they did get a full season order for episodes, I would insist on having at least two take place in the 22nd century.

"Taylor's pissed off some mighty tough people back in the Future. They're extorting me and my family into getting rid of him, so I'm using this 10-year-old girl as a spy and threaten to kill her little brothers if she doesn't behave."

"Gee... Taylor sounds like a really bad guy... Better not tell him any of this."

Okay, I've watched the last five episodes since last weekend and I wanted to revisit this thread - IMO this show is really coming on.

I credit Rene Echeverria because, oddly, i'm sensing an embryonic DS9 vibe growing in this series.

Commander Taylor has grown into a very solid "Starfleet Captain" type leader that is really appealing to me, the Mr. and Mrs. Shannon and Malcolm and Washington (underused) and the young soldier - Reynolds - make a nice ensemble "bridge crew" set of characters and Boylen brings the Quark element.

Mira's turning out to be a solid antagonist, with deeper motivations than initially indicated and the introduction of Lucas not only explains the "mysterious calculations" but also brings a bit of "mad scientist" to the table.

the stories are not groundbreaking - the last one did a shortened version of the "enemy mine" riff which is well worn, but it did some good character building - and the "B" stories are not always compelling, but this too is a very common reality in Trek series.

While this show was sold as revolutionary, what it turned out to be was a pretty mainstream genre show which stands or falls based on execution more so than on breaking new ground.

I wouldn't argue it's a "great" show or one of the best, but if you - like me - will watch any genre show you can tolerate, it's far better than just "tolerable"

So far.

on the other hand, i'd really like it if there was less involvement in the kids lives. While they made good use of Skye in the last episode, the whole "Josh can't wait to get his girlfriend here" riff is tedious to me.

I stopped watching after the first 3 episodes. It wasn't thought provoking and it didn't have any space battles.

I'll admit that two reasons I watch it are for Commander Taylor and the gorgeous outdoors scenery.

The scenery alone is such a nice change of pace. And it seems to rain a lot.

And I'm glad they have not overused the dinosaurs.

And I like that they actually explained a lot of the "mystery" behind the series already. Not like most shows (including some I really like) that farm out bits and pieces of the mystery every season finale and leave you constantly speculating.

It is clear to me that in the season finale they are going to destroy the portal to prevent Terra Nova from being taken over by the people from the future.

By the way, this series is still closely following some short stories by science fiction writer Steven Utley.

Just the two hour season finale to go. I certainly hope this isn't a "series finale" because I think the series definitely has improved.

I do like how they haven't kept people guessing endlessly about the backstory (conflict between Taylor, the Sixers, and the people back in the future, plus why Lucas Taylor hates his father).

I'm curious as to how Terra Nova is going to survive without a link to 2142 (2143 next season I guess). It is clear from the dialogue that they are going to blow the portal.

It is also clear that the troops that storm through the portal in the season finale are going to become the new enemy of Terra Nova instead of the Sixers next season (if there is a next season).

They've already set up the idea of Mira and the Sixers being reconciled with Taylor and Terra Nova. You can bet that when Mira finds the people coming from 2142 have no intention of reuniting her with her daughter will turn her to Taylors side.

If nothing else, I'm curious as to how this series might develop over a number of seasons.

I don't know, I watch it because hey, it's dinosaurs, but the writing has been pretty typically brain-dead. For example, we have a traitor that is threatening the colony and a super fragile DNA sample that can tell us his/her identity. Let's NOT take any precautions to ensure that it is safe. :santa_rolleyes:

Or how about when the colony is supposed to be on lockdown, yet apparently anybody can just volunteer to go outside the gate, which traitor girl of course takes advantage of, then disappears for what must have been at least an hour with nobody noticing.

While this first season of Terra Nova was indeed uneven at best quality wise, the season (hopefully not series) finale was outstanding.

Spoilers below


It is obvious by the revelation at the end that the possibility exists of another time fracture that once transported the 18th century ship (and probably other humans) 85 million years in the past so its obvious that they might yet make contact again with 2149.

I just wish Lucas Taylor had not survived those two gunshot wounds. Though it was great seeing those Pheonix Group guys getting chewed up by the dinosaur.