Is anybody here watching "Terra Nova"?

DavidBrown

DavidBrown

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Is anybody here watching "Terra Nova" and if so, what do you think of it?

I figured that it is okay to talk about it here because it is basically about a bunch of humans living in a big zoo 85 million years ago (albeit the humans live in the enclosure so that the animals and ecosystems will not get them).

I had high hopes that this would be a rollicking, fun, exciting science fiction adventure show. The makers touted that their dinosaurs were going to have feature film quality and scientifically accurate recreations. There is a dystopian 2149 on the other side of the wormhole where interesting ecological parables could be explored.

I don't hate the show, but instead of interesting, fun adventure with dinosaurs and meaningful science fiction stories with relevant social commentary a la"Star Trek" we mostly get a fairly bland family adventure. The whiney teenagers get twice as much screen time as the animals and ecosystems of 85 million year ago Earth, and ecologically impaired 2149 only appeared in the first 15 minutes of the first episode.

The dinosaurs and other prehistoric life have been semi-interesting. They had a huge komodo dragon ancestor recently, and a migratory swarm of vicious miniature pteradons. Steven Spielberg, one of the producers, apparently decreed that none of the species used in "Jurassic Park" could be used so there are no velociraptors or T. rexes. They created a raptor- T. rexish species called "slashers".

Anyway, if anyone else is watching or watched and gave up I would be interested in hearing your opinion of the show.
 
I don't particularly love it or hate it. The character Josh however especially annoys me I literally cringe everytime I hear him speak and roll my eyes whenever he appears one screen. ( I know it's just TV)

But I do agree that there is not enough action, it is a relatively slow story, and just a few bits here and there with dinosaur encounters and sixers. But really, there should be more. I personally believe they have spent too much time on the character Boylan.Overall I think there is too much focus within the actual Terra nova community and not enough interaction and conflict with the prehistoric wildlife.

-just my two cents.
 
Yeah, I watch this show religiously. I hate it, but I liked Stargate and Lost, so it's the closest show on TV to either.

Hailing from Australia, I try to identify the species in the cages in the lab. So far I have seen a bearded dragon, and a monitor of some sort (I think it is a lace monitor).

Other than that, I find the show to be rather boring. Their technology is rather backward for 2149. I think that the show would have been more believable if they left 2011 and went back in time, and carried today's technology with them.
 
nanoboy said:
Yeah, I watch this show religiously. I hate it, but I liked Stargate and Lost, so it's the closest show on TV to either.

Hailing from Australia, I try to identify the species in the cages in the lab. So far I have seen a bearded dragon, and a monitor of some sort (I think it is a lace monitor).

Other than that, I find the show to be rather boring. Their technology is rather backward for 2149. I think that the show would have been more believable if they left 2011 and went back in time, and carried today's technology with them.
Click to expand...

Have you ever been to the area where they are filming it? I've been trying to figure out how much of the landscape is real and how much is digital. It looks like quite a spectacular forest ecosystem if most of it is real (and I hope that it is).
 
DavidBrown said:
Have you ever been to the area where they are filming it? I've been trying to figure out how much of the landscape is real and how much is digital. It looks like quite a spectacular forest ecosystem if most of it is real (and I hope that it is).
Click to expand...

From what I read, they filmed it in the Gold Coast hinterland. I have been to the Gold Coast, and my room had a view of the hinterland but I have never ventured into the parks there.

However, I try to identify the trees in addition to the animals. Many of the trees look like native trees. I suspect that some of the trees (like the really large one that the leader supposedly lived in and buried the body under) are artificial, and the scenes were filmed 'on set'.

The way I see it, an American audience wouldn't know a eucalyptus tree from an extinct jurassic-era tree, so I would assume that the outdoor scenes are, for the most part, unaltered.
 
DavidBrown said:
.

I had high hopes that this would be a rollicking, fun, exciting science fiction adventure show. The makers touted that their dinosaurs were going to have feature film quality and scientifically accurate recreations. There is a dystopian 2149 on the other side of the wormhole where interesting ecological parables could be explored.

Anyway, if anyone else is watching or watched and gave up I would be interested in hearing your opinion of the show.
Click to expand...

Like you, I had high hopes for thos series, but it really disappointed me. The story is very slow moving, and there definitely aren't enough dinosaurs. I gave up after 4 episodes.
 
mazfc said:
Like you, I had high hopes for thos series, but it really disappointed me. The story is very slow moving, and there definitely aren't enough dinosaurs. I gave up after 4 episodes.
Click to expand...

Same here. Not enough dinosaurs, and those dinos that did appear never got the chance to actually shine. I dislikle people who nitpick about "accuracy" in fiction shows, so I'll just say that if the show had better looking CG, more dinosaurs (or even, few dinosaurs but with more screen time), and less angsty teenager and disfunctional family stuff, it would be much more satisfying.
I actually like ITVs Primeval better than this!
 
Adam Khor said:
Same here. Not enough dinosaurs, and those dinos that did appear never got the chance to actually shine. I dislikle people who nitpick about "accuracy" in fiction shows, so I'll just say that if the show had better looking CG, more dinosaurs (or even, few dinosaurs but with more screen time), and less angsty teenager and disfunctional family stuff, it would be much more satisfying.
I actually like ITVs Primeval better than this!
Click to expand...

I quite enjoy Terra Nova, although more dinosaurs would be good. I also quite enjoyed the first three seasons of Primeval, but they keep killing off main characters, new characters come and go, and I'm not sure what direction the series is heading.

Have they made a sixth season yet?

:p

Hix
 
Hix said:
I quite enjoy Terra Nova, although more dinosaurs would be good. I also quite enjoyed the first three seasons of Primeval, but they keep killing off main characters, new characters come and go, and I'm not sure what direction the series is heading.

Have they made a sixth season yet?

:p

Hix
Click to expand...

Not yet, I think. I heard the new season will be set in Canada.

I agree that there is not a real direction to Primeval, but hell it was entertaining!
 
Slightly off-topic here, but any LOST fans out there? There are at least 3 TV shows involving writers or producers from LOST on TV right now: Person of Interest, Alcatraz, and Once Upon a Time.

Once Upon a Time is a definite must for any LOSTies out there. The other two series are a bit blah. And as this is Zoochat, I must mention wildlife: there's a wolf that makes an occasional appearance in Once Upon a Time. :)
 
I think it's still up in the air whether or not Terra Nova will be renewed. Frankly, I will be surprised if it is. It seems to me Fox gets a decent SciFi program then they kill it after a season or two.
 
grafxman said:
I think it's still up in the air whether or not Terra Nova will be renewed. Frankly, I will be surprised if it is. It seems to me Fox gets a decent SciFi program then they kill it after a season or two.
Click to expand...

Bah. Good riddance to Terra Nova. They knew they were going to get axed - just look at the way the season finale ended without a cliffhanger.

There are too many other shows out there to shed a tear for 'Falling Skies' or 'Terra Nova'. I thought that TV had lost the brilliance of Robert Carlyle after Stargate Universe was cancelled, but thankfully he plays an excellent role in Once Upon a Time.
 
I would like to see more "Terra Nova". In the last few episodes they seemed to be finding a groove of "more dinos, fewer whining teens". Also they finally showed more 2149. We should know in a few weeks whether there is more on the way.
 
nanoboy said:
You have a penchant for low-budget, poorly done CGI? :p
Click to expand...

No, but at least they seemed to be putting some interesting thought and biological knowledge into the animals like the Komodo dragon ancestor and the migratory micropterosaurs. Some of the sauropod CGI seemed to be quite good (like the last episode where the CEO jerk shot the brachiosaur or whatever species it was with the super-gun).
 
DavidBrown said:
No, but at least they seemed to be putting some interesting thought and biological knowledge into the animals like the Komodo dragon ancestor and the migratory micropterosaurs. Some of the sauropod CGI seemed to be quite good (like the last episode where the CEO jerk shot the brachiosaur or whatever species it was with the super-gun).
Click to expand...

Well, not enough to get me watching if they renew it. I don't even have to tune in to see how they resolved the season finale, because, well, they did that already. :D

I am going to check out a relatively new series called 'The River'. Maybe I'll start a new thread.
 
I was enjoying 'Terranova', and I do hope they renew it. 'Alcatraz' has potential but I don't think it will last. Neither will 'Person of Interest'.

:p

Hix
 
Hix said:
I was enjoying 'Terranova', and I do hope they renew it. 'Alcatraz' has potential but I don't think it will last. Neither will 'Person of Interest'.

:p

Hix
Click to expand...

I am not sure whether either will last - Keeping Up With the Kardashians seems to be a hit, so go figure. :D

Personally, I have lost interest in Person of Interest and Alcatraz, and will probably not watch them again. I gave 'Grimm' 2 episodes, and I gave up on that. My wife is a diehard fan though.
 
Hix said:
I was enjoying 'Terranova', and I do hope they renew it. 'Alcatraz' has potential but I don't think it will last. Neither will 'Person of Interest'.

:p

Hix
Click to expand...

"Person of Interest" seems to be catching on in the U.S. "Alcatraz" is getting worse ratings than "Terra Nova", which likely does not bode well for it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top