After 2+ years of development, the pilot of Terra Nova finally was shown to a profound “meh”. It was a mediocre family drama with some nice special effects. The show wasn’t so bad that I’m going to avoid it, but will probably watch another 1-2 episodes to see if it gets any better. But, based off last night’s episode, I’m not counting on it. So, let’s check in and see what happened and where(when) is Terra Nova.
The first problem I had with the Terra Nova pilot is that they hand-waved away all the interesting science questions. What is the time-space crack that lets them travel backwards (and why is it only one way)? Did they pick 85 million years ago or was it the only option available for them? And if the communication is only one way, then how do they know (in the future) what is happening in the past? If no one and no information can come back, then how do they know that anyone that’s been sent into the time crack is still alive? The whole scenario seemed to just be: Get them into the past without having to make people think. That’s not a good start for a science-fiction show. The other main driver of the show is the horrible future where everyone has to wear a breathing mask and people are restricted to only two children (for unknown reasons). Our plucky heroes have had a 3rd child which they don’t do a good job hiding when the cops come to check them out.
The main family characters range from bland to annoying. The father, Jim, is a hothead. The mom, Elisabeth, is a smart doctor (or so we’re told). The kids take after their parents with a smart daughter(Maddy) and a son(Josh) with a temper. The youngest kid (Zoe) is a blank slate, cute kid that is just there to be cute and get in trouble.
After a setup where the family is caught with a 3rd kid, the father throws a couple punches and is thrown in jail. Fast forward 3 years and the wife sneaks something to the father in jail (after bribing a guard) to help him escape while telling him that she was recruited to Terra Nova, but is only allowed to bring two kids*. The dad breaks out, gets the baby and jumps into the past with the family. The mom is setup as one of the doctors and the dad gets invited to join the security team. Josh is unhappy (partly because he’s an annoying teen and partly because his Dad was gone for 3 years) and meets up with some other teens. The group then sneaks into a restricted area and almost ends up as dino chow.
*So, why couldn’t they bring the 3rd child into the past? Were they supposed to leave it in the future where who know what would happen to it? Was there any good reason for that restriction other than to have the writers try to setup some conflict? It seemed like an idiotic restriction especially since they were recruiting Elisabeth for Terra Nova. “Hi ma’am, we’d like you to go 85 million years in the past, but you can only bring 2 of your 3 kids”.
There is also a splinter group (called the sixers since they were mostly part of the sixth group to come over) who was kicked out of the main settlement. There the wise, grizzly chief (played by Stephen Lang) who’s hiding something as the splinter group hints at a larger plotline and a mystery behind the settlement.
Overall it was mediocre. The family was bland (and they’re supposed to be the focal point of the series) and the mystery and splinter group seem to be right out of Outcasts (only in the past instead of another planet). The special effects (mainly the dinosaurs) looked great, but seemed only to be there to serve the plot (how long would a dinosaur bat around a metal container before giving up and going to find some food). The dialogue was clunky and the exposition had no subtlety at all. I don’t have high hopes for the show, but I’m willing to give it another episode or two before turning it off for good.