So, what did you guys think of the new 'big budget' TV show? Premier aired earlier today, and I have mixed feelings about it.

My first impression when I saw the trailer was that it'll most likely turn out like SG:U. Basically a drama set in some awesomely cool unique place that just ignores the setting and only focuses on the people involved.

The first 45 minutes of the premier definitely supported this idea, with needless drama in-between the family members.

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Why did we need to have the broken family drama? Did we really need to have some retarded overly rebellious kid that has daddy issues? Great thing they included the problems with the Dad going to jail for 4 years. The whole escaping prison, having a forbidden third daughter and needing to stow away to reach Terra nova was a ridiculous subplot that seems to have absolutely no influence on what happens now that they are there. The whole breaking the law for a third child just makes them look stupid as a family, and definitely takes away any sympathetic feelings I have for them.

What I wanted to see in this series was a story about people making their way into this new amazing world and building themselves a new life, a new civilization. Man surviving against a world out to eat him, for the lack of better words. The second half of the premier did kinda deliver in this respect. There was definitely cool dinosaur stuff, and it was surprisingly enough not actually precipitated by clear retardation.

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The fact that they decided to go fucking around outside the guarded complex wasn't exactly intelligent, but they seemed fine until the sixers stole their buggy's power packs. The whole subplot about the commanders son, and weird markings over by the falls could be interesting. I do however feel that the sixers subplot + the whole power struggle of 'controlling the past = controlling the future' is just gonna bug the fuck out of me.

Overall, I've yet to make a judgement, I covet the potential this show has, but I'm leaning towards it most likely ending up like SGU.

 

Just finished watching. Looks pretty kick ass so far. Fighting the dinos was...:awesome

 

I think the whole family drama was a way to try and realistically get the main character there with his family- while being the only family there with more than one/two kids... I didn't mind it as it had action later on, but I almost switched over thinking it was going to be bad.

I liked it, and the sentance at the end was a little predictable and was what I thought would happen with the premise.

 

The family drama has absolutely no point other than pure drama. It's the worst part about the show as far as I'm concerned. I also nearly stopped about 30 minutes into it, it just had absolutely no hook, apart from the premise.

Considering that there has been absolutely no mention of them having more than 2 kids, I don't see it being a big issue, meaning it was just a useless attempt at creating tension at the beginning, like the prison thing with the dad was.

 

Just watched it now and I have to say it looks like it's just going to be another expensive failure. I really hate all the attempts at creating family drama, and in particular the whole 'moody teen' stereotype they're trying to push with the son. The commander was surprisingly fun to watch in action but he's the only character I'm even remotely interested in.

I'm definitely disappointed by this pilot and the only redeeming factor was seeing those stupid teens being munched on by dinosaurs. Overall, I'm not at all hopeful about this show. They're trying to appeal to too broad an audience by including drama and random conspiracy subplots which probably won't amount to anything. If they'd just run with the whole 'survival' theme, and not cluttered it with family drama crap, it could have been much better. I'll watch the next few eps, but I'm almost certain the ratings for this will start plummeting after the next few episodes.

 

Just like SG:U, I'll end up watching this until the very end. Even if it is bad. D:

/forever alone

 

Agree one hundred percent on the whole family drama thing. The "going to prison because of third child" seemed only to be there to fill up time in the first episode, since it doesn't seem to have any consequences (rightfully so, would be retarded to cling to it on Terra Nova) and to give the boy Daddy issues. The boy, coincidentally, was the most annoying character.

I liked the mom, the two sister of the family, the father seemed ok, if only a bit generic. The commander, I agree, was the most interesting character, although I am not sure what to think of the whole son-subplot yet. I don't think it will be good but I hope I will be proven wrong.

Overall, this may turn out to be good but it has more potential to go bad, at the moment. Still, will watch a few more episodes before making any real judgment.

 

Eh, I kind of ignored all the characters, and had the show at low volume when there weren't dinosaurs on the screen. Dinosaurs are pretty awesome. Although, I'll give props to the writers/directors for not having all the teens act like complete idiots during the slasher attack. Although I'll take away said props for having that dumb girl who ran off survive.

As to those "mysteriess" that were alluded to at the end? I have two theories about the point of the Terra Nova expedition. The most likely explanation is that the whole reason they went back in time is to study the rift, so they can master time travel. My alternate theory is that the future is so polluted, the dad is dreaming of a world in the past in the last few seconds of consciousness before he succumbed to the pollution and died.

P.S. For having a highly educated wife (how the hell did the dad get her) - why on Earth did they have 3 children? It just seems dumb.

P.P.S. I'll probably still watch this show for the dinosaurs.

 

This is what Fox are banking on I'd say.

 

It looks like FOX decided to mix Jurassic Park with Avatar and hope for a hit.

The first 20 minutes in the future were kind of more interesting than the rest of the premiere.

The father, next to his son, is the most annoying character. You would think that as a former cop he would realize not to mouth off to the the guy in charge. He seems really arrogant to me.

The son? He's basically the same kid as the teen in War of the Worlds. Generic Speilberg.

The mother is bland, and the two daughters are alright. The older one just seems to be there to explain science to the audience. The toddler is kind of cute in a sappy way.

Commander Taylor and Skye are the only people keeping my interest.

If this show has to die to get Fringe a fifth season, I wouldn't complain.

 

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It's a fun show I guess. I came into it expecting another Lost or something remotely serious, but it seems like more of a show that you just sit down and relax to see some dinosaurs and drama. I did think the Dinosaur attack was slightly less severe as it should have been. The dinosaur just sitting there gnawing at the man's leg waiting to get shot was a little annoying. How the hell is it possible that the girl survived running away, and wasn't immediately snatched for dinner? The dinosaur should have been long gone with that guy. I do wonder just how stable that compound is. You'd think a couple large dinosaurs ramming that place would break through the boards.

Also, the place has large holes, and there are various small carnivorous dinosaurs that can get through, or even small herbivores for the various food in the place. But, hey, it's futuristic, maybe they invented some dinosaur repellent.

If I take it serious in the future, I'll probably get turned away from it, but as long as they keep a steady stream of surviving against the wilderness in every episode, it should be enough to keep me coming back. I was actually expecting the graphics on the dinosaurs to be a tad worse then they were.

I am praying the Taylor doesn't turn into a bad guy, because that's pretty much what everyone is expecting to happen as soon as they saw the guy.

The youngest girl will most likely have some huge role in the future, since the whole third child thing does seem bizarre and randomly there. So I expect some sort of reason for it in the future.

 

I was interested.

It had its awkward moments but a lot of my favorites had rough starts. The entire Stargate franchise for one.

Those symbols were more interesting when we didn't know who wrote them down, or what they could mean. They definetly could have let that mystery linger for awhile.

Did anyone else think of primeval when they talked about a crack in time that lead to dinosaur times?

I swear if they do a tie in like eureka and Warehouse 13 did, I would not be surprised.

 

I was sad that the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park are better looking than the ones in Terra Nova.






Pictures from nymag.com

 

The quality of the pictures on the right is really distorted. It's like someones literally gone and blurred the images in order to make the Jurassic park dinosaur's look better...

 

The dinosaurs weren't that bad. Some effects were cool, some not so much. For example, a few times it was painstakingly obvious that they were using greenscreens, like when the father and the commander were looking over the valley, but most of the time, the effects were solid.

I worry more about the story and the characters than I do about the special effects.

 

In Terra Novas defence the dinosaurs in Jurasic Park are bloody amazing, especially for something released in 1993.

 

Since we're talking about Jurassic Park, saw it yesterday at the cinema, was an awesome movie, pic and sound were utterly fantastic.

Hope this is something good in the dino period but im not banking on it.

 

Couldn't watch it past the first 5 minutes. The whole child in the vents and everybody yelling when the child is found put me off.

 

You didn't even stay to watch the dinosaurs? For shame!!