Terra Nova, new fox show Options

[Shigoto]

Well, I just watched the first episode last night, and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. It should be right up my alley, I've always loved Dinosaurs(hell I even enjoyed JP3), and I'm a big sci-fi buff. But i'm still not sure if it will be worth my time.

To start it's a FOX show, which just means that if it actually gets good, it's going to be canceled in about 2 months. Did anybody else watch it? if so what were your thoughts?

Shigi

[DeltaSeeker]

I was really excited to see it. First half kept my attention, but the second half just became background noise. I like the premise, and the possibility of a good show is there, but the pilot really didn't do much but set up the status quo. I'll give the show a few episodes to see what they do with it.

[Local Trouble]

My DVR forgot to record it.

Sounds like another borefest along the same lines as Falling Skies.

[Jesse (M_P)]

I thought the show was a piece of jive. They blew the majority of their production budget in the first 10 mins of the first episode, introduced the dinosaurs to you by letting you "hear" them instead of "see" them, and it has characters that you don't care about. Pile on the prick teenagers, throw in ideas from Lost, jivey CGI and set design (You can literally see the OSB they used on the roofs of some of the huts, and then they just covered it in leaves and grass) and you get a show that's way too expensive and will be cancelled before all 13 episodes get to air. FOX NEVER, EVER sticks with high budget shows. Fastlane, whether you liked it or not, was a high budget show, it got shuffled, moved to Friday, and cancelled. I see this show having the same fate.

[Galenraff]

I think I DVR'd this. I have low expectations and even lower hopes for it.

Colonizing the past to solve overpopulation just sounds like a ridiculous premise that would just create a hugely obvious paradox, and I'm personally curious as to whether or not they'll even address the issue at all since it mostly looks like the pitch for the show was "let's make a show with dinosaurs!"

I'll check it out in case it's not as bad as all that though.

[Asquian]

I'm going to check it out when I have time, but overall it looks like something I'd like. There's actually been quite a few good shows starting this season(and one that had slipped under my radar last season that I only just discovered last week), to the point that I'm actually behind in watching them all due to my surprisingly busy schedule. Maybe this weekend at the latest I can get caught up and give a proper impression.

[NICKSAUR]

I think I DVR'd this. I have low expectations and even lower hopes for it.

Colonizing the past to solve overpopulation just sounds like a ridiculous premise that would just create a hugely obvious paradox, and I'm personally curious as to whether or not they'll even address the issue at all since it mostly looks like the pitch for the show was "let's make a show with dinosaurs!"

I'll check it out in case it's not as bad as all that though.

They so explain that, actually, because I thought the same thing.
It's a different time stream. So its the past, but an alternate past.

They're messing up someone else's future, which is completely acceptable.

This post has been edited by NICKSTART: Sep 27 2011, 11:19 AM

[ZacWilliam1]

DVR'd it. But then read a metric ton of abysmal reviews about poor writing and dialogue, plus boring and annoying characters... not sure I'll even get around to watching it...


-ZacWilliam, for sci-fi TV right now likes Dr Who, Eureka, Warehouse 13, and Haven, and sometimes Primeval and Sanctuary. Given that half of them have just about finished their run till sometime next year or perminantly I REALLY wish there was more Sci Fi shows starting up. (Haven better get renewed!)

[Msol]

I think I DVR'd this. I have low expectations and even lower hopes for it.

Colonizing the past to solve overpopulation just sounds like a ridiculous premise that would just create a hugely obvious paradox, and I'm personally curious as to whether or not they'll even address the issue at all since it mostly looks like the pitch for the show was "let's make a show with dinosaurs!"

I'll check it out in case it's not as bad as all that though.

They so explain that, actually, because I thought the same thing.
It's a different time stream. So its the past, but an alternate past.

They're messing up someone else's future, which is completely acceptable.

Here's the question that I've got (I admit I only watched the first 10 minutes of so)...

How do they know the time machine works? If you can only go backwards, how do you know it doesn't just incinerate you? I figured the best way to do this would be to leave a "message in a bottle" for the future, but that doesn't work if it's in a separate timeline.

[Cybersnark]

The portal itself seems to work like a Stargate; matter can only travel one-way, but signals can be sent back (there was talk of notifying the future about the Sixers, except that Taylor doesn't know who in the future he can trust, since someone must've sent the Sixers). Presumeably, that's how they figured out the alternate-timeline detail, since they could still receive telemetry from the probe (so they knew it had arrived intact, even if they couldn't find any trace of it in their present).

I loved it; the beginning did an excellent job of setting up the dying Earth, while we saw just enough of the dinosaurs to establish them (they're not a tourist attraction; they're local wildlife. We're not going to be Walking With Dinosaurs for 50 minutes each episode. There are other shows for that). It looks like Taylor's "MIA" son is going to be the unseen big bad (Mira establishes that he's the one who's been leaving the geometric glyphs around the waterfall --and Taylor seems to know this, and is deliberately keeping the Novans from visiting the area). The Sixers are also a big puzzle; their departure was too well-organized and cohesive (they all came through on the same pilgrimage) to be a random group of malcontents.

I also love that we actually get to see futuristic vehicles instead of everyone having to walk everywhere (or worse, having them inexplicably using 21st-century trucks).

[Dvandom]

I didn't bother watching it, but I've heard one bit of pointlessly bad science already (as in, there's no need to make up something when reality is just fine). They say the stars look different because the universe expanded in the intervening 85 million years. Um...not as such. A few percent expansion of the universe would not in itself make the constellations look different. But the real explanation is simpler anyway: stars move.

---Dave

[DeltaSeeker]

the beginning did an excellent job of setting up the dying Earth,

I did really like that beginning of this. The show opens on a view from space of a dust covered, red-tinted world, and I'm thinking, "Why are they showing us Mars? Wait... that's Earth?!" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-hotrod.gif)

[Orc]

I think I DVR'd this. I have low expectations and even lower hopes for it.

Colonizing the past to solve overpopulation just sounds like a ridiculous premise that would just create a hugely obvious paradox, and I'm personally curious as to whether or not they'll even address the issue at all since it mostly looks like the pitch for the show was "let's make a show with dinosaurs!"

I'll check it out in case it's not as bad as all that though.

They so explain that, actually, because I thought the same thing.
It's a different time stream. So its the past, but an alternate past.

They're messing up someone else's future, which is completely acceptable.

Even if this is the case, isn't there still a mass-extinction causing giant astroid on the way to the earth to wipe out the dinosaurs?

I haven't seen the show, I'm just curious how they plan on dealing with that?

[Local Trouble]

If they're 85 million years in the past, they won't have to worry about the Chicxulub impact for another 20 million years.

[NICKSAUR]

Honestly, I think alot of people are just assuming things about the show instead of watching it. Sure, its not Shakespeare but its not total jive either. I mean, post apocalyptic future world, time travel, dinosaurs? I'm on board.

[Proper Dave]

To start it's a FOX show, which just means that if it actually gets good, it's going to be canceled in about 2 months.

What, like House, Prison Break, Dollhouse & Fringe

I REALLY wish there was more Sci Fi shows starting up.

Fringe and The Clone Wars

[NICKSAUR]

Dollhouse may not be the best example. I would have thrown 24 in that list though.

[Proper Dave]

Dollhouse may not be the best example. I would have thrown 24 in that list though.

Oh yeah, forgot about old Bauer. I mentioned Dollhouse as Fox could have quite easily pulled the plug after 1 season, but they didn't

[NICKSAUR]

Gotcha. Its true.

[Jesse (M_P)]

To start it's a FOX show, which just means that if it actually gets good, it's going to be canceled in about 2 months.

What, like House, Prison Break, Dollhouse & Fringe

I REALLY wish there was more Sci Fi shows starting up.

Fringe and The Clone Wars

None of those have the insane budget that this show has.