Binary Review – Terra Nova
3 min readOne of the most anticipated new series premiered this week, Terra Nova. From the summer promos you got the idea that the show was a sci-fi dinosaur show. Beyond that you never got the grasp of what the show was other than a colony type approach. I have watched the first episode and I am going to give my review of it.
The 2 hour show starts off with a very green message and warning. The year is 2149 and the Earth has been ravaged by war, the air basically unbreathable by the pollution, a type of totalitarian government in place with population control and all around evil and bad. The insert story is that scientists found a portal to the past, 85 million years in the past, and they have been sending groups of people back to colonize and start a new civilization right. Side question, how did they send all the heavy machinery to build everything and where did it go since they can’t send anything back?
The first half of the pilot was very slow and had a very mediocre character development in an attempt to get the viewers to care about the diverse family. With the show set in a very hard core sci-fi, futuristic world the first part of the show felt like a bad episode of a teen drama. Even after the family make a semi-action filled jump to the new world, the dialogue could be applied to any show where a family moves from Chicago to California instead of a portal jump from the only world they know to 85 million years in the past with no way to return. A missed opportunity.
Terra Nova itself is supposed to be a colony built from scratch only a few years ago. The colony itself looks like it is a Hollywood set. The realism, rustic edges that you would expect is not there. The colony is far too clean and crisp. Everyone is dressed so nicely and with such a variety of fashions. I understand that there is a limited budget and production value for a TV show, but I never felt like I was looking at a set when I watched Lost.
The secondary stars of Terra Nova are the dinosaurs. The beasts are secondary characters and I can see how they will be the one thing each episode you will be waiting for to show up. Kind of like waiting for Bruce Banner turning into the Hulk at some point during the show he will and I think the dinosaurs will be the same way. If the story is strong enough they shouldn’t have to rely on the dinos to get viewers.
The story of course would get quite boring if you didn’t have some kind of mystery. At the tail end of the episode they introduced the mystery, the hook to get you to wonder. In my opinion it was pretty weak and not that much of a shock. That’s the key if Terra Nova will survive is where they take this story and the twists they have.
I will give Terra Nova one or two more episodes, but if the show doesn’t improve I will brush it off and move on. The story had potential but they fell short, the dialogue needs work or they need to tell us the show is targeted for 12 year olds, and they need to start to make it feel like it’s a colony and not a luxury resort.
I give Terra Nova – 2 out of 5 Binaries.
End of Line.
@binaryblogger
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Binary Blogger has spent 20 years in the Information Security space currently providing security solutions and evangelism to clients. From early web application programming, system administration, senior management to enterprise consulting I provide practical security analysis and solutions to help companies and individuals figure out HOW to be secure every day.
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