Terra Nova: Genesis

In my years of existence, I've learned many things including this: most boys (I'd say all but that'd make it a stereotype) love dinosaurs at some point in their childhood. I loved dinosaurs as a boy. I still love dinosaurs, though maybe not as much as I did back then. Because let's face it: Dinosaurs are awesome. So of course, when Terra Nova was announced over a year ago, I was incredibly excited. Steven Spielberg producing a TV show about people from a dystopian future living in dinosaur times? That sounded amazing! So I waited and waited (the show was delayed a couple times), getting more and more excited until tonight, when it finally premiered. Was it worth the wait? To make a long story short: yes. It was 2 hours of awesome, with enough intrigue to keep me hooked (though it wasn't perfect). Plus dinosaurs. Need I say more? No, but I'm going to say more anyways, so let's elaborate.

After establishing that Future Earth is in a bad place (with both words that appear on screen and with a beautiful opening shot of the view of Earth from the moon, which is covered in smog), Terra Nova quickly establishes that above all else, this is a show about a family. This is a smart move, because it gives us something to connect with and by basically saying "this is about a family" right away, it'll dispel any arguments that may come up in the future (if the show goes on for a while) about whether the show's about mythology or characters. Anyways, we quickly meet the Shannons: Jim (the father), Elizabeth (the mother), Josh (the eldest), Maddy (the middle child) and Zoe (the youngest). A minute into the show and they're already in trouble because in the future overpopulation has caused the government to declare families can only have 2 children. But the Shannon's have 3, and though they try to hide Zoe from the Population Control, she is discovered and Jim attacks an officer to protect her getting himself sent to prison.

We then pick up 2 years later where Elizabeth visits Jim to let him know that she's been recruited to Terra Nova and she's taking the kids but they won't let her take Zoe. With the help of a weapon that she smuggled in inside a breathing apparatus (because the air is harder to breathe in 2149.), Jim breaks out (Which is a bit hard to believe since he's allegedly in a maximum security prison), and with some help, he (and Zoe, hidden in a backpack) sneaks in with his family and the latest immigrants to Terra Nova (This is the 10th group). Although he's almost caught, he makes it just in time and finds himself 85 million years in the past with his family. He then promptly causes a panic when the people greeting the newcomers and helping them adjust notice he has a gun and the pack Zoe is hiding in almost gets stabbed.

Before going on, I have to compliment the explanation given for time travel, which is clever, and given in a way that feels natural. Three things are established: First we learn through a news report that scientists had discovered a rift in time 7 years to the show's start which, when open, leads to the past. We then learn through Josh's conversation with his girlfriend that he's leaving behind that it's a one-way portal, which will keep the show from jumping back to the future too much, if it all. And lastly we learn from a probe mounted in the colony that it's an alternate time stream so that nothing they do will affect the future, so no butterfly-effect type things or weird paradoxes can occur. This is a good thing and I'm glad that time travel for now is just a means to an end and not a major plot point (Though it may come into play later as hinted in this pilot. More on that later.).

Back in the past we're introduced to Commander Taylor, who's one of the more interesting characters in the show so far. He gives a speech to the new arrivals and then meets with Jim and Elizabeth, allowing them both to stay. We're then taken to the Shannon's new home and are treated to a nice scene as Jim realizes that Zoe may not remember him as she was only 3 when he was arrested, and he reintroduces himself to her properly in a cute, funny way. Shortly after that is a more annoying scene where Josh (who of course is an angsty teenager) gets mad at his father for getting himself arrested in the first place. Josh and Jim's shaky relationship is one of the weaker parts of the pilot, and hopefully this will improve as time goes on. This is thankfully followed by a scene where Zoe goes outside and we see our first glimpse of dinosaurs: Brachiosaurs (Long necks for any Land Before Time fans) who have come near the gate to feed.

Speaking of dinosaurs, now would be as good a time as any to talk about the effects. Since this is the most expensive pilot of all time (and the series from week to week should be pretty costly too), there's an expectation that they'll be effective and they are. Of course they're not movie quality, but for television they're quite good. The dinosaurs are most effective though, when you only catch glimpses of them, instead of getting a prolonged look (like the climax of the pilot) both effect-wise and mood-wise (it creates more tension).

Back to the pilot, we see Jim and Elizabeth adjust to their new lives, with Jim having been given a job with the harvesters (In a good scene, he's sent to get rid of weeds, only to find that the weeds 85 million years ago are massive. As are the bugs) and Elizabeth learning the colonies neo-medieval (her words) techniques. Meanwhile Josh skips out on colony orientation and meets a girl named Skye, following her (and having another annoying argument with his dad who sees him), meeting up with some more kids his age, and then following them as they sneak out past the gates to go explore. Josh becomes less annoying once he sneaks out and the focus of his scenes aren't him being mad at his father, and Skye is a fascinating character, as a bit of a rebellious teen, and Josh's guide to this world. We also later learn she is connected to Commander Taylor (He kind of raised her when both her parents died.).

And back at the colony, things get interesting when one of Elizabeth's patients who has been shot for stealing pulls a knife on her, causing a bit of a situation and Jim stops an assailant from shooting Commander Taylor. Seems things aren't as peaceful in Terra Nova as initially believed as we also get a bit of mystery. A group of rebels who all came on the sixth pilgrimage (so they're called Sixers) broke off from the colony and cause conflict. But it can't be a coincidence that they all came at the same time and Taylor suspects someone from the future is behind this. Intrigue. And that's not the only intrigue. Skye takes Josh to the (water)falls where she shows him some mysterious equations on the rocks that seem to have been there for a while. Hmm.

Anyhow, Jim (who was a cop before his arrest) is asked to join Taylor's security team and the two notice a couple of the Sixer's vehicles heading towards camp. They follow them, only to learn that the sixer's are being chased by a Carnotaurus (referred to as a Carno). This leads to a great sequence where Taylor distracts the beast until they're ready to fight off the beast with sonic pulse guns. After this, we still have the Sixers to deal with and we also meet their leader: the enigmatic Mira. A tense face-off leads to them trading the captured Sixers for ores and medical supplies. After this, Jim lets Elizabeth know he's on the security team is Elizabeth is accepting, though doesn't seem too happy.

Once we've gotten everything established in the first hour and a bit of the pilot, the back half is sort of predictable if you're TV savvy enough (Josh, Skye and company are attacked by a group of dinosaurs known as Slashers and take shelter in a vehicle, but it's powerless to go anywhere. Taylor and Jim realize they're missing and set out to rescue them. Dinosaur fight. Jim and Josh (who have realized through conversations with Elizabeth and Skye respectively, that they're both quite similar) reconcile in the aftermath. Episode ends with), but it's still entertaining to watch and still has a lot of good moments (including one where Taylor reveals that when he came through the time portal, a temporal effect caused him to be alone for 117 days before anyone else came so survival in the jungle is possible.) and provides some good television. And of course it also sets up some additional mystery to keep you hooked, with the mystery of Taylor's son who apparently disappeared years ago and is behind the equations on the rocks, which may reveal how to control the future. Plus Mira implies that there's another reason for the creation of Terra Nova.

All in all, this is a solid premiere for what could be an amazing show. Everything I said at the end of paragraph 1 still applies. Also, I had never actually thought about the show this way before watching it, but Terra Nova actually has potential to be the next Lost (It even has it's own Others in the form of the Sixers). There's still a chance this could all go wrong, but as long as they focus on the family dynamic of the show as the emotional core (and still throw in plenty of dino action), Terra Nova should be fine and could be something very special indeed.

Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)

Memorable Moments

-A small subplot involved Maddy meeting a boy, whose name I've forgotten, embarassing herself a bit with her detailed knowledge of the Allosaurus and then said boy later staying with her and Zoe while her parents are out finding Josh. This'll probably get more screentime down the road.

-Calling this right now: Josh's girlfriend from the future is going to come to Terra Nova at some point, probably when he's getting really close to Skye.

-Dinosaur Scene Count: 3 or 4 depending on if you count the whole thing with the Slashers once or twice. I'm counting them twice, as there was two distinctive scenes with them.

-Best Dinosaur Moment: During the Carno chase, a Sixer declares they're all clear, only to be grabbed by a Carno immediately afterwards.

-Well, That Was A Stupid Idea: Tasha (one of the kids out with Skye and Josh) decides to try and make a break for it, even though they've established that help is on the way and they don't know how many Slashers are out there. When the rescue squad finds her, she is quite bloodied and needs surgery (I think she survives though).

-I stated in the beginning that I would talk about this show every week and I stand by that statement. That is all for now.