Pilots for sci-fi dramas like Terra Nova will always suffer in comparison to Lost. But all a viewer can realistically expect is for an engaging 2 hours while the sledgehammer of plot is dropped on their heads over and over. With 15 characters to introduce only AFTER we spend the first hour of the episode getting the main characters to Terra Nova, it’s no wonder the whole thing felt a little rushed.
The story begins in 2149 where the world has been nearly destroyed by pollution and people have to breathe through masks. The CGI backgrounds do a pretty good job showing the ugliness of the current day. Our heroes are the Shannon family. Father Jim is a cop and Mother Elisebeth is a doctor. In this episode they are portrayed as almost superhuman in their goodness and righteousness. Hopefully, they will be allowed to be a little rounded as the series continues. Jim is put in jail for the crime of having too many children (see, this family’s love cannot be bounded by things like LAWS). Elisebeth is given the opportunity to pilgrimage to Terra Nova due to her status as a doctor (a nice touch, having the female lead be the valuable one) with her two legal children. To get Jim and the youngest child to go with them involves breaking out of a maximum security prison with a laser scalpel, bribing someone to put the girl in a backpack and forge some documents, and simply stroll though a time portal. Easy, peasy right? It is if you are Batman, and Jim is just the man to fill the cowl. The story breezes over these complications using the family’s unshaken confidence in Jim’s ability. “Dad will make it,” is a pretty common refrain. (IRONIC SPOILER ALERT) Dad and youngest daughter do make it, and avoid any real repercussions on the other side.
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| not bad considering we were all criminals a half an hour ago |
The third quarter of the episode introduces the rest of the primary cast. We have the tough but fair Commander Taylor; his head of security, Guzman; and various other inhabitants of Terra Nova. Oh yeah, there are dinosaurs too. The first “money shot” of the dinos happens when the youngest daughter is feeding a giant, gentle beast.
Twice the vicious “slashers” terrorize the humans. I assume they are a made-up beast with the cunning and pack mentality of a raptor from Jurassic Park, but twice the size.
Aside from the survival story that is the heart of the show, there are several sub-plots introduced. The Sixers are humans from the sixth pilgrimage who are renegades with their own mysterious agenda, the Commander’s missing son, mysterious cave drawings outside the walls of Terra Nova, and a different, more sinister purpose for the whole colony. Time will only tell if these subplots are like the Lost polar bear, or if they actually go somewhere.
The show has no name actors, at least that I recognized, which works in its favor. I was able to see the characters and get lost in the acting. I didn’t see any holes in the cast, and even the small parts in the 2149 world seemed believable and well acted.
The dinos look pretty good. I really liked the tall, gentle ones. The slashers seem too “movie monster”, but I suppose that is to be expected. I would say they look at least as good as Jurassic Park, on a fraction of the budget. On the other hand, some of the background shots look terrible. They are CGI greenscreen, but sometimes they look like matte paintings from The Wizard of Oz. One scene where Jim and the Commander are looking over Terra Nova was particularly distracting.
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| They almost always look like this, including the fact that nothing is moving. |
The two hour-pilot for Terra Nova looks great and the story delivers. The acting is solid, and they seem to be setting up a world worth visiting. Check it out Monday nights on Fox.
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