After several months worth of teasers and previews we finally get to see Terra Nova, a new dramatic science fiction epic which has to the potential makings of a great series. The pilot touches many sci-fi themes including a ruined future earth, time travel, parallel time lines, and colonization of an ‘alien’ world, however keeps itself grounded through exploring a family dynamic.
We start off in 2149, in which the world is so polluted it can hardly support life. The Shannon family is enjoying a rare treat, a grape fruit when the police demand to search their home. Jim and Elisabeth have broken the two child law, by having a third baby. Though they hide little Zoe the police quickly find her. Jim attempts to defend his youngest daughter, and is placed in jail for three years. In the meantime Elisabeth a highly successful surgeon has been accepted into the Terra Nova program. Her family is given the opportunity to help save the human race by colonizing a parallel earth in the distant past. To keep their family together, Jim breaks out of jail and breaks into the time travel wormhole complex with Zoe and stows away into the past. Having been away from his family for 3 years and Jim now has to get to know his children while trying to get used to living in a new world.
The premier had a very cinematic feel to it. The future was rendered in such amazing detail. It reminded me of Blade Runner crossed with Wall-E. With a two child limit, and a simple grape fruit being a rare delicacy we know how desperate the state of affairs there. The past when Terra Nova takes place couldn’t be a greater contrast. It is a lush beautiful paradise. The viewer is able to share the heroes awe at finding themselves in a new world. Scene where Zoe feeds a brachiosaurus, was a had some of the starry eyed wonder of the first Jurassic Park. The dinosaurs will be a general staple of the setting. I hope they use them sparingly, because being hunted by giant sauropods could get old fast. My biggest complain about the premier is Josh Shannon, Jim and Elisabeth’s 17 year old son. He’s a moody, testy, rebelious, teenager who seems inappropriately angry at his dad.The first episode sees him get into trouble when he leaves the colony to go drink hootch in the forest, only to be attacked by dinosaurs. Josh’s rebelliousness seems to feel more like idiocy. I know the excuse is that teens get that way and he’s going through a hard time, but it was excessive. The melodrama felt forced, and his anger was unfounded. He should at least show some happiness to have his family united in a world with fresh air. I’ll Just ignore him for now.
On a scale of 1 to Epic (Epic = 10) Terra Nova gets a 8.0
