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Terra Nova - Television Review
Sep. 28th, 2011 09:22 pm[ETA: It's probably worth mentioning that the only people who are going to enjoy this sort of tv show are people who enjoyed Jurassic Park or shows like Earth 2, Lost, and flicks like Swiss Family Robinson. If you hate stuff like that, this is NOT your show. Because it is basically Jurassic Park meets Earth 2. There's no getting around that.
I have an absurd weakness for these types of shows - considering I've ahem seen Jurassic Park five times, including all three sequels and read the book (the book is actually better in some respects), and
watched all of Earth 2, tried Outcasts, and liked LOST.]
Just finished watching the season premiere of Steven Spielberg's new mega series Terra Nova. Which reminds me a little bit of Outcasts and Earth 2 in both the set-up and problems, with a touch of Star Gate thrown in, although it's more serialized than Star Gate and they stay in one place, no jumping worlds. But the military aspect and mythology is reminiscent of Star Gate. It's a lot better than Outcasts - acting and production wise, although that isn't saying much.
Bit of back story - it's filmed in New Zealand. And it was supposed to be premiered last May, but got delayed due to production and writing problems. Also the show-runner, who was originally David Fury, got canned due to creative differences. Not sure if Tara Butters and Michelle F. (the female writing team behind "Reaper" and who also wrote for Dollhouse) are still on board or not. Fury did co-write the pilot with Braga. But he's gone now. No clue how much of his writing stayed in the pilot and how much was excised.
The critics said it had clunky writing, but I found it to be fairly entertaining all things considered. Was admittedly surprised, didn't expect much after Spielberg's last effort - the dark and somewhat grating Falling Skies. This was a lot better.
Far more entertaining than critical darlings - PAM AM, NEW GIRL and something else that I can't remember the name of. Making me wonder about these professional television critics. They've been highly unreliable this year - so far the only thing I've agreed with them on was Playboy Club (it sucks) and Charlies Angels (skippable).
The casting is great. First show I've seen this season that really makes solid use of a multi-racial/multi-ethnic cast. In short not everyone looks the same - I actually can tell the characters apart, and they aren't all white. We actually have three non-white female lead characters. Jason Mara (of the US version of Life on Mars) plays the male lead, an ex-vice cop who escapes from a maximum security prison to live in a new world with his family. His wife is portrayed by British Actress Shelly Conn.( Read more... )
I have an absurd weakness for these types of shows - considering I've ahem seen Jurassic Park five times, including all three sequels and read the book (the book is actually better in some respects), and
watched all of Earth 2, tried Outcasts, and liked LOST.]
Just finished watching the season premiere of Steven Spielberg's new mega series Terra Nova. Which reminds me a little bit of Outcasts and Earth 2 in both the set-up and problems, with a touch of Star Gate thrown in, although it's more serialized than Star Gate and they stay in one place, no jumping worlds. But the military aspect and mythology is reminiscent of Star Gate. It's a lot better than Outcasts - acting and production wise, although that isn't saying much.
Bit of back story - it's filmed in New Zealand. And it was supposed to be premiered last May, but got delayed due to production and writing problems. Also the show-runner, who was originally David Fury, got canned due to creative differences. Not sure if Tara Butters and Michelle F. (the female writing team behind "Reaper" and who also wrote for Dollhouse) are still on board or not. Fury did co-write the pilot with Braga. But he's gone now. No clue how much of his writing stayed in the pilot and how much was excised.
The critics said it had clunky writing, but I found it to be fairly entertaining all things considered. Was admittedly surprised, didn't expect much after Spielberg's last effort - the dark and somewhat grating Falling Skies. This was a lot better.
Far more entertaining than critical darlings - PAM AM, NEW GIRL and something else that I can't remember the name of. Making me wonder about these professional television critics. They've been highly unreliable this year - so far the only thing I've agreed with them on was Playboy Club (it sucks) and Charlies Angels (skippable).
The casting is great. First show I've seen this season that really makes solid use of a multi-racial/multi-ethnic cast. In short not everyone looks the same - I actually can tell the characters apart, and they aren't all white. We actually have three non-white female lead characters. Jason Mara (of the US version of Life on Mars) plays the male lead, an ex-vice cop who escapes from a maximum security prison to live in a new world with his family. His wife is portrayed by British Actress Shelly Conn.( Read more... )