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1.9 Vs

If rumours are to be believed, the reason Terra Nova has spent so long on the kind of stand-alone episodes that the audience might consider to be “throwaway” or “filler” is because the network executives were insisting on it. If that is the case, then maybe – just maybe – the end of the series will be as expository and arc-heavy as this one was.

Still, as enjoyable as it was to learn a bit of the backstory behind Terra Nova, and in particular, Taylor, let’s not pretend that this wasn’t without its usual flaws. But first, the good stuff: Jim finally shows a little suspicion when he realises Taylor is running his own private Guantanamo in Terra Nova, and accidentally learns something he shouldn’t have. This, in turn, leads him to a body and the (apparent) truth about Taylor’s role in Terra Nova.

Although the scenes in the past (between Taylor, Lucas, and Taylor’s commanding officer) gave us our first look at what it is that motivates Taylor’s benign dictatorship, there’s the suggestion that he might be an unreliable narrator. We’re shown a lot – but we don’t necessarily get shown everything. It’s possible that this is just giving the series too much credit, but the ending suggests (albeit poorly) that Taylor wanted an excuse to tell Jim his version of events. Is that because they’re all lies? Quite possibly.

And if he is telling the truth, well, the idea of him protecting Terra Nova to maintain its original goal instead of allowing the dream to be twisted is a noble, ends-justify-means one. More of that dynamic wouldn’t be at all unwelcome – although do the Sixers really seem like corporate instruments to anyone? I’m guessing (hoping, even) that there’s more to this than we’re being told.

The ongoing saga of the most tedious teenagers alive took a completely expected turn this week when Maddy finally kissed her boyfriend. It says so much about Terra Nova that this was supposed to be some kind of big moment for the characters, and yet I can’t even remember one of their names. I’m sure he’s got one, but it’s just escaping me. You know who I mean. The wooden actor with a single personality trait. No, not that one. Or that one. Or that one. Keep going, you’ll get to it.

As usual, it was Taylor and Malcolm who rescued the show by being complete bastards and not really caring if that’s how they look – although in this case, Malcolm’s willingness to inform Taylor of Elisabeth’s secret project didn’t ring true at all. Is he trying to win her back or alienate her even further? Apparently the former, but from his actions in this episode, you’d think the latter.

Finally, it has to be said that once again, for a show about living on a prehistoric earth, it really is criminal how few dinosaurs there are. This episode, the best we got was an unusually large dragonfly, and even that was so badly rendered that it completely sucked the life from the idea. If the effects are too hard to do properly, fair enough – but in that case, don’t make them the centrepiece of the opening shot!

Still, there’s something to be said for this episode: it actually advanced the stories we care about in something more than baby steps, which is probably the first time that’s happened since episode one. Secrets revealed, dynamics subtly shifted, and new questions to answer. If they can keep this up to the end of the series, it might actually justify the relentless boredom of the first eight hours. And if it doesn’t? Well, maybe we won’t find ourselves wondering whether to come back to watch next season…

Rating :6/10

source:denofgeek.com
by:jameshunt

1.8 Proof

Perhaps I’m just developing a form of Stockholm Syndrome, but this week’s episode of Terra Nova was – wait for it – sort of good. For maybe the first half hour. It’s more than most have managed.

Maddy has always been precocious, so her transformation into Terra Nova’s version of Nancy Drew was believable, even if the Horton subplot was ultimately unsatisfying. It started off strong, as Maddy began to suspect something was wrong with Horton, it got only stronger as she struggled to find some evidence to support her theories – and then it fell apart when, at the final moment, Horton’s doppelganger turned into a raving cartoon villain, complete with a needlessly convoluted death-trap.

The thing is, his rescue of the apple harvest offered some scope for the kind of ambiguity we saw in Lost and Battlestar Galactica, where just having a bad past didn’t necessarily make him a bad guy. Well, they happily threw that option out, and even a final, oddly reflective scene didn’t really go far enough in pointing out that maybe nu-Horton could’ve been useful after all. We never discover Horton’s fate (assuming that being punched in the face didn’t kill him) so maybe they’ll return to the character, but given the track record of the series, I’m not hopeful.

Josh’s plot was similarly strong, only in his case it actually got followed up on. The knowledge that Mira is telling the truth about being able to speak to the future is a fantastic development, and the chance to speak to his girlfriend makes Josh’s teenage recklessness all the more believable. At the same time… doesn’t anywhere in Terra Nova use CCTV? The moral twists made for an entertaining progression, even if “I needed one dose of those drugs to save a dying innocent person!” was a step too far (by that point, I just laughed at Josh’s worsening situation).

Again, though, the consequences of the plot weren’t dealt with. I’m sure we’ll see more tension between Josh and his family as a result of this story, but we should have had more fallout in this episode. The implication was that the stakes were high if he got found out, and then when he did… nothing. Some angry parents, and nothing more.

And, just in case you were wondering whether I’d make the same point again, it has to be said that Taylor is once again the only character with any depth, while Jim ends up playing his lapdog. This time, because the past is so surprisingly dinosaur-free, the pair go on a prehistoric fishing trip (hurray, more fleeting appearances of bad CGI!) leading to an encounter with Curran, the exiled soldier from some episodes back. As soon as things look like they might get interesting, Jim is dispatched and Taylor steals all the interesting scenes, convincing (forcing) Curran to become his double-agent.

Jim, meanwhile, sticks to being the world’s most passive cop, and dodges every possible moral condundrum with as little thought as possible. Even at the end of the episode, when he finally learns that Mira is telling the truth about communicating with 2149 and that Taylor may have been keeping it from them, his instinct is to run right to him and tell him what’s going on. Sigh.

Part of Terra Nova’s big problem is that the series seems to have developed its morality by committee. The Shannons are all so bland that even when he’s put himself in a situation that could lead to imprisonment or exile, he seems to display no self-preservation instinct. Jim, meanwhile, plays things completely by the rulebook. I don’t think we need him to be McBain-style maverick, but surely he has some reservations? It’d be nice to see someone in Terra Nova actually act like a real person once or twice. I’ve actually grown to like Malcolm the obvious villain (to give him his full title) because he’s the only one besides Taylor who seems comfortable with his negative character traits.

Still, despite those flaws, this was probably my favourite episode of the series so far. The plots were compelling, the dialogue was less stilted than usual, and if it had just straightened out the last 10 minutes it could have been actively good. Maybe by the end of the series they’ll make it through an entire episode without dropping the ball.

Rating : 6/10

source:denofgeek.com
by:James Hunt

This Review contains spoilers:

1.7 Nightfall

There’s little doubt that over the last few weeks, Terra Nova has started to become the TV show it always wanted to be, mixing sci-fi ideas, CGI dinosaurs, and tepid romantic sub-plots. This week: a meteorite unleashes an EMP above the base, causing a variety of critical situations which the Terra Novans must handle without the help of their beloved electricity.

It’s a fairly standard “disaster” episode, in which characters are separated and placed in (notional) danger, and we get to imagine what it might be like if the series had the stones to do something unexpected. Admittedly, it would have been a fairly severe shift for someone to die, given the irritatingly upbeat tone of the episode, but it might have got people talking about the series with words other than “boring” and “uninteresting”.

As usual, the most interesting character was Taylor, whose “maybe good, maybe evil” schtick never gets old just because he plays it with more ham than a field of pigs. Meanwhile, Jim got to have some self-consciously “sweet” moments with his daughter (cringe-inducing), Elisabeth got to remove a prehistoric tapeworm (entertainingly gruesome) and Maddy went on a secret excursion outside the colony walls without telling anyone, which I believe is the leading mortality rate for Terra Novans. Did you know there are dinosaurs out there?

Hilariously, the writers seem bound by some mandate to use as few dinosaurs as possible, because the entire time they were outside the walls, they saw two, and they were both the same species. For a series whose main draw was “Spielberg does dinosaurs again!”, it’s painful to watch it limp along using as few as possible. Even when the Sixer-propelled dinosaur attacked Terra Nova at the end of the episode, the effects were so dire that it was hard not to wish it had never happened in the first place. One can only hope that they’re saving the budget for some dinosaur-filled finale.

It would certainly help matters if the story of Terra Nova was anything more than generic inter-personal drama, but six episodes in we’re still seeing only the smallest hints of a wider arc. There was an argument, somewhere, that Fox was forcing the show to keep its episodes stand-alone and accessible for the first half of the series. If that’s true, next week will let us know, because under no system can episode seven be considered part of the first half. If it doesn’t but some meat on the bones of its story, it’s surely doomed to obscurity. I couldn’t face another season like ths one.

It’s a shame, really, because the idea of a meteorite strike started off quite exciting. A literal blast, with the potential to clear out the cobwebs. Instead, it near-instantly devolved into the same limp narratives that every other episode has pursued. Literally the only time any interest was sparked came when the arc-related stuff got a look in.

On that front, we did get an answer to the question of what’s in the box, although disappointingly it turned out to be maths. The introduction of Taylor’s crazy son was so poorly executed that not only was it instantly guessable when he turned up, they strung it out and “revealed” it at the end with some horrendously clunky dialogue (and not the first instance of that in this episode either. Yeesh. Don’t these people ever do a second draft?)

Even now, though, it’s so easy to see the potential in Terra Nova’s set up. All it needs is someone with a little vision to transform the show into exactly what it should be – challenging, ecological sci-fi with visceral dino-thrills and an emotional core of family drama. Right now, we’re only getting one third of that mix, and the only thing being challenged is our collective patience. If the series doesn’t improve substantially in its final episodes, don’t be at all surprised when it doesn’t get a second series.

Rating : 6/10

This Review contains spoilers:

1.6 Bylaw

My biggest complaint with Terra Nova thus far has been that it hasn’t decided what it wants to be. With such a promising pilot episode and fairly decent follow up, the stage seemed to be set for an edgy sci-fi mystery with solid family dramatic elements and some good sound action sequences.
So, why are we watching a police procedural? Why have we gone from the wonders of Lost to a poor mirror of Law and Order: LA in a handful of episodes?

The premise in ‘Bylaw’ is that someone has used a dinosaur (a Nykoraptor to be exact, which we saw trying to take a bite out of Jim’s head as he hung like a human pinata) to kill one of Taylor’s soldiers using another dinosaur’s blood as bait. Jim’s in his element here (remember he was a cop), and starts interviewing the Foster’s peers. We learn about an interesting piece of tech which serve as a soldier’s dog tag. They hold the soldier’s medical data, but can also hold personal bits like photos and such. In this case, it could hold the key as to who took Foster out, but to find out, they’ll have to track down and open up the Nyko that ate it.

Jim and Taylor track the nefarious Nyko and take it out via what apparently is a laser. After the dinosaur autopsy, which does recover the dog tag, we find out that Foster was having an affair with Rebecca.

Rebecca is married to Howard, a much older guy who found women throwing themselves at him after being one of the lucky pilgrims to trek to Terra Nova. Then something happens that you definitely do not expect to happen in your typical police procedural halfway through episode: Howard admits to the murder and the case is closed.

The question becomes what happens to a convicted murderer in Terra Nova, considering this is the first time it has happened? There are two options: prison or banishment. Elizabeth and Jim debate as to what Howard’s fate should be with Elizabeth taking the not unexpected viewpoint of prison. Jim has kind of a unique viewpoint on the subject seeing as he was in prison for years prior to his escape and their jump to dino-land.

The ultimate verdict chosen is banishment. Howard, the convicted murderer with a jealous streak, is given an assault rifle and some food. Good idea. It isn’t like he’s ever let his emotions get the better of him and commit a heinous and violent murder. Give him a gun. Good plan. Actually, as it turns out, he’s probably pretty harmless.

Actually Howard wasn’t being fully honest and the killer is still out there. Foster wasn’t killed because of his dip into the floozy pool, but rather over money. After a thorough physical beat down, Jim and Taylor send the real killer outside of Terra Nova without the benefit of even a butter knife.

‘Bylaw’ isn’t as bad as it could have been considering the plot line. If this is what the show had set out to be this whole time, then it would work as a mid-level entry. A police procedural isn’t what is expected from a Steven Spielberg-produced series with dinosaurs, so it’s a bit of a letdown. The subpar subplots with the Shannons getting their own dinosaur as a pet, and Josh meeting Mira to get the ball rolling in bringing his girlfriend through the portal, don’t help much.

There was no full season pickup for Terra Nova and if things don’t start meshing with the audience soon, I fear there may not be a second season either. I’m hopeful as I still really like a lot of the characters and think that the show has a ton of promise. But ticktock goes the clock for the Shannon family, and someone needs to impart the show with a clear direction if the other side of 2012 is to be reached.

Rating : 6/10

This review contains spoilers.

3. Instinct

The second episode of any series (this is the second, really, given that the opener was a double episode) is a tough one to get through. All too often, when a show is stripped of the high budget of its series opener and the dramatic ease of introducing its premise, the quality instantly drops and it becomes clear that no-one actually expected to get much further than the first episode, much less planned what they’d do if they did.

Luckily, Terra Nova’s latest episode actually represents something of an incremental improvement. In this instalment, the Terra Nova compound comes under attack from a group of migrating pterosaurs, and Elisabeth discovers that an old boyfriend – Malcolm – is the project’s chief science officer. Meanwhile, the older kids, Josh and Maddy, adapt to life in their new home.

As you can probably tell from the synopsis, the scope of this episode is far narrower than the pilot, but the story itself is much tighter as a result, and the characters are proportionally more comfortable in their roles. There’s no evidence of the flip-flopping emotions or the summary motivations that showed up in the season opener. In particular, Jim and Elisabeth’s relationship is more at ease, while the three Shannon kids display a believable level of warmth towards both their parents and one another.

Josh, in particular, gets something of a personality overhaul. Gone is the unreasonable and abrasive whiner of the pilot, and in his place stands someone a little more sympathetic and believable. It’s early enough that character inconsistencies are to be expected, but let’s hope this is a change that sticks.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Instinct, however, is that it actually had a theme, which you’ll notice is carefully hidden in the episode’s title. After years of watching TV shows which thought that a pretentious voiceover constituted a thematic spine, the fact that this episode’s central concept was reflected in its subplots offers some hope that the writers of Terra Nova might actually be smarter than the pilot made them look.

Now, admittedly, if you were hoping for some subplots that go beyond the exploration of budding (or rekindled) inter-character romances, you won’t necessarily enjoy what this episode has to offer in terms of wider arc material. Certainly, it would have been nice to see a hint of the conspiracy-type mysteries seeded in the opening episode. But at the same time, it makes sense for us to spend time with the characters for a while before we return to the series arc.

Certainly, there was little actively wrong with Instinct’s plot. The threat was credible, the resolution logical, and while some of the answers arguably came a little too easily, they still served a purpose in pushing certain characters together or apart. Coupled with just the right amount of tonal levity (particularly welcome after a deadly serious first episode) the results were consistent and enjoyable.

In fact, the only obvious eyebrow-raising thing about the series so far seems to be project head Taylor’s insistance in heaping responsibility on Jim. Perhaps they’ll explain it later, perhaps it’s just something we’ll have to take with a pinch of salt because Jim is the series’ lead male, but viewed objectively, one wonders just how under-staffed Terra Nova is that the same guy gets picked to do three different plot-critical jobs alongside Taylor.

Effects-wise, it’s tough to deny that the CGI of the opening episode was ropey at best, but this episode does a little better. How much of that is down to genuine improvements and how much is down to the episode’s use of a smaller-scale beast as the primary threat is debatable, but better is better, however you arrive at it. Admittedly it’s still nowhere near Jurassic Park levels of quality, but at least it looks better than the average episode of Primeval this time around.

Of course, The most impressive part of Terra Nova’s effects remains the colony itself, so even though this episode is, in effect, a relatively cheap ‘bottle’ episode played out entirely within existing sets, it’s still early enough in the show’s run that it feels like a new prospect to spend some time on the base, so it makes sense to milk that while they can. It’s still early days for the series, but right now its prospects look good.

Rating 7/10

source:denofgeek.com
by:James Hunt