Terra Nova

[Ordo]

<a href='http://www.zzstream.com/2011/09/terra-nova-season-1-episode-1-genesis.html' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Episode 1 Genesis</a>

I find Lang's character, Taylor, interesting. I WANT to like him, unlike his previous General Ripper role this guy seems like a reasonable Badass Grandpa. I mean he survived 118 days in a hostile jungle, alone, with vicious Dinosaurs roaming the land. However, by Episodes end I know I shouldn't trust him, but darn it I want to, even though he's likely a magnificent bastard.

The family that we follow seem nice enough, and the teenage son proved that he wasn't totally useless (though he is an idiot) when he and his friends were jumped by Slashers.

Other notes, the weapon seems appropriate and effective, though whoever designed the armor for the Sixer's vehicles needs to be beaten with a clue bat. There were way to man holes, and open spaces for a strong creature to get a mouth or limb around and yank open.

Edit: Speaking of weapons and weapon training <a href='http://www.terranovatv.net/videos/behind-the-scenes-video-terra-novas-weapons/' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Terra Nova Firearms training</a>

I think it's good to keep in mind that the type of weapon a person uses says something about that person.

 

[zerohour]

Watched the first episode, and it seems good. Looking forward to see where thinsg go.

As for Taylor, I'm not sure he's the big bad. I'm guessing that the original purpose of Terra Nova was to align the timelines so they could control the world through manipulating the past.

Taylor... probably didn't agree with that, either thinking it couldn't be done, or actually wanting to have a fresh start with the world.


Still, only the pilot episode, so plenty of room for unexpected development.

 

[shiki]

Didn't know this show existed and found it after I got bored watching NCAA football.

Dinosaurs, guns, and space politics. Somewhat dry sci -fi acting, but that is too be expected.

 

[SleepyNin]

Watching the first episode now, and the population control people were crazy as they always seem to be. Why for once can't they be synthetic instead of power hungry?

 

[l3fty]

Opening double episode didn't really endear me to it.

Cop dad has issues, rich doc mom has issues, teenagers piss me off to no end, I mean what, they act as if though they don't live in goddamned overpopulated city in the future where air is getting worse and even masks are not enough anymore, seriously, what?

Nice paved road they had towards the settlement surrounded by mountains from 3 sides, with goddamn wooden low walls, also lol security, then again, considering the end of the episode...

Wtf were those useless green lightshow weapons they used, they seem to be some kind of lol I flash at you with green lights, be scared, run away, pleaseeee, sonic mini cannons seem kinda lol considering slashers are like, medium small critters >.>.

Loved the "it's a parallel past Earth, so we can fuck around as much as we want, the fact we're fucking over this timeline humans doesn't matter", then again, possible future earthlings of Terra Nova coming to their own past to clean house would be fun.

All in all, show has very little appeal as a sci-fi show.

 

[Ordo]

Nice paved road they had towards the settlement surrounded by mountains from 3 sides, with goddamn wooden low walls, also lol security, then again, considering the end of the episode...

The settlement's been there for over seven years so I'm not sure I see the problem.

Wtf were those useless green lightshow weapons they used, they seem to be some kind of lol I flash at you with green lights, be scared, run away, pleaseeee, sonic mini cannons seem kinda lol considering slashers are like, medium small critters >.>.

Those were tranquilizers, Taylor says that when he hands a weapon to the Cop.

 

[Vexarian]

I caught the repeat.

Eh...

I... would like a good Sci-Fi series.

But the more cautious side of me doubts I'm going to get it.

 

[Delta Green Friendly]

I caught the repeat.

Eh...

I... would like a good Sci-Fi series.

But the more cautious side of me doubts I'm going to get it.

Do not trust to hope, it has forsaken these lands.

 

[Terdwilicker]

There are several things about that show that bug me.

They don't have an ROV helicopter despite having tiny batteries for the big dumb SUV trucks. Air Power makes sense when you're dealing with ground based critters. You can scout them out, relay radio traffic during an emergency, take samples from the air, or coordinate Search and Rescue. And why don't the vehicles all have homing beacons and radio relays? Gotta be trivial to include.

I don't see any kind of bulldozer to make and maintain those roads. WTF happened to it? And how soon will the roads get overgrown without one? I hope they close that plot hole soon with an excuse about it breaking down outside the fence, and needing to fix it with parts tossed through the portal.

Where's the jungle? Most of the understory brush and vines are missing in many of the shots. I hope they add some digitally later. It looks weird without it.

The rifles are made for shooting people. Too small a caliber to be effective against the dinos. Even a .50 BMG would have trouble killing the bigger dinos. Really, they should all be armed with safari rifles in big calibers to have any hope of dropping a dino, and the security force should have grenade launchers as that's got enough power to actually drop a dino through concussion or shrapnel wounds. The standard 5.56 or even 7.62 NATO would mostly just sting a dino slightly. Their organs are too big and their vitals too small to kill with those rounds.

Carnotaurus ate fish and lived in coastal swamps, not the jungle. Its in the wikipedia entry. Did no one read it first?

Why did they build their homes AROUND the fields and not the reverse? Fields make a good free fire zone and you can take a wounded colonist to the clinic next door easier than half way around the circumference of a 5 km circle. 2 pi R

Where are they getting their water? No evidence of a well at the center of those fields, though its the best location, nor is there any suggestion of pipes for the houses. Nor sewer for waste treatment. The one argument for a round field is rotary sprinkler systems like we see in the Western states dry areas. No sign of those. Or of tractors to till those fields. Electric tractors exist NOW. Kinda expecting lots of quonset huts since they're light weight and strong.

Every time someone goes outside the wall, they've got something like a 1:8 chance of getting in a bad situation with a dino. The death rate dealing with dinos is high. The women inside that compound will likely reward brave men in the traditional way to encourage men to die or kill to keep the women safe, and the age of consent will likely drop back to traditional early teens. Most of those colonists won't live to see 30 so they'd best have babies early and often to have any real chance of helping the colony survive. Even with their technology, the dinos are a huge threat. Think that fence can withstand a stampede? Probably not. Small dinos will slip through it, and they can be deadly too. Throw in snakes, flies, mosquitoes (and malaria), birds (birds lived then too), and the various 85 mya infections/diseases and you've got a lot of ways to die. The women will be frantic for some male protection, all things considered. This colony should have a LOT more crying babies. And a lot more sneaky dinos stealing babies or eating people in their sleep. Leopards kill thousands annually in Africa. There must have been a dino filling the same ecological niche back then.

Why assume that the time portal can only go to that one time instead of whenever? Spread enough humanity across time and you can easily depopulate the Earth of the future. The Rich would LOVE that.

Why not use Bird Flu to kill off all the dinos? Its widely known that bird flu is deadly to many reptiles but humans can be asymptomatic carriers. You could have it and not even know it. Kills every dino downwind anyway. Before you know it, mammals are in charge again.

 

[Terdwilicker]

After several more episodes I have additional comments.

This is feeling like SG Universe-ish. That show was kinda awful, really. This one is a tad better. Less oxidizing metal and more jungle.

WTF is with the suddenly "green flash of light" guns? It was traditional 5.56 NATO earlier. Now its green light. Same guns. Think we didn't notice?

Why is the hot blonde helping the dorky son get his skank gf from the future when she really shows every intention of claiming him for herself, as if she didn't right at the outset. Being familiar with women (married) I would say she claimed him on first sight which is why no other women have flirted with the dork. This is very primal alpha territory.

Every time one of these twits opens a door after dark, I expect them to be killed by a 3-foot tall dino waiting outside, since they can easily slip through the fence and they can get a good feed off a human, even if they don't finish the corpse after the kill.

When will we see the dinos dying out from a mysterious flu-like illness? Bird flu is largely asymptomatic in humans but absolutely deadly to birds and probably theropods (dinosaurs of the Cretaceous). If the humans aren't checked for it, one of them will bring it through time and accidentally wipe out the entire population, worldwide. It is one of the possible causes of the dino extinction according to Paleontologists since the asteroid impact wasn't guilty (evidence shows it wasn't the cause).

Glad they're having an episode with some action involving a big t-rex and an asteroid impact, a small one. The arizona meteor crater is 2 miles across but caused by a 70 meter rock. Pretty amazing when you realize it was discovered by someone looking for it on purpose rather than by accident. Most science is accident, after all.

I really hope we'll see the colony stop relying on future magic technology and start robinson crusoing instead. Time to get more serious and less retarded.