I think I might check out this old FOX show Terra Nova. Anyone familiar with it?

It was a interesting show, but sadly it was doomed from the start. It had to many people trying to put there 2 cents in, and the project just went out of control. It was the most expensive TV pilot ever made, and having so many big named producers, just blew the budget, and made the show unsustainable. It received decent ratings, but the budget screwed it from the start.
 
Okay, so I watched the first two episodes tonight.

Considering a lot of the opinions in here, I went into the show with fairly low expectations but I was pleasantly surprised. It's an interesting concept and as I was watching I found myself remaining engaged most of the way through. I always put movies and TV shows to a test: How often do I check my watch or reach for my phone? In the case of these two eps, I didn't feel compelled to do that too much.

I feel like most of the cast is doing a pretty good job, with Stephen Lang the standout performer.

One thing I took particular note of was the look of the show. I understand that Terra Nova was considered to be very expensive--the most expensive network show of all time in 2011--so I wanted to see the money on the screen. And for the most part, I DO think the show looks very good. However, there were two things that stood out as not really living up to the show's huge budget: 1) In the pilot, before they go back in time, there are some CGI cityscape shots that look totally digital, as if they didn't even want to try to make it look real. And 2) The dinos mostly look like shit. They look like exactly what they are--cartoons--and it's very distracting. Every time they appeared on screen it took me out of the show. They really should've worked harder on that.

Something I will point out is that most of the shows I'm watching now or watched recently--Ozark, The Sinner, The Mist, The Handmaid's Tale, Top of the Lake, GoT--fall into that trend of "dark and gritty" cable shows that are all the rage these days. What I noticed while watching Terra Nova was that it kind of felt good to take a break from that and watch something that was a bit lighter in tone and more family-friendly in nature.

I feel hopeful going forward and think I'm going to stick with this one. It's only 13 eps, though apparently Netflix is removing the show on the 11th of next month so I'm going to have to roll through it at a more brisk pace than I otherwise would. Hopefully it will maintain a consistent level of quality throughout.

I will leave you with an interesting tidbit from Wikipedia about the show's creation:

"Purely as an exercise in 'Can I write something my dad would like?'", Kelly Marcel produced a treatment for Terra Nova while working in Prime Time Video, a video rental shop in Battersea. After her agent booked her a fortnight in Los Angeles pitching to American networks from out of a fleabag hotel, she received an offer to write a 13-episode season at $300,000 a show, which Marcel refused. She was just unsure it was what she wanted to write, a fear more certain after producer Steven Spielberg proposed that the series should involve dinosaurs. Instead, she simply sold the idea and returned to London.
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I have to wonder if there is more to this story than this paragraph lets on, because I can't imagine a video store worker who is aspiring to be a screenwriter turning down a job that's going to pay her $300,000 per episode. I wonder what she ended up selling the idea for.

Anyway guys, that's what I got on this one so far. I'm sure I'll chime in periodically as I make my way through the show.

Attn: @GrizzlyTitan @indrid @fonzob1 @Ruv @GearSolidMetal @Dragonlordxxxxx @GoForkYourself @Pwent @El_Diazo @sverre054 @Bob Gray @WandySaku2
 
shadow_priest_x said:
Okay, so I watched the first two episodes tonight.

Considering a lot of the opinions in here, I went into the show with fairly low expectations but I was pleasantly surprised. It's an interesting concept and as I was watching I found myself remaining engaged most of the way through. I always put movies and TV shows to a test: How often do I check my watch or reach for my phone? In the case of these two eps, I didn't feel compelled to do that too much.

I feel like most of the cast is doing a pretty good job, with Stephen Lang the standout performer.

One thing I took particular note of was the look of the show. I understand that Terra Nova was considered to be very expensive--the most expensive network show of all time in 2011--so I wanted to see the money on the screen. And for the most part, I DO think the show looks very good. However, there were two things that stood out as not really living up to the show's huge budget: 1) In the pilot, before they go back in time, there are some CGI cityscape shots that look totally digital, as if they didn't even want to try to make it look real. And 2) The dinos mostly look like shit. They look like exactly what they are--cartoons--and it's very distracting. Every time they appeared on screen it took me out of the show. They really should've worked harder on that.

Something I will point out is that most of the shows I'm watching now or watched recently--Ozark, The Sinner, The Mist, The Handmaid's Tale, Top of the Lake, GoT--fall into that trend of "dark and gritty" cable shows that are all the rage these days. What I noticed while watching Terra Nova was that it kind of felt good to take a break from that and watch something that was a bit lighter in tone and more family-friendly in nature.

I feel hopeful going forward and think I'm going to stick with this one. It's only 13 eps, though apparently Netflix is removing the show on the 11th of next month so I'm going to have to roll through it at a more brisk pace than I otherwise would. Hopefully it will maintain a consistent level of quality throughout.

I will leave you with an interesting tidbit from Wikipedia about the show's creation:



I have to wonder if there is more to this story than this paragraph lets on, because I can't imagine a video store worker who is aspiring to be a screenwriter turning down a job that's going to pay her $300,000 per episode. I wonder what she ended up selling the idea for.

Anyway guys, that's what I got on this one so far. I'm sure I'll chime in periodically as I make my way through the show.

Attn: @GrizzlyTitan @indrid @fonzob1 @Ruv @GearSolidMetal @Dragonlordxxxxx @GoForkYourself @Pwent @El_Diazo @sverre054 @Bob Gray @WandySaku2
Click to expand...
Keep watching. I'm pretty sure at the end, you'll eventually settle at the 6.5 to 7 rating mark.
 
shadow_priest_x said:
A lot of shows and movies these days are exploring the "many worlds" hypothesis regarding time travel. It's based on actual scientific theory.
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Certainly if it was possible to go back in time, it could change the way things turned out but I don't think we could stop an asteroid from hitting the planet.
 
I remember it got off to a decent start, and then got progressively worse as it went on. I think I gave up half way through.

Don't remember much about though. This is the dinosaur show with the dude from Avatar, right?
 
ralphc1 said:
Certainly if it was possible to go back in time, it could change the way things turned out but I don't think we could stop an asteroid from hitting the planet.
Click to expand...

Presumably on this alternate timeline a cataclysmic asteroid was never a threat. Instead, other possibilities expressed themselves.
 
They also had a veteran Show runner in Brannon Braga(Star trek) running the production. I remember some interviews, where he said it was a tough show to make due too all the producer and network note and suggestions just ballooning the production. He knows how to make and run sci fi shows, and bring them in on budget, just to many hands in the pot.
 
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