At the dawn of the
22nd century, the world is on the verge of environmental collapse.
Mankind’s only hope of survival lies 85 million years in the past.
Big dystopian views: everything is worn down and dirty
and the people are walking around with masks over their faces so they don’t
have to breathe the air. To underscore this, Jim Shannon brings an orange home
to his family – something incredible and rare. His wife, Dr. Elizabeth Shannon
talks about people with lung disease from the bad air.
I think we can call this setting well and truly
established – awesomely done. I rather think the opening blurb was unnecessary.
In rushes Maddy to tell everyone (mum, dad, son Josh,
young daughter Zoe) that “they” are coming they put Zoe into hiding in time to
greet the gun wielding officials from population control. Jim protests that
he’s a cop but they still have to leave while their home is searched and
ransacked. Zoe’s crying gives her away.
Jim runs to protect his daughter, beating up many of the population control men
before being tasered
2 years later, Jim’s in prison and Elizabeth is visiting.
Elizabeth has been contacted by the recruitment people for Terra Nova and the
pilgrimage is scheduled to leave next week. He tells her to take the kids and
go – but they won’t let her take Zoe, they won’t reward her for breaking the
law. He wants a way round it and she has a plan – that she whispers to him and
then says she’s counting on him. She gives him her rebreather before she
leaves.
When he’s alone he rips open the mask to find a nifty pen-light
sabre (ish). Elizabeth, Josh and Maddy start on the pilgrimage (the 10th)
while nifty TV screens explain about a rift in time and space. Just in case
we’re not following, Josh decides to talk about his dad breaking out of prison
while they’re in the middle of a crowd (don’t you just love inappropriate
exposition?)
While she does that, Jim is on another train and cuts a little button with a flashing light out of his flesh (ouch). He walks out onto the ruined streets where we can see how the less well off live (not very well and with little shiny technology) surrounded by adverts against overpopulation until he finds a stashed case with a gun, wadge of cash and an ID badge. We get to see how they work as his family checks into the pilgrimage and Josh says goodbye to his girlfriend, Kara.
Jim sneaks in, exchanges his wedge of cash for another
big pack and joins the crowd heading towards the portal. He catches up with his
family and swaps packs with Elizabeth as security realises something’s up. Security
stops Jim, Elizabeth encourages her extremely dramatic children through the
portal and then Jim joins them after explaining things to security with an
elbow to the head.
They get through to a new, highly vegetative world and
have more dramas with guards, guns and small children smuggled in backpacks.
They’re 85 million years in the past, in lush jungle –
though Zoe and Jim are reported as stowaways and Jim is worried that Zoe may
not remember him since he was gone for 2 years. And they’re interrupted by a roaring Allosaur
before arriving at their home base – a fenced in circle of cleared forest with
wind turbines and farms.
They are welcomed by Commander Nathanial Taylor, boss
man, who gives them a rousing speech of how much they screwed the world and they have a second chance in Terra Nova,
not to ruin it. He also wants to speak to Jim and Elizabeth, alone. Dr. Liz he
knows as being super doctor in just about everything medical. He knows and
learns about Jim and Zoe – which he doesn’t care about, the population laws are
outdated in terra Nova, he does care whether Jim is useful. Elizabeth leaves
and Commander Taylor questions cop Jim about why he broke the law – in a very
friendly fashion – Jim responds with snarls. Because that’s sensible. Jim
demands a badge and a gun, he can help catch bad guys – Taylor sends him to
farm instead.
They get a shiny new house and Elizabeth wonders if they
did the right thing coming to Terra Nova. No, course you didn’t, you should
have stayed in the world where the air was poisonous, fruit a novelty and your
husband was dying in prison. Clearly this is a difficult choice. Jim also works
on rebonding with his 5 year old daughter with 3 years absence. And Josh has an emo fit because his dad went
to prison. We’re spared more ridiculous teen angst by Zoe disappearing to go
watch the brachiosaurus eating just beyond the fence. It’s a nice interlude
before more family dramas when they return home for the night, Josh whines and
tantrums some more and Elizabeth and Jim have to deal with being together after
2 years apart.
Time for a new day and Maddy dropping the biggest
info-dump on her brother you ever could imagine – but it nicely explains away
paradox and changing the future. Josh
then slopes off in full angst mode and meets Skye who shows him how to eat
fruit. He goes off with Skye and runs into his father along the way for yet
more teenaged angst. Ok, strike 3 – something eat him now. Alas something
doesn’t and he goes to meet Skye’s friends, Tasha, Max and Hunter. They have
their own place, on the frontier they have jobs even though they’re teenagers.
Skye and friends lead him on their fun game of leaving the compound. Yes Josh
is just begging to be eaten.
What they do find while waiting for dinosaurs to eat them are odd symbols on rock – clearly made by intelligent life (so not like Josh). And Taylor has declared the area off limits. From there they go to their still to drink moonshine and then on to Josh whining about his father
Maddy starts to establish awkward teenage crush/flirting
with Mark Reynolds, one of the soldiers.
Dr. Elizabeth is treating someone with a gunshot wound
who was syphoning power, she asks a soldier about it and he says they’re “sixers”.
Before he can explain, the shot man leaps up, holds Elizabeth at knife point
and demands the soldier’s gun. Yes, a whole new world and we have bad guys with
guns. As bad guy leaves he’s spotted by Jim and his psychic police senses kick
in; he leaves his farming lectures to follow the guy. The gunman tries to kill
Commander Taylor and Jim leaps in to save the day. Yay. Jim demands an
explanation from Taylor (angrily of course… because… I have no damn idea. Seems
like Jim expected to be told about this before?)
Time for some exposition – the “Sixers” split away to
form their own settlement who arrived with the 6th Pilgrimage with
an agenda and hidden weapons and Commander Taylor doesn’t trust anyone back in
the future to consult them. Jim is recruited into the security team – just in
time for them to notice 2 transports of Sixers rapidly approaching the compound.
They drive to intercept (why did Taylor decide to take Jim on a hike to recruit
him? Who knows, the script says so! Maybe it’s a new form of corporate human
resources – hiring should only happen on nature trails, firing on white water
rafting) and find 2 Carnotaurus are also playing with the tasty tasty Sixers.
Time for a car chase with dinosaurs and Taylor deciding to get out to distract
them away from the gates then Jim picking him up again before he gets munched
on – once everyone’s inside they can flee into the compound and use the sonic
cannons to drive the dinosaurs away and shut the gates.
Dinosaurs! Always nifty.
Of course, the Sixers also manage to get inside, led by
Mira. Lots of posturing before she brings out of a box of meteoric iron – from
a quarry they control – and wants to swap it for her man, Carter (who tried to
kill Taylor), medical supplies and ammo. Taylor agrees to the first 2. Agreed
and peace – though Dr. Elizabeth doesn’t seem too pleased about Jim being
police again and talks to Commander Taylor about keeping her husband safe – and
why she chose to come to Terra Nova and give her kids a new world rather than
continuing in the old.
Mira and her crew are planning sinister things when they
find an abandoned rover – yes the one used by Josh, Skye and their cronies –
and start looting it for parts, right before one of them gets minced by
something gribbly. Which is when the powers that be at Terra Nova realise there’s
a missing rover, check the CCTV and see the kids sneaking out. People are not
pleased and Elizabeth demands to come help, blaming Jim for Josh not having the
common sense of a concussed platypus.
With the kids, Skye decides to go ask the Sixers nicely
for their power cells back (no, really, she does) and they find the cells – and
lots of blood. Then they hear the Slasher and leap inside the Sixer vehicle
with the one surviving Sixer – who is seriously injured - just before they get
shredded into teeny tiny pieces (awww, I wanted to see them get eaten. It would
have been Darwinism in action).
The slashers start burrowing their way in, attacking from
all directions and tearing holes while Skye and Josh hold them back with gunfire
and Hunter uses the radio to get hold of Commander Taylor’s rescue group. Tasha
panics loudly and wants to run into the dinosaur haunted forest. This
establishes Tasha as the foolish one – and given the competition is Josh, Max, Hunter
and Skye, that’s pretty damn impressive. In a panic, she leaves the vehicle to
play with the nice dinosaurs, they thank her for the free dinner but don’t kill
her – and she manages to stagger, injured, to the rescue party which patches
her up and takes her home.
The rest of the gang discusses another suicidal plan and
Hunter is dragged out the rover by his leg by a slasher – Josh, Max and Skye
leap out and fend off more dinosaurs with their guns – which seem to do very
little. Are these dinosaurs made of Kevlar or something? Running to the other
rover doesn’t work so well either with Max injured next and Skye run out of
ammo. The dinosaurs begin the menacing stalk (you can’t just kill the good guys
– you need to menacing stalk them a little first – it is known) before the
rescue team arrive. The wounded Sixer is gone – Taylor believes Mira collected
him.
All home safe and sound and hopefully the kids will be
locked up forever until they learn some sense. And not to have emo temper
tantrums. The Shannon family bonds and Skye goes to see Taylor who looks after
her with her parents dead. He’s indulgent and kind – but checks they didn’t go
near the falls – where the odd writing was.
We see Mira and Carter look at the symbols who say Taylor
wants to keep them underwraps – but they’re the only connection to his son.
Carter suggests that it’s Carter’s son creating them and looking for an answer.
When he gets an answer, he writes it on the rocks to remind Taylor of the real
reason for Terra Nova – control the past, control the future.
Intriguing concept, fascinating world and some decent
racial inclusion (but we do focus on the 2 straight, white men) some great
hooks there even if we have some clumsy exposition. Definitely lots to enjoy.
But? I don’t like Jim very much. He seemed overly
combative with Taylor and he (and Taylor for that matter) seem to fit the so
very dull mould of so many protagonists in sci-fi/dystopias/
And Josh? Something needs to eat him as of yesterday. The
angsty, bad tempered teenager has already become tiresome after the first
episode and I don’t see it getting any better. I can’t say Skye, Hunter, Max and
Tasha impressed me either. I was totally team dino. Joking aside – these characters
have a high chance of ruining the show for me – I don’t want lots of episodes
of pointless drama because Josh is having a shitfit.
I am really impressed by how well the setting was created, by references and the background adverts. The problem? You had all of these wonderful shows - and then told us anyway.
Still I think I'm going to like this. If nothing else than because I was that child who knew a ridiculous amount of things about dinosaurs - AND before Jurassic Park. Yes, I was the Hipster Dino Geek, into them before they were cool. And my inner Hipster Dino Geek disapproves most strongly of "slashers" (Inner Hipster Dino Geek isn't mad thrilled about these Cretaceous Brachiosaurs either)
Still I think I'm going to like this. If nothing else than because I was that child who knew a ridiculous amount of things about dinosaurs - AND before Jurassic Park. Yes, I was the Hipster Dino Geek, into them before they were cool. And my inner Hipster Dino Geek disapproves most strongly of "slashers" (Inner Hipster Dino Geek isn't mad thrilled about these Cretaceous Brachiosaurs either)
