Monday 28 November 2011

Terra Nova


The dino show that has amazing production value and very beautiful sets can't hold itself together for even a single episode. May as well start with the biggest issues, the kids. I dont hate child actors but either the writing or the characters are just grating. The youngest daughter is so sickly sweet that I actually get a little nauseated when she is on scene. The middle kid is the typical super genius, that seems to always exist in these shows and honsetly I find myself hoping that the writers will just hurry up and kill off the soldier boy that is courting her like its the 1800's ( although in his defence it is way earlier than the 1800's where they are). And the son with his super angst. I would not mind the kids so much if they weren't figured so prominently in every story, or were written as if they were real people instead of the archtypes they have been. Another issue is the inconsistancies. This is supposed to be humanities last hope, and they have built this "safe" haven amoungst dinosaurs, yet they only have guard posts at the front gate it seems, and the "fence" consists of what I assume to be large felled trees held together horizontally by straps, leaving huge gaps in the fence that has been shown time and time again that anything human sized can slip through with ease. Now assuming I am building what is supposed to be the new home for the chosen few of humanity and have access to all this technological wonder why oh why wouldn't I put up an electric fence with the regular fence. it would keep people from slipping OTG ( an acronym I am hating ) and the sixers from getting ITG since as shown in one episode the forest is about 20 feet from the gate. First thing people did when they are building something that is supposed to be defensible, clear away the forest etc to at least the maximum range of your weapons. Preferably more to allow for early detection. Now from a story point of view I understand why they did it, there needed to be a way for people to leave the colony without having to go through the front gate, otherwise 90% of the action has to take place in the colony. Although if you found yourself in Jurassic Park I somehow doubt you'd go prancing around in the woods, even to get your prehistoric booze. All in all I really wanted this show to do right, and like Britney Spears if you mute your television, its enjoyable to watch. But I'm almost 10 episodes in and I dont think I can take anymore of the most awesome family in 50 million years. My guess for the big reveal? It's the same Earth, but like whoever hid the probe, I just dont care.