TV With Anya: Terra Nova
My household watches a pretty astounding amount of TV each week. We actually own two DVRs and have enough DVDs to set up a rental shop. So, when it comes to picking up new TV programming each season, we're pretty picky. This season, I didn't think we'd be picking up anything at all. We are currently behind on several of our shows and are trying to catch up on a few new ones we committed ourselves to over the summer.
However, my roommate mentioned an interest in Fox's new show Terra Nova, so we decided to give it a whirl. It's an interesting piece of work for the FOX network, which is notorious for cancelling TV shows (Drive, Firefly, Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Human Target to name a few). The show has a long list of big names for executive producers: Steven Speilberg, René Echevarria (Castle), Brannon Braga (24), and Jon Cassar (24), to name a few. So, there is money and power behind this show, which is touted as an "Epic Family Adventure 85 Million Years in the Making." I have to admit, that when I first saw the promos, I thought, "Oh, look, they've slapped Jurassic Park slap in the middle of an episode of Lost! That won't be bad or anything." Yes, I'm snarky when it comes to TV.
But, as I said, Roommate wanted to watch, so watch we did. The story starts out in 2149 (only 138 years from the year in which we are living). As you might have expected, humans have turned the planet into a sesspool that we can't fix. Families are only allowed to have two children, the air is barely breatheable, and life in general isn't very pleasant.
We are immediately thrown into the life of the Shannon family — who have committed the crime of producing more than two children. This breaking of the law is not good under normal circumstances, but, you see, Mrs./Dr. Shannon has been earmarked (along with her family) for the 10th pilgrimage to Terra Nova.
Despite the ignorance that the human race displayed in destroying our planet, we have also shown the brilliance of hindsight — in the form of a portal to the past. We can improve our future by sending humans back to the past — specifically back to the past that includes dinosaurs, heavy jungle, and no TV, iPhones, or internet. Hurrah!
Despite my sarcasm here, you have to understand — this show is rather briliant. Instead of focusing the viewer on the science of the thing, the creators do the intelligent thing for once — they allow us to quickly become enamoured with the Shannon family, and by doing that, they draw us, the viewers, into the fears, dreams, hardships, and mystery that the family is going to encounter in the past.
Needless to say, it's not often that the creators of a show do this for us. The producers of Lost were brilliant at this technique, as are the creators of Fringe. The producers of Terra Nova took a card from other shows and are quickly creating a storyling that I can't wait to see each week.
I'm not going to share more of the story with you. I want you to check it out for yourselves. I will tell you that you'll like the Shannon family (I hope!) and the politics, cool creatures, and deadly encounters that the writers are throwing at you. And don't get me wrong — the FX and scenery are gorgeous. I hope you can find the time to check out this show — it's unique, and it's been a long time coming for us in scifi who demand more than just a cool dinosaur to keep our interest engaged.
Resources:
Terra Nova Photos
Terra Nova on FOX
Deadline|Hollywood