Welcome future citizens of Terra Nova! 
The team at WormholeRiders News Agency is proud to announce that we will be writing detailed analysis and reviews for this Fall’s brand new and exciting new science fiction series, Terra Nova! Featuring a robust team many of our most experienced writers as previously announced on Twitter, we are hopeful you will be pleased!
Terra Nova is produced by 20th Century Fox Television, Chernin Entertainment, DreamWorks Television and Kapital Entertainment. Steven Spielberg (“Saving Private Ryan”), Peter Chernin, René Echevarria (“Castle”), Brannon Braga (“Star Trek” and “24”), Jon Cassar (“24”), Aaron Kaplan, Katherine Pope, Justin Falvey (“Falling Skies”), Darryl Frank (“The Borgias”), Craig Silverstein (“Nikita”) and Kelly Marcel serve as executive producers. Alex Graves (Fringe) directed and serves as executive producer of the series premiere.
Terra Nova is set in the future in the year 2149. Humans had almost made the Earth uninhabitable. It was overpopulated and overdeveloped. The majority of plant and animal life have become extinct. People have to wear masks in order to breathe, because the air was too thick and full of pollution. Due to overpopulation, the government had enacted a law that stated a couple can have only two children per household.
In my opinion, Terra Nova had somewhat of a Blade Runner feel to it. Scientists discovered a fracture in time that allowed humans to build a portal so that they may travel back in time. They traveled back 85 million years for a chance to rebuild our civilization in an attempt to get it right this time.
I was excited to watch another Steven Spielberg production after enjoying his Summer hit, Falling Skies. With Terra Nova, we have the similar type family interaction and bonding within a community as seen in Falling Skies. The Terra Nova landscapes were stunning to say the least! It almost reminded me of Lost, but instead of black smoke and polar bears, we had Carnosaurs! It also had abundant sunlight, food and fresh air. Surrounding the settlers was a super sonic gate to keep out the dinosaurs and contain a mysterious group of settlers known as the Sixers.
The series followed the Shannon family as they join the Tenth Pilgrimage of settlers to Terra Nova. The two main characters are Jim Shannon (Jason O’Mara), a devoted father and Elizabeth Shannon (Shelly Conn), a trauma surgeon. Dr. Shannon was the newest member of the medical team within the Tenth Pilgrimage. Their children were 17 year old Josh Shannon (Landon Liboiron), 15 year old Maddy Shannon (Naomi Scott), and 5 year old Zoe Shannon (Alana Mansour). The Shannon family have many obstacles to overcome before they can even set foot on Terra Nova.
Terra Nova started off at the middle of the 22nd century. The Earth was on the verge of environmental collapse. Jim and his wife, Elizabeth had been keeping their youngest daughter, Zoe, hidden from police because of the overpopulation law. Police stormed the Shannon’s home in an investigative raid and found little Zoe hidden in an air vent. After scaring her, Jim took a swing at the police officers which unfortunately landed him in prison.
After two years in prison, Elizabeth told Jim she had been chosen to leave with the Tenth Pilgrimage that was headed to Terra Nova. She gave him her oxygen mask, because the air was not filtered in the prison. Hidden inside the mask was a laser scalpel that Jim could use to break out of prison. The family stood waiting for Jim hoping that he would be able to break out and make it to the portal in time. Secretly, Zoe was hidden inside the book bag. Making it just in time, the family jumped through the portal to safety. Jim knew if he got to Terra Nova they would not come for him, because it was a one way ticket.
The landscape of Terra Nova was remarkable. Fresh air, trees and plenty of exotic foods. It was a paradise for the settlers of the Tenth Pilgrimage. Little huts were powered with solar panels. Upon arrival everything looked tranquil. Was it truly peaceful or just what they can see for now? The youngest of the Shannon children, Zoe, was very interested in the Brachiosaurus, which inadvertently lifted her in the air when she fed it a branch with leaves on it. It looked as if the settlers had nothing to worry about with such tame dinosaurs.
Commander Nathaniel Taylor (Stephen Lang) was the first pioneer and leader of the Tenth Pilgrimage. Commander Taylor seemed to be the practical character that reminded the settlers that even though Terra Nova appeared as a utopia, with its waterfalls and blue skies; it was also a place with danger. There were man eating dinosaurs! What storyline is complete without an antagonist but of course? There was also a splintered off colony of renegades led by Mira (Christine Adams), called the Sixers. The Sixers were certainly opposed to Commander Taylor and his leadership. The nickname of the Sixers originated from them being from the Sixth Pilgrimage. This was another welcome element to Terra Nova.
Commander Taylor decided not to punish Jim for his crimes committed in 2149 of breaking the population law, but instead he assigned him to agricultural duty. Which let me tell you, seeing Jason O’Mara shirtless and working definitely had my attention! He was working very hard to prove his worth to Taylor. Elizabeth had already proven her worth with being a trauma surgeon in the year 2149. Taylor knew she would be needed by the Tenth Pilgrimage.
The teens from Terra Nova were your typical teenagers: sneaking out and being in places they know they were not supposed to be. The big difference was that Terra Nova was not safe to be wandering around, unless you knew where you were going. Josh met a girl named Skye (Allison Miller). Skye was a part of the Fifth Pilgrimage.. Josh was supposed to be at orientation, but instead had decided to hang out with Skye and her friends; Tasha (Aisha Dee), Max (Eka Darville), and Hunter (Sam Parsonson).
Commander Taylor took Jim on a hike through the jungle to explain some things about Terra Nova. Commander Taylor had said a fellow from another colony had tried to shoot him once before. The Sixers had separated from the others, because everyone started noticing how different they were. The Sixers were curious about the security at Terra Nova and questioned the rules. Finally, Taylor found their contraband of weapons and cash. It was then apparent that they had an agenda. Who sent the Sixers to Terra Nova? What was their purpose? These are questions that I cannot wait to have answered. Taylor told Jim that he was not sure who he could trust in the future. He gave Jim a new job, an official badge, and made him part of his security team.
While Jim and Taylor were guarding the perimeter, they noticed the Sixers were headed towards the camp. He alerted his security team to stop them. Taylor noticed that the Sixers were not shooting at them, but something else. A Carnosaurus! The Carnosaurus’ were chasing the Sixers right into camp. After running the Carosaur off, we then got to meet the leader of the Sixers; Mira, played the talented Christine Adams (Adams was best known for her role as Claire Atkinson in Tron: The Legacy). Mira demanded that Taylor release Carter (Damian Walshe-Howling) from the brig and tells him that the Sixers still have friends in Terra Nova. Mira asked for Carter’s release along with some ammo and medical supplies. Taylor was willing to hand over Carter and the medical supplies, but not the ammo. Mira agreed.
Later, Taylor opened up to Dr. Shannon about his son that had came over on the Second Pilgrimage. His son worked in the science department and had went missing. Taylor said he has not given up hope and maybe one day he will find him. Josh and Skye got some bonding time while cutting up strange fruit. After talking to Skye, Josh realized that he was more like his father than he had realized. I hope Josh comes out of this rebellious teenage stage and fast!
Back to the Sixers though, they were seen headed back to their camp when they stopped in the middle of the meadow to check on the car. After hearing something in the bushes, one of the men was stabbed by a slasher tail. In the distance, the teens had heard the slashers and decided to leave, because it was getting dark. Meanwhile back at the camp, Commander Taylor noticed a vehicle missing and caught the teens taking it from the camp on tape. He organized a search party to reach them before something else did. The teens found themselves stranded OTG (outside the gate), because their power cells had been stolen from their vehicle.
Skye noticed that there was a Sixer’s vehicle parked across the creek. She went over to get their power cells back, when she noticed the blood on the ground. Opening up the vehicle, they find a frightened Sixer hidden inside that she remembered was named Drake. The teens locked themselves inside the Sixers’ vehicle while the slashers tried their hardest to get in. The slashers circled the vehicle til well after dark. Finally, Commander Taylor and his security found the teens and got rid of the slashers. Tasha was badly wounded while trying to run from the slashers. Jason O’Mara said, “Slashers are a different kind of raptor. They’re kind of like the crazed, methadone addicts of the dinosaur world.” and also said, “These raptors are like mangy, smelly creatures. Some of them have feathers sticking out of them in funny, weird angles, nasty rows of teeth and unexpected colors. Pretty cool stuff.”
Josh got a nice, big ‘welcome home’ from his mother, while Skye went to Commander Taylor and apologized for what had happened that day. Taylor had looked after Skye ever since her parents died. She told him she hated to disappoint him. Of course, Taylor quickly told her the reason that area was off limits was because it was slasher territory. Skye gave him a wary look as if she did not believe that was the only reason. Was it? He asked her had they gone down to the falls. Even though they had, Skye lied and told him no. He told her the falls could be treacherous waters. Did he not want her to go down there, because that was where his son went missing or was it because, he did not want them to find out some big secret?
Mira and another Sixer were by the falls looking at the equations that Skye and Josh had found earlier. Mira said Taylor would not be happy that the teens had been there, because he had wanted to keep this from everyone. When asked why he had not just blasted them from the rock, Mira said it was because that was the only connection Taylor had left of his son. Mira said his son painted those equations there to remind his father that every time he got close to an answer, it was posted there for his father to see. It was to remind him of the real reason for Terra Nova’s existence. Mira said, “control the past, control the future.” She said the equations were the key to everything.
Terra Nova ended with the Shannon family enjoying the night sky. The pollution in 2149 had kept them from seeing the stars and moon. It was beautiful how close the Moon was to the Earth.
Terra Nova touched on the very thing scientists have been saying for years. If we have not taken an active role in our environment, the Earth will have indeed become uninhabitable. There was also something in the show for kids. There are dinosaurs. The characters are sent back 85 million years into the past when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. A little inside information for you, but it was because of the dinosaurs that pushed back the original air date of Terra Nova. The CGI departments had to make the dinosaurs believable enough for Spielberg.
This was certainly a highly anticipated television show. I invite you to watch every Monday night at 8 p.m. East coast time on Fox and join in our tweets as we watch the show. As always, TeamWHR will be providing detailed analysis and reviews. See you on the other side!
I would like to give a special thanks to Wyldceltic1 for providing the pictures for this review. She did an awesome job!
Terra Nova returns Monday October 03, 2011 8 PM E/P 7 central time in the second episode “Instinct”. In the meantime please enjoy the entire pilot episode “Genesis” here courtesy of FOX via Hulu. Enjoy!
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In any event I will look forward to Seeing You on The Other Side” to tweet about Terra Nova!
Thank you. xoxo
Dragonbayne (Angela)