# Fox puts Terra Nova out of its misery **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 6, 2012, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-puts-terra-nova-out-of-its-misery/614902 "2012-03-06T05:31:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-puts-terra-nova-out-of-its-misery/614902/21 "2012-03-06T20:17:02Z")
Look, the show was supposed to be about modern humans coping with life in the freaking Cretaceous (or whatever the era was) with limited resources and fighting with dinosaurs and other freaky stuff of that nature. But dinosaur CGI was expensive, so they ladled it out in dribs and drags and tried to make the bulk of the show about angsty teens, political infighting, and family drama, instead of really pouring it on with the dinosaur battling and weird plants and animals. Viewers came expecting steak and got meatloaf … meatloaf with LOTS of filler. Of course it got cancelled. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-puts-terra-nova-out-of-its-misery/614902/22 "2012-03-06T20:36:28Z")
I did think it got better at the end and I had hopes it would continue that way. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-puts-terra-nova-out-of-its-misery/614902/23 "2012-03-07T01:17:01Z")
It wasn’t the greatest show ever, but anyone who thinks it was terrible just must not watch a lot of TV. There are plenty of worse things around. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-puts-terra-nova-out-of-its-misery/614902/24 "2012-03-07T01:31:24Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > But the dinosaurs are cursed. Do the dinosaurs come with sprinkles? ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-puts-terra-nova-out-of-its-misery/614902/25 "2012-03-07T01:32:04Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Look, the show was supposed to be about modern humans coping with life in the freaking Cretaceous (or whatever the era was) with limited resources and fighting with dinosaurs and other freaky stuff of that nature. Sounds like **Land of the Lost** : > **[Land of the Lost (TV Series 1974–1977) ⭐ 7.1 | Adventure, Family, Fantasy](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071005/)** > > 30m | TV-G > [@](#): > > Land of the Lost (TV Series 1974–1977) > > A family is thrown back in time and must survive in a dinosaur dominated land. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-puts-terra-nova-out-of-its-misery/614902/26 "2012-03-07T01:38:38Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > It wasn’t the greatest show ever, but anyone who thinks it was terrible just must not watch a lot of TV. There are plenty of worse things around. It wasn’t just bad, it had such huge potential, a ridiculously high budget, and Spielberg behind it amongst others; it should’ve been a home run. But instead it squandered all that to be a mediocre melodrama with crappy VFX. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-puts-terra-nova-out-of-its-misery/614902/27 "2012-03-07T02:31:41Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Viewers came expecting steak and got meatloaf … meatloaf with LOTS of filler. Of course it got cancelled. I watched a few eps. Instead of meatloaf, I’d rather say we got particle board that was flavor-infused with the drippings from the McDonald’s grease trap, and just a dab of A-1 or somesuch for “spice.” ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-puts-terra-nova-out-of-its-misery/614902/28 "2012-03-07T03:40:30Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > It wasn’t just bad, it had such huge potential, a ridiculously high budget, and Spielberg behind it amongst others; it should’ve been a home run. But instead it squandered all that to be a mediocre melodrama with crappy VFX. A lot of SF shows have rocky first years. Trek:TOS, TNG and Babylon 5, to name three. I guess I was hoping that they could fix what obviously wasn’t working, make some changes and return with a strong second season. I guess I mourn the lost potential and the future for big budget SF on the small screen. Oh well, I guess it frees up another night for American Idol. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-puts-terra-nova-out-of-its-misery/614902/29 "2012-03-07T04:44:34Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I saw the pilot and thought it was terrible. It clearly had been written and rewritten until it made no sense. The opening scenes, where they were hunting for the illegal child, was ridiculous, since it looked like the only penalty for breaking that law was a couple of years of jail time. (I think originally they would have had the population police kill the girl, but decided against it). It also was ridiculous that they were able to supply a Malibu beach house for everyone in the colony. After watching the pilot, I thought that the part before they went through the time gate (or whatever) was the most interesting. A show set in such a bleak future could work (but not under Brannon Braga’s guidance). ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-puts-terra-nova-out-of-its-misery/614902/30 "2012-03-07T05:37:05Z")
It’s rare that I give up on a highly-produced, heavily serialized scifi series, especially involving time-travel and the Late Cretaceous. But after about 5 episodes I had moved beyond denial and anger into acceptance and mockery until finally deleting it from my DVR queue. Total pap. ETA: I did dig Quaritch’s desk though. Perhaps it’ll be up for auction on eBay once they strike the set. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-puts-terra-nova-out-of-its-misery/614902/31 "2012-03-07T14:44:01Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > I guess I mourn the lost potential and the future for big budget SF on the small screen. But it wasn’t big budget SF, it was a family drama with dinosaurs. I came in expecting Battle Star Galactica and watched several episodes of Dawsons Creek before giving up. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-puts-terra-nova-out-of-its-misery/614902/32 "2012-03-07T17:44:40Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > A lot of SF shows have rocky first years. Trek:TOS, TNG and Babylon 5, to name three. I guess I was hoping that they could fix what obviously wasn’t working, make some changes and return with a strong second season. I guess I mourn the lost potential and the future for big budget SF on the small screen. > > Oh well, I guess it frees up another night for American Idol. :smack: Exactly. I felt more ‘meh’ about the first season of TNG than I did about this one. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-puts-terra-nova-out-of-its-misery/614902/33 "2012-03-07T20:02:02Z")
> [@indian](#): > > Humans wanting to go back in time to occupy dinosaur land? > > They could have gone back to various other periods, where most of their energy could have been spent in better pursuits. No, they couldn’t. This wasn’t a controlled journey, it was a crack in time from one specific time to another. At least, that’s how I remembered it. I only lasted three episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-puts-terra-nova-out-of-its-misery/614902/34 "2012-03-07T21:13:05Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > … But after about 5 episodes I had moved beyond denial and anger into acceptance and mockery until finally deleting it from my DVR queue. Wow. You actually passed through the 5 stages of grief and broke through to the other side. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-puts-terra-nova-out-of-its-misery/614902/35 "2012-03-08T01:27:35Z")
I just wish…wish… WISH! That the proper lesson would be learned here. Spend a little less money on special effects and use that to hire fricken better writers. Alas, that is not the lesson that will be taken from this… ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-puts-terra-nova-out-of-its-misery/614902/36 "2012-03-08T01:31:58Z")
Earlier thread: [Fox puts Terra Nova out of its misery - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=644275) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-puts-terra-nova-out-of-its-misery/614902/37 "2012-03-08T02:19:04Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > I just wish…wish… > > WISH! > > That the proper lesson would be learned here. > > Spend a little less money on special effects and use that to hire fricken better writers. > > Alas, that is not the lesson that will be taken from this… Hollywood has never learned that particular lesson, no matter how often it they get beaten over the head with it. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-puts-terra-nova-out-of-its-misery/614902/38 "2012-03-08T02:24:02Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Earlier thread: [Fox puts Terra Nova out of its misery - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=644275) Merged threads. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-puts-terra-nova-out-of-its-misery/614902/39 "2012-03-08T03:15:21Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > Do the dinosaurs come with sprinkles? “A dinosaur is not a sprinkle!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fox-puts-terra-nova-out-of-its-misery/614902.md?page=1)