# Terra Nova 10/3 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 4, 2011, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-10-3/598519 "2011-10-04T02:01:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Grendel\_s\_Father](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grendel\_s\_Father](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grendel_s_Father)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-10-3/598519/61 "2011-10-05T19:45:47Z")
Highlight for me: They name-checked [Xiphactinus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiphactinus) in the fish market! By my count this is also the only life form, animal or vegetable, appropriate for the time period featured so far 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-10-3/598519/62 "2011-10-05T19:53:38Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Here’s a fun idea for the show’s producers: earth’s magnetic polarity reversed around \*\* 85 million years ago\*\* (from the opposite of today’s polarity, and then stayed stable in today’s orientation for the longest single known period.) > > Cite: [http://scienceblogs.com/highlyallochthonous/2009/02/is\_the\_earths\_magnetic\_field\_a.php](http://scienceblogs.com/highlyallochthonous/2009/02/is_the_earths_magnetic_field_a.php) Oooh, maybe the writers know that, and that’s exactly why the colony was able to time-travel to that specific point in history! Nah, that’s giving them too much credit. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-10-3/598519/63 "2011-10-05T20:00:46Z")
I was also wondering where Tippi Hedren was! It’s not the best or brightest SF in the box. But looking at all the other dreck on TV, I am capable of being mildly entertained by TN. Mildly. And it’s better than Pan Am, IMHO. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-10-3/598519/64 "2011-10-05T20:18:51Z")
This show is causing friction in my marriage. My husband thinks it’s great, (he also thinks Fringe is stupid). We DVR both shows, and ended up watching both last night. We kept looking at each other, as if the other one was a pod person. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-10-3/598519/65 "2011-10-06T23:59:09Z")
I think people are being overly critical of some of the stuff. It’s not an educational show, I don’t care about “oh that thing’s from a totally different era” or “that one didn’t have feature x” or how they eat and breathe and other science facts quite so much. But there is one thing that bugs the hell out of me. No way is the son that mom’s natural born kid. The two daughters I can buy as being half white and half whatever Dr. Mom is (Indian?) but the son, no way. Nuh uh. I thought maybe they’d explain it as him being from Detective Daddy’s previous marriage, and that’s why they had a third kid because it wouldn’t have been over the 2 kid limit for Dr. Mom, but nope, we’re apparently supposed to buy that he’s her biological son. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-10-3/598519/66 "2011-10-08T07:21:13Z")
I understand the disappointment over this show. But the fact is, it is pretty much the only game in town if you don’t want to watch gawdawful crap like NICS. Every other show on TV right now is some variation on Quincy, M.E. meets Star Trek and I am sick of it. The show is fun, the cast is smokin’ hot, physically, and they aren’t bad actors despite what some in this thread are asserting. Plus you have cool ass tech, dinos, and a wonderful setting. I had no idea Australia had terrain like that! Could it be better? Yes. Are you going to get anything better? No. So shut the fuck up and enjoy it for what it is. If it gets the axe, what will replace it? Some other damn show about lawyers cops or doctors. Yawn. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-10-3/598519/67 "2011-10-08T07:30:39Z")
And for crying out loud give them a few more episodes, at least. I know a lot of people on this board love Star Trek: The Next Generation. Think back, if you can, to the first season of that show. Remember “Planet of the Negro People”? Shows take some time to get their stride. Give this one a chance. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-10-3/598519/68 "2011-10-08T14:31:54Z")
Law & Order: Cretaceous Immigrants ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-10-3/598519/69 "2011-10-08T14:52:37Z")
On on hand you have Boring Family Drama, but on the other hand you have Dinosaurs…my inner 8 year old wins this round. I never let him get to play with Legos anymore so I owe him this 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-10-3/598519/70 "2011-10-14T15:51:37Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > Scratching my head about the economy…60 terran bucks (old world money?) for the guitar? Wouldn’t they be on a barter/community system? Wouldn’t old world money be useless? I think they are supposed to be Nova Terran dollars. That’s why the teen boy asks hot chick if 60 terran bucks is a lot of money. If it was from the future, he’d know worth. > [@Meatros](#): > > I haven’t seen the second episode yet - but have they explained how they knew where the portal would lead? Um, the probe sent info back through the portal. > [@Meatros](#): > > So, if this is the case, then what is explanation for the “delay” when the captain goes first and then 18 months later the rest of his team arrives. I guess I didn’t really follow that. I mean, the main guy (the cop) follows his wife after a minute (or so) yet they arrive without the 18 month interlude… They haven’t explained that. It was just simply stated that it was 118 days for him while it was a couple moments for the rest of the expidition. Unless they give some other indicators, I have to assume it was something wonky with the portal that they’ve since worked out. There’s no reason to think that it is occurring now with their pilgramages. Certainly the new family all arrived within moments of each other, even though they went through with dramatic pauses between each. > [@Loopus](#): > > It really seemed like they wanted us to dislike Malcolm, but aside from the fact that he’s socially awkward and slightly creepy I thought he seemed like a good guy. After all, he and Elisabeth did save the day. He didn’t come off as a bad person, but he was a bit of a jerk the way he interacted with the woman and especially her husband. > [@](#): > > Also, why is Jim the only member of the security team who goes around out of uniform? He sticks out like a sore thumb. Spotted that, too. Um, he’s a cop, the rest are soldiers? Yeah, that’s it. > [@Sailboat](#): > > Here’s a fun idea for the show’s producers: earth’s magnetic polarity reversed around **85 million years ago** (from the opposite of today’s polarity, and then stayed stable in today’s orientation for the longest single known period.) > > Where’s your moss NOW, girlie? The moss is in the same place, the arrow on the compass just points the wrong way. ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-10-3/598519/71 "2011-10-15T02:05:01Z")
> [@Stan\_Shmenge](#): > > The show is fun, the cast is smokin’ hot, physically, and they aren’t bad actors despite what some in this thread are asserting. Plus you have cool ass tech, dinos, and a wonderful setting. **I had no idea Australia had terrain like that!** Damn! We didn’t want the rest of the world to find that out. Damn… As I wrote in my earlier post on the previous page of this thread, there are still isolated pockets of ancient ANCIENT rainforest in Australia which goes back hundreds of millions of years to when Australia was still locked with Antarctica and South America and the whole continent was covered with Amazon like forests apparently. If you go strolling through them, you can tell that shit is ancient - it’s a real walk through a time tunnel portal - but the they are very isolated pockets above certain altitudes. And we guard them quite diligently nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![Rattlehead02](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rattlehead02/32/3944_2.png) [@Rattlehead02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rattlehead02)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-10-3/598519/72 "2011-10-15T07:09:03Z")
> [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](#): > > Damn! We didn’t want the rest of the world to find that out. Damn… > > As I wrote in my earlier post on the previous page of this thread, there are still isolated pockets of ancient ANCIENT rainforest in Australia which goes back hundreds of millions of years to when Australia was still locked with Antarctica and South America and the whole continent was covered with Amazon like forests apparently. > > If you go strolling through them, you can tell that shit is ancient - it’s a real walk through a time tunnel portal - but the they are very isolated pockets above certain altitudes. And we guard them quite diligently nowadays. So, if i were to trek into one of these jungles with my knife there’d be a guard informing me that it in fact isn’t a knife, _this_ is a knife? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-10-3/598519.md?page=3)