# Terra Nova premiere 9/26 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 26, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666 "2011-09-26T16:34:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**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:** [September 29, 2011, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666/141 "2011-09-29T03:03:39Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > **Things I didn’t like:** > -fairly bad CGI This really disappointed me. It was unacceptably bad. As a fan of VFX and CGI, I was particularly annoyed at how none of the reviews, and most of the viewer comments on most sites, praise the VFX as being movie quality, when the original _Jurassic Park_ outstrips them by a hefty margin. They are _Jumanji_ bad, and that’s just not good enough, even for TV. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666/142 "2011-09-29T03:30:07Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > Apparently, fusion power continues to elude us in 2149. That is depressing. It’s just around the corner! ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666/143 "2011-09-29T04:27:02Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > **Things I liked:** > -the production design > -most of the premise > -the idea that in fact it is NOT a different timeline but people have been lied to (I’m skeptical that that’s actually going anywhere interesting, but it’s at least something new and thought-provoking) > > **Things I didn’t like:** > -cliched family dynamics > -fairly bad CGI > -the boss of the entire society jumps into vehicles and puts himself in harms way on a moment’s notice for routine but dangerous operations. Sure. > > **Things that seem stupid so far but just possibly might not be:** > -ambiguity about exactly how the portal works, is it open all the time, when do they send building material through, is communication 2-way, etc > -ambiguity about why they are interested in meteoric iron > > **Things that really bugged me, perhaps more than deserved:** > -guns that do nothing to dinosaurs. C’mon, these aren’t magical godzillas or dragons, they’re just big reptiles. A machine gun will kill them dead dead dead very quickly, and leave big corpses with huge gouts of blood shooting out. > -the stupid scene after the sixers drive into the compound and everyone has guns on everyone. Not quite as ridiculous as the idiotic standoff in Mexico during season 4 of Big Love, but close. Oh, and that guy who just moments ago attempted to shoot our chief in the head with a gun? Sure, you can have him back just because. Amen to all of that. I’m really disappointed that they’re making all of the same mistakes with dinosaur anatomy as JP, as well. We’ve had good evidence of a number of things like feathery coverings on therapods, forelimb orientation being in a “clapping” position instead of the palms-down look, stiffer tails, dorsal spines on brachiosaurs, etc., for a while now. It’s not like they had any reason to hold to JP’s look for the animals. Why not make them reflect more current thinking about dinosaurs? Argh. ---
**Author:** ![ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666/144 "2011-09-29T05:12:14Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > **Things I liked:** > -the production design > -most of the premise > -the idea that in fact it is NOT a different timeline but people have been lied to (I’m skeptical that that’s actually going anywhere interesting, but it’s at least something new and thought-provoking) > > **Things I didn’t like:** > -cliched family dynamics > -fairly bad CGI > -the boss of the entire society jumps into vehicles and puts himself in harms way on a moment’s notice for routine but dangerous operations. Sure. > > **Things that seem stupid so far but just possibly might not be:** > -ambiguity about exactly how the portal works, is it open all the time, when do they send building material through, is communication 2-way, etc > -ambiguity about why they are interested in meteoric iron > > **Things that really bugged me, perhaps more than deserved:** > -guns that do nothing to dinosaurs. C’mon, these aren’t magical godzillas or dragons, they’re just big reptiles. A machine gun will kill them dead dead dead very quickly, and leave big corpses with huge gouts of blood shooting out. > -the stupid scene after the sixers drive into the compound and everyone has guns on everyone. Not quite as ridiculous as the idiotic standoff in Mexico during season 4 of Big Love, but close. Oh, and that guy who just moments ago attempted to shoot our chief in the head with a gun? Sure, you can have him back just because. This covers most of my issues and when combined with the “It was SF by committee, and most of the people on the committee didn’t know shit about SF” comment hits nearly all. There were an awful lot of screwy plot holes, even for a pilot. I’m willing to give it a chance. I don’t mind cheesy, heck sometimes cheesey’s great. Dumb I have far less tolerance for. I can understand a bit of angsty teen doing rebellious stuff with the local hottie. No problem. When the leaders of “humanities fresh start/last hope” display the same levels of forethought… ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666/145 "2011-09-29T16:58:01Z")
Re: who gets chosen, I’m pretty sure they said it’s both by a lottery AND recruitment. So really important people, like the head of the operation, doctors, engineers, etc… are all basically the best in their fields, and then the rest is filled out by lottery. I mean, got to have someone around to clean things up, cook meals, etc…I mean, it would almost be insulting to get _recruited_ because you’re the best janitor… ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666/146 "2011-09-29T21:46:17Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Also depends on the definition of “big”. How many _Stargate_ franchises have there been? How many are still going? Three and zero. Anyway, as for the wrong dinosaurs for the time period, maybe the rift into 2149 isn’t the only rift. Maybe all those dinos came from their respective time periods as well. Sort of like Primeval (but with better CGI on the dinos :p.) ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666/147 "2011-09-29T22:13:12Z")
> [@Cuckoorex](#): > > Amen to all of that. > > I’m really disappointed that they’re making all of the same mistakes with dinosaur anatomy as JP, as well. We’ve had good evidence of a number of things like feathery coverings on therapods, forelimb orientation being in a “clapping” position instead of the palms-down look, stiffer tails, dorsal spines on brachiosaurs, etc., for a while now. It’s not like they had any reason to hold to JP’s look for the animals. Why not make them reflect more current thinking about dinosaurs? Argh. I disagree, i think the dinosaurs should fit what people think dinosaurs look like. You start putting feathers on them and 99% of the viewers are going to think “wtf is that? that’s no freaking dinosaur!”. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666/148 "2011-09-29T22:18:12Z")
I’m not sure about that. I’ve noticed that shows on dinosaurs on History, Discovery, TLC, Science etc lately has been incorporating a lot of the new evidence into their CGI workups. I think people would be more accepting of incorporating the new ideas into how they conceptualize dinosaurs than they were in the past because we see such shows today. It would have been a nice touch to get some real data into the show, but my gripe is how badly written the first show was. I really hope they straighten things out, as the show has a lot of potential that’s being wasted. Sort of like Falling Skies had a lot of potential and they blew it. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666/149 "2011-09-29T22:22:23Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > I disagree, i think the dinosaurs should fit what people think dinosaurs look like. You start putting feathers on them and 99% of the viewers are going to think “wtf is that? that’s no freaking dinosaur!”. That doesn’t sound much like fighting ignorance… ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666/150 "2011-09-30T06:46:17Z")
Finally watched it tonight. I skimmed the first page of the thread, saw all the haters, so skipped to the end. The Druidess was a little disappointed the dinos got so little screen time, but overall, we liked it. Plenty of action, some skin, some dinos, and a few obvious plot hooks. Mind candy, and it’s fun. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666/151 "2011-09-30T13:01:26Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > **Things that really bugged me, perhaps more than deserved:** > -guns that do nothing to dinosaurs. C’mon, these aren’t magical godzillas or dragons, they’re just big reptiles. A machine gun will kill them dead dead dead very quickly, and leave big corpses with huge gouts of blood shooting out. I saw an interview the other day (I thought it was on io9 but can’t find it there now) where they said that Spielberg had specifically told the writers to _not_ have the humans killing dinosaurs. Apparently they’re going the “all life is sacred and must be preserved” route. It also had a brief comment that they are able to communicate with the “future”, but only during the brief time when a pilgrimage is coming through the portal. So apparently the thing only opens for a few minutes every eight months or so or something. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666/152 "2011-09-30T13:31:40Z")
> [@tanstaafl](#): > > I saw an interview the other day (I thought it was on io9 but can’t find it there now) where they said that Spielberg had specifically told the writers to _not_ have the humans killing dinosaurs. Apparently they’re going the “all life is sacred and must be preserved” route. :rolleyes: Because that crap worked so well [the last time](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lost_world_jurassic_park/). ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666/153 "2011-09-30T14:23:52Z")
Found the interview. [It was on aol TV of all things…](http://www.aoltv.com/2011/09/26/terra-nova-questions-dinosaurs-sixers-spielberg/). The interview is with executive producer Rene Echevarria. Here’s the relevant quote: > [@](#): > > Echevarria said one of the show’s executive producers, Steven Spielberg, had weighed in on the subject of humans killing dinosaurs. “Mr. Spielberg has said it’s not something he wants to see characters do lightly. If there’s another way, you take it,” he said. “I think our characters feel that way – certainly Taylor feels that way. They consider themselves guests in this world, in a weird way, and they are not there to exploit the place.” That’s also where they talk about communicating with the future. > [@](#): > > Echevarria said they can only communicate with the Earth of 2149 when the portal is open and new colonists are coming through. They can order supplies and relay information during those periods, but whatever the colonists ask for, they have to wait eight months to get it – supplies only arrive with next group of settlers. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666/154 "2011-09-30T14:30:41Z")
> [@tanstaafl](#): > > Found the interview. [It was on aol TV of all things…](http://www.aoltv.com/2011/09/26/terra-nova-questions-dinosaurs-sixers-spielberg/). The interview is with executive producer Rene Echevarria. > > Here’s the relevant quote: > That’s also where they talk about communicating with the future. That pretty much has to be bullshit, though. Taylor has a big dossier on Shannon, and he wasn’t supposed to have come through. The guards there had no idea who he was, so how did that information get there unless Taylor asked for it and got it? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666/155 "2011-09-30T14:35:17Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > The guards there had no idea who he was, so how did that information get there unless Taylor asked for it and got it? Part of the package on his Doctor-wife? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666/156 "2011-09-30T14:49:10Z")
I saw about half of it before I volunteered to go th the store. The probe cannot communicate to the right timeline but the camp can? Let’s hide a 3 year old in a vent and hope she stays quiet. Dad, you wiped my ass for 14 years but you went away to prison for 2 years TO PROTECT MY 3 YEAR OLD SISTER so now I hate you. Did I miss anything else? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666/157 "2011-09-30T14:54:13Z")
[QUOTE=Saint Cad] Did I miss anything else? [/QUOTE] You missed the ‘lets drop the shocked civilians in the middle of the jungle and then have them walk into camp, guarding them with a few armed soldiers, even though the guns obviously don’t work on the dinosaurs’ part. Oh, and the ‘we’re a bunch of teen agers with no brains, so lets go outside the fence (where the dinosaurs are) so that we can check out our home made still, drink some and frolic about in bathing suits…hope those dinos don’t show up!’ A few other things, but I think you hit the highlights… -XT ---
**Author:** ![Abe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f1d935/32.png) [@Abe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666/158 "2011-09-30T15:31:33Z")
I can live with the _Stargate_-like nature of the wormhole thingy: no communication unless the “gate” is on, which requires considerable power or other form of effort. Fine. And I enjoyed the space shot of a ridiculously desertified earth in the very beginning. But oh boy does the show ask for a harsh review! Within mere seconds _Terra Nova_ proceeds to rip off _Bladerunner_’s aerial urban shot in a manner as shameless as _Battlefield Earth_’s appalling “crash through windows in slow motion for the heck of it” scene. The show may be marketed as “_Jurassic Park_ meets _Bladerunner_”, but this level of imitation is pathetic. I wondered if this “borrowing” might have been an homage, so I watched it again. It still felt like a blatant rip-off that counts on the majority of people not having seen _Bladerunner_. The giant digital billboards blasting echoing female voices extolling viewers to move to an off-world colony were another shameless rip. Special effects were quite poor, and for something bearing Spielberg’s name this is unacceptable, since special effects are one thing you can count on Spielberg getting right. The quality of the dinosaurs doesn’t come close to the aging _Jurassic Park_. The shots of the 22nd century metropolis street-level environments were budget 1990s level CGI. The giant centipede looked like a plastic toy (check out the legs) and as someone mentioned it probably belonged to a different period. And the cop really should have broken his back after the fall that ensued, but then again a kid later got mauled by a dinosaur with jaws the size of a croc and he was just mildly scratched. I guess 22nd century people are really tough - except for black guys and those who favour the colour red. As far as I can tell the research for this show consisted of one of the writers picking up his son’s kindergarten book on dinosaurs at breakfast before heading off to work on the script with a committee of even less educated colleagues. Plenty of examples exist already in the thread, but I was wondering about oxygen toxicity in Earth 2 - I mean Terra Nova: shouldn’t the colonists be suffering from symptoms like seizures, vision problems, and alveolar collapse? I could live with the show’s hundreds of gaffes (and more) if they had rolled it all up into a fun and entertaining package. But no. They just had to delve deeply into useless time-filling bullshit like teenage angst, teenage rebellion, teenage love and the unbearably unappealing vicissitudes of the modern nuclear family. With all the subtlety and light touch of a sledgehammer. There must be a rulebook somewhere in TV world that specifies the mandatory inclusion of inane, inchoate and irrelevant dramatic sub-plots into any science fiction effort, lest the audience become too interested when viewing the show. Given exciting subject matter like dinosaurs, zombies, Cylons, or aliens (take your pick) it should be impossible to crank out generic and irrelevant soap operas, yet every science fiction TV show that comes out spews forth the same tired line of cagal: a little bit of poorly thought speculative fiction with a lot of personal boring crap about uninteresting characters that I want to see die in the most brutal manner possible. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666/159 "2011-09-30T15:41:29Z")
> [@Abe](#): > > I was wondering about oxygen toxicity in Earth 2 - I mean Terra Nova: shouldn’t the colonists be suffering from symptoms like seizures, vision problems, and alveolar collapse? No. The oxygen levels would not be high enough to cause oxygen toxicity. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666/160 "2011-09-30T15:45:23Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Part of the package on his Doctor-wife? I guess that’s possible. Still, the idea that they can ask the future for things blows the alternate timeline theory out of the water. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terra-nova-premiere-9-26/597666.md?page=9)