Terra Nova

[BillDowns]

I saw it also, well, at least the last hour, hour and a half. The special effects were good, the acting was ok, but I doubt I will be watching. It seemed like it is going to be like the new BSG - miss one episode and then you're screwed for the rest of the season.

 

[far-trader]

...It seemed like it is going to be like the new BSG - miss one episode and then you're screwed for the rest of the season.

Possibly. Though if you have a good connection and computer you can catch them on the net (US only I suspect) if you can wait for them to unlock a week after they air:

http://www.fox.com/full-episodes/

 

[whartung]

It seemed like it is going to be like the new BSG - miss one episode and then you're screwed for the rest of the season.

Eh, I doubt it. BSG has some long term stuff, but just about anything of any real magnitude was either a) recaptured in the "Previously, on BSG" notes at the beginning, b) resolved quickly enough to that it didn't matter any more or c) simply reiterated, clarified, or expanded upon in the later episodes.

Folks basically said that about LOST, how you had to watch it from the beginning, etc. And it seems to be that WAS the hook for LOST. All the arcane made up BS that they were spewing that folks that folks tried to provide order to.

Well, frankly, since everyone talked that up, I never watched the show. And after hearing about the ending, I'm glad I didn't. Since it basically was mostly BS, as I understand it.

There's value to those who wait for the end of season DVD, at least then you have a good idea if they're going to continue the show, particularly if they left it at some silly cliffhanger, or just pulling the plug as Fox is wont to do.

But, I think most of the show execs are realizing that detailed, long drawn story arcs DO lose people, and they simply can't afford it. Meta arcs are fine, or overlapping storylines that span a few episodes. But the whole "miss two episodes and you may as well give up", that's really counter productive for the studios.

Episodes should be able to stand on their own, like watching Firefly without perhaps understand the whole meta arc about River (which arguably is what the show is all about, the crew, ship and adventures are simply mechanics to reveal more about River and who she is).

Terra Nova is going to be light weight enough that you might be a little confused after coming back, but give it another week and it will likely all fall in to place again. If you can only catch every 3rd episode, then I hope you like rampaging dinosaurs...

 

[Madarin Dude]

I saw it also, well, at least the last hour, hour and a half. The special effects were good, the acting was ok, but I doubt I will be watching. It seemed like it is going to be like the new BSG - miss one episode and then you're screwed for the rest of the season.

Me too on that note. Hate the serials where you get lost because you had something to do last week.

Rampaging dino's FTW. If you do another planet with weird unknown critters it is hader to keep score. Carnotaurs 3 Humans 1.

 

[saundby]

The show's on hulu so I gave it a spin. Watched as much of the first episode as I could stand...it's not for me. Oh well. I've still got several seasons of Monk to enjoy.

Discovered that one recently when I noticed the guy who played the engineer from Galaxy Quest in the blurb. I enjoyed his acting enough in that I figured I might enjoy the show in spite of any stupid TV-isms. So far I'm right, though one episode was shtoopid enough to make me wonder.

 

[kafka47]

How does Terra Nova compare to Primeval (as a drama) as I don't care about the CGI. As kewl as that stuff is...it wears thin so I am more interested in good characters and compiling stories.

 

[BillDowns]

I couldn't say offer anything about Primeval as the trailers just never appealed to me. And I haven't watched any further episodes of Terra Nova, either. It just wasn't compelling enough to interest me.

I'll stick with NCIS, Criminal Minds, and Hawaii Five-O and NetFlix for now.

 

[Jame]

I liked the episode I saw. My only complaint is that it involves *time* travel instead of *space* travel. Turn it from time into space and have them on the edge of the frontier on a planet that's amber or red zoned and it's gold.

 

[Cryton]

I've now seen the first three episodes. I STILL like it. The characters have turned out to have more depth than I thought, and the writings good for the episodes as well. Lots of Amber Zone material

 

[Sturn]

I liked the episode I saw. My only complaint is that it involves *time* travel instead of *space* travel. Turn it from time into space and have them on the edge of the frontier on a planet that's amber or red zoned and it's gold.

I would completely agree. This would bring it a little more to an adult level. But, perhaps there are future plot twists that need the time travel story in there?

 

[shadowcat20]

Time travel, but also a alt timeline/dimension if you remember the pilot. They never found the probe in the real world future. Wonder where that is going? Are the sixers from another timeline?

Pure conjecture so can not consider this post a spoiler....

 

[Peter Schutze]

Are the sixers from another timeline?

Pure conjecture so can not consider this post a spoiler....

they they explained where the name sixer comes from about half way thru the pilot

there are other hooks scattered thru the pilot that suggest all sorts of potential for alternate timelines etc

 

[saundby]

Sixers? Kewl. So they're mixing in some good old 8 bit micro platform wars? Do they fight about whether the eighters can do real memory-mapped I/O or not? Maybe I need to give this show another shot. :rofl:

 

[kaijupanda]

The show has an interesting premise. Being a long time Doctor Who fan, I can't help but think of effects their actions have on the future, or -a- future if you throw in parallel universes, but I've managed to keep it reigned in.

That their world was so polluted they went into oxygen shock once on the either side made me smile. I thought that was a cool little detail. It's interesting to see how the high tech inhabitants deal with the problems of a low tech world and the show has given me some ideas to what problems I could throw at players finding themselves in that situation. It's not something that has ever come up much in my Traveller games. I just worry the show will turn into a dinosaur-problem-of-the-week thing. I'm not convinced they can keep the intrigue and momentum going before it just crumbles away to something dumb. I also am not up-do-date on the show. I haven't seen the episode dealing with the memory virus thing.

 

[altasilvapuer]

How does Terra Nova compare to Primeval (as a drama) as I don't care about the CGI. As kewl as that stuff is...it wears thin so I am more interested in good characters and compiling stories.

I feel like it stacks up pretty well, quality-wise. It's probably closest to Primeval Season 3, I think (which was my favourite), though I've seen some plot lines lain that might lead to some Season 4-type plotlines.

Overall, I'm pretty impressed with the show, for all its minor 'TVisms', to quote an earlier poster.

-asp

 

[Madarin Dude]

So far so good I missed one episode so far. I like what I have seen so far there are soem glitches etc but overall solid. But like anything might be good now but in a few years when the creative well runs dry might be a different story.