Editor's Review Terra Nova

(September 29th, 2011. - www.tvview.tv)               Jason O’Mara, Stephen Lang, Shelley Conn, Landon Liboiron, Naomi Scott, Alana Mansour, Christine Adams and Allison Miller star in the science fiction drama Terra Nova, airing Mondays on FOX. Terra Nova follows an ordinary family on an incredible journey back in time to prehistoric Earth as a small part of a daring experiment to save the human race. In the year 2149, the world is dying. The planet is overdeveloped and overcrowded, with the majority of plant and animal life extinct. The future of mankind is in jeopardy, and its only hope for survival is in the distant past. When scientists at the FERMI Particle Accelerator unexpectedly discovered a fracture in time that made it possible to construct a portal into primeval history, the bold notion was born to resettle humanity in the past, a second chance to rebuild civilization and get it right this time. The series centers on the Shannon family as they join the Tenth Pilgrimage of settlers to Terra Nova, the first colony established in this beautiful yet foreboding land. Jim Shannon (O’Mara), a devoted father with a checkered past, guides his family through this new world of limitless beauty, mystery and terror. Jim’s wife, Elisabeth (Conn), is a trauma surgeon and the newest addition to Terra Nova’s medical team. Josh (Liboiron) is their 17-year-old son who is angry to leave life as he knows it behind; upon arriving at the settlement, he finds himself instantly drawn to the beautiful and rule-breaking Skye (Miller). Maddy (Scott), Josh’s endearingly awkward 15-year-old sister, hopes Terra Nova will give her a chance to reinvent herself. Although Elisabeth’s medical training secured the family a spot on the pilgrimage, a secret involving their five-year-old daughter, Zoe (Mansour), soon endangers their place in this utopia. Upon the Shannons’ arrival, they are introduced to Commander Nathaniel Taylor (Lang), the charismatic and heroic first pioneer and leader of the settlement. Taylor warns the travelers that while Terra Nova is a place of new opportunities and fresh beginnings, all is not as idyllic as it initially appears. Along with blue skies, towering waterfalls and lush vegetation, the surrounding terrain is teeming with danger, and not just of the man-eating dinosaur variety. There is also a splinter colony of renegades led by the battle-hardened Mira (Adams), who is vehemently opposed to Taylor and his leadership. Even more threatening than what lies outside the protective walls of the colony is the chilling possibility that something sinister is happening inside Terra Nova. The Shannons will come to suspect that not everyone on this mission has the same idea of how to best save mankind; in fact, there may be forces intent on destroying this new world before it even begins. Those who look at the pilot episode of this series and call it "Jurassic Park" for TV are missing a lot of the other elements. Yes, here are a couple of dinosaurs running around, but there are also several other threats to the people who form this new colony. It also seems like every character in the series has more than the obvious motive for being involved in the Terra Nova project. I can already see the plot taking a lot of twists and turns, and I like that. You are asked to accept that a future civilization perfected time travel in order to go back and correct the things about their society that failed. But then when they arrive in the new world, none of the time travelers are the slightest bit concerned that they have arrived at a place that has been proven to be somewhere different than their own world. It helps eliminate a lot of "space and time" discussions but it opens a lot more questions too. This series has character drama, it is a pretty good Science Fiction flick and it is almost a Western. Compared to the usual offerings on TV these days, this one has a little bit of everything. I can only hope that future scripts take advantage of the diverse setting and the even more diverse cast to really take this drama somewhere we have never been before. I'm hoping this effort finds an audience. It is original. It is entertaining, and it is fun. What more can you ask for from a TV show?    - Editor

All Content Copyright © 2011 TVVIEW.TV - All Rights Reserved.