It took some time, but I’m glad that we managed to see Terra Nova. The pilot had been delayed for a while, ever since last May. I didn’t expect much, since I don’t really keep apprised of the latest TV news, but I was happily surprised with the pilot. The setting is quite interesting. While the future 2149 setting isn’t really that important, it set the mood nicely. It was a sort of Big Brother-like future, where people weren’t allowed to have many children and the Earth was becoming non-sustainable for human life. The time fracture, opening 85 million years into the past, allows different pilgrimages to settle in healthy biosphere, but populated by dinosaurs. I like the fact that this isn’t the same timeline as before. They entered another worldine, which is the only way that this could make sense.
Warning: Spoilers ahead.
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I really enjoyed the pilot. I was surprised at how good it was. The family interplay wasn’t as noxious as in Falling Skies, which is nice because that really annoyed me in that series. Overall, it’s good to see a nice ongoing science-fiction series on a major network like Fox. I like that Shelley Conn was cast as Jim Shannon’s wife. She’s an English actress, with Sri Lankan roots. The rest of the family is also interesting, but they are a bit typecast. For example, Maddie is the brainiac daughter, who will no doubt decipher the equations that Taylor’s son is drawing all over the place. Josh is the rebel, who on his first day leaves the compound to get into a lot of trouble with his new paramour, Skye.
It was satisfying though to see Jim go through the portal into the new timeline and seek his redemption. From what I understand, the portal has to be one-way. I’m not sure about this, but it does make a lot of sense to keep it like this. This will stop characters from going back into 2149. There’s also a sort of time drift, meaning that even though people pass through the temporal door closely together, days, weeks, or months can pass when they emerge on the other side. Taylor was alone on the other side for 4 months, fending for himself while he awaited others to come through.
I also like Stephen Lang as Nathaniel Taylor. Nice casting and he’s a good actor.
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At the dawn of the 22nd century, the world is one the verge of collapse. Man’s only survival lies 85 million years in the past.
A father brings back a rare orange to his family. Their teenager arrives and says that they are coming. They hide their youngest child. The men are from population control. The father is a police officer as well. They have to search the apartment. They start trashing the place. Zoe makes noises and they discover her.
The father tries to intervene and fights them, but he gets tasered. The action picks up 2 year later (2149) at the Golad Prison. Shannon gets 5 minutes with is wife Elizabeth. She tells him that she contacted Terra Nova. She is going on the 10th pilgrimage that leaves next week. They won’t let her take Zoe. She gives him a rebreather and implies that she’s got some kind of plan (suicide, escape?). Inside of the rebreather he finds a tool. It’s a cutting laser.
Terra Nova is a human colony 85 million years in the past of Earth, in the middle of the Cretaceous. Scientists discovered a fracture in time.
Jim is on a train and picks out his tracker from underneath his skin. He arrives at the launching facility. He finds a stashed backpack with supplies and stuff he’ll need to get in. Josh is saying bye to his girl Kara.
Jim makes arrives in time. He has to grab his daughter Zoe for some money. He’s spotted on the security cams.
It looks like their portal technology uses some kind of singularity.
For now, the show is a lot better than Falling Skies.
Elizabeth sends her kids ahead. Jim is detained by security. Zoe is in Elizabeth’s pack. Jim makes a run for it. He almost gets shot by the goons on the other side, but they relent when they see them extract Zoe from the backpack.
The Commander of the colony is made aware of the stowaways. His name is Nathaniel Taylor. He’s been here for 7 years. The Commander wants to see the parents. Taylor sends Shannon to do agricultural work.
The Shannons are shown their new home. It’s pretty big compared to what they are used to.
Zoe goes missing and feeds the giant brachiosauruses.
The next day, Elizabeth and Jim get ready to work while the kids go to orientation. Maddy explains that the time fracture is actually to another worldline, not the same one as they came from. This avoids time paradoxes.
Jim does some weeding. He’s happy to be free.
Josh meets Sky, who shows him around. They go outside the gates, OTG. They meet up with some other youths in a buggy. She shows him some strange alien artifacts. They are equations.
A guard shot a Sixer, who was siphoning power of the grid. He takes Elizabeth hostage for a few moments then escapes. Jim sees him leaving. His cop senses are on, so he follows him.
He tries to shoot Taylor. Jim stops him just in time. Taylor lets him know what’s really going on. There’s another settlement that split off from Terra Nova. They are called the Sixers, because all of them came from the sixth pilgrammage. The Sixers are thieves who pilfer weapons and supplies.
Taylor tells Jim that Shannon has shown him what he’s made of and that he can be part of the security detail, if he wants to. He’s getting his badge and gun. Up on a ridge, they spot two Sixer transports about to arrive.
They intercept the transports, but they start firing on Carnotauruses, a large-sized carnivore. Taylor gets off the buggy and distracts the Carno long enough for the Sixers and others to get back inside the gates. Taylor was goign to make his stand when Jim comes to get him. They use some kind of sonic weapons on the Carno and it goes away.
There is a girl named Mira here. She’s come to get the thief Carter out of the brig. She’s offering meteoric iron in exchange for ammo, Carter, and medical supplies. Taylor says that she can get some medical supplies and her man.
The teenagers are making some hooch. The Sixers leaving Terra Nova come across their buggy and try to steal their supplies. They get killed by something before they can get away with their loot.
Taylor tells Jim that a rover has gone missing. Sky and Josh are on it. They have to send out a search party. Elizabeth insists on going. The kids spot the Sixer vehicle. It’s a slasher. The kids seek refuge in the Sixer vehicle. They attacked by slashers.
The slashers are calling other slashers. The kids start firing. They make radio contact with Taylor. The slashers leave. Tasha decides to leave. She runs off and gets killed. Or almost gets killed. Taylor finds her.
Taylor doesn’t know who sent the Sixers, but someone did. He hasn’t reported back about them to home base.
Th slashers make another attack. One of them mauls Hunter’s leg. Max gets slashed trying to get to the rover. The slashers are converging upon their position. They hunt in packs. Taylor arrives.
The Sixer is gone. Mira came for her man.
Sky apologizes to Taylor. She says that they were drinking. He asks her if she went anywhere near the falls. She says no. He doesn’t want her to go near them and see the equations.
The equations were written by Taylor’s son. He flaunts it in his old man’s face when he gets close to an answer.
The real reason behind Terra Nova’s existence is to control the past so that they can control the future. That’s what the Sixers believe.
memoirs on a rainy day 
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