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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As the forces from 2149 start to go through the portal to invade Terra Nova, the colony splits between the fighters and the ones who stay behind. They manage to overwhelm the defenses and Wash has to surrender the colony, which was partly destroyed. Taylor’s forces are in the woods, poised to take the fight to the Phoenix group. They realize that the only way to keep themselves safe is to blow up Hope Plaza and cut themselves off from 2149. They are successful, but now they won’t get any new colonists and technical support from 2149.
This was a good episode. It’s basically what you expected to happen to Terra Nova. They couldn’t really get anywhere while trying to resist a powerful array of corporations from 2149, who had their minds set on strip-mining the past to the ground.
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The action starts in 2149, where Lucas’ employers are getting ready to invade Terra Nova. They are going to storm Hope Plaza to make their way to Terra Nova.
The colony is on a war footing, but honestly they don’t stand a chance.
The portal opens. Some colonists walk through. Cara comes through. Then a colonist with a suicide vest. He asks for help and then detonates himself. The portal is history. With no portal to anchor it, the time fracture can open anywhere within 3km.
Shannon wakes up in a hospital bed. His ears are still ringing. The colony has been ravaged. Shannon finds Lucas, Mira and their employer in the command bunker. Liz finds him. She says that it’s 3 days later. The army bypassed Taylor altogether and started attacking the colony. 26 colonists died before Wash surrendered. No one has heard from Taylor. Cara is dead.
Wash tells Shannon that the army is the Phoenix Group, a private army. They brought in another portal anchor, but a carno snapped it in half. Malcolm is trying to fix it. Shannon immediately goes to see him.
Mira is already looking for Shannon. Malcolm is trying to buy some time. Shannon tells him to buy some more. Shannon is pretending to be deaf and somewhat crippled. Lucas and Mira talk with him and establish that he’s of no use. Mira is suspicious.
Mira’s employers want her to go to the Badlands. Taylor engraved some bullets with some map coordinates. Liz found them and tells Jim.
Lucas, Weaver and his army head out. Shannon hitches a ride. At the site, he hears that they are planning to use a pyro-sonic charge to clear the area of foliage and wildlife so that they can start stripping it.
Shannon hooks up with Taylor and they plan on deactivating the charge. Weaver sees them and informs Lucas. He knows that it’s his father.
Riley deactivates it just in time. Lucas uses some kind of fragmented rocket launcher to try and get Taylor. He misses. Shannon is heading back to the colony.
At the colony, Shannon plants a tracker on a convoy to allow Taylor to hit it. Taylor starts the resistance movement and keeps hitting the occupying army. Lucas quickly suspects that Taylor has a mole at the colony.
Josh gets beaten up after socking Lucas in the face for being an ass. Shannon arrives just in time to save Josh. At the same time, he unmasks himself as the mole. Both of them are taken into custody. Skye convinced Lucas to release Josh. Lucas starts torturing Shannon.
Liz injects Weaver with some parasites. She’ll give him the antidote when he helps her save her husband. Weaver tells Lucas that they located Taylor’s camp and a patrol is heading out. Lucas heads away. Weaver brings Taylor to Liz. She injects Weaver with a sedative.
The Shannons are heading out. Wash is helping, but she is planning on helping them escape. The Shannons gets away but Wash is caught. Lucas kills her.
Mira comes back from the Badlands with something. It’s some kind of precious ore.
Wash gave Shannon a message for Taylor. It’s a reference to a bridge they blew. It means that Taylor should bomb the Hope Plaza, to ensure that their enemies are stuck here without getting any more reinforcements.
Jim is chosen for the job.
Back at the colony, Skye talks with Lucas and shortly they head out. He thinks she is betraying Taylor. He parks long enough for the duplicate rover to take its place. Shannon is inside this one.
Malcolm started up the portal. Shannon is about to be pushed through to 2149. He brought a carno with him. The carno immediately eats one of the “employers”. Then another one.
For some reason, they leave Skye alone with Lucas. He naturally gets free and takes the rover after manhandling her. It’s been disabled and he can’t reach the portal to warn them. Malcolm fakes a problem with the portal. It untethers the portal.
Skye lets Taylor know and he intercepts Lucas. Lucas dupes him and stabs him. Skye shoots him twice before he can finish the deed. Shannon is encountering some resistance in Hope Plaza. Weaver is also killed by the carno. Funny how much trouble one dino can make. Shannon runs through the portal. He makes it. Hope Plaza explodes behind him.
Lucas is still alive.
Boylan tells Taylor that the Phoenix army packed up and left Terra Nova. They were last seen heading north. They return to Terra Nova. Phoenix is heading to the Badlands. Back at Terra Nova, they check the mystery container. It’s the prow of a ship from the 18th century.
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