Visitors Review

betsyh (2012-05-26 17:15)

Awful! Awful! Awful! Awful!

Four awfuls out of five.Obviously aimed at pre-teen market, and a dim-witted one at that.Certainly not at actual, modern teenagers with a normal IQ, anyway. As for adults who would enjoy this? Maybe if the show is sent thru acrack in time to an America of 1950 or before. I should have known thatanything written by Brannon Bragga would be puerile. I didn't read all the reviews here, but I agree with the many negativeones I did read, (except for the remark that this will be liked bywomen over 20. I am in that group and that's an insult.). Mr. Spielberg, you probably are responsible for the good dinosaur FXand nothing more. Your name is what got me to tune in to this show, butI will not be so eager and trusting after this.

K_S_ONeill (2012-05-26 10:16)

Dreadful

The unwanted love child of Stargate and Dinotopia. Really awful. Badacting, bad ideas to start with. Unrealistic reactions to what shouldhave been pretty straightforward scenes. I was quite sad, I was hopingfor another Battlestar Galactica or Firefly.Part of the problem here is the setting and militaristic tropes.Without giving anything away that's not in the previews, there are alot of chaps (and girls) in black outfits with laser guns! Yay. Andlots of exposition in the mode of the Commander making speeches to thethrongs. Yay. Really, Stargate meets Dinotopia. Did anyone want that? Ididn't want that. One gets the feeling this was "sci-fi" from thebeginning, never really science fiction, put together by focus groupsand off the shelf ideas, not by a real writer. The unexamined sciencefiction is not worth watching.Oh well, at least we can hope it won't be around long.

Vivan-Hoas (2012-05-26 07:48)

Good show that deserves better than poor reviews.

I'll keep it short and simple. Terra Nova is about humans from thefuture, who has to travel 85 million years back in time, because thefuture Earth is so polluted. They face many dangers while buildingtheir new colony in Earth's prehistoric age, they call it Terra Nova.The FX aren't the best of the best, but they get the job done. Yes,there are a lot of clichés and cheesy lines, but that doesn'tnecessarily mean it's a bad series. I found myself smiling and laughingseveral times during episodes, and wanting to watch more as the shownow reached its forth episode to air.Give this one a chance, it has much potential.

mauvemoonlight (2012-05-25 23:41)

Watchable but nothing great

The fact I was able to sit through it for an entire two hours sayssomething in its favor. However, it was not as good as I had hoped itwould be, and was not quite what I expected. I get the impressionthey're trying to be another "Lost" - the sixers are very similar to'the others' on "Lost." I thought this was going to be about a smallgroup of people, who for whatever reasons, had to escape into the past- and that they were going to be on their own in a primitive anddangerous landscape - where they were going to have to start fromscratch – and with a lot more dinosaurs and other dangerous beasts likethe saber-toothed tiger, etc. And that they might even have to live ina cave for a while.Instead, we have two large groups - with more arriving - living insidea protected compound with some kind of political (or something of thatsort) warfare going on between the two groups - and of course ourtypical nuclear family. None of the family is particularly appealing orinteresting. It's basically just the same old, same old familyrelationships.Since the human beings have already completely screwed up their presentworld - I see very little point in them going back in time and screwingthat up as well. At least it is some other time-stream so supposedlytheir actions do not affect the present world.I would like to know how working as a doctor every day around otherpeople she was able to totally conceal the pregnancy of that thirdchild. Which, in my opinion was a very foolish and totally selfishthing for them to be doing.I also would like to know what the white things hanging down from theceilings are about.The teenagers in the show are particularly annoying and stupid - asthey always are in today's television programs and films.I also figure it would be absolutely impossible in the 22nd century tobe able to escape from a maximum security prison in the 1st place andnot be immediately caught in the 2nd place. Nothing really indicatesthese people are from the 22nd century.As usual, the viewer must suspend belief in regards to this series asis true for most films and TV programs, particularly ones of this type.5 stars

David Knight (2012-05-25 07:53)

Terra Nova is a big, clumsy behemoth; an action adventure family drama set in a beautifully realised fantasy and inhabited by dinosaurs.

Terra Nova may not be an intelligent, serious drama, but then what doyou expect from a series that has a pun in its title? It's big budget,b-grade fun, an exciting ride and a fantastic spectacle. It slipped upin a few places, not least when it decided to ruin a perfectly goodmystery at the end of the double bill, but then I'm guessing 'Genesis'was made to be a pilot, and the writer's felt they needed to set upsome kind of grand story-arch to hook their audience. The dialogue isoften pretty clunky, but that adds to the appeal, it's an absurdfantasy epic about a family trying to get along in the Cretaceousperiod, don't expect Shakespeare.It'll be interesting to see how Terra Nova evolves, the family dramaelement is actually quite appealing in the dinosaur infested setting,and the thought of seeing what new misadventures the Shannon family getthemselves into each week is very intriguing. Terra Nova is reallysilly, but when you make a science fiction drama about living withdinosaurs, you kind of need to be.

candlemansa (2012-05-25 00:31)

Earth2/Outcasts meets Primevel with dull characters

A combination of 'Earth 2/Outcasts' meets 'Primevel' is the best way todescribe the double opening of Terra Nova. The difference with TerraNova is that it isn't another planet they go to but another version ofa prehistoric Earth existing in another time slip stream but thatexplanation is thrown in so blaze you might miss it but it does accountfor not caring if they change the past and affect their own futurecause it won't be theirs. What bugged me about Terra Nova is its focuson one particular family. Remember the awful '2012' disaster film withdespite the fact the world is blowing up around them this one Americanfamily stay together to survive all odds, apply it to this on aslightly less cataclysmic scale. If the series continues to focus onthis family it will quickly loose its appeal, we are talking about acolony, lets start meeting new more interesting characters rather thenthe white picket fence dream one of the writers is obviously aspiringto. Throw in Dinosaurs and its reminiscent of 'Primevel'. There isconflict amongst some of the colonists who have broken away like in'Outcasts' but as yet the mystery behind it with such blah charactersdoesn't make you care. I like the premise but like Earth2 it could falleasily into the cutesy category rather than good science fiction. Itdoes hold your attention and the possibilities are great but as with somany new series the writing and characterization just isn't great andunless it improves even with Star Treks Brannon Braga and StevenSpielberg attached it won't make a second series.

randysite (2012-05-24 03:37)

Great back drop and potential but lacks execution

The premise is that the Earth is overpopulated, extremely polluted andpretty much a wasteland (unrealistic eh?). The show centers around theShannon family who is selected to time travel to an alternate timelineon Earth during the Cretaceous period. Yes, we have Spielberg anddinosaurs reunited again!Now the overarching concept is really cool. Even after humans discovertime travel there are still tons of politics and fighting. Despite thegreat potential of the over arching storyline, the "story of the week"or the subplot of each episode is rather weak. The pilot and secondepisode start off OK but later episodes and themes are re-hashed from amillion other shows.Even though dinosaurs are present, they are really secondary to thestoryline. They are often used as tools (i.e. to murder someone) or toserve as a reminder of the exotic setting. Expect the usual scenes witha long-necked herbivore, requisite dino chase scene and Raptor-like"Slashers" up to no good.The politics in Terra Nova remind me a bit of Battlestar Gallacticawhich was an awesome series so let's hope it picks up a bit.

victorfolz (2012-05-23 21:56)

Communist Show

Aside from everything that has been said on the poor side of this showby many reviewers, I might add that this show has a great politicalagenda. It promotes the idea that humans are destroying the planet tothe point of it becoming a desert. While that idea has foundations andis up for debate, what is not really up for debate is the quasicommunist rule they live under in Terra nova, being the ultimatesolution and somehow bringing happiness and agreement to all people.In Terranova one military leader dictates the rules and enforces itwith an iron fist. In this one tyrant there is a consolidation of allpowers, where judgment and punishment are but the designs of hisarbitrary whim. Allegedly his judgment is always perfect and alwaysright. The show serves to demonstrate once more another example of how thisidea of monarchic rule does not work to serve the people, unless theseindividuals somehow all agree to be peasants being exploited andserving their overlord purposes and designs. This type of monarchy where one man is the overlord of a people was themain rule on the earth for thousands of years and it still is in manycountries. How is that a good head-start of a new world ? All theenhancements to the human condition came after the powers of governmentwere divided and personal liberties granted. The show is really weak on its own argument, instead of showing a startwhere personal liberties and freedom were granted from the beginning itdoes precisely the contrary, creating an environment for conflict andstruggle, where nothing but war will allow revolutionaries to breakaway and compete with the "benevolent" rule.

ADRIAN JAMES (2012-05-22 15:35)

Prehistoric script for a prehistoric yawn

I'd been eager to see this, following all the hype. Jeez, what adisaster!Badly directed, loads of miscasting, but the worst thing isthe introduction of the teen-group. Clearly, the 'writer' wants toinvolve a 'Twilight' type aura to his show. Yawn...Dull teens and whyso argumentative and stubborn? After 40 minutes, I switched channels.It was painful to watch something so mediocre and juvenile. And I agreewith other comments that the family-approach was tepid and way over thetop. All in all, the concept here is a decent one. But it desperatelyneeds a new writer, a new director, a new angle altogether. Give meLOST or X-FILES any day. Is this what USA TV is coming to? God help us.

Pinky (2012-05-22 10:59)

After 3 episodes- I'm done with it

After watching the awful pilot, I decided to give this 2 more episodesto give it a chance. I did, and it still stinks. I'm done with thisdrivel.I am a lifelong scifi fan, and had high hopes for this series. It hadthe potential to be a lot better than it is had Spielberg spent themoney for decent scriptwriters.This is first and foremost a "family drama" and oh, there's somedinosaurs. The emphasis is on only one family, and their petty day today problems. The problem is, this family is not only *not*interesting, they're downright annoying- they're grind your teeth androll your eyes annoying and watching them for an hour is almost as badas having a root canal.In a dying overpopulated world with a limit of 2 children per couple,Doctor Mom and Officer Dad decide to pop out another child, despite thelaw. Their actions were stupid, selfish, and self-centered- not tomention illegal. This made me immediately dislike them.So family winds up in Terra Nova, where angry rebellious teen son nevermisses an opportunity to vent his angst on Dad. This got old half anhour into the pilot.Teen son immediately hooks up with the hottest chick there, and insteadof going to class to learn about the place and things that mightactually save his life, he, hot chick and their friends venture rightout into man-eating creature infested jungle to get drunk and foolaround. Have you not seen this cliché before in every bad horror movieever made? And of course the dinosaurs appear to be un-killable, as noamount of rounds fired at them has any effect, just like horror flickvillains who keep getting up after they've been shot 200 times. Cliché.Cliché, cliché....There is brainy older sister, and cloyingly adorable little 5 year oldZoe, who is so cutesy and needy I feel like I need an insulin injectionevery time she is in a scene so I don't go into diabetic shock.Mommy and Daddy haven't seen each other for 2 years, and naturally wantto do what people do when they've been apart, and of course needylittle Zoe is always there to spoil the moment because she needs a hug,she needs to sleep in their bed, she needs a glass of water, she needsa story read to her... hey- parents- teach this brat what NO means,you'll be doing her a favor. I was really hoping these kids would allget eaten by now- no such luck.Now we have Officer Dad who is jealous of Doctor Mom's ex-boyfriend,who has shown up at the compound, and of course Dad is acting like ajealous 16 year old douchebag instead of a grown man who has moreimportant things to think about- like not becoming lunch for somethingbig, hungry, and bullet-proof.All the major characters in this show have about as much depth as apiece of toilet paper.People compare this to "Lost" a lot. Lost was far more interesting,with better characters. The story did not revolve around the samecharacters every episode. The day to day effort to survive, and theflora and fauna in this world gets little coverage at all. Maybe that'sbecause the alleged script writers might have to do some *research* tomake things scientifically plausible? This is more like "Jersey Shoremeets Jurassic Park" complete with stupid, whiny, annoying people youwant to strangle.If you want to watch dinosaurs- watch BBC's "Primeval". Now that's afun ride, with great story lines and characters, and good CGI.If you want to watch good end of the world survival shows- catch"Jericho" from 2006, or BBC's "Survivors" from 2008.I won't be tuning in for the next episode, I'd rather wash the kitchenfloor or do laundry.

placebotonic (2012-05-22 03:11)

Not quite as good as I hoped

Recognizing the huge potential of the series, I obviously expected thisto be awesome, alas no. The first slap in the face was when I realizedthat a lot of the acting is noticeably, and annoyingly bad, may havealso got something to do with directing. The script is oftenuncomfortably corny and just too unrealistic, plus I have a notion theyare copycating the Lost's two camps, the other being "the others" andhere they are called "the sixers", both appear pretty Robinson Crusoey.But hey, everyone's copying everyone else these days, right? But, theybring nothing good to the table. Smashing Avatar, Robinson Crusoe, Lostand Star trek's high tech, and tossing in some willing participants isnot exactly a recipe for success. Everything on screen has to be morethan just passable. But this.. 10000 people are not wrong, we've gradedit quite right. It's passable, nothing more.

jennifermartin01 (2012-05-21 13:40)

I Loved this show!!

I found the series to be very entertaining and exciting! I lookedforward to seeing the next episodes each week. I really liked the storyline and it always kept me wanting more. I really hope that there willbe a season 2...the ending left me hanging! Even my husband got intothis show and looked forward to seeing what would happen next each weekand he is a tough sell on shows. I believe the acting was well doneeven though the odd episode was dull they still did a great job. Ifound this show to highly stimulate my imagination! I love it when ashow does that for me. I could go on forever about how great i thinkthis show is but i wont..I'm just going to sit on the edge of my seatwaiting for the next season to come out...i really like the idea ofbeing able to go back in time and live with dinosaurs!

Cheetham007 (2012-05-19 22:47)

Give it a chance

No Terra Nova is not as good as Jurassic Park, but did anyone reallyexpect it be be? I believe that people are too quick to write Terra Nova off. Even greatsci-fi shows such as Falling Skies, BattleStar Galactica and Stargatefirst come under negative reviews and yet went on to become successful.The acting and choice of actors has also come under criticism and yetno one would enjoy watching a series about a whole military basefighting the odd dinosaur and killing all enemies. The civilianelement, much like the colonial fleet in Battlestar, helps to causetrouble within Terra Nova (ie the sixer spy). The human element iscrucial to ALL sci-fi's -surely people must realise this? If not irecommend watching a different genre (Preferably a war film)About the CGI used in Terra Nova. What can u expect from a TV Series?The big films may be able to get the best CGI but for a TV series it isincredibly harder (And has caused shows like Stargate to be cancelled).Is the CGI so bad? No, not compared to some current shows broadcast onSciFi.Overall i believe People need to give Terra Nova a chance, especiallyas the story is now getting deeper. If, After this season, the plothasn't improved, then criticise Terra Nova and get out your DVD ofJurassic Park.

deermice (2012-05-19 15:44)

soap opera with dinosaurs

It's really hard to believe there's currently a 7.4 rating on thisjunk. I loved Jurassic Park and generally I like most things Spielberghas been involved with but this is no more than a day-time soap operaset amidst the jungle of eons ago. They even transplanted cars andhospitals and Ikea furniture back in time with them. The first 15minutes or so were gripping but as soon as they stepped back in time itseems the writers relaxed and decided a few dinosaurs popping up everyso often would be good enough to carry the day. Throw in the typicalrebellious teens and warring neighbors and we have Desperate Housewivesor any other soap ready to go.

galahad58-1 (2012-05-18 19:08)

Terra No

Another dull, boring, unimaginative series for television. It is theusual story of two antagonistic parties fighting over control. Someonesomewhere must have thought "let's take Lost and add some dinosaurs".The characters are cardboard images that you have seen in every singleSyFy channel movie to date, the story is boring and uninspiring, andthe idea wears thin after the first couple of minutes. We have thestandard leader that is arrogant and at odds with folks, the hero whois misunderstood, the older son who is rebelling and running off intodinosaur land(real smart) and the wife who isn't all that loving andcaring to the husband. I have seen it over and over and over -- justwith different titles and different backgrounds.

bzwebner (2012-05-18 09:23)

No Point

Whats the point of going back 85 million years if in 20 million yearstime there will be a mass extinction? Why didn't ANY of the writers orproducers think of that? It was the very first thought that crossed mymind when I saw the trailers for the show. Sorry, that fact alone makesthis whole show a moot point. Add to that the fact that the story line is full of painful artificialsuspense, overly dramatic music and stupid underlying romance plots. Itseams is if the show would have been better if was launched as a videogame. Seriously, they built a huge barrier to ward off the largerdinosaurs but no one thought about the flying dinosaurs? Whos runningthat joint? In short, this show is DOA IMHO.

harveyspeaks (2012-05-17 20:32)

Poor writing, bland special effects, bad acting; what a disappointment

Terra Nova is a show that could have been great, but instead it is apoorly thought out mess. Granted, I am writing this review after onlyseeing the first two episodes; however the problems with this showcould only be fixed by hiring an entirely group of writers andproducers, of which there already seem to be an endless amount.The back story, such as it is, makes very little sense. It seemscontrived not to give any sort of context to the narrative, but insteadto serve as a hollow reason why humans from the future wind up 85million years in the past fighting dinosaurs. The characters seem tocome straight out of a cliché factory: including the angst filledteen-aged boy who hates his father, the nerdy but pretty teen-aged girlwho gets flustered around cute guys, the former love interest of theprotagonist's wife, etc...The special effects are mediocre, especially considering the amount ofmoney that was spent on this series. Somehow, the dinosaurs in JurassicPark, a movie that is over 15 years old, seem much more convincing thenthe "creatures" in Terra Nova. The acting is sub-par at best; howeverthat may be more of a reflection on the awful writing then the talentof the cast. The dialog is hackneyed and at times painful to sitthrough. Many of the major action sequences take place off screen andall the audience is given is an explanation by one of the charactersabout what happened (a chase to lure millions of pterosaurs away fromthe settlement) or are never even mentioned again (a prison escape).Technology that is shown to exist and would have many usefulapplications to the settlers seems to disappear for no reason (such amicro laser that can cut through a metal cup, but seems to have beenforgotten when it came time to arm the settlers).In attempting to appeal to every possible demographic, the show appealsto none. The only question that remains is "Where did all of that moneygo?". It couldn't be the special effects, because better CGI has beendone for movies with substantially smaller budgets. It certainly wasn'tthe writing; any semi-competent sitcom writer could have come up withless tried situations and forced drama.Terra Nova is a major disappointment and will set back legitimateattempts at serious science fiction on network television for years tocome. If it ends up being a colossal failure then no network will bewilling to sink money into a big budget sci-fi show for a long time.Even if Terra Nova is a success, all that it will prove is that theviewers can be distracted from poor writing and storytelling by aseries of blue screen fights with CGI dinosaurs. That will set adangerous precedent that will damage the medium. I could go on and onbut the main point is that Terra Nova is a show that had a fairly solidpremise that has failed to execute in almost every way.

markjohnevans79 (2012-05-16 04:49)

Distinctly average and full of clichés

I wasn't overly bothered about watching this show, dinosaurs don'tparticularly interest me (as I'm neither a palaeontologist nor a 10year old boy) but I found myself at a lose end and decided to give it atry. Unfortunately I found it to be a mish mash of other shows thathave come before with clichéd characters and a clichéd plot. No realthought seems to have gone into the writing and those charactersfeatured seem to have been lifted from previous shows and films. Forinstance you have the authoritarian father with a heart of gold, theunderstanding and strong mother, the angst ridden brat of a son withdaddy issues who doesn't want to be there, the wallflower daughter andthe cutesy infant. As for the supporting characters, they don't getmuch better. There's the "on the surface he seems like a good guy butyou know he's not" Colonel Taylor, the spunky, brave, impetuous, freespirited teenage girl who doesn't follow the rules but makes the sonthink that "hey this place ain't so bad", then there's......oh you knowwhat forget it! Characters like these have been done to death a milliontimes before and I really can't be bothered to go over old ground. Theplot itself was hardly anything new. Then there's the holes which youcould drive a bus through: 1) Why build a fence 20 foot high whenyou're living in a world where the animals on your door step couldliterally step over it with ease or destroy it like matchsticks 2) Ifit's really a different time stream then the statement made at the endof Part 2 makes no sense (controlling the past to control the futurebut if it's a different time stream then it'll have no effect). 3) Abag full of money and a weapon is left on a relatively busy street forwho knows how long and yet no one stumbles across it.It really seems someone has bought a book akin to "Writing Sci-Fi showsfor Dummies" and used that to produce Terra Nova. I will carry onwatching but this introduction has hardly blown me away.

Trillium7 (2012-05-14 10:59)

Clever and entertaining fare

I have really enjoyed watching Terra Nova. While the notion of timetravel is far-fetched any way you slice it, who hasn't wished he or shecould go back in time and do or say something different? So the basicpremise of the show--humans going back to prehistoric times to "startover"--is not all that unreasonable. If you can't accept that fantasy,perhaps this show is not for you.If you can accept the fantasy, then sit back and enjoy Terra Nova. Thespecial effects are great, the dinosaurs realistic. The show iswell-paced with enough twists and turns in the plot to keep itinteresting. Episode 3, "Instinct," was particularly clever.The characters have been fairly well-developed as the show hasprogressed and are complex enough to allow for some surprises along theway. The acting is good; the characters believable.While Terra Nova is more family-friendly than many adventure/sci-fiprograms, it is probably not appropriate for young kids. The finalepisode of the season (or is it the second-to-last?), in particular,has a scene between a father and son that is quite disturbing. As anadult, I find Terra Nova to have the right balance of suspense, actionand relationship. There isn't too much gore, no nudity/sex, and itisn't dark. It has its share of thought-provoking moments, mixed inwith dinosaurs romping around. Altogether, an enjoyable program.

writingale (2012-05-13 22:17)

I haven't given up yet, but am fast losing patience!

i enjoy a lot of TV shows, so by comparison Terra Nova has had aterrible start. And a lacklustre cast. And an under-developed plot.It's not unwatchable, it's just disappointing. With such a greatconcept, they could have really worked on the story instead of givingus yet another family drama with some action thrown into it.First and foremost, the acting. People look, speak and act wooden.Sometimes they act like they took lessons from other TV shows. Checkout the scene where Mira kidnaps and interrogates Jim. Jim snarls "Thenwhat is Terra Nova REALLY ABOUT" at her and I just cringed - a typicalcopy cat snarl that has been there ever since suspense TV was invented.These days viewers want more, brotha. Then the dialog... is co clichéd, so contrived to look cute andhappening, I am just already snoring. Why is everybody drawling theirlines? And what's up with the "I want to court you Maddy" line??? Thatkid is from the future, right... did he leave his brain back when hetraveled back in time??also, casting is plain miserable. Mama Shannon looks younger than herteenage daughter. Papa Shannon has zero chemistry with Mama Shannon.The young Shannons are all cut from the same cookie platter. Taylorseems to be the mellower younger brother of Avatar's Lang, both in thesame time line. All other characters are just fillers. Generally,everyone seems a bit lost. Speaking of "lost", how dare they duplicate the LOST music duringmoments of suspense... Sacrilege!Really hoping the writers can clean up the mess and present somethingfar better...