Terranova - should it be renewed or not?

Well next week's episode is the last episode of the season and maybe the series.

So now that the last few episodes wasn't focused on teen romance, does it deserve another season?

Yes.

Will it actually get a second season? Probably not.

Wait you mean it's still on the air? I stopped seeing advertisements for it in my area shortly after it aired and figured it was cancelled.

I really wanted to like Terra Nova but it failed to deliver on almost every level. Well maybe "failed" isn't quite the right word. Maybe it's been so mediocre that it's basically missed every opportunity to be interesting, edgy or unique.

It's like the "warmed over leftovers" version of TV sci-fi. There's nothing in it that I haven't already seen in some variation on other sci-fi shows for years. We've already had the "amnesia" episode, the "fake scientist" episode and several "trapped away from the base" episodes. It's almost like a weird re-imagining of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine with the "space station" (a.k.a. Terra Nova) on the other side of the wormhole (that leads back to 2149) but with characters which are for the most part one-dimensional and boring. They keep bringing up this bit about how Commander Taylor supposedly survived on his own for like 150 days before anyone else showed up - given that he's pretty much the only vaguely interesting character I almost wish the show was just about him during that time period. The rest of the characters are borderline disposable at this point.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mystic_Fortune Yes. Will it actually get a second season? Probably not.

So no, it should not be renewed. But given how there's relatively little justice in the world of network TV I would not be surprised to see this thing linger on for years to come.

Lothic pretty much summed up my feelings on the show. My life wouldn't be greatly improved one way or the other. I watch the show when I remember it's on, but it hasn't made my DVR or Xfinity online rotation. If it's renewed I'll probably continue to watch it (when I remember) but if it disappeared. Meh. I don't mind so much the family aspect of the show, but if you are going to write about teenagers and kids and families at the very least write it well.

I started out really wanting to like it as the previews seemed good enough, but couldn't get into, nor stay with, the show after the first 3 or 4 episodes. Once I missed an episode to something else and didn't feel like I'd really missed anything important, I basically stopped watching unless there was nothing else compelling on.

Something has to pretty much hook me early on, or I wander off, hehe.

I gave up on this show after the 4th episode. The weak writing and the (apparently) bullet-proof dinosaurs killed it for me.

I've kept with the show, longer than I really wanted to. It has some potential, but it really doesn't seem to be interested in developing that potential; it seems to be wanting to be melodramatic instead.

Melodrama is fine, but it seems a waste to have such a huge budget for special effects to develop melodrama. It's almost like they throw a little bit of dinosaur in each episode to remind us: Oh yeah, we're in the past. Right. Dinosaurs and the like. Good thing that brachiosaurus stuck their head up last issue; thought we were just out in the jungle somewhere.

It's kinda sad that a sci-fi show got approval for such a huge budget, and will end up failing. Just gives the networks more ammo in their "no-big-budget sci-fi shows"...

Get rid of the kids (violently), show more dinosaurs, have the portal break so that the next run is the last one that gets through... from then on they're on their own.

Show is Bragarbage. Cancel it.

WARNING: I bold names.

This was a miss with a tremendous amount of potential. Poor vision, writing and teenlight focus just murdered any chance it had.

Sounds a lot like the BBC's Outcasts - which used stasis ships instead of the time warp, and Mysterons instead of the dinosaurs - but was also epically preachy, cheesy and astonishingly poorly acted and directed.

The BBC are known for giving shows time to pick up, but this was nuked from orbit after a contracted eight-episode run. From the episodes I've seen, TerraNova deserves no mercy from FOX...

...whereas they could have kept this much cheaper little show called Firefly going...

*grumble* *grumble*

I like it. Just saying. Commander Taylor reminds me of my grandfather.

I'm enjoying Terranova. With that said though, Fox has had better programs that have been cancelled in the past.

I agree with all of those who get it a resounding "Meh."

I wouldn't be the slightest bit sad to see it go.

@Oathbound & @Oathbound Too

What's Terranova? :P

Seriously, Jurassic Park is my all time favorite movie/book and when I heard about Speilberg doing this...

I realized before I finished the article, that I'd want to stay away from it as one of two things would most likely happen;
A) I'd get really into it and have it jerked away ala No Ordinary Family.
B) It'd end up being an elaborate set piece thats rarely seen, in favor of attempting to capture the Lost audience with drama.

Decided I'd pass and just pick up the complete seasons on DvD down the line, if it ends up being worth anything.

My opinion is that it's too dramatic and not focused or epic enough which is really kinda sad cuz there are a lot of things that could be epic. Dystopian future, pioneering past, time travel...the two interacting with each other...Dinosaurs... And yet we're getting this wild west teen drama CSI want-to-be conspiratorial drama crap that isn't really anything more than static that if i miss it I don't care, but it's something to waste an hour on.

I don't think it'll get renewed. I had a vested interest in the show; it's filmed in my home state of Queensland here in Australia, and I recognized a number of Aussie actors in lead roles. And the location is fantastic, up near rainforest country.

But like the show it was paired with out here, Ringers, it continued to fall flat every other week whilst forgetting there was a big sub-plot about a war to control the future from the past. We kept getting wet melodrama with the teens (Spielberg was producer on this; was his mandate 'family programming at all costs, let's get the Twilight market?'), only occasional thought about just how tough it would be to live in this era of history and barely enough conflict to keep the show running.

The only plot with the son betraying not only his family but potentially the colony for his girlfriend was a damp squib, being written off as 'oh, just don't lie again son, it's alright' after a build of tension.

The dinosaur era is dangerous, tense, survival territory stuff. Not 'family drama, isn't it great to live in an unpolluted Pand...I mean, Earth' business.


S.

When I saw the previews, I was excited. The show seemed interesting.

Watched up until episode 4 or 5 before I got bored. I really wanted to like the show too.

As for should it be given a second season... I'd say yes - mostly because (at least this is how I see TV series) season 1 is generally the setup/premise season where they establish characters, the general plot, the settings, etc.

The second season usually picks up the pace since all the back story is out of the way.

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