Terra Nova for the uninitiated was one of the most widely anticipated genres shows to hit the network in 2011. Its premise was readily summed up by anyone who read the show synopsis as being part Avatar, part Jurassic Park with a little bit of Lost thrown in. Basically, in the future the earth is completely screwed up. A time fissure is discovered and people start migrating to prehistoric earth to start a new colony.

Terra Nova started out quite mediocre thanks mainly to the bad dialogue (more about that later). The obvious getting to know the place / monster of the week sort of stories that plagued the first half of the season did not help either and it lead me to stop watching the show.  After the first 6 episodes I’d have rated the show C-.

Since the other shows I started watching were either on hiatus or had ended their season, I picked up the show again from episode 6 or 7 and watched through till the last episode – the quality did improve as the story shifted. The story arc hinted in the first part of the show began to come into its own and took over the show. The first bunch of antagonists… we find out that the human antagonists – “The Sixers” had a more devious overlord behind them. This new evil mastermind helped the show greatly, as it became more focused and thus more entertaining.

The show ended well enough – in that it was a satisfactory conclusion to the protagonists’ saga but it also hinted at something interesting to discover if the show gets renewed for a second season. If it weren’t for the first half of the season I’d have rated the show higher but it manages a solid B for its second half. The strengths of the show were its ambitious b-movie concept and ultimately, its story arc was quite satisfying and provided some couple of hours of light entertainment. Fun is something that is hard to come by these days from network fiction, and cable shows tend to be a bit too serious and forget the fun component all too quickly. The production values on Terra Nova have come under scrutiny due to its high budgets and set back. The show’s location filming is great and its high point. Some of the SFX are passable to good but there are moments where a jaded audience used to better will chuckle at the bad quality of the effects (the fishing trip for example).

The characters were a good mix, though again you feel that there are too many white people lording it over the others. The acting improves especially as the show becomes more action oriented, the actors become more familiar with their roles and most importantly there’s less of the super cheesy dialogue that plagued the opening shows. Let’s put it this way, Spielberg was attached as a producer but the dialogue seemed to come from a George Lucas screenplay!

So were the reviews slagging Terra Nova off correct in their assessment? Absolutely. However, the problem is that on network tv, shows rarely have a chance to find their feet. It took ST:TNG two whole years before coming into its own. And the opposite is true.. shows that start off well like Heroes fail after their first season due to the pressure placed on the shows to be a constant hit. Unfortunately genre shows that cross into the mainstream appear to happen once a decade – TNG in the 80s, the X-files in the 90s and Lost in the 00s.  The show have two trek alumni on board – Brannon Braga and René Echevarria serve as showrunners – there’s also a Maltese connection to the show with Jon Cassar covering production and directorial duties.

Links: Official Terra Nova Site | IMDB Entry | Wikipedia entry

Here’s a quick rundown of what the flying amphibian watches or rather receives on Mondays.

Boardwalk Empire S.2 – Very much a slow boil this season – not as enjoyable as the first but still a very solid show. Beautifully shot and great acting – however it’s gone mad men slow this season but the story seems to have picked up steam as we head towards the end. Worth sticking through till the end though I think this season was flawed with being too slow in the beginning and too much going on towards the end. Some might see it as a crescendo, I thought it was bad pacing.

The Walking Dead S.2 – Definitely a gripping tale. You don’t like to enjoy zombies to enjoy this show about human struggle in adverse conditions (it’s the main reason lost was so successful too). Fears about Frank Darabont’s departure from the show impacting the quality seem to have been laid to rest for now (but you know what happens to dead things in the walking dead…). I’m looking forward to the second part of Season 2 and am thankful there’s more than 6 episodes in this season.

Dexter S.6 – Perhaps the most enjoyable of my early week dramas. Seems a bit lighter than previous years in tone and the side characters stories are a bit more compelling. Though the new arch villains don’t appear to be as scary as Trinity, the apocalypse is always an interesting theme as Dexter tries to get to grips with religiosity around him. The ending is something that I thought might have happened earlier in the show but at this point I thought it would never happen. Gald I was proved wrong for a truly great cliffhanger