As I said, the characters seemed rather cheerful in the final scene in the captain's mess, so I think it's pretty clear that it's meant to be a happy ending, that Nadet convinced the Novans to trust the Enterprise crew and accept relocation.
Terra Nova is among the bottom 1% of all Star Trek, so I really don't see a point in wasting time analyzing the moral issues around it. Just my 2c
That one-percent is usually the episodes that offer the most stimulating discussions. I know the time I've spent discussing the bad episodes is far more than the time I've spent discussing the good episodes.
I can't understand why people hate Terra Nova. I thought it was interesting and touching. I liked seeing a failed colony years later and why.
It just seemed overly cliche to me from the name Terra Nova to the overused radition destroying civilization forcing the to live under ground and naturally hating the evil surface people who forced them to live like this. Not to mention the premise of the episode makes no sense. No one bothered to check in on this colony... ever? It's easier to go under ground and live there than to just... walk away? And why do weapons in Enterprise never hurt people?
Star travel wasn't easy before the Warp 5 engine. It would've taken months to get there, and with no certainty of what they'd find, maybe it wasn't deemed worth the risk. Although I suppose they could've asked the Vulcans to find out. Spending too much time above ground would kill them. A large portion of the planet was irradiated. They couldn't have walked far enough before they succumbed to the radiation. Remember, they had to be transplanted to a whole other continent on the other side of the planet. Not exactly within walking distance.
Of course it's not explained why no one asked the Vulcans to check it out.. but maybe the Vulcans have spent the last umpteen years making it very clear they will never check anything out for the humans? As to the cliche, I think we're all on a cliche arc where a particular one will just tip us over the edge on that topic.
A probe would seem a reasonable alternative to at least find out what happened. Even if for some reason it wasn't, you'd think a responsible government would still send a ship to find out what happened to their own people even if it wasn't easy. Especially after the quasi declarations of independence and a time period of over 50 years. Seems to me the more likely explanation was wanted a mystery even if it didn't really make sense. As for the radiation of the colony I was under the impression the meteor just irradiated the general area. Granted it's been awhile since I watched the episode, but I don't recall them saying the whole continent had been poisoned. I'm not a science expert, but I don't see how a meteor strike could do that to a whole half of a planet short of being big enough to virtually destroy all life on the planet. But Trek often is guilty of interchanging science for magic to suit plot needs. If other people like it, more power to you. It just always seemed force drama to no end for me.
Breaking the Ice and Two Days and Two Nights are my two mostly meh episodes I just like for some reason.
Didn't have to be. The radiation immediately after the impact could've been enough to cause acute radiation syndrome within hours, maybe a day or so. How far can you walk in a day? Maybe 30 miles or so? Less if you're getting sicker from radiation the longer you walk. So it wouldn't have needed to affect a huge area -- just a few dozen miles across.
I remember that a lot of the dislike towards Terra Nova came from it being too similiar to the Voyager episode Friendship One.
Yeah but you know some fans...if an episode plot is similiar in any way to another than they make a mountain out of a molehill.
If it's a question of excessive similarity, you'd think they'd be focusing on "Oasis," which is basically a rehash of DS9's "Shadowplay" right down to having Rene Auberjonois. Or "Doctor's Orders," which is a rehash of VGR's "One."
I guess the general themes are similar. I just remember Friendship One mostly for Carey's sudden and pointless death. But Enterprise did this quite often, revisting the franchises earlier episodes. In Oasis and and Doctor's orders as Christopher said. But Judgement also ripped of ST6 rather blatantly. 2 Day, 2 Nights is kinda like Captain's Holiday. And also E2 is one of the fan favorite episodes and is essentially a rip off of DS9's Children of Time. It's a mark against the episode, but doesn't necessarily disqualify it by itself.