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Terra Nova: 1x05: "The Runaway" - Discussion/Spoilers
- Thread starter Trekker4747
- Start date
It was okay. The little girl being a double agent was an obvious twist. Though the concept of the Sixers continues to be interesting, there are some things that kind of bother me. First of all, why do they all look and dress like they're from Mad Max? And is it me, or do most of them seem to be black people? Come to think of it, with the exception of Mom and daughters, how many non-white people are there in the Terra Nova colony?
Anyhoo, the Sixer intrigue was interesting enough for half the episode, but lost steam and just limped its way through the rest. Family drama is again bland and uninteresting. And I'm guessing Mystery Box is going to be re-visited later on in the season. It's likely connected to Taylor's son, the mysterious markings and dare I suggest could be alien.
Something I just noticed this week, Taylor's desk is made from a dinosaur skull. That is so cool!
EDIT TO ADD: Seeing a futuristic etch-a-sketch was also kind of cool.
Anyhoo, the Sixer intrigue was interesting enough for half the episode, but lost steam and just limped its way through the rest. Family drama is again bland and uninteresting. And I'm guessing Mystery Box is going to be re-visited later on in the season. It's likely connected to Taylor's son, the mysterious markings and dare I suggest could be alien.
Something I just noticed this week, Taylor's desk is made from a dinosaur skull. That is so cool!
EDIT TO ADD: Seeing a futuristic etch-a-sketch was also kind of cool.
Good
This show is slowly getting better with each episode. There were a couple of minor things that still bugged me (for example, the Leah must not be lying since she left us a sad note scene). But overall, it was a pretty good episode that expanded on the Sixers a bit.
This show is slowly getting better with each episode. There were a couple of minor things that still bugged me (for example, the Leah must not be lying since she left us a sad note scene). But overall, it was a pretty good episode that expanded on the Sixers a bit.
This episode was actually a little bit better than all of the past ones an a lot less "recycled Voyager plot"-like.
Another cookie-cutter sci-fi plot rehashed, badly. I wouldn't mind if they did a new take on these concepts and reworked them into something new and interesting, but they're just dire. I'm at the point where I'm just holding out on the off chance that the show gets a second season, they take all the criticisms into account, and actually make something worth watching.
Ugh, I'm starting to reach my limit on sappy, generic storylines.
You can really sense the potential here-- with a cool premise, some great intrigue, a couple of badass actors in Lang and O'Mara-- but all we get are these tired plots that feel ripped from a cheesy 90s syndicated show.
And even though there's a whole planet of prehistoric wonders to explore, we're stuck in this little Disney Channel family camp watching teenagers flirt and husbands get jealous.
You can really sense the potential here-- with a cool premise, some great intrigue, a couple of badass actors in Lang and O'Mara-- but all we get are these tired plots that feel ripped from a cheesy 90s syndicated show.
And even though there's a whole planet of prehistoric wonders to explore, we're stuck in this little Disney Channel family camp watching teenagers flirt and husbands get jealous.
The ratings don't warrent a higher budget, but come on. After building the sets the show can't be that expensive to make. The next episode looks pretty good thouigh.
Blandy yawn.
I was expecting the kid to be illiterate.
I was considering that she ate people. A biting accident at school. but I did notice how she held her knofe and fork.
How she talked about the portal, i was considering that there might be another portal. or further upstream they can control when they send their pilgrimages back.
I thought Washington was going to kiss that guy during the fight.
Mira should be flirting with Jim.
Gods, maybe that is flirting!?
Shelly Con is English, so is Jason Mara.
Did they flip a coin to see who would pretend to be American?
Shades of Aliens right?
That girl was so fricking Newt.
I was expecting the kid to be illiterate.
I was considering that she ate people. A biting accident at school. but I did notice how she held her knofe and fork.
How she talked about the portal, i was considering that there might be another portal. or further upstream they can control when they send their pilgrimages back.
I thought Washington was going to kiss that guy during the fight.
Mira should be flirting with Jim.
Gods, maybe that is flirting!?
Shelly Con is English, so is Jason Mara.
Did they flip a coin to see who would pretend to be American?
Shades of Aliens right?
That girl was so fricking Newt.
I thought it was an improvement over previous episodes. The teen romance stuff is the weakest aspect of the episode, again.
Yeah, at the beginning I was just waiting for the kid to say "The dinosaurs, they mostly come at night... mostly". I had it pegged as a simple Aliens knock off to start with, it turned out to be slightly more original than that, although not much.
I must say, I agree with the sentiment that the action/sci-fi concept is broad enough for us not to need the soap opera elements. And it doesn't need to be set in the compound so much either. And frankly I can do without them drawing out some Lostesque mystery either. I hope we get answers, and sooner rather than later.
Much potential, and fun enough to keep watching, but could be much better!
I still wouldn't call the show good yet. But I am still watching.
At least this week tried to use part of the show's established mythology instead of a generic paint by numbers stock plot. Yes the idea wasn't entirely all that original, but it makes sense that the Sixers would want to get things in or out of the camp and might need spies. If Generic Sci-Fi Show #47 did this, they would need to spend time inventing an enemy or at least reestablishing someone from their rogues gallery of stock criminals.
The family antics annoy me, though it seems I am not alone. I may very well have liked the darker version suggested by this thread, but I have no inherent issue against having the colony be considered safe enough for people to bring their kids. I even like that Taylor (do I credit for actually knowing his name?) uses the family has a means of trying to keep Sheriff Kimble from going overboard.
Do we really need an episode where the older daughter gets sick in the hospital? Exciting stuff there. So she now doesn't want to be a doctor, after two days on the job. Somehow I doubt the next step on this pivotal arc will be her realizing that since she can never go to back to go to college, her options are hands on training in medicine, British guy's generic science teams or farming. No, I think they will allow her to "find" herself in a series of moving and heartwarming scenes of courtship and G rated dating.
I reserve comment on the "mysteries" of Terra Nova until I see any evidence that the writers know the answer to the questions. And frankly even if they knew the answers I doubt they could approach the idea in a meaningful way that would be beyond such childish teasing as "You'll find out."
At least this week tried to use part of the show's established mythology instead of a generic paint by numbers stock plot. Yes the idea wasn't entirely all that original, but it makes sense that the Sixers would want to get things in or out of the camp and might need spies. If Generic Sci-Fi Show #47 did this, they would need to spend time inventing an enemy or at least reestablishing someone from their rogues gallery of stock criminals.
The family antics annoy me, though it seems I am not alone. I may very well have liked the darker version suggested by this thread, but I have no inherent issue against having the colony be considered safe enough for people to bring their kids. I even like that Taylor (do I credit for actually knowing his name?) uses the family has a means of trying to keep Sheriff Kimble from going overboard.
Do we really need an episode where the older daughter gets sick in the hospital? Exciting stuff there. So she now doesn't want to be a doctor, after two days on the job. Somehow I doubt the next step on this pivotal arc will be her realizing that since she can never go to back to go to college, her options are hands on training in medicine, British guy's generic science teams or farming. No, I think they will allow her to "find" herself in a series of moving and heartwarming scenes of courtship and G rated dating.
I reserve comment on the "mysteries" of Terra Nova until I see any evidence that the writers know the answer to the questions. And frankly even if they knew the answers I doubt they could approach the idea in a meaningful way that would be beyond such childish teasing as "You'll find out."
Yeah, at this point even if they DID start delving more into the mythology, it would probably be handled in the same derivative, one-dimensional way as everything else.
I just don't get the sense that they're capable of anything deeper than that, unfortunately.
Okay that's it, I gave this show a shot but it's obviously never going to shape up into anything passibly interesting. I'm out. This perfectly expresses my opinion, except that I've already reached my tolerance level:
I guess I'll never find out how the colonists ever found out it was safe to go through the wormhole if it only goes one way. Maybe radio transmissions can go back but not people? Ugh, I'm not sure I want to hear the explanation.
The final straw was the idiotic scene with Mira and Jim, in which she could have told him a lot more about what was going on, but pussyfooted about it for the sole purpose of stringing the audience along. But the writing is so bad that whatever the big reveal is, it's going to suck, so why bother?
Mira's motivation could have been far better with hints that she had some master plan of her own in mind that she was working towards. For her to simply be motivated by blackmail is uninteresting. It makes her a pawn rather than a character who might have some cool ideas or goals, whether sinister or good. Of course that's assuming she's telling the truth about anything, but this show isn't written subtlely enough for her to be lying.
And why did Jim hesitate to tell Taylor exactly what Mira had told him? All she said was that Taylor had aggravated some powerful people back home. Since "back home" is a dysfunctional and possibly tyrannical society, isn't it to Tyler's credit that the honchos are angry at him? Jim of all people should know that. Tyler would be far more sinister if the assholes on the other end of the wormhole approved of what he was doing. Jim should tell Tyler that he appreciates that he's not their lapdog, and offer to help him kick more sand in their eyes.
Yup. Too much obvious writing on this show.
Or take a sledgehammer to it. Don't they have any high-tech stuff they can at least try? To just give up was weak and the writing is so unimaginative that whatever is in it will just be a big fat disappointment anyway.
The mysteries were the only thing keeping me watching, but I've given up hope as well.
Yeah, there are far better things to watch that this dribble. And AHS isn't even good! But at least it holds my interest for 40 minutes minus commercials.
I guess I'll never find out how the colonists ever found out it was safe to go through the wormhole if it only goes one way. Maybe radio transmissions can go back but not people? Ugh, I'm not sure I want to hear the explanation.
The final straw was the idiotic scene with Mira and Jim, in which she could have told him a lot more about what was going on, but pussyfooted about it for the sole purpose of stringing the audience along. But the writing is so bad that whatever the big reveal is, it's going to suck, so why bother?
Mira's motivation could have been far better with hints that she had some master plan of her own in mind that she was working towards. For her to simply be motivated by blackmail is uninteresting. It makes her a pawn rather than a character who might have some cool ideas or goals, whether sinister or good. Of course that's assuming she's telling the truth about anything, but this show isn't written subtlely enough for her to be lying.
And why did Jim hesitate to tell Taylor exactly what Mira had told him? All she said was that Taylor had aggravated some powerful people back home. Since "back home" is a dysfunctional and possibly tyrannical society, isn't it to Tyler's credit that the honchos are angry at him? Jim of all people should know that. Tyler would be far more sinister if the assholes on the other end of the wormhole approved of what he was doing. Jim should tell Tyler that he appreciates that he's not their lapdog, and offer to help him kick more sand in their eyes.
Yup. Too much obvious writing on this show.
Or take a sledgehammer to it. Don't they have any high-tech stuff they can at least try? To just give up was weak and the writing is so unimaginative that whatever is in it will just be a big fat disappointment anyway.
The mysteries were the only thing keeping me watching, but I've given up hope as well.
Yeah, there are far better things to watch that this dribble. And AHS isn't even good! But at least it holds my interest for 40 minutes minus commercials.