Absolutely loved this review of it!

The Bromance of the Century

Honestly, I really think the reason to watch Terra Nova is going to be the relationship between Jim Shannon and his new leader, Nathaniel Taylor. An hour into the pilot, they're already holding hands — see screencap at left. I honestly can't wait to see the shmoopy fanvids that people are going to make about the Nathaniel/Jim relationship. And what's great about it is, they both really are interesting characters who seem to have a healthy respect and distrust for each other. It's not just that they seem to throw sparks whenever they're together.

But yes, there are lots of sparks — as soon as Jim arrives in the dinosaur land, he and Nathaniel come into conflict over whether Jim can be a cop. And Nathaniel is like, "You can't be a cop until you prove yourself by taking off your shirt and climbing the fence so I can watch you cut vines with a big machete." So Jim does, and Nathaniel takes the rest of the day off so he can watch shirtless Jim climbing around. Because that's part of what Leadership is about. Then Jim saves Nathaniel's life from a random shooter guy, and Nathaniel decides to make Jim a cop after all — but first they trek into the wilderness together so they can stand on a mountaintop and talk about the future. Finally, the two men go dinosaur jousting together, and then Nathaniel helps Jim save his dumb kid. It's the bromance of the century!

Oh, and here's the scene where Nathaniel Taylor looks at Jim Shannon's crotch and then looks back up at his face, before saying, "Come on. Let's take a drive."

--They have the clip on the page, it's hilarious. There's also something in "General Avatar's" voice that does actually sound a bit suggestive. Does he play for our team?

Overall, I was underwhelmed by the show. None of the VFX are great, 25 years after Jurassic Park and not only did they not exceed it, I don't think they managed to match it once. And the dinosaur shots are a lot better than many other shots, some of which are so bad they made me wince.

But by far my biggest disappointment was how petty everything is, despite the epic setup. Instead of any time to see the wonder of the new world or mourn the ruined one left behind it jumps into a bunch of kids too stupid to live, unfortunately not all dying.

Yet while I initially thought the paradox would create an idiotic setup, the is it/isn't it aspect is pretty interesting to me. But I worry that any interesting plot points like that could be drawn out for 5 or more seasons and go nowhere, ala Lost. I'll give it a few more episodes but may well give up after that. On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised by Pan Am.

I enjoyed the first episode. It will get my full attention on Monday nights. I think FOX was very disappointed in the only 9.7 million viewers that turned out for an episode that cost $15 million to make though.

I was just a bit surprised how little of that 15m showed on the screen. Must've all been eaten up by the TWELVE EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS! Seriously, I noticed that right away in the opening credits, it kept going and going... it was like a hilarious in-joke. Only it was real. And each of them, I'm sure, had notes upon notes for the VFX that ate up all the time early on with stupid minutia, leaving no time to fix things when the final assembly went so wrong for many of the shots.

But my biggest problem is nailed by the review I linked... "It's the end of the fucking world and you're gonna be a stupid, selfish, teenage shit, huh?" Because of Daddy issues? What, did Jane Espenson also "help" this script?!

I think they really missed a huge opportunity, imagine how much more epic and powerful the start would've been if everybody in that party died horribly! Nobody in network TV has the balls, of course. But I would've stood up and cheered, made it #1 on my Tivo right fucking then.

But by far my biggest disappointment was how petty everything is

Plot and dialogue read like the 12 producers scarfed up some of those newly unemployed soap writers on the cheap.

it jumps into a bunch of kids too stupid to live, unfortunately not all dying.

Oh God Yeah! Tonight a bunch of kids sneek out into the predator infested jungle for a little innocent necking and berry picking and react to a battery problem on their vehicle with all the brain-power of teeners in a slasher movie. And survive (mostly) albeit through no lack of effort to die. I found myself rooting for the predators.

Speaking of which, what's with those dinky power rifles they carry? A WWII BAR should be enough to take down the toothy baddies; a .50 machine gun would chop them to hamburger. Instead they've got these futuristic thingies that shoot power beams that hardly seem to faze the critters.

Guys, this show is a total waste of your time. Worse than boring, it's seriously aggravating in its stupidity. And nobody cute even takes off his shirt!

At least give it a couple of episodes before such a harsh judgement.

Well, ok, I'll give it another shot, Expat, but only on your recommendation. I admit the dinos aren't half bad, but I'm an old SF guy and we demand at least a bare minimun of internal consistency. You've got the tech and where-with-all to send settlers back umpteen million years but you can't find something to knock down a few elephant sized critters? Get real! We ain't talking Godzilla here.

Tell you what though, if some shirts don't come off in the first 15 minutes, I'm channel surfing.

. . . I'm an old SF guy . . .

I was going to invite you for an Irish coffee or some such, until I realized you meant Science Fiction. Still, if you're ever in the neighborhood . . .

It's been decades since I made it out to SF; if I ever do again, coffee with lookin will be on the top of my to do list.

You wouldn't happen to know a couple of cute, shirtless baristas, would you?

You wouldn't happen to know a couple of cute, shirtless baristas, would you?

I'll ask around.

I liked the show. It is not great drama or great writing but it was really good to just sit and watch. But, then again, I like Vampire Diaries and Buffy.

I liked the show. It is not great drama or great writing but it was really good to just sit and watch. But, then again, I like Vampire Diaries and Buffy.

SIGH

You can take the boy out of Alabama, but...