Terra Nova

[Stormin]

I walked out on this episode. Apparently I didn't miss anything. I guess myself, nearly everyone here and everyone I know in real life are not among the target demographic of this show. I wonder who is.

I give it three more episodes before the networks start rescheduling it.

[Skgoa]

@Lord Insanity: You still dont get it. Part af the setting is that there will be a huge amount of CO2 in the athmosphere in the future. That CO2 levels were higher in the past does not change this one bit.

Something like this would probably provide superior defence against dinosaurs of all sizes.

I thought about that, but they would have to spend a lot of time moving that much earth and would have to get concrete either from the future or by producing it locally. I don't think they have that much unused capacity in their workforce.

[weemadando]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40295335@N00/6113905356/

Palisade with moat and berm.

Put that moat on the exterior, rather than interior and you've just guaranteed that Carnotaurs can't charge your walls and it makes it that much harder for other species to encroach too. And all it takes is timber and some earth moving. Not that big of a deal.

[Lord Insanity]

@Lord Insanity: You still dont get it. Part af the setting is that there will be a huge amount of CO2 in the athmosphere in the future. That CO2 levels were higher in the past does not change this one bit.

The huge amount of CO2 in the future atmosphere comes from burning fossil fuels. That would be the trapped CO2 from the past atmosphere. What the hell is so difficult about this concept?

[B5B7]

I have just seen the "The Birds" episode. What were the military guys doing driving around at night?
I am unimpressed with their technology. Anti-flat devices exist with current tech. They have advanced science as shown by their holoscreen and molecular simulator, yet so backward in other ways. Also, where were the guards and/or a security alert system when all the "birds" started appearing on the fence of the town, just prior to attacking?

Quiz: You're in a house and the "birds" are starting to break through a weakpoint. Do you:
1. Stand and stare until they break through?
2. Try to reinforce weakpoint?
3. Spray some kind of chemical repellent at the location?
4. Retreat to another room?

Answer: You simply wait and stare, and if a soldier you get knocked out when they break through.

[Guardsman Bass]

Did anyone here watch tonight's episode all the way through? I mostly just skimmed it, stopping to watch bits and pieces. It looked boring, although we did get an interesting bit about the Sixers (apparently they can pull people through from 2149 CE).

Next week's episode looks interesting, though. The Sixers return to the story, and it's hinting at the "true reason that Terra Nova was built".

[phred]

Quiz: You're in a house and the "birds" are starting to break through a weakpoint. Do you:
1. Stand and stare until they break through?
2. Try to reinforce weakpoint?
3. Spray some kind of chemical repellent at the location?
4. Retreat to another room?

Answer: You simply wait and stare, and if a soldier you get knocked out when they break through.

In the soldier's defense, he's a 16 year old kid who was trying to hit on the new girl. He wasn't actually expecting to have to do anything.

The latest episode... Spoiler

Gene therapy makes virus to cause memory loss. SCIENCE fixes it just in time!!!

It's turning into Voyager, but the technobabble has fewer syllables. At least they're pretending to have story arcs that last longer than a single episode.

[Ahriman238]

Did anyone here watch tonight's episode all the way through? I mostly just skimmed it, stopping to watch bits and pieces. It looked boring, although we did get an interesting bit about the Sixers (apparently they can pull people through from 2149 CE).

Next week's episode looks interesting, though. The Sixers return to the story, and it's hinting at the "true reason that Terra Nova was built".

I watched through, but it was pretty much a filler/bottle episode. I did have one problem, their reaction on learning the scientist was secretly working on a cure to his condition wasn't 'that's illegal/immoral' but rather 'but nobody does genetic research without asking me first.' So... what? Either he engaged in this secret project that got at least one man killed rather than ask permission, or he asked for permission to research a cure for a medical condition he has and was denied.

One makes the scientist a massive idiot, the other makes the science head a massive dick.

Couple minor character insights/developments and just a hair of world-building:

Shannon's son has decided he just wants to be friends with the girl. He's still trying to arrange for his girlfriend in the future to get to Terra Nova.

They can send radio transmissions into the future, but only while the portal is open i.e. when a group is coming through.

Quartch used to be in black ops. "Psy ops" in Somalia just 3 years before he went through the portal. He is a widower.

The tension and suspicion between Shannon and Science Head (I wonder who the other department heads are?) rachets up, because no one was expecting that to happen.

There are dinosaurs that eat nickel. "It's like catnip to them." So they chew up electric cables which have nickel in the future?

Now the bad:

Apparently 'doctor' is 'idiot' in future-speak. When you have 48 hours to come up with a cure for a new disease (which, let's be serious, is the work of months) and one of the people you're with is somehow not showing symptoms, you don't shrug and type a bit more, you try and figure out why he's immune, and how to extend that to everyone else. At least give the guy a freaking checkup! Ask what medications he's taking!

I can say with some confidence that if I were ever to intentionally go through a time-portal to the Cretaceous Era with a few weeks advance notice, I would spend those weeks studying paleontology like I was studying for the ultimate pass/fail test. If I couldn't do that, say I was a fugitive bum-rushing the portal, I would do everything in my power to become a dinosaur expert in the following weeks.

And a dinosaur rider in the next few months, but I digress.

The kids casually broke out of Terra Nova in the pilot, I'll give them the birds as a special circumstance, and this episode Quartch casually breaks into the base. Next week, the Sixers casually break into the base. I think I'm detecting a theme here. Someone really needs to talk to Quartch about security.

[bilateralrope]

Other things that stood out to me:

- The black security guy was sent out on patrol just before they declare quarantine. Yet nobody calls him back. It seems everyone quickly forgot him, up until Taylor kills him. Since nobody ever cares how a redshirt dies, I doubt there will be any repercussions from that.
- They actually state that they have only one cop in the settlement. Apparently crime shouldn't exist in Terra Nova.
- Where did Taylor get that bike from ?

[RogueIce]

Other things that stood out to me:

- The black security guy was sent out on patrol just before they declare quarantine. Yet nobody calls him back. It seems everyone quickly forgot him, up until Taylor kills him. Since nobody ever cares how a redshirt dies, I doubt there will be any repercussions from that.

Taylor didn't kill him. In that scene where the Science Head loses his memory and worries that he "killed that man" Shannon says he isn't dead, then drops him and we get a grunt.

- They actually state that they have only one cop in the settlement. Apparently crime shouldn't exist in Terra Nova.

I figure the security/military guys handle discipline stuff like that. Shannon just happens to be the only one with actual law enforcement training/experience, I suppose.

[Wing Commander MAD]

This episode unsurprisingly wasn't much better than the last. It's definitely not looking good for the show.
Observations:

• So the apparently the scientist at the outpost can lose all his memory, to the point of notes he was taking devolving to Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, yet he someone remembered the access code to the door of the outpost. We see Shannon punch in a code to get outside, and Taylor said they found the missing Doc's boots (with his feet still in them). Presumably this was outside, as the facility seemed secure until the Taylor shot the glass skylight. So apparently the missing scientist forgets everything, yet somehow manages to remember a security code, something that is likely to change at the least on a monthly basis, but more likely weekly.
• Shannon's method to show an injured man he and another guy are carrying is alive is to drop the injured man on the ground. What's worse is the fact that Shannon is carrying the guy by the shoulders, so either the guy would have hit his head or gotten a good jolt to the neck. I seem to recall that if you're moving a person who has unknown injuries the most important thing is to keep the head and neck stable in case there are head/neck/spinal cord injuries. You'd think as a former cop, who's wife is a medical doctor no less, would know basic First Aid.
• Apparently everyone, including the writers forgot about the security guy Shannon found by episodes end. It didn't look like the Ovosaur(?) killed him.
• Taylor is so bad ass he can ride around on a motorcycle alone at night unmolested.
• The sonic guns are less than lethal weapons, or at the least have a less than lethal operating mode. We see both Taylor and Shannon take a blast that both knocks them off their feet and renders them unconscious. IIRC there have been real world experiments in weaponizing soundwaves (infrasound in particular), both for lethal and non-lethal crowd control uses.
• The future apparently has Super Alzheimer's.
• Bonus from Last Week: They have vehicles with doors, yet for some reason choose to use a doorless vehicle even for security patrols/deliveries at night. I bet the one guy who had is eyes pecked/clawed out sure wished he had doors.

[Ahriman238]

Apparently everyone, including the writers forgot about the security guy Shannon found by episodes end. It didn't look like the Ovosaur(?) killed him.

It didn't, because they locked it in a storage room. Presumably they cured him to, he may even have been their lab rat.

Bonus from Last Week: They have vehicles with doors, yet for some reason choose to use a doorless vehicle even for security patrols/deliveries at night. I bet the one guy who had is eyes pecked/clawed out sure wished he had doors.

Most of their vehicles do seem rather inadequate for a jungle full of dinosaurs. The fact they have dirt bikes to is shocking. At least they have the armor-plated trucks with a pintle weapon, and it looks like they've made at least a couple of roads.

[Kojiro]

Still, those repainted nerf guns (I'm serious) can't kill shit.

I saw those pistols and the round bit at the back and couldn't help wondering if they were nerf. Glad to know I wasn't alone.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Just watched tonight's episode, things are getting better. I find myself being unable to take seriously any group which uses modern weapons that also uses war paint to try and seem fearsome.

[Themightytom]

The ham handed effort to show Wholesome People is making me nauseous. Hello Feral Child, We Will Welcome You Into Our Home And Put You In A Dress.

And Because This Is Voyager On Fox, It Will Go Well.

I'm not a parent, but I would not have let Newt near MY kids, besides aren't you guys ALREADY over your breeder quota?

There was a lot of casual knocking out going on in this episode, is everyone an expert at martial arts, or are future people prone to feinting. Shannon got knocked out twice in the space of ten minutes after being dangled like a snack in front of a dino, I guess the T virus isn't up to snuff in this series.

[bilateralrope]

I wouldn't complain about them being over the breeder quota, as that doesn't apply to Terra Nova. However, because they arrived with more children than expected, their home is probably the only one with more people in it than it was built for. Which still makes it the worst place to stick Newt.

[Wing Commander MAD]

Just watched tonight's episode, things are getting better. I find myself being unable to take seriously any group which uses modern weapons that also uses war paint to try and seem fearsome.

So I'm not the only one who noticed the Sixers' warpaint.

I never got the impression the kid was staying with the Shannons long term. It seemed to be short term thing, seeing as they were the only people she seemed to trust at the time. They pretty much said that it was temporary, as Mrs. Shannon talked about her son having to sleep on the couch for awhile. They even made mention of some other woman who was wanting to take the girl in at the end of the episode, and were hoping she wouldn't mind taking in the girl's brother too. That would lead me to believe they were looking for more permanent residence for the girl from the beginning.

I'll have to give them some credit for this episode. The only stupid thing was how Shannon apparently got out of the colony without authorization, well that and him going out to look for the Sixers in the jungle alone at night. It certainly was a step up from last week's episode of Star Trek: Terra Nova.

[lordofchange13]

It was so funny when the junior soldier had a whole gibbering conversation about 'courting' the daughter. I enjoy this show, though i am fearful of having overly simplistic or repetitive plot lines.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Terra Nova was back last night, and I really enjoyed the episode. The story of the colony's 'first murder' was done well and actually had a few twists and turns.

Plus, baby anklyosaur. D'awwwww.

[lordofchange13]

Any episode that has Tailor beating up someone and just being bad ass is a good episode.

[Ahriman238]

The murder mystery was pretty good. I still feel they're underusing the dramatic potential of a jungle full of DINOSAURS!! Two things really stuck out.

1. They banish people? Outside the walls, into the dino-infested jungle? Seems a mite harsh.

2. Shannon's kid (Josh, I think?) is an idiot. Every sixth grader understands you never promise a favor to be named later unless you're already in deep shit with no other way out. Because that is how you get into deep shit with no way out. This doubly applies to favors promised to a mortal enemy.

Plus, baby anklyosaur. D'awwwww.

Seconded.

[CaptainChewbacca]

1. They banish people? Outside the walls, into the dino-infested jungle? Seems a mite harsh.

Remember banishment is the penalty for premeditated murder, and the only alternative is life imprisonment. To do that would require tying up the resources of 3-5 people minimum for the rest of the prisoner's life, and the simple calculus might be that it's not practical for a fledgling colony to do that.

It was the same in colonial America, criminals were either shamed, mutilated, or fined, but rarely imprisoned.

[Wing Commander MAD]

Just caught the latest episode. The only thing that struck me this episode was the cheesy way the ankylosaur hatched and the fact they still haven't learned to not send guys off at night in open vehicles. Then again, it also didn't help that the guy was operating alone at night.

[The Original Nex]

Latest episode addresses the fence issue people were talking about after the pilot. The perimeter mines have been mentioned before but this episode explicitly states that it is those mines which keep out the "local wildlife" and with those out of commission, they're essentially sitting ducks. Taylor also states outright that their fence is useless against larger predators (like that Spino the Sixers sic'd on Terra Nova - which, incidentally, is a huge pussy when it comes to torches).

Overall enjoyed this episode. Finally exploring the intrigue around the Sixers' purpose and Taylor's kid. Australian barman seems to be trying to throw Taylor off his scent by saving him. The Magic Chip Replicator was very convenient...

[CaptainChewbacca]

I don't know about convenient, but if they're building a civilization and planning for every contingency, I think 'how do we get new chips for our tech?' would be high on the list. And it WASN'T convenient, they had to fix even THAT one. Makes me wonder why they don't have a hardened storage case for some sensitive stuff like that.

A good episode, 7.5-8/10