Terra Nova

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readingbetweenlines
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02 Dec 2011, 10:49 am

Fnord wrote:

^ Lucky you.

You're not missing out on anything.

Oh good (you make it sound so appealing!!)
LOST has been mentioned a few times on this thread, now that show I loved (sorry, slightly O/T). Well the first few series anyway, if Terra Nova was as good as LOST then I might be interested.

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Fnord
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02 Dec 2011, 3:18 pm

Burnbridge wrote:

Well, I like science fiction so much that I even enjoy bad, cheesy and implausible sci-fi, even when it pretends to be well made and fails.

Well, I have little tolerance for pretentious hand-waving, even in hard-core Science Fiction, which Terra Nova is not.

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iamnotaparakeet
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02 Dec 2011, 11:08 pm

Fnord wrote:

From my perspective, the producers of Terra Nova did not pick the choicest parts of Survivor, Stargate, Avatar, Lost, or even Jurassic Park. Instead, they lopped off a few fatty portions from each, grafted them together into some kind of Frankenstein kludge, and then called it "Original Programming".

It's like they tried to construct a bikini model from the leftover slop of a liposuction clinic.

And I think you're seeing things into it. There have been enough shows and books written now that commonalities can be found between everything, however it's one thing to say "this is in common" and another to say "this was taken from that!".

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02 Dec 2011, 11:17 pm

On Terra Nova, Stephen Lang says he’s covering new ground

NED EHRBAR
METRO WORLD NEWS

Link: http://www.metronews.ca/ottawa/scene/ar ... new-ground

Quote:

Actor Stephen Lang is getting attention for his work playing a gruff, militaristic leader shepherding a group of humans through a foreign landscape filled with deadly creatures. No, not Avatar.

While Lang’s new gig as Commander Taylor on Terra Nova — in which he leads a pilgrimage of humans 85 million years into the past to colonize an alternate earth — might bear some resemblance to the 2009 blockbuster that shot him to fame, he’s quick to point out the differences.

And if you want to typecast him, he’s fine with that, too.

Were you reluctant to take this part because of similarities people might draw with Avatar?

Obviously, there’s a certain similarity in their backgrounds. I just felt that the trajectory that the characters take is so vastly different, that after a certain breaking in period you would see Taylor as his own distinct personality, as opposed to being related to Avatar.

Are you at all afraid of typecasting after Avatar and then this role?

You know, I’m 59 years old, and if I’m typed right now, I’m typed as a charismatic, macho, silver fox. So, if that’s the case, I can live with that (laughs).

How much of Taylor’s backstory did they let you in on beforehand?

We’ve discussed backstory from day one on this. Even in our initial meetings we talked about how this guy comes to be, and who he is. Backstory emerges as fact as it becomes necessary. I can give you three possibilities of what Taylor went through in the year 2139. And whatever will serve our story best is the one that we will adopt, because it only becomes fact when it hits the screen, when it gets written in, you know?

What was your impression when you first saw the pilot episode?

I thought that we were on our — how do you put it? It’s a maiden voyage. There’s a certain caution that goes with it. There’s a certain finding your way, as the show finds its own sort of tone. I liked it. You see fully-formed characters. It tells a story. I thought the effects worked as well as we wanted them to work. But as in all the work I’ve ever done, I feel there’s room for advancement in it, clearly. And so, you know, it made me proud, but also anxious to do better.

How much does it help with your performance when you’re on location, and not on a sound stage as much as you would be on another TV show?

It helps in ways you’re probably not even conscious of. I mean, just being out in a pristine environment — that’s where you’re supposed to be. It’s one less artificial element to have to create.

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02 Dec 2011, 11:28 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Fnord wrote:

From my perspective, the producers of Terra Nova did not pick the choicest parts of Survivor, Stargate, Avatar, Lost, or even Jurassic Park. Instead, they lopped off a few fatty portions from each, grafted them together into some kind of Frankenstein kludge, and then called it "Original Programming". It's like they tried to construct a bikini model from the leftover slop of a liposuction clinic.

Did they even try for an original concept, or were they interested only in appealing to the broadest possible demographic for the sake of their sponsors' financial interests?

iamnotaparakeet
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03 Dec 2011, 4:57 am

Fnord wrote:

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Fnord wrote:

From my perspective, the producers of Terra Nova did not pick the choicest parts of Survivor, Stargate, Avatar, Lost, or even Jurassic Park. Instead, they lopped off a few fatty portions from each, grafted them together into some kind of Frankenstein kludge, and then called it "Original Programming". It's like they tried to construct a bikini model from the leftover slop of a liposuction clinic.

Did they even try for an original concept, or were they interested only in appealing to the broadest possible demographic for the sake of their sponsors' financial interests?

Let's see, sending back in time, and to a parallel universe, a colony to start over the human race because we turned this world into a desert and having a competing group who wants to harvest the one habitable planet in which that colony dwells. Gee, I think they, at the very least, tried for an original concept.

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03 Dec 2011, 5:37 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Fnord wrote:

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Fnord wrote:

From my perspective, the producers of Terra Nova did not pick the choicest parts of Survivor, Stargate, Avatar, Lost, or even Jurassic Park. Instead, they lopped off a few fatty portions from each, grafted them together into some kind of Frankenstein kludge, and then called it "Original Programming". It's like they tried to construct a bikini model from the leftover slop of a liposuction clinic.

Did they even try for an original concept, or were they interested only in appealing to the broadest possible demographic for the sake of their sponsors' financial interests?

Time travel and parallel universes have been covered by Babylon 5, Sliders, Stargate, and Star Trek.

A new colony to start over the human race because we turned this world into a desert has been covered by Aliens, Avatar, and Firefly/Serenity.

A competing group who wants to harvest an already inhabited world has been covered by Falling Skies and War of the Worlds.

Originality is not about playing mix-and-match with Common Tropes of Speculative Fiction (link). It is about developing a whole new concept and establishing entirely new tropes for others to follow ... or avoid.

Last edited by Fnord on 03 Dec 2011, 5:49 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Burnbridge
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03 Dec 2011, 6:42 pm

I watched 2 episodes of this show today, and I thought it was OK.

There was a dinosaur in the episode for about 2 seconds, and no dinos in the other, so I am going to discount out of hand the comparisons to Jurassic Park. J.P. is obviously "adventure" spec fic, Terra Nova is obviously "social:" there was a fight with the "6ers" that lasted, oh, about 5 seconds. Kind of seems like a soap opera (but not as godawful melodramatic as the Battlestar remake.) A little action here and there, but it's quick like a Takeshi Kitano movie. No laffs, though. I was surprised Edward James Olmos isn't in it, considering the absence of laffs.

This show seems to be about the characters, not the novelty of the setting. A lot of Spec Fic does this. It's a way to comment on the current world we live in now, while not angering people too much by insulting existing societies.

Really don't care if it's original or not, if the hard science is truly novel. That seems largely behind the point. Acting seems ok, characters seem plausibly paradoxical, good enough for me.

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iamnotaparakeet
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04 Dec 2011, 10:54 am

Fnord wrote:

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Fnord wrote:

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Fnord wrote:

From my perspective, the producers of Terra Nova did not pick the choicest parts of Survivor, Stargate, Avatar, Lost, or even Jurassic Park. Instead, they lopped off a few fatty portions from each, grafted them together into some kind of Frankenstein kludge, and then called it "Original Programming". It's like they tried to construct a bikini model from the leftover slop of a liposuction clinic.

Did they even try for an original concept, or were they interested only in appealing to the broadest possible demographic for the sake of their sponsors' financial interests?

Fine, try coming up with an original concept yourself and then watch how everyone sees everything else that has already been made within it.

iamnotaparakeet
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04 Dec 2011, 11:08 am

Huh, 4 people haven't even seen the show and have decided in ignorance that they don't care for it.

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07 Dec 2011, 7:52 pm

Well, regardless of whatever anyone else says, Terra Nova is - so far at least - my favorite show of this decade as V was my favorite show of last decade (that I had seen while it aired, otherwise if I had been watching television during the time when Firefly was on then it would have been my favorite show of that decade instead, but I've only seen Firefly and Serenity long after Fox had murdered it as they're probably going to do to Terra Nova also now.)

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12 Dec 2011, 2:25 pm

Well, the second to last episode of this season is tonight.

Here are some of the previews and other clips available:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8WQjlu2SZA[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2Q4kW1fPnA[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aux4UdkpHP0#![/youtube]

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12 Dec 2011, 6:23 pm

I don't know about you, but I really hope Commander Taylor's son can't figure out how to make the portal go both ways!! :shameonyou:

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12 Dec 2011, 6:50 pm

I really like this show!

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iamnotaparakeet
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12 Dec 2011, 6:56 pm

littlelily613 wrote:

I really like this show!

Cool.

iamnotaparakeet
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12 Dec 2011, 6:59 pm

GreyGirl wrote:

I don't know about you, but I really hope Commander Taylor's son can't figure out how to make the portal go both ways!! :shameonyou:

Last episode Commander Taylor said that the equations his son wrote showed that he had figured it out already and in the promo it showed his son returning to 2149, so it would be a little late for that hope, but it just means that there will actually be some combat soon enough.

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