Xixax Film Forum

Film Discussion => The Small Screen => Topic started by: Sleepless on May 18, 2011, 08:15:25 PM

Title: Terra Nova
Post by: Sleepless on May 18, 2011, 08:15:25 PM
Figured since it's likely these two shows will be paired on the same night, it made sense they share a thread...

E: Split the thread. (-JB)

Just caught a mini preview of Terra Nova on TV (wife has AI on). As far as I can tell there's no major creative force on the show that worked on Lost... which frankly is hard to believe. It looks like it was filmed on the same island, the Jack character type is easily identifiable (and a possible Locke), there's time travel (although likely with no history-altering repercussions). Oh, and there's dinosaurs too. All in all, looks pretty cool. Have watched virtually no TV for the past year or so, but I think I'm sold on watching these two if they're on back-to-back. It appears both have significant money thrown at them so hopefully they won't be cancelled too quickly.

Trailer here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6aNEIZwPFc)
Title: Alcatraz/Terra Nova
Post by: PrivateJoker on May 26, 2011, 03:01:23 PM
I am definitely watching Terra Nova. The dilemma I'm having is Alcatraz/Person of Interest.  I have watch pretty much all of Abram's show so far, however the trailer for Alcatraz didn't really excite me.  Person of Interest, however seems like a cool idea AND it is the brainchild of Jonah Nolan with Abrams help.  I am worried it will be a "crime of the week" show which I'm not into. At least Fringe is an overall arc.  I am scared one or both may become hits and I would be missing out if I didn't watch them. 
Title: Terra Nova
Post by: Jeremy Blackman on October 26, 2011, 06:09:51 PM
Being a hopeless Lost fan, I decided to check this out. It is not good.

Lost
- subtlety
- patience
+ dinosaurs  
Terra Nova
Title: Re: Terra Nova
Post by: Pubrick on October 26, 2011, 08:56:13 PM
Guys, it's made in Australia.

Don't get your hopes up.
Title: Re: Terra Nova
Post by: Stefen on October 27, 2011, 03:43:40 AM
Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on October 26, 2011, 06:09:51 PM
Being a hopeless Lost fan, I decided to check this out. It is not good.

Lost
- subtlety
- patience
+ dinosaurs  
Terra Nova

This is a glowing review for anyone who didn't like Lost.
Title: Re: Terra Nova
Post by: Jeremy Blackman on October 27, 2011, 10:44:44 AM
Probably.

In the pilot, they burn through some mythology/mystery plot that would have taken Lost 4 seasons to reveal. The result is that it's pretty silly and boring.
Title: Re: Terra Nova
Post by: socketlevel on October 27, 2011, 11:08:09 AM
it reminds me of star trek the next generation, not in the premise or characters, yet the sets have this early 90s feel to them, like a playmobile aesthetic. the structure in the episodes is also treated the same way; being a boring one off sci-fi shtick.
Title: Re: Terra Nova
Post by: Jeremy Blackman on October 27, 2011, 01:28:51 PM
There's also a MPDG (http://xixax.com/index.php?topic=11648.0). I assume she gains some character through the episodes, but in the pilot she's pretty bad.

They also made fun of the show on Pop Culture Happy Hour for having a "surly teen" sort of shoehorned in (the brother).

Also the sister is the classic bookish pretty girl, but taken to the extreme, like Hermoine on crack.
E: Nevermind, bad analogy. Hermoine is Hermoine on crack.
Title: Re: Terra Nova
Post by: socketlevel on October 27, 2011, 06:15:25 PM
oh wow totally, thanks for linking that i never read it before. As i was reading, I thought of how unrealistic the sister and the MPDG really are. I've never known women, let alone a teenage girls, be so flawless. they really gotta start writing some real women in television/film, less emphasis on the moral compass and put some dirt under their nails. one could argue the MPDG is bad, but that would be an incorrect analysis of sass. I guess sass is the only thing that makes women sexy these days... i must'ta missed the memo.

but then i thought... wow these men and boys ain't too realistic either. While they're not depicted nearly as good natured, and always-in-the-right, their hearts are in the right place; rough and sexy but an underlining heart of gold.  Every single one of them. The only way they can prove their love is by either going to prison or shooting shit.

men seem to show their love by stepping outside the confinds of the law for a greater cause, and women show their love back by teaching them to play by the rules or by embodying a moral muse in some fashion. someone needs to flip those motivations in a film/TV show... or better yet disregard the blueprint entirely. This was actually something I really liked about "bridesmaids", say what you will about the film, they at least flipped the gender roles (SPOILS - though i was disappointed the male love interest was still the one that had to show up at the wedding at the end, the movie took a few steps forward but at the last minute went ever so slightly back on it)

I'm so sick of these one dimensional portraits of the sexes. It's safe for safe's sake.
Title: Re: Terra Nova
Post by: Jeremy Blackman on October 27, 2011, 06:55:56 PM
Excellent points, all of them. We can definitely agree on this!

It's funny, I sort of expect female characters to be thinly-written, but you're right, the male characters are surprisingly one-dimensional, too. Uninspired, and uninspiring.

Thins brings us back to Lost. Compare Taylor's instantly forgettable speech to the new arrivals with Jack's "Live Together, Die Alone" speech. These shows are miles apart.
Title: Re: Terra Nova
Post by: ©brad on October 28, 2011, 09:54:22 AM
Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on October 27, 2011, 06:55:56 PM
These shows are miles apart.

I'm starting to feel the same way about Breaking Bad and Lost, or Breaking Bad and anything.
Title: Re: Terra Nova
Post by: socketlevel on October 28, 2011, 10:30:02 AM
Quote from: ©brad on October 28, 2011, 09:54:22 AM
Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on October 27, 2011, 06:55:56 PM
These shows are miles apart.

I'm starting to feel the same way about Breaking Bad and Lost, or Breaking Bad and anything.


breaking bad and the wire?

both are genius. but i feel ya man, most shows suck donkey cock.
Title: Re: Terra Nova
Post by: Jeremy Blackman on October 28, 2011, 10:43:26 AM
Honestly I still like Lost more than Breaking Bad.
Title: Re: Terra Nova
Post by: ©brad on October 28, 2011, 03:32:24 PM
I loved the first 3 seasons of Lost. I barely remember what even happened in the last season. I still think the show was a Ponzi scheme of questions answered with more questions, and by the end the writers had written themselves into such an impossibly tight corner, a deeply satisfying and rewarding payoff to the series simply didn't exist.

 
Title: Re: Terra Nova
Post by: Jeremy Blackman on October 28, 2011, 03:45:02 PM
I totally disagree... I think this is how my "favorite seasons" list went...

1. Season 6
2. Season 3
3. Season 4
4. Season 2
5. Season 5
6. Season 1

And I still think Season 1 is good, especially in retrospect.

I've always been baffled why the last 2 seasons didn't quite work for so many people. The way the show was wrapped up worked for me on every possible level. Season 6 was amazing. And I think the finale was pretty much flawless... it's my favorite episode.
Title: Re: Terra Nova
Post by: Jeremy Blackman on March 13, 2012, 01:45:55 PM
Why Terra Nova failed: 4 theories

http://feed2.theweek.com/article/index/225251/why-terra-nova-failed-4-theories

The Fox drama Terra Nova debuted last fall with Steven Spielberg as producer, a $20-million pilot, CGI dinosaurs, a relentless promotional campaign, and perhaps the most buzz of any new series. Yet the show premiered to a so-so 9 million viewers, and averaged a not-stellar, not-abysmal 7 million viewers for its season. Now, Fox has officially decided to cancel the ambitious series. What went wrong? Here, four theories:

1. The story was bad
In the lead up to its debut, Terra Nova bragged effectively about its expensive effects and launched a publicity campaign "that could only have been more intense were one of the dinosaurs played by Katharine McPhee," says James Poniewozik at TIME, but the show, quite simply, wasn't any good. It was essentially "a C-grade time travel story that would make Ray Bradbury chortle dismissively," says Darren Franich at Entertainment Weekly. As the series trudged along, it continued to grow detrimentally self-serious, and was brought down by baffling conspiracy plot lines.

2. "Big movie-style budgets don't work on television"

As Transformers and a bevy of poorly-written, effects-heavy blockbusters have taught us, movie audiences are willing to sit through essentially bad films because they "can't help but be captivated by the sheer amount of money onscreen," says Franich. Though the funds channelled into Terra Nova were disproportionately large for a TV show, they didn't translate into the same hypnotic sheen; the show still "looked terrible." From the spotty CGI dinosaurs to the cheap-looking sets, the show couldn't "compare to a typical two-hour blockbuster movie."

3. It tried to be too many things
The show's executive producer avowed that Terra Nova "is for everybody. Everyone from my kids to a gamer to my dad will love this show." What a doomed oversell, says Tim Kenneally at The Wrap. No show that "promises to be everything to everybody" could possibly deliver. Indeed, the series' kitchen sink approach baffled viewers. "Was this a family drama? A prehistoric action-adventure series? A sci-fi program?" High turnover among the show's writers didn't help. "Too many cooks and too many ingredients left Terra Nova veering week to week" between environmental preaching, Jurassic Park ambition, Lost-like conspiracy theory, and underdeveloped character drama.

4. The age of sci-fi on TV may be over
Attempts to replicate the success of the epic Lost have failed, says Poniewozik, leading most networks to focus on "small-scale, real-world shows" with minor sci-fi twists or fantasy themes, like Person of Interest, Alcatraz, or Once Upon a Time. Viewers have been responding, turning those shows into modest hits. The "epic-scale, effects-intensive" Terra Nova, on the other hand, was out of step with trends. The question moving forward, says Alyssa Rosenberg at Think Progress, is whether networks can "think more creatively about communicating" futuristic stories "without using a lot, or any, special effects."
Title: Re: Terra Nova
Post by: Pubrick on March 13, 2012, 06:20:41 PM
Quote from: Pubrick on October 26, 2011, 08:56:13 PM
Guys, it's made in Australia.

Don't get your hopes up.