Terra Nova (TV Show)

Galvasean · 11-06-2010 1:01pm #1

Heading to Australia in August? Well if so be sure to audition for Stephen Spielbergs new dinosaur themed TV show called Terra Nova which will be shown on Fox.

Find out more here.

In related news Muttaburrasaurus and Kronosaurus have expressed interest in the series:

"I'm sure if Mr Spielberg chose Queensland as the location for Terra Nova, our famous dinosaurs Muttaburrasaurus and Kronosaurus Queenslandicus would make fabulous movie stars."

Muttaburrasaurus was a herbivore that lived 120 million years ago, was up to two metres tall and 12 metres long. Kronosaurus is thought to be the largest marine reptile on Earth, with its head alone reaching 2.7 metres.

"I'm sure both of these prehistoric giants would love to star in Mr Spielberg's upcoming movie - after all they've already been famous for millions of years and would add to the number of Aussies making it big in Hollywood."

More on the series here.

Galvasean · 08-02-2011 12:12am

Well here is the trailer:

Looks rubbish.

Kess73 · 08-02-2011 12:44am

Hard to tell from such a short teaser.

With a budget of $4 million per episode, there should be some good effects in this.

With only two brief glimpses in the teaser it is hard to guess how well the dinos ( and non dinos) will look.

Galvasean · 08-02-2011 1:11am

From what little glimpes I saw I made out a brachiosaur(?) and a Carnotaurus. Hard to tell CG quality, but they look somewhere between Walking With Dinosaurs and a SyFy Channel exclusive.

Rubecula · 12-02-2011 3:47pm

Not sure how good that is going to be, a bit like an American glossy Primeval in reverse.

We will have to wait and see wht it is like. (I bet they get the dinos all wrong too)

JuliusCaesar · 15-02-2011 4:02pm

Rubecula wrote: »

Not sure how good that is going to be, a bit like an American glossy Primeval in reverse.

While the baddies in Primeval tried to kill off the early humans/humanoids, and the goodies try not to interfere with the life they run into (or who runs into us), the Americans go forth all guns blazing.

Should be good fun!

Adam Khor · 24-03-2011 8:15pm

I'm sad to admit it, but I'm not really excited about this... the dinosaurs look fake, and there's gonna be too much tough guys with guns for what I've heard.

But who knows, we may be surprised...

Galvasean · 01-07-2011 1:27am

Despite the vat array of real dinosaurs out there, this show seems happy to make up new ones :rolleyes:
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2011/06/terra-nova-previews-slasher-dinosaur/

Adam Khor · 01-07-2011 1:44am

Galvasean wrote: »

Despite the vat array of real dinosaurs out there, this show seems happy to make up new ones :rolleyes:
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2011/06/terra-nova-previews-slasher-dinosaur/

Gimme a break!
That Bryan whatever-his-name-is really needs to stop being such a square. Yes, they made up a dinosaur. So what? There were probably thousands of dinos out there that we never found as fossils (and that we may never find). IMHO, if the series takes place in prehistoric Earth then there SHOULD be unknown animals surprising the time travelers (and the audience) regularly. There is no rule saying that if u create a work of fiction you should use dinosaurs known as fossils ONLY. It is not a documentary, so chill out!

The Slasher may not be the most original looking dino ever created for a show, but I'm sure that if the series creators had invented a very bizarre dino (say, a blood-sucking, porcupine-like dinosaur), squares such as Bryan whatever his name is would complain about it all the same.
The hands are innacurate? How tragic. It doesn`t have feathers? My heart bleeds for him. Its not such a big deal. If it was a documentary, ok, bitch about it if it makes u feel smarter. But leave fiction alone. It's just that; entertainment.

I'm sorry if I sound like a douche but it pisses me off when people can`t just relax and stop being so damned close-minded. And yeah, I'm having a rough week.

Galvasean · 02-07-2011 4:10am

Meh, I don't see what this 'Slasher' can do that a Deinonychus can't. Might as well give the kiddies a quasie realistic idea of what dinos actually looked like IMo.

Rubecula · 02-07-2011 12:13pm

If we are going to push imagination out that far as regards what dino's can and did do... Bring back Dinotopia. I am ashamed to admit I enjoyed that.

*Looks guilty*

Adam Khor · 02-07-2011 7:13pm

Rubecula wrote: »

If we are going to push imagination out that far as regards what dino's can and did do... Bring back Dinotopia. I am ashamed to admit I enjoyed that.

*Looks guilty*

Hell, I enjoyed that too. Not the best show ever by any means, but enjoyable.

Did I miss something, tho? What do the dinos in Terra Nova do that is so hard to believe?

Kess73 · 03-07-2011 12:14pm

Galvasean wrote: »

Meh, I don't see what this 'Slasher' can do that a Deinonychus can't. Might as well give the kiddies a quasie realistic idea of what dinos actually looked like IMo.

I thought that the premise of the show was that they discover a way to fracture time and travel back in time to arrive at an alternative past version of Earth?

Pretty sure I heard that in an interview by Stephen Lang.

If it is meant to be on an alternative version of a past Earth, then the rejigging of some species makes sense.

Adam Khor · 04-07-2011 2:16am

Kess73 wrote: »

I thought that the premise of the show was that they discover a way to fracture time and travel back in time to arrive at an alternative past version of Earth?

Pretty sure I heard that in an interview by Stephen Lang.

If it is meant to be on an alternative version of a past Earth, then the rejigging of some species makes sense.

But it still makes sense if that's not the case! We don´t know everything about the past of this version of Earth either...

I hope its not so much about alternate universes tho cuz Im writing a fiction book about that and it involves dinosaurs too XD People would think Im writing a rip off.

Galvasean · 04-07-2011 2:28am

Adam Khor wrote: »

But it still makes sense if that's not the case!

Yeah, we haven't discovered every species of dinosaur, but we have discovered a dazzling variety of species, more than enough to fill hundreds of shows with unique hazardous creatures. Making up new ones is completely superfluous. Like I said earlier, why invent a new dinosaur which offers nothing more of a threat than your standard Deinonychus?
If you wanna make a movie about made up monsters then go right ahead. There's nothing wrong with that. Just don't go and try pass it off as a show about dinosaurs.

Adam Khor · 04-07-2011 3:01am

Galvasean wrote: »

Yeah, we haven't discovered every species of dinosaur, but we have discovered a dazzling variety of species, more than enough to fill hundreds of shows with unique hazardous creatures. Making up new ones is completely superfluous. Like I said earlier, why invent a new dinosaur which offers nothing more of a threat than your standard Deinonychus?
If you wanna make a movie about made up monsters then go right ahead. There's nothing wrong with that. Just don't go and try pass it off as a show about dinosaurs.

I have to disagree. I don´t see anything wrong with designing new dinos for a fiction show. Being a writer and having studied filmmaking (I dropped out, but still... XD) I can tell you that when you create a work of fiction, you want to offer something fresh and new to your audience AND something that differenciates your show from all others.

You want your reader/moviegoer to say "whoah, I didn´t see this coming" and "what the hell is that thing?!". Sure, you can do that with already known dinos; Michael Crichton took Carnotaurus and made it into a giant chameleon; he took Dilophosaurus and made it venomous. That's all very cool.
But if he had wanted to create a completely new dinosaur, that would be cool too. No one knows everything about Mesozoic life, and there's lots of room for imagination, which you need if you are doing fiction. Creating a new species isn´t really too different from giving a real dinosaur a completely fictional trait.

Problem is, and I say this without any intention to offend, that many dino buffs just like to complain. Look at Jurassic Park! Here you have awesome CGI, awesome animatronics and a simple, entertaining story. You could just sit back and relax and have a good time but nooo, you HAVE to complain about how the raptors are featherless and have weird wrists, about how the Brachiosaurus chews its food, about how Dilophosaurus is venomous and even (gimme a break!) about how T-Rex didn´t have those angry-looking ridges over its eyes!
"It's just so inaccurate!" they say. Well, a giant gorilla climbing the Empire State is also inaccurate. An invasion of gigantic alien spaceships is also inaccurate. It doesn´t happen in real life. It's not real. It's called fiction! It's a work of imagination, not a documentary!
I can´t believe there's people out there debating about how Rudy the white Baryonyx from Ice Age 3 (an animated movie!) is way too big to be a Baryonyx and should be an overgrown Suchomimus or a spineless Spinosaurus instead!
It's kinda ridiculous if you ask me. Want science? Go to the museum instead of to the movies.

Like I said, this is just my opinion and not meant to offend anyone. I guess I take this subject a little bit too seriously because I like dinosaurs and I'm interested in paleontology but I am also a fiction writer and I would be very dissapointed if people who share my same interest were unable to enjoy my work because its "inaccurate" or because I took the liberty to create instead of just taking what was already there.
What's the point of being a friggin writer, filmmaker or storyteller if you can´t create anything?

Kess73 · 04-07-2011 10:40am

Galvasean wrote: »

Yeah, we haven't discovered every species of dinosaur, but we have discovered a dazzling variety of species, more than enough to fill hundreds of shows with unique hazardous creatures. Making up new ones is completely superfluous. Like I said earlier, why invent a new dinosaur which offers nothing more of a threat than your standard Deinonychus?
If you wanna make a movie about made up monsters then go right ahead. There's nothing wrong with that. Just don't go and try pass it off as a show about dinosaurs.

But it is not a show about dinos though, it is a show that is being advertised as having dinos and other creatures in it.

The Jurassic Park trilogy had plenty in it that went against the grain in terms of what was known about various species at the time as well, but I was happy with that as it meant I got to see dinos on the big screen that looked pretty real.

Hell it is the same with some of the Ray Harryhausen films. Is The Valley Of Gwangi an accurate portrayal of an Allosaurus (or a Pteranodon)? Not even close but it is still an enjoyable watch.

Is One Million BC close to accurate? Nope and it is still an enjoyable watch, especially the young Raquel

I like dinos in films to be accurate when possible but not at the expense of entertainment.

When I want my dinos to be factually correct or as close as can be at this point in time, I will read a book or watch a good documentary.

Adam Khor · 04-07-2011 5:55pm

Kess73 wrote: »

But it is not a show about dinos though, it is a show that is being advertised as having dinos and other creatures in it.

The Jurassic Park trilogy had plenty in it that went against the grain in terms of what was known about various species at the time as well, but I was happy with that as it meant I got to see dinos on the big screen that looked pretty real.

Hell it is the same with some of the Ray Harryhausen films. Is The Valley Of Gwangi an accurate portrayal of an Allosaurus (or a Pteranodon)? Not even close but it is still an enjoyable watch.

Is One Million BC close to accurate? Nope and it is still an enjoyable watch, especially the young Raquel

I like dinos in films to be accurate when possible but not at the expense of entertainment.

When I want my dinos to be factually correct or as close as can be at this point in time, I will read a book or watch a good documentary.

Thank you!

Galvasean · 11-08-2011 1:17pm

Carnotaurus will be pleased to know he now has wrists:

Adam Khor · 11-08-2011 11:57pm

Galvasean wrote: »

Carnotaurus will be pleased to know he now has wrists:

Cool, now he can slit his wrists out of depression for being bad CG haha seriously, this confirms my suspicion that the dinos in this show would look kinda fake.

I know I'll end up watching it anyways...:D

Adam Khor · 23-09-2011 7:00pm

http://www.thestar.com/article/1058198--video-terra-nova-brave-new-world-or-tyrannosaurus-wreck

An article about Terra Nova...

I don´t know you guys but the idea of heavily armed humans traveling back to the Cretaceous to ruin the world of dinosaurs makes me sick to my stomach. At least in Primeval it was the creatures coming to us...

Galvasean · 24-09-2011 2:07am

I just cant see the logic in jumping back 85 million years.... It just seems like a terrible plan!

Adam Khor · 24-09-2011 3:03am

Galvasean wrote: »

I just cant see the logic in jumping back 85 million years.... It just seems like a terrible plan!

Agreed. And now, I just wonder, if these guys caused an ecological catastrophe in the Cretaceous that somehow caused the extinction of our early placental ancestors, that would mean the entire History of life after the Cretaceous would be re-written and we probably wouldn´t have evolved- which means the time travelers wouldn´t have been born at all, meaning there was never any time travel to begin with... but then again, if there was no time travel, that would mean nothing of what I just said happened and we probably DID evolve after all... o-o But, if we did evolve, then we probably did travel to the past and changed everything anyways! Oh noes! :eek:

Galvasean · 24-09-2011 4:28pm

Time travels cause a split alternate reality. Problem solved.

Adam Khor · 24-09-2011 7:09pm

Galvasean wrote: »

Time travels cause a split alternate reality. Problem solved.

Damn you, you ruined my Cycle of Doom :S

Galvasean · 25-09-2011 1:18pm

You'll have to excuse me. i have a tendency to defend gaping plotholes in movies.

Adam Khor · 27-09-2011 12:36am

The series airs tonight in the US. There's this article on it that I found interesting; in it, Thomas Holtz says that the air in the Cretaceous, 85 million years ago, would actually be poisonous for humans to breathe (yet another reason why this is a bad idea XD) due to high CO2 concentration.

Jack Horner, by the way, is the scientific consultant once again (Spielberg's to blame), but at least he accepts that this is a work of fiction and that there's lots of room for imagination.
He says that the "Slashers/Acceraptor" will be a "scary dinosaur" and it seems that what makes it special is a blade or series of barbs on its tail that can cause serious injury (kinda like a dinosaur version of a scorpion/manticore?)

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/26/7973577-terra-nova-gives-dino-fans-something-new-to-chew-on

Kess73 · 28-09-2011 6:32pm

Starts on Sky 1 next Monday night.

FreeAnd.. · 28-09-2011 6:45pm

was pretty dissapointing to be honest - and yes alternate reality split (but hinting at more) ...dont think i'd bother watching it again and the dinos still look better in jurassic park

Adam Khor · 03-10-2011 8:22pm

FreeAnd.. wrote: »

was pretty dissapointing to be honest - and yes alternate reality split (but hinting at more) ...dont think i'd bother watching it again and the dinos still look better in jurassic park

Of course they do

Wonder if someone will ever top Jurassic Park.

Galvasean · 03-10-2011 9:16pm

Just in from work. Gonna give what's left a go. Any use so far?

Galvasean · 03-10-2011 9:29pm

So, the Slasher is the bastard offspring of Gigantoraptor and a dromaeosaur. I guess I can get behind that.
No idea why he noisily announces his arrival from 400 yards away.

Adam Khor · 03-10-2011 9:34pm

Galvasean wrote: »

So, the Slasher is the bastard offspring of Gigantoraptor and a dromaeosaur. I guess I can get behind that.
No idea why he noisily announces his arrival from 400 yards away.

Maybe it's screaming in alarm. Humans must look horrible to dinosaurs o-o

Kess73 · 03-10-2011 10:20pm

Very underwhelming, especially the first hour.

Will give it a try again next Monday night to see if it improves. At least House is back this Thursday.:D

Kess73 · 03-10-2011 10:25pm

Galvasean wrote: »

So, the Slasher is the bastard offspring of Gigantoraptor and a dromaeosaur. I guess I can get behind that.
No idea why he noisily announces his arrival from 400 yards away.

Blame Jack Horner, I know I am.

Rubecula · 03-10-2011 10:26pm

Just watched it and I am afraid I wasn't all that impressed to be honest.

Could keep the kids quiet for an hour. (If I had any :pac:)

Allosaur · 04-10-2011 8:54am

I could never be accused of being a herd animal, but for once I'll follow along.

Muck and more muck.

Sure it was good stuff for fiction, but the "Slashers?"....
I find it extreemly rich that Mr. Horner who is knocking over species left and right should go and invent a new one. (Speilberg? stay out of this.)
So Utah Raptor wasn't badass enough? He had two Tyrannosaurs to choose from within 10% or so of the shows timeline.

Allosaur · 04-10-2011 8:56am

Galvasean wrote: »

So, the Slasher is the bastard offspring of Gigantoraptor and a dromaeosaur. I guess I can get behind that.
No idea why he noisily announces his arrival from 400 yards away.

You forgot to include a Stegasaur (thagomizers on the tail)

Rubecula · 04-10-2011 11:27am

Allosaur wrote: »

You forgot to include a Stegasaur (thagomizers on the tail)

Stegs lived in the Jurassic, the show is set 85 MYA which I think was the Triassic. As usual I will admit to being wrong if I am.

Minor point and not really worth mentioning I suppose.

Allosaur · 04-10-2011 12:06pm

Rubecula wrote: »

Stegs lived in the Jurassic, the show is set 85 MYA which I think was the Triassic. As usual I will admit to being wrong if I am.

Minor point and not really worth mentioning I suppose.

Crossed wires: I was referring to the bastard child of.. comment. ANd you'ld have to include the spiky tailed dinos.

85MYA was mid Cretaceous. Pre T.Rex, but just after Das and Gorgo.

Manach · 04-10-2011 12:11pm

Very much reminder me of Julian May's Many coloured land saga. Except instead of Pliocene era mammals, Dinosaurs.

Rubecula · 04-10-2011 1:08pm

Rubecula wrote: »

Stegs lived in the Jurassic, the show is set 85 MYA which I think was the Triassic. As usual I will admit to being wrong if I am.

Minor point and not really worth mentioning I suppose.

Allosaur wrote: »

Crossed wires: I was referring to the bastard child of.. comment. ANd you'ld have to include the spiky tailed dinos.

85MYA was mid Cretaceous. Pre T.Rex, but just after Das and Gorgo.

DOH! Thats what I meant,:o I'll get me coat. I'll be getting Monday mixed up with Wednesday next.:rolleyes:

Kess73 · 10-10-2011 11:36pm

Rubecula wrote: »

Stegs lived in the Jurassic, the show is set 85 MYA which I think was the Triassic. As usual I will admit to being wrong if I am.

Minor point and not really worth mentioning I suppose.

I don't think that what we know to be fact comes into play for the series though. It is set in an alternative past 85 million years ago, and not 85 million years in the past of the timeline the people in the series are from. So on that basis if they want to chop and change a few dinos in terms of timeline to make for better episodes, then I'm all for it.

Tonight's episode was an improvement what was shown last week, but still not that great but is enough to get me back again next week

. Had a right giggle during the main Pterosaur attack on the camp. One of the extras being attacked sold the blow before the Pterosaur even got to him, was like watching a wrestler selling a move poorly.:D

Galvasean · 11-10-2011 2:27pm

Watched the start of last night's episode. Bored the crap outta me.

Why do dinosaurs attack and kill people, but then not bother to eat them?

Adam Khor · 11-10-2011 6:40pm

Galvasean wrote: »

Watched the start of last night's episode. Bored the crap outta me.

Why do dinosaurs attack and kill people, but then not bother to eat them?

If I was a dinosaur and lived in a pristine paradise-like world, and suddenly a bunch of noisy humans with guns came along and started clearing the land and building ugly buildings in my nesting grounds and scaring my prey away and what not, I would likely try to exterminate them too. Like a cockroach infestation, you know.

Kess73 · 11-10-2011 10:27pm

Galvasean wrote: »

Watched the start of last night's episode. Bored the crap outta me.

Why do dinosaurs attack and kill people, but then not bother to eat them?

Because the attackers were not attacking in order to eat and were instead attacking as the humans were in their breeding territory.

Plus as the attackers were far far smaller than the people attacked , it was an attack that was effective through great numbers rather than any size or power. Which is why none of the bodies were torn apart and instead were covered in deep scratch marks along with their eyes gouged out.

Galvasean · 11-10-2011 10:33pm

Probably should have watched the rest of it so.

Watched the Life of Brian instead so maybe not! :pac:

Adam Khor · 11-10-2011 11:54pm

Galvasean wrote: »

Probably should have watched the rest of it so.

Watched the Life of Brian instead so maybe not! :pac:

Life of Brian is fun, but if there's something with pterosaurs attacking humans at the same time I would be unable to watch anything else

Don´t judge Terra Nova too harshly... I wasn´t too sure about it at the begining but it's good fun. Nowhere near JP, of course, but fun nonetheless. I liked that the creatures were

attacking in defense of their nesting grounds

... makes it clear that they are animals and not just blood thirsty monsters.

JuliusCaesar · 13-10-2011 9:49pm

Majorly disappointing. No great desire to watch it again. I just don't care what happens the oh-so-predictable stock characters and the oh-so-predictable plot. It's just set somewhere exotic, and given an alternative time-line so that they don't have to explain any changes or lack of them to our timeline. Yawn. Outcasts was better even there weren't (heresy) any dinosaurs in it.

TheInquisitor · 13-10-2011 10:04pm

The writers had so much to work with on this one. First of all they were 140 years in the future. And then backinto prehistoric times. And yet they still manage to make it predicatable.

I mean episode 4 was absolutly rubbish. The best they could come up with was

a virus that makes you forget who you are? I mean where did the 4 million for that episode go? On rubbish acting? Doubt it . On the tiny room they were in for 45 min? Doubt it. On the 2 dinosaurs i saw for about 20 seconds, one which manages to climb on the roof??? Doubt it

I mean who a load of rubbish!

I was wary after the first 3 eipsodes but now im so disappointed. Just guess im going to be waiting for the walking dead to restart on the 18th and Game of thrones next spring!

Kess73 · 18-10-2011 10:24am

TheInquisitor wrote: »

The writers had so much to work with on this one. First of all they were 140 years in the future. And then backinto prehistoric times. And yet they still manage to make it predicatable.

I mean episode 4 was absolutly rubbish. The best they could come up with was
a virus that makes you forget who you are? I mean where did the 4 million for that episode go? On rubbish acting? Doubt it . On the tiny room they were in for 45 min? Doubt it. On the 2 dinosaurs i saw for about 20 seconds, one which manages to climb on the roof??? Doubt it
I mean who a load of rubbish!

I was wary after the first 3 eipsodes but now im so disappointed. Just guess im going to be waiting for the walking dead to restart on the 18th and Game of thrones next spring!

Would echo what you have just said. Last night's episode was very dull, with awful acting.

Amazing how a tv show that can have futuristic tech in prehistoric times could be so damn boring.

Terra Nova (TV Show)

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