Terra Nova (FOX) - Series Premiere: Synopsis and Review

The new sci-fi drama series ‘Terra Nova’, produced by Steven Spielberg, premiered with a two hour special on Monday, September 26th on FOX. In the year 2149, planet Earth is polluted and overpopulated, the human race will go extinct if no action is undertaken. ‘Terra Nova’ is about the Shannon family that is, among others, sent back 85 million years in time to start a new life. The travelers are sent to a world with fresh air, living trees and actual daylight, but what they don’t know is that they enter the territory of beasts superior to them.

In 2149 people are not allowed to have more then two kids, “a family is four” is the motto against overpopulation. The Shannon family is a family of five, but they managed to keep their youngest daughter a secret, until a surprise inspection. Jim Shannon (Jason O’Mara), the father, is sentenced to six years in prison. Two years later his wife Elisabeth (Shelley Conn) is selected to go to Terra Nova, but she can only bring her two oldest kids Josh (Landon Liboiron) and Maddy (Naomi Scott). Jim then decides to escape prison, hide their youngest kid Zoe (Alana Mansour) in his backpack, and find a way through the portal that transports them to what they call Terra Nova. In the end, they all arrive on Terra Nova. Now, there is no way back.
When the family is getting acquainted with their new surroundings a few mysteries present themselves. They discover that a group of people, who were sent to Terra Nova before the Shannon family, parted from the larger colony and established their own colony not far away. Why they didn’t wanted to be part of the large colony is unknown, just like it is unknown who made the rock paintings that Josh’s new friends discovered, and why. The most important question, however, arises at the very end of the episode; what is the real reason of the existence of Terra Nova?

The foundation of ‘Terra Nova’ is, of course, the idea that time traveling is possible. If you have trouble accepting this you should not even bother watching the show. Otherwise, there won’t be many other hurdles to overcome. It is needless to say that 85 million years back in time there will be dinosaurs. If you liked ‘Lost’ or ‘Jurassic Park’ you will probably like ‘Terra Nova’, which resembles these other shows in some ways. For example, ‘Lost’ presented a lot of questions, more than it answered, and it seems like ‘Terra Nova’ will be doing the same thing. Large mysteries are presented, which will clearly play a huge part in the development of the storyline. In short, if you are into sci-fi and action series, this might just be your next favorite series.
The first season of ‘Terra Nova’ consists of 13 episodes, and the average budget for an episode is $4 million. Because of these huge costs, the show will have to draw a huge audience to be profitable. If it is not that much of a success, it is likely that FOX will cancel the show after the first season. Therefore, both for the producers and for us viewers, it is now or never.