TERRA NOVA the upcoming dinosaur time-travel adventure series from Fox, doesn’t arrive on our screens until May 2011. That’s a long time to wait for something so potentially intriguing. However, Patrick Sauriol from the Corona Coming Attractions site has already perused the pilot script for Terra Nova, and has shared his thoughts on what he calls ‘a western-shaped recipe list’.
Hit the jump to read snippets from his review and thoughts on why I’m very much excited for this series.
Please note: While we will never publish ‘ruiners’, there will be general spoilers from the pilot script below, so don’t click if you prefer not to know anything about the series before it airs.
For those new to the Terra Nova premise, here’s the general outline:
Terra Nova follows the Shannon family as they journey back in time with the tenth pilgrimage of settlers to TERRA NOVA, the first colony of humans in this second chance for civilization. JIM SHANNON, a devoted father with a checkered past, guides his family through this new land of limitless beauty, mystery and terror.
In his review of the Terra Nova pilot script, Sauriol claims that it’s not revolutionary because “there’s no flash-forwards revealing character backgrounds like Lost, no weird black lodges for Agent Cooper to investigate and no fog-enshrouded Vancouver exterior set for Agents Scully and Mulder to search.” Which might be something of a contradiction, since being revolutionary would be not to follow previously done tropes. That said, Terra Nova does have dinosaurs and time-travel, so make of that what you will.
Sauriol compares Terra Nova to a western, in which the settlers encounters with indigenous native American’s are replaced by encounters with dinosaurs. Apparently there are other western themes – instead of a corrupt sherif, there’s a corrupt commander, along with a barter town atmosphere and a hunting culture. As I mentioned in a recent article on AMC’s The Walking Dead, I personally find western themes ripe for some of today’s long-form character based stories.
Sauriol explains where the time-travel aspect comes into play:
Scientists have found a way to expand a crack in the fabric of space-time that exists only at a single spot on the planet (the Ozarks – hey, why not there?) where a singularity can be formed. At one end is the world as it exists in 2154 A.D. On the other side of the portal lies Fort Taylor, a colony established less than a decade ago that exists on the supercontinent of Pangaea in the distant prehistoric past. For nine trips colonists have embarked on a one-way trip to Terra Nova to start a new life, one where they can eat real food, breath in unpolluted air and have a chance to begin the human race again. The plan is for millions more of people to make the trip to Terra Nova from 2154 once more colonies have been established and the land cleared of dangerous predators.
Reading this I immediately began wondering about the time-travel paradox and the notion that people in ‘present day’ earth would suddenly disintegrate since things in the past would be changed. Unless, of course, time-travel in Terra Nova is predicated on a kind of alternate reality slant. Which is exactly the case:
For you science nerds out there already wondering how they get around the time travel paradox in Terra Nova, there’s a bit of throwaway dialogue said by one of the main characters. By traveling to the past humans are in fact creating an alternate Earth, one that branches off of our own timeline. That means in non-geek speak that there’s going to be no distant sound of thunder happening in Terra Nova; you can kill as many dinosaurs as you want and not mess up the future because in this world, it’s a parallel Earth.
So it’s not quite a parallel Earth scenario like on Fringe, but I’m happy with this idea because it satisfies what would otherwise be a problematic approach to time-travel. To my mind it also allows for some potentially intriguing storytelling, with the back-and-forth dual storylines separated by centuries in time but by a breath in the narrative. No flash-forwards, perhaps, but there’s a lot of scope for something quite amazing, should the writers decide to go for it.
Sauriol talks a bit about the Shannon family and their introduction into the Fort Taylor colony and hints at two mysterious plot elements that may hold the key to the show’s overarching story: “all isn’t as it seems outside Fort Taylor and the dinosaurs may hold an unusual secret as well.” Interesting.
While Sauriol believes the pilot script to be solid but ‘nothing extraordinary’, I am able to glean enough from the review and various other tidbits to be quietly optimistic about Terra Nova. Of course, the pilot script is likely to see a fair amount of change between now and the time it hits the air – and this might not be an altogether bad thing if the writers use the time well.
If they can build strong characters with great dynamics, along with a captivating overarching premise and an intriguing mysteries to go along with what will surely be breath-taking visuals, I think this could be a show worth keeping an eye on. There’s a lot to be done between now and May (and between May and September 2011), but we’ll certainly be keeping track of Terra Nova.
To read Patrick Sauriol’s entire review of the Terra Nova pilot script, click here.
Click here for more Terra Nova.
The Terra Nova pilot comes to FOX, May 2011. The season then resumes September 2011.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Wasn’t speilberg involved with something a little similar years back called Earth2. I liked that show, but it only lasted one season.
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You’re right Lisa. They do seem quite similar. Wasn’t it canceled in 1995? Hopefully Terra Nova fares better.
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There we go…. now there will be people telling that there are lots of kinds of paradoxes all around, and then they just get in a one kind of paradox.
If you go back, no matter what, you will alter the shape of whatever you touch.
Simply the directors know that if people were smart enough to consider truth that a pregnant woman can fall out and land at more than 100km/h without a bruise and keeping the baby intact ( LOST LOOOOOOOST), they wont mind about the paradox in Terra Nova.
Why you should serve old wine to a drunk ass? Networks just know that.
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