Terra Nova - The Complete Series [DVD]

Terra Nova promises to be a good idea for a show at the start, but ultimately never rises above being average. This is mainly due to a lack of focus. What I mean by that is the show is trying to be a survival drama, a family show and a sci-fi, yet falling short on all three fronts due to weak writing.From the start, there's never any real sense that they're in a world requiring an urgency to survive or to adapt to a hostile environment. Their base is built and they've all got an endless supply of hi-tech equipment from the start. This becomes more nonsensical in the stories where the tech inevitably breaks down and they wonder why they're in the... without a clue. Even the first season of The 100 did a far better job.The main family are amicable and decently acted. But they are a bit generic and don't really have the spark to make the stories interesting. The rest of the cast are okay, but again no standout characters except one. I think they would have been in real trouble had they not cast Stephen Lang as Commander Taylor.The sets are good though and even the dinosaurs are too, despite looking a bit rubbery by today's standards. Apparently, this blew their budget though, which may partially explain the weak writing, which in turn inevitably led to dropped ratings then the show's cancellation after one season.The main question now is does this work as a standalone season to watch? Ironically, because the writing is so limited the answer is yes. There aren't many loose ends and, while the ending does hint at a second season, it finishes at a satisfactory point for an average show.

A soapish version of Jurassic Park. Certainly family viewing sometimes bordering on the insipidly sweet but children of a certain age will lap it up (as well as some of us grownups!).Largely British and Australian actors with the odd American thrown in and filmed in Australia ----- why is it I'm thinking of 'I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here' ?English language and English subtitles. Loads of bonus features which are fun.

This Series has so much to offer. It is a shame that it got cancelled. The general overview of Terra Nova is mankind has poisoned the earth and are dying out with no hope of surviving. So they send people back to the age of dinosaurs to start a new beginning and give mankind a hope of surviving. Terra Nova follows the Shannon family, and how they cope with the world around them and the dangers that are out there. Terra Nova probable would of done alot better than it did if they released it during the summer when all the bigger shows such as "The Walking Dead" and "Breaking Bad" were not being aired. But due it being released fall time it had to compete with already popular shows and it couldnt. Its a shame really, as this has so much potential and is an enjoyable series to watch. A second season would of been a huge hit and would have been successful as everything is set up nicely from the first. I guess we can only wish as a second season is not going to happen. Recommend this series if your into dinosaurs or want something different yet still good to watch.

Thank you Kelly Marcel (creator & executive producer), this series was just ahead of its time. Loved the series and the cast. I thought the cast worked well together and complemented each other. I loved the combination of dystopia, time travel and dinosaurs. I saw it as a believable future. Pity the only things that sell these days are sex, violence, satanic overtones, massive amounts of blood, etc...

By far the best part is the extras at the end of the first disc on how they made it. Almost worth skipping straight to the end! The set is impressive, the CGI is OK, the dinos are a bit plastic, and as ever, everyone either mumbles or talks too fast. Father and son both come over as stupid, and I can hardly catch a word the elder daughter says because she talks so fast, and how father escaped from jail is a complete blur. Having watched the first disc and knowing now how they made it, I expect the rest of the episodes to be much more interesting. Jurassic Park it is not, but harmless entertainment - if you can stomach the irritating characters!

It's often enlightening to read others' reviews. The divergence of opinion, I feel, exemplifies that the creators hadn't decided? weren't allowed to decide? what film they were making. So, it sits uneasily between three genres: a family film, an action film and a film that poses interesting questions. And because there was no decision, major potential audiences fall away and give one star reviews, because none of these are developed in any depth - side from the fundamental that the scenario is artifical and treated, as others have noted, with lashings of Disney syrup. You experience stock shallow characters and characterisations, beautiful frontier homes where everything unfailingly works and some formulaic story lines. It looks great, but that doesn't make up for no tension.

I expected good things from a series produced by two Star Trek TNG alumni, but I was wrong. This is Jurassic Park-Lite, very lite. Poorly acted, insipid scripts, teenagers being played by twenty-somethings.Naturally, in this super-pretend PC world, all the girls are tough, sassy and sensible while all the boys are gauche, nerdy and stupid. This doesn't stop tough sassy girl stripping down to her underwear while stupid nerdy boy swims fully clothed with his shoes on. All of them are white, heterosexuals, no doubt all have their tonsils and perfect teeth.By-the-way, you can spot the villains because they have stubble.Over many decades you can normally rely on American series at least to have good fight scenes. In this they are strictly big-girl's blouse affairs, particularly by the 'tough' commander. What a dork, he looks.I just have to mention the mind squirmingly awful scene in, I think, episode 8 which I will call the spider song. It beggared belief. Didn't someone in an editorial position have the courage to blue-pencil such utter, utter tat.Subtitled, some pretty scenery and adequate effects. The rest, a disaster which deserved to be put out of its misery.