Season re-cap – In the year 2149 planet Earth is breathing its last air…sorry did I say air…wrong no trees left every inch of the planet is covered in houses and domes (expensive housing areas), people are forced to use re-breathers, a type of mask that help the person breath to stay alive because there are absolutely no fresh air left, even the sun can’t come through with so much smoke and dense fumes (this situation should be a wake-up call for our authorities and do something to save the planet because while they plant one tree but thousands more are being cut to fill in the pockets of the rich) and due to the exceeding population it was decreed that a family can only be four, meaning no more than two children.
During all this, few years back a time fracture was discovered that went back somewhat around 82 years in the past, the era of the dinosaurs to be exact and the colony of Terra Nova was born. The only hope for correcting the disastrous future and make a better tomorrow, so every year, the organization, Hope Plaza, build around that time fracture, sends selected pilgrims to help restart life on Earth. So our story starts with the Shannon family; Jim, Elisabeth and their children Josh, Maddy and Zoe, yup I mentioned three kids….Zoe the youngest is the illegal child, she was as the story suggests not planned and they are trying to raise her in secret (here is a note of suggestion from is vasectomy and tubectomy not applied in the future where there are advanced technologies? If the population police are so intent on keeping a family of four then they should have enforced a rule for this surgery….. don’t have anything against children or Zoe but wanted to say this bit). While so far they have been able to keep her safe but somebody tips the police about it and the Shannon home is raided and little Zoe is found but Jim won’t let anybody take their daughter away from them and attacks the officer….fellow officer, Jim is a cop. And so he is sent to jail and they take Zoe away.
Two years later Elisabeth, Josh and Maddy are selected to go on to the 10th pilgrimage but they don’t want to leave Jim and Zoe behind so they stage a prison break and Jim gets Zoe (who had to be kept in a back with a re-breather) and force their way through the time fracture to the past. Getting there was no problem, Elisabeth is to be the Doctor in-charge of the infirmary and after a talk with the head honcho Commander Nathaniel Taylor (yup enter Stephen Lang), and Jim is kept on agriculture duty. But not for long after saving Commander Taylor’s life from a prisoner Jim is selected to be on the security.
So Terra Nova and the past, although maybe a paradise compared to the future but not quite; aside from the colony being in the past….that past also houses the dinosaur and a rogue group of pilgrims who had for some reasons defected from Terra Nova. They had all come on the 6th Pilgrimage, so they are all referred to as the sixers. These sixers were sent for a reason, why? Nobody knows. But they do know is that these sixers had an agenda. Now back to the Shannon family, being in the past and being able to breathe fresh air isn’t all sunshine and daisies, there are a few things that is disturbing their peace, Josh for example is headstrong and rebellious, making his anger at his father clearly visible (although it doesn’t really last). Maddy meets her love interest, soldier Mark Reynolds (swooning…..love Dean Geyer!) and Zoe is adjusting to a life where she doesn’t have hide anymore. But living in the dinosaur era really makes them learn the values of life and they definitely try to get over the past to start anew.
So over the course of the season Jim and Commander Taylor form a strong bond of friendship. We see them all deal with their demons of past, whether it is past love, memory loses due to a virus outbreak or dinosaurs attacking them, or the reveal of the sixer spy or even the reveal of the true nature of the sixers’ agenda. A lot happens in this 13 episode season, where ultimately in a avatar sort of twist (sorry couldn’t resist the comparison), turns out that….well “Control the past, you control the future”, the sixers were sent to take control of Terra Nova from Taylor and sent for their employers as they pillage the natural resources of the past to fill in the pockets of the rich b******* but instead they got a face full of Carnos and the enemy decided to run to the badlands, why that is the biggest question that needs to be answered because they found the prow of an 18th Century ship in that area. How it got there? Definitely not through Hope Plaza that’s for sure……Well let’s hope we get a season 2 for this question to be answered.
Anyways moving on thoughts for the season and where it could have been a little better – So as far as season 1 is considered I loved the show, while it may bear a likeness to avatar but its fresh and its new and every episode was always interesting to watch. Although they could have worked the episodes a bit better because the dialogues needed a bit recheck and acting while subpar had definitely improved through the season. I have no qualms about the CGI….its not a million dollar buget film people, it a tv series and you can’t expect top level CGI dinosaurs all the time. The one thing that needs a bit of check was how the main plot was played, that was one part of it all that definitely needs serious thinking because you can’t drop a bombshell in the first episode and then wait till towards the end to work it out.
All in all I was satisfied with the show and definitely would love and season 2 of the show.
