Terra Nova

I was pleasantly surprised this season with Terra Nova. I thought it would be another cheesy scifi show with silly dinosaurs and a laughable plot. But it's actually a pretty well put together 1 hour sci-fi action drama that the whole family can watch. What really? Yes! It kinda reminds me of shows from way back when like Buck Rogers, Lost in Space, the orignal Battlestar and umm...Seaquest DSV. You wouldn't think they would make shows like that anymore... but surprisingly someone at Fox gave Terra Nova a chance.

The basic premise of the show is that Earth has gone to crap in the year 2149 and scientists have found a way to open a portal to another timeline in the pre-historic past where the Earth still is verdant and livable, and yes, filled with hungry dinos. A community called Terra Nova is created there...and of course there are baddies who just want to strip the place of all its resources to become rich in 2149.

The show is anchored by "Commander Taylor" played by Stephan Lang (recognizable as the bad military dude from the movie Avatar). But in Terra Nova he plays the strong, fatherly, leader of the Terra Nova community. The show centers around a family with a father who is a cop, a mom that's a doctor, a nerdy older sister, troublemaker brother and cutesy younger sister. Pretty standard family dynamics here, but the acting is pretty decent so it's watchable. The actress who plays the mom (Shelley Conn) is of Sri Lankan descent and is British, so that's kinda different. All in all a very likable cast.

The plot lines don't get too complicated but there was enough there to keep my interest. Which is saying a lot since I lose interest in shows very easily. Have no idea if they'll make another season but hope they do!