Terra Nova is Becoming a Let Down

This summer, during my now yearly adventure down to San Diego Comic Con, I was lucky enough to catch a sneak preview screening of the pilot of Fox's new dinosaur mega show Terra Nova. At the end of it, I was impressed to say the least. A dinosaur TV show that looks good? How could we go wrong? (Sorry Dinotopia.) I was genuinely excited. I even tweeted about it: "Great day at #SDCC [...] the Terra Nova pilot was unbelievable." A sentiment I discovered retweeted by the shows executive producer Jon Cassar much to my surprise and internet age excitement.

Unfortunately, since the pilot, the show is not showing good signs.

**Fair warning: SPOILERS are ahead.**

When the pilot aired, I loyally tuned in as soon as I could to watch the pilot again. Still excited. The marriage of a dystopian future with a dinosaur colony? It was like someone made a show for me and the mathematical diagrams that the kids find out in the jungle had started building a Lost-like intrigue. What are the Sixers goals?? Who sent them? Why does the time rift exist? So many questions! I couldn't wait for next week.

Then the second episode aired and it was.... decent, I guess. It felt like a midseason filler episode rather than something that was supposed to keep an audience on the hook. The little mating dinosaurs were going to eat them alive cause they were on their mating grounds! Interesting concept, you've got me. Oh and Elizabeth got in because an old boyfriend Malcolm recommended her? Hmmm, I wonder who this guy is. Maybe he's the Sixer's spy!

It was a good plot line but it didn't really heighten the drama of the show much. No one seemed to care about all those questions they'd established in episode one and that's what I wanted more of. The overall story of the show was barely pushed forward. The pilot had turned my expectations up to 11 and the second episode came in around a 6 or a 7.

But it's fine, it's just one rough episode and I really want to know what the deal is so I'm going to keep watching.

External drama? Check.

So this morning I punched up the ol' Xbox with Hulu Plus (no rush to watch anymore) and the show frankly let me down again. Again the episode was a fun storyline within this world, a strange pathogen is wiping out peoples memories and the only way to prevent it is to infect people with the common cold! Amnesia is a bit used but I still enjoyed the ride but honestly, I'm not hooked the way I should be. Not after 3 episodes and four hours of television.

Will they? Won't th- oh they did.

The problem is that while there is plenty of external drama to deal with (Sixers, dinos, disease) there seems to be almost NO genuine internal drama for these characters. Josh went back to being nice to his dad and everyone in the family is happy in Terra Nova. It only took till the third episode for Josh to kiss Sky and for Maddy to get a date with her super nice soldier boy. There was no time for romantic tension to build.

So what's the tension? Oh, Sky is too nice and she's going to help Josh get his girlfriend there from the future? Malcolm's still obviously got the hots for Elizabeth but he seems like too nice a guy to do anything about it. Our main characters are all pretty happy so why are we still watching? I know when I'm writing a story I'm too often tempted to protect my main characters. They're a part of me and I want the best for them! But what's best for them does not translate to what's best for the show. It seems Terra Nova and the Shannon family have fallen into this trap.

Lost took even longer than Terra Nova to really introduce the big mysteries but the viewer is hooked from minute one and they're not going anywhere. So why? Immediately we knew that most of these characters had real problems. They were criminals, drug addicts, or missing their husband but grasping to the belief that he was alive. Later on, romantic story lines kept viewers watching. Sawyer or Jack?! Juliet or Kate?! Who winds up with who?!? There was extreme intrigue from the get go and that's what Terra Nova is unfortunately missing. 

Yes, at the end of the episode the Sixers pop up and they've got their bartender mole who's now going to hire Josh. They hint at the manipulation of Josh's girlfriend. If they spend their time in the future turning her into a Sixer we could have some crazy possibilities on our hands. Maybe Josh joins the Sixers and it's Shannon family civil war! Is Malcolm a Sixer spy too? Maybe he'll kidnap Elizabeth!

An intriguing image from next week's episode: What Remains

Ok, those are extreme ideas but if the show do some extreme shaking up soon, even a sci-fi/dinosaur/television loving fool like myself might just start tuning out.

*Terra Nova airs on Fox at 8/7c. Photos are courtesy of terranova.wikia.com