The puzzle is being put together, meaning that the series attacks sf ideas that so far have been scattered in less publicized series, some of them very good but tanked. of course these ideas had to be picked up by Spielberg, but I will not go on on this line of ideas. I will just say that we need a hardened sf movie fan to explain to us which idea came from where. Notice that the director of the pilot, Alex Graves,also directed Fringe's pilot and Journeyman, that Jason O'Mara was in Life of Mars US (which I like best that the UK version...), that René Echevarria was in fact the producer of The 4400 (great show until it went downhill and away) in which we find the same aliens-are-from-the-future and change the past ideas. Also Brannon Braga produced Flash Forward and Star Trek. There are things familiar from lost and from Jurassic Park, so there a huge mix of old and recent anticipative ideas. The crazier genre lovers would say "they are showing us what we always suspected it happened", and, less crazy would be to say that the ideas go well together and make sense in the "what if" world, and that we have a great show ahead of us if they do not over do it. Indeed, the teenager drama is a bit out of tune, the talking and acting in the future just as now is also...safe, but not so memorable. But if the action has some pretty good twists and strong sf ideas tied up together, original or not, we might just skip over the lamer parts just to see what's next. I don't know why I was under the impression that JJ Abrams is working on this one, too :)That would have been a reunion all right.
Review of Terra Nova
