The year 2149 is a world of grime-streaked metal, moonless nights, and far worse smog than any LA native has ever experienced. As overpopulation and environmental degradation collide, earth is quickly becoming uninhabitable, but there is one hope left for humanity.
Unfortunately for the characters of Fox's new series – Terra Nova – that hope lies through a rip in spacetime: a separate timeline of earth 85 million years in the past.
For the Shannons, all that stands in their way is one maximum-security prison break out, one portal break in, and one smuggled child. No problem.
However, while the other side holds clean air and a shot at a new beginning, it also contains friendly neighborhood carnivorous dinosaurs, a rival colony led by members of the Sixth Pilgrimage, and the secret of the true mission of Terra Nova.
Two years after Jim Shannon (Jason O'Mara, Your Bad Self) is arrested and sentenced to six years in prison for having an illegal third child, his wife, Elisabeth (Shelley Conn, Marchlands), is recruited for the Tenth Pilgrimage to the colony of Terra Nova. The problem? Only 17-year-old Josh (Landon Liboiron, Degrassi: The Next Generation) and 15-year-old Maddy (Naomi Scott, Lemonade Mouth) are allowed to accompany her, leaving 5-year-old Zoe (Alana Mansour) and Jim behind to continue a bleak existence in the future.
Such trivial matters are complexly resolved, and the Shannons go off to build a new life under the direction of Commander Nathaniel Taylor (Stephen Lang, Conan the Barbarian) while they fight nature and the rebel, Mira (Christine Adams, The Whole Truth), for survival.
The brainchild of multiple big-name executive produces – from Brannon Braga (24) to Justin Falvey (Falling Skies) to Steven Spielberg (Falling Skies) – the two-hour premiere, "Genesis," clearly shows what such a creative collaboration can form. The show also boasts a large creative team – a definite plus in a project of this scale and magnitude.
While Spielberg and company do an excellent job creating the series' setpieces – from a primitive dinosaur paradise to the sprawling Coruscant-esque metropolis of the title scene – the plot and flow of the premiere isn't exactly seamless.
As with most series premiers, the initial episode leaves you trying to fill in random gaps that writers either didn't feel like elaborating on or are keeping intentionally unclear until a later date. Terra Nova's producers seem to be especially stingy – a strategy intended to keep viewers both guessing and watching, a la Lost.
The plot rushes along in the beginning – at times too fast to include helpful information – only to hit a wall as the episode rolls into hour two. The cast's motivations and abilities are not nearly as fleshed out as one would hope, as characters undergo random leaps in knowledge and trust without ostensible provocation.
However, the show's main draw lies in neither the acting nor the visual effects, great as both may be. The plot, with its inevitable twists and complexities – which is comparable to the Spielberg's summer project Falling Skies – is what will keep the ratings up. Add to this the show's sprinkling of light humor and healthy dose of action sequences, and Fox has a solid Monday night competitor.
Terra Nova premiers with a two-hour episode Sept. 26 at 8 p.m.
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