BlackGeekdom Science-Fiction from a Different Perspective

Last night, Fox premiered yet another science fiction show, Terra Nova.  The show has a lot going for it; the main thing is that it’s produced by Stephen Spielberg. (side note: Brannon Braga is also a producer and show runner, and I won’t count this against it)  The show starts out in 2149.  Earth is dying due to pollution and overpopulation.  Fortunately, scientist discover a rift in time leading to an alternate Earth timeline 85 million years in the past.  So, we decided to save humanity by sending qualifying humans through the rift to resettle in Terra Nova.

I can tell the producers put emphasis on the production value of the show.  There aren’t any standout stars so you know salaries are low.  Stephen Lang might be the biggest star, but he is basically reprising his fantastic character from Avatar, with a few tweaks.  I’m not going to compare the show to Avatar, because that’s not what this show is.  The set is gorgeous and the effects are nice.  What bothers me most is that they decided not to use well known dinosaurs.  Apparently, they thought it’d be more interesting to create dinosaurs “that might have existed” as opposed to ones that we know, especially due to Mr. Spielberg’s Jurassic Park movies.  I know I wasn’t the only one thinking, “I’ve never heard of that dinosaur.”  It took a little will power to not get on the internet to look up these “new” dinosaurs.

For a premiere show, I thought the story was well done.  Luckily, they did explain that it was a separate reality from the future they left, which easily dismissed the complaints that people like me who overly criticize time travel in movies and T.V. shows in a couple of lines.  A couple of the reveals in the show, which I’m not going to spoil here, were obvious and I wish that they weren’t.   My hope is that this show doesn’t turn into Lost where more questions are raised than answered, or The Event where questions are asked and answered every episode, but the story never gets developed beyond the first episode.

All in all, the show was good and worth tuning in next week.  We’ll see if it has longevity.

 

Posted under Reviews, Television

It’s taken me a few days to get my thoughts together.  Actually, I enjoyed the movie so much that I didn’t think it would be fair to write a review so soon after seeing the movie.  So, I waited until now since I have had time to digest everything and for the initial shock to wear off.  Let me start by saying it was difficult to not get hopes up for this movie. Star Trek wasn’t completely original (time travel, Khan-like revenge), but it did it in such a refreshing way.  Let me get to it.

Casting was perfect.  Chris Pine didn’t try to imitate Shatner’s Kirk, in fact, he made the role his own.  Zachary Quinto shed his Sylar skin, and became Spock.  The best casting, however, was Karl Urban as McCoy, and Simon Pegg as Scotty.  Karl Urban had the mannerisms and the vocal inflection down.  It went beyond an imitation. Simon Pegg brought his quirkiness and comedic timing to a character that always seemed to bring humor the crew.  Any movie with Bruce Greenwood (Capt. Christopher Pike) is automatically 10 times better.  He brought a gravitas and authority to his role as the no nonsense Captain/Academic .Without going on about everyone, everyone performed their roles well.  Oh, Eric Bana’s measured performance as the snarky villainous Nero was scary. 

The effects were great.  ILM who provided the effects didn’t any models in the space scenes.  If I didn’t know that, I wouldn’t have been able to tell.  The only problem that I had was J.J. Abrams overuse of flare.  I know he was going for a style, but after so many, it wasn’t special. 

Star Trek, to me, is the best Sci-Fi movie since the Matrix, and the best action movie since Transformers.  I expect there will be more.  And I can’t wait.

Posted under Movies, Reviews