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Time says: Dino-Snore ... A year and a half in the making and costing a reported $20 million, the pilot of Terra Nova has been through so many overhauls and management changes that its credits boast 12 executive producers. What's surprising is that none of them is a 5-year-old boy--because that's who I imagine scribbling the pitch, with crayon illustrations: I want to make a TV show about the future! It will have lasers and guns and computers and time travel! And but ALSO they are living in a jungle, and the bad people want to take them over! ...TV Guide says: ... will win no prizes for its cardboard characters and clunky writing, but hey, it’s got CGI dinosaurs! ... USA Today says: ... Luckily for Terra Nova, fans of the genre are often at least temporarily willing to overlook bad writing and performances if the battles are exciting and special effects convincing, and they are. That should buy the show time to improve. The New York Times says: ... lavishly produced by television standards, at a level of visual and technical sophistication that was partly responsible for the show’s taking nearly two years to land on the Fox schedule. But it’s also so predictable that you might want to fast-forward through the domestic-drama scenes set inside the hilariously clean and orderly colony, stopping whenever you see something that looks like action or a dinosaur.... The Los Angeles Times says: ... Easily the most exciting show of the fall season ... manages to introduce a panoply of narrative threads and themes while telling a remarkably clean story, both in terms of plot line and tone; "Terra Nova" is whole-family friendly. … For all its excellent green-screen usage, "Terra Nova" is remarkably old-fashioned, rejecting the angst and existentialism of "Lost" to tell the exquisitely American story of colonists, strangers in a strange land come not so much to conquer as to flee, a familiar tale rendered here ferociously and gorgeously new once more. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says: ... The special effects in a preview disc sent to critics ranged from glossy to mediocre CGI -- some tweaking remained to be done -- and eagle-eyed viewers will catch some plot holes no animated dinosaur can hide. …The San Francisco Chronicle says: ... But let's get back to Spielberg. On the plus side, we can point to elements of "Terra Nova" that evoke some of Steven's Greatest Hits. If being chased by a salivating raptor, for example, inevitably evokes "Jurassic Park" in any film or TV show, it's because Spielberg did it so well in that movie, and does it equally well here. Perhaps we can't blame him for the lame dialogue, per se, but, wow, I haven't heard sentences this dumb since last week's episode of "Jersey Shore." ... The Washington Post says: ... It’s all pretty dazzling, but with so much time spent on special effects, the characters seem to be factory-direct. The script gets wordy, as the cast hurriedly speak in bursts of dialogue meant to give viewers all the background that, frankly, we don’t need. Even with a lavish two-hour premiere, “Terra Nova” could stand to slow down and admire the world it has taken us to — Earth, 85 million years ago... The Toronto Globe and Mail says: ... Every movie genre – the western, the cop drama, the teen-slasher flick, the family-reunited drama – seems to have been thrown into a blender and then some dinosaurs thrown into the resulting bland soup of storylines. Ah yes, the dinos. Big selling point. The dinos help take Terra Nova from bad to fabulously bad. ... The Boston Herald says: ... excuse me if I’m skeptical about this show’s prospects. The pilot reportedly cost $10 million. Spielberg has a spotty record when it comes to television. “Amazing Stories” really wasn’t. TNT’s “Falling Skies” first season was notable for how the budget plummeted each week, to the point where the season finale centered on a battle that happened off-camera. So long as the dinos roam, “Terra Nova” has a future ... The Boston Globe says: … The pilot, with subplots featuring O’Mara’s teen kids, is Spielberg 101 - mainstream, iconic, inoffensively predictable. As a weekly series, the effects need to remain impressive and the writers need to avoid falling into “Lost’’ and “Walking Dead’’ band-of-survivors rehash. … Variety says: ... boasts a muscular pilot, a serviceable plot and considerable ambition -- none of which, it should be noted, sustained the net's "Terminator" series. For starters, though, "Terra Nova" shines pretty brightly, even with the possibility it might wind up being remembered as another really expensive TV camping trip. … The Hollywood Reporter says: ... has a lot to get fans excited about. It’s ambitious in scope, has a likable, far-ranging cast and appears to be planting enough storylines to lure in fans who are having Lost withdrawal. ...
