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Greetings. I am the Illusive One. For many years now I have been a huge video game player, movie viewer, and book reader. For almost as long, I have been a critic of these things and many people respect my opinions of these things and have often said I belong on G4 doing reviews on X-Play or a similar show. Sadly that is not likely to happen. So instead I shall do reviews for you, uninfluenced by other reviewers, of video games books, movies, and, occasionally, music and political actions. I hope you find this informative and helpful. Thank you for your time.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

My Thoughts on the Terra Nova Pilot

            Monday night is probably my favorite night of the week as far as television programing goes.  Why?  Because that's the night House and Two and a Half Men comes on!  But this week, I opted to skip Two and a Half Men in favor for the two hour premier of the new show, Terra Nova that aired on Fox yesterday.

            It blew.....
           
            Yea, I don't think I've ever seen a show with such an appealing concept be such a letdown.  Granted there are a few things that are appealing but for the most part, it just didn't work.  So just why is it that this show was such a letdown?  Well, let’s get into it.

            The show takes place in the future where the Earth has become an over polluted dystopian society.  To escape this hell hole, groups of people go through a kind of worm hole that goes back 80 million years into the past in a parallel dimension where a colony of people hope to rebuild civilization on this new world in this new time.  However, not all is as at seems on Terra Nova, for another colony exists in this place with violent intentions and constantly threaten the colony.
            And that's the best part of the show because just about everything else is just crap.  For starters, you have the acting and by god is it awful!  I mean, Jesus!  It was bad.  I honestly don't think works can describe just how bad it was from most of the cast members.  I mean, I think I've seen middle school plays that had better acting then what some of what these actors were giving.  The only actor who does a half way decent job is Stephen Lang, who has a role suspiciously similar to his role in Avatar, (make of that what you will).
                Now, with that aside, throughout the first half of premier, it wasn't that bad.  The lines were decent, the action scenes were suspenseful, the set designs were decent enough, the intro to the other colony on the planet wasn't half bad, and the dinosaurs, despite being terrible CGI compared to films, were actually very appealing.
            That all changed with the second half and my God was it crap.  Most of it focused around this subplot, involving a group of teenager who get attacked by a group of velociraptor knockoffs called packers or something, (I honestly have no idea what they were called).  Everything about this half of the show was B-A-D!  The acting was terrible, the special effects sucked and the way they drew out the suspense was horrible, (in a bad way) and throughout the entire half of the episode I found myself hoping that one of these dinosaurs would tear all these kids limb by limb.  Long story short, just about everything involving any teenager subplot of the series brings it down faster than the stock market on Black Tuesday

            There really isn't much more to say on this.  Granted, the first half is tolerable because the setup is actually pretty good and Stephen Lang's performance kind of lifts everything but the second half just kills it for it's horrible acting, bad set ups, and horrible and inconstant special effects.  The show does have some potential and seems salvageable but won't be unless they make some drastic changes.  Maybe it'll get better as time goes on but watching the second half of this one was not worth missing Two and a Half Men over.  Until next time, this is The Illusive One signing off.


13 comments:

  1. You called a critically acclaimed sci-fi drama crap while you confess to liking the panned Ashton Kutcher version of Two and a Half Men? Contrarian. This is why you need to take film class.

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  2. A: You didn't even start using that word until I started so stop. You sound like an idiot when you say it.
    B: This was just my reaction to the pilot, and I said the second half was compleat crap.
    C: You don't need to take a film class to know the acting in this show was shit.

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  3. A: See how annoying it is?

    B: You really need to learn what complete crap is... maybe watch one of the more recent episodes of Family Guy or the Sarah Silverman Show.

    C: Oh yes, because Ashton 'Dude wheres my car' Kutcher is a far more talented thespain than the adaquately acted Terra Nova.

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  4. A: I actually use the word properly. You don't. As far as review for the show goes, I honestly hadn't read any or seen any for them before I posted this
    B: The new family guy stuff I like but even still that's comedy and their are other standereds but I still stand by saying the second half sucked.
    C. Kutchers acting was emmy material in comparison.

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  5. A: No you don't, you call me that when ever we don't share opinions, claiming I go against the grain. I must be dong somethnoig right, I do have 117 followers, and a very devoted viewership. I call you it because you go against popular opinion for the sake of going against it.

    B: I was refering to keeping Two and a Half Men on air after it has any buisness being there. For all intent, it may as well have been called The Charlie Sheen show; there's a reason he was TVs highest paid actor. Plus, he was hilarious. They replace him with the moron from Punked? I give it until mid season.

    C: See this? This is why you have 4 subscribers... On T1/2M, the best actor on the show is now the fat kid, and he's more mature than either of his co-stars.

    Terra Nova, like it or not, trumps Two and a Half Men. Give it a few more episodes before you condemn it anyway.

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  6. A: I do use it correctly, and you do go against the grain. I don't go against popular opinion just for the sake of going against it. That's what you do and your blog as shown that time and again. Why do you have so many subscribers? Becuase you promote your's better.

    B: If it lasts all season, and Terra Nova is axed before the season ends I'm gonna shove this in your face.

    C: You know damn well the acting in this show was horrible. Denying that is pointless.

    As far as this trumping Men goes, that's very open to debate and I'm not condeming the show, just the pilot and I felt the second half was a wast of time.

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  7. A: I have more subscribers because I say what people think, and do it creatively, what the mainstream says be damned. If that makes me a contrarian, so be it. People like what I have to say, otherwise they wouldn't read my work or subscribe, and I wouldn't be getting offers to write off site.

    As far as youyr claim I only have that many subscribers due to promoting, promoting my work only gets them tot he site. It doesn't ge them to read my work or subscribe, the merits of my work does that. Tell youyrself waht you need to to justify why my fanbase has left yours in the dust though.

    B: Considering its on Fox the same network that murdered Firefly, gace Seth MacFarlene 3 TV shows, and keeps Glee and American Idol on the air, it wouldn;t say much. Fox is Kryptonite to creative programming,

    C: You need to reset your low bar... just because it won't win an oscar doesn't meen it's bad.

    Just saying, it's a horrible comparison.

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  8. A: You won that round but I'll be back on that one.

    B: I'm still going to shove it in your face if it gets cancled.

    C: The acting was shit! I don't know why you deny this but it was fucking horrible! Their is non emmy acting and then their is this level of acting. It's bad!

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  9. FYI, ratings and reviews for the new Two and a Half Men season premier were through the roof so ha!

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  10. A: 1-0, Korsgaard.

    B: 2-0, Korsgaard.

    C: No, bad television acting is like Daytime Soap operas or MTV or Workaholics. The acting on Terra Nova is mixed, some good, some bad, but as a whole tolerable.

    Also, the new Two and half men got ruge ratings because people wanted to see if it held up. There was a dive the next week, and likely will be another this week. Ratings were mixed.

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  11. Took you a while to respond to that. In retrospect however, I titled this post wrong. It should have been my thoughts on the pilot.

    B: You just had to provoke a response out of me on that one didn't you? All three of Seth Macfarlen's shows are hallarious. You've alwayse been against his shows so your opinion on them isn't jack to me. Glee and American Idol bring in the views, and that's what ultimitly decides what stays on and what dosen't, (hence Firefly's fate as that show failed to deliver early on). And NBC is a lot worse as far as being creative Kryptonite

    C: As far as the acting goes 80% of it was bad! Why you insist on defending it I don't know. Maybe Soaps are worse, (I woundn't know, I've never watched them), but as far as prime time acting goes, it's bad!

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  12. B: Seth MacFarlane's shows haven't been funny for years, Cleveland Show never has been, and the critical ratings have been dismal for the last couple years, and viewership is at long last dropping. Firefly got cancelled because Fox aired the episodes out of order, and even then, it still had high ratings and decent viewership. It's largely recognized Fox cancelled it so they could give another one of thier talent shows a slot (which one, I forget). Glee and American both escape the ax due to the massive marketing potential of the shows. If Glee had only 500,000 people watch it and yet the music sold just as many songs on iTunes, the show would still turn a profit. Score remains 2-0, my match.

    C: The show's acting was not that bad! Cliche at worst, but not bad! Why do you insist on critisizing the show so harshly?

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  13. B: They only stopped being funny druing the last season and the Clevland Show is as well. Again, your thoughts on those shows don't mean jack to me. As far as the ordering goes, you got me their but as far as views go they were fairly low as far as primetime network shows go and both of the formentioned shows still have views through the roof and is why their still on.
    C: The acting is bad! Cliched and Bad! As far as my citicizm goes, this was just my inital raction to the show. It's one that has poential and I will continue to watch it but the acting was deplorable.

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