Terra Nova: Season 1 (2011)

Terra Nova is a pleasure to watch. The computer graphics are pretty good (except for ballistic perspective), and the family dynamics are a bit 1950s (everyone laughs on cue), but the story held my attention from episode 1 to 13. (Stupidly, Fox yet again cancelled a series that viewers loved after one season.) Our story begins in 2149, after humanity has destroyed the planet, but discovered time travel so it can colonize a planned settlement of humans in the Cretaceous period. Stephen Lang (Avatar) plays Commander Nathaniel Taylor, an almost avuncular Charlton Heston who leads the colony with an iron fist and a sense of compassion. (He carries it off.) All is not idyllic in paradise, however: dinosaurs as well as insects can be quite lethal, and loyalties are sometimes conflicted as we learn of a splinter group and several nefarious individuals. Terra Nova is much better done than the often corny and badly acted Dinotopia. With a largely unknown cast, here is a show that can be proud of itself. Enjoy! 4 stars. (8-30-2017)