Once upon a time and grimm came out around the same time, and I noticed both were very similar in that fairy tale guys are real. I hate once upon a time, mainly because the plot is really lame and baddly done with how they butcher the characters. On the otherhand, grimm has it more rooted into our world, and is all together a more interesting premise. The thing is, once upon a time has fairly good actors while grimm has okay actors, but a lame protagonist.
I hate when writers try to take well established characters from other literature and start screwing with them. Its like when online roleplayers try to play as characters inside the series, and its completely different from what that character is actually like, so i'd never watch One Upon a Time except for the fact that Jennifer Morrison is hottttt.
Terra Nova? yeah i'd rather just watch the 1999 "The Lost World" show.
You wanna fill the family market put the drew carey show back on the air.
For me it's a mixed bag. The buildup was good, the climax with the carnataur was good, the season 2 hook (if there even is one) was good. But I was really pissed off when the destruction and overtaking of the colony happened off-screen. There are scenes in movies and TV where you tell what happened and you show what happened. This is not one of those scenes where you tell what happened!
@Onelegobuilder I agree with you on the finale and I'm not going to watch the second season. I'm extremely pissed how this show has a budget that puts Doctor Who to shame and yet Doctor Who has a more satisfying (present in the episode) action scenes. The whole series was ether extremely bad, boring or stupid, with bad storytelling, underdeveloped characters and retarded teen love subplots. Please don't watch the second season, you're wasting your time with this show.
Second, dinosaurs. WHERE ARE THEY??? there's little to no dinosaurs, all it is is romance and boring storylines. Then when they do show up, they're not there for long and they never make any impact to the story! Why even have characters in a land filled with dinosaurs when you're not going to use them? it makes no sense and it really ticks me off. Other than that the show is just really boring at times. The reason it hasn't been up on ratings is because it lost our interest with the pilot.
Terra Nova, to be honest I was looking forward to this being a great show. But there's two major problems with it. One: the characters, Two: the dinosaurs. First off, the characters are complete idiots, I really hate the characters in this show. They just slapped a bunch of stereotypes on a time portal and didn't pay any attention to the characters. The one I personally hate the most is Josh, or as I call him 'dumb ass' really that's what he is. First episode he should've been dead!
But really the thing that almost killed Terra Nova for me and I'm still pissed about is the Thanksgiving episode. It was like the fucking Star Wars Holiday Special, well maybe not that bad but the plot and what they were celebrating was retarded.
I like Terra Nova. I like the characters, the son, the thing with him was the shit about him not just moving on from his girlfriend in the future and getting involved with that other girl from Terra Nova, but then he revels he had three friends commit suicide in a year, that made it more interesting. Stephen Lang's character is good because after Avatar he has bad written all over him but he's the good guy, nice twist.
I don't know about the dynamic on your side of the Atlantic, but over here, families don't really watch shows like this (Terra Nova, I haven't yet watched Once Upon a Time). My friends and my sister, who have similar tastes, all stopped watching Terra Nova after five episodes, precisely because of the family angle. I'm 34, I don't need to know about some highschool girl's crushes. The demographic who would watch it here (Ireland) are completely turned off by this
The plot of Once Upon a Time is a bit worrisome and I understand exactly what you mean from the whole 'let's do one season and go from there' theroy. But I think you unknowlingly answered your own question "they're all going to figure out the curse eventually" YES! what's going to happen when they figure out the curse? is it going to reverse when everyone figures out? what's going to happen to them then? or are they going to start questioning everything about their exsistence? A time paradox?
Also, if he did act the same as his fantasy self. Don't you think he'd be in some weird asylum? But yes I do agree he is my favourite character, mainly because of the acting and novelty he brings to each performance, but not because he's the only different character in the real world. But if you haven't seen the other ones some of the other characters are a bit different from their fantasy counterparts. Jimminy cricket, the huntsman, and king minus's daughter have minor differences.
Rumplstiltskin, is a great character. If you read my first comment on here you might be asking me 'why isn't he the same?' I believe this is because he also has memory of the fantasyland and the curse. In one of the episodes the queen makes a deal with him about the curse and he asks for a life of riches. She also has a life of wealth so I'm guessing her wealth deal has that side effect on him as well. He's acting different so nobody can remember anything.
Second, the curse is part of the whole mystery. We aren't supposed to get it yet. But even so, the episodes so far (I'm posting this since episode 7 aired) we have several hints the queen has memory of the fantasy world. So for your confusion, the victory is the underlying secret the queen knows about the curse, which is why the kid (Henry) doesn't want to show her the book, because he suspects she remembers. Oh and I'm not sure why you find him obnoxious he's really just a plot device kid.
Okay Matthew, I usually agree with you on most things which is why I don't post comments, but this is a big exception. I'm going to start with Once Upon a Time, you said the characters had to be distinctive from their fantasy and real world counter parts. How would that make any sense? If the queen just dropped them in the real world with no memory why would they be any different than what they were? If you were dropped in a fantasy world, would you become a completly different person?
I haven't watched a lot of Terra Nova, but from what I have seen, I haven't seen them trying to get the "wii" or "family" audience. I really don't understand where you are coming from here.
In addition, I don't know how you could ever say that you would expect it to do well. From what I have seen of it, it is a terrible show. It just takes itself too damn seriously. It thinks it is smarter than what it is, funnier than what it is, and deeper than what it is. Fuck you terra nova.
You liked 'Enchanted'? I liked it too. I thought it would be terrible but it's not bad at all. It's well paced and you don't get to hate any of the lead characters. It's not perfect but many movies could learn from that. (if you want to see a like wise premise go wrong, watch the SMURFS. That movie has absolutely no respect for the source material)
The most interesting thing about Once Upon a Time for me is the thread running through the entire show of Rumplestiltskin being on hand to help each character engineer their destruction. I wouldn't be surprised if the endgame of the series is everyone realizing the the true villain, the puppetmaster behind everything from the curse to the various miseries the fairy-tale characters endured in their own time, was a devilish deal-maker with a perpetually happy smile.
...unaffected by the memory erasure, she can sit there, being the all-powerful and somewhat menacing mayor, and revel in the fact that the happiness these people had has been destroyed. Moreover, she continually takes action, using her knowledge of how things should be, to make sure that no one can recreate the happiness she took. Granted, they can find NEW happiness but not the happiness she deprived them of. Being unable to rise, she dragged everyone else down.
Having watched the show religiously, I can explain the payoff for the wicked queen. Essentially, her life had reached a point where there was nothing but sadness and misery and no prospects for that to ever change. At the same time, people around her were finding happiness and one of those was the woman who she blamed for the destruction of her own happiness, Snow White. Without any joy in her life, her payoff is that she's taken away the happiness that everyone else had and since she's...
It took me 8 episodes to realize what it is wrong with this show. As a family show, they can't kill dinosaurs. Unfortunately in a show like this you can't go on forever without killing dinos. Bullets just bounce of them like battleships. In 10 episodes not a single dinosaur has died and only one has even remotely injured. (by fire). Its just so frustrating since shooting and eating humans in totally ok in this series, even for good guys. I could understand if they didn't kill cute dinosaurs.
@Gilanas you forgot to mention 1 raptor that was killed and dissected for the transmitter. But you make a good point. If people went back to the age of dinosaurs they would definitely bring weapons that would pack more of a punch than wimpy stormtrooper blasters on stun only. If they're from the far future where's the death rays? Where's the predator plasma cannons? Where's the rocket launchers? If there is another T-Rex attack, they need weapons powerful enough to bring it down.
If Terra Nova gets a finale episode, how is it going to end? I mean not like the people are going from 24XX to 85 million in the past and its the same time line and someone from the future says "Hey, no over population and no smog. Thanks for the good work." I mean, really. I think it's going to end with a meteor crashing to Earth or a ancient disease.
I really like OuaT, even though they're following the recent trend of humanizing fairytails, it has its moments where emotional connections are made to the characters. Heck, I've even sympathized with the Wicked Queen a time or two.
Terra Nova, on the other hand, holds no real interest to me. I love SciFi and am a futurist so seeing a show set 65 million years in the past just doesn't pique my interest. I'd rather of seen their overcrowded, smoggy future than CGI dinosaurs threatening them.
@FTLNewsFeed Terra Nova is set 85 MILLION years in the past, it really annoys me when people do that, the Mesozoic lasted 186 million years it's not even been over for as long as it lasted yet, but people still always say "65 million years ago" when ever they talk about any period in the age of dinosaurs..... I mean it's like saying 31BC to mean any time in ancient Egyptian history because that's when the civilization ended, and completely ignoring the 3000 years that came before
I have the opposite reaction to Terra Nova. The pilot was good, but the ongoing series is lifeless. We get fierce dinosaur attacks in the pilot, and then we barely see them at all. Instead we have uninteresting, underdeveloped villains lead by a black woman with a daughter back in the future. Big whoop. My thoughts going in were why do we need human villains all the time. Isn't nature back in her former glory already a villain?
@Onelegobuilder Terra Nova should have it where someone from the future sabotage the portal and destroys it and it leaves the ones on the past without any more weapons, food, medical supplies for a long while and they have to survive with supplies dwindling.
@scottieman2 you're right if the evil corporation(s) want to liquidate terra nova, shut down the portal and cut off their food and supply shipment. Then re-enter years later after they died. But no we have a stupid one way conflict of who is the obvious Sixer spy that sabotages them. Which they can't keep that up that charade forever. Like CM once said evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.
Why would you subject yourself to Once Upon a Time when you could be watching good shows like Dexter, Breaking Bad, The Killing, and other shows like those?
You should've brought up Grimm to... which also uses the whole fairytale thing, but not like Once Upon a Time. I have yet to see Once Upon a Time, but story is not appealing to me at all. Terra Nova is actually... fun, not good, but fun. I do follow Terra Nova, mostly because it's starting to get the story going (with corruption and secret spies)
I loved the concept for Terra Nova but the characters, the acting, and the writing were so ridiculous I just couldn't take any of it seriously. In fact, I saw the show as a commedy of bad writing, and I even laughed out loud a few times per episode. But then I missed an episode and I just couldn't be bothered catching up so I dropped the show entirely.
I have no interest in any story where pre-existing characters are stolen and all thrown into it. If they had invented original fantasy characters I may have been interested.
I might check out terra nova, but not once upon a time. I like fairy tales, but the premise is too much like a bad Fanfiction. I'm more of a Breaking Bad, Dexter, Walking Dead, and Game of Thrones kinda guy.
Terranova didn't look that interesting to me. I saw one episode of Once Upon a Time, and it wasn't that bad but the fantasy stuff was much more interesting then the real world stuff. But I think Rumpelstiltskin is great.
I don't understand your main complaing about Once Upon a TIme. If they play different characters, then where's the novelty of them being the fairy tale characters? It could just be any group of people. +2
Aren't the people responsible for LOST doing Once Upon a Time? If so, I feel like these people know how to write a show that looks like it can't go anywhere, but lasts.
They both sounded awesome and I really wanted to start watching both, but I kept forgetting when they were on, or they were on at the same time as other things. If they make it to a second season I'll rent the first and make sure to watch them.
They just might end up like Pushing Daisies, except that show was too awesome for ABC to handle.
Terra Nova had an interesting premise and kinda had me hooked from the beginning. I mean it sorta draws you in from the get-go. My main problem is I can't watch a show religiously like that every week. But if I could I would. And if from what you say is true, then that's sad. Terra had a lot going for it I think. The majority always decides I suppose.
I don't understand your main complaing about Once Upon a TIme. If they play different characters, then where's the novelty of them being the fairy tale characters? It could just be any group of people.
@mjmanning123 Truth be told, I still rather have that way of thinking rather than "lets recycle what has been done before." that is popular these days.
About Stephen Spielberg: At least he's owned up to the fact that he should never have committed the walkie-talkie and CGI debacles in E.T. and that he's going back to the original film for the Blu-ray release. Hooray!
George Lucas made that oh-so impressive speech about how "film is part of our cultural legacy and we should preserve it", only to butcher his own Star Wars movies later on. Stephen Spielberg listened to that speech, and he's correcting his own misjudgments.
I've been told that Terra Nova is not a new idea at all, but based on a hackneyed premise from old sci-fi novels of the 50s and 60s, but I don't know the details.
Is there ANY originality in Sci-Fi TV shows these days? No.
Hate to jump on the ban wagon but yea, SCREW ONCE UPON A TIME!!! From what I heard, not sure if it's true though, OUAT was suppose to be the Fables TV show but they couldn't get the rights from the Fables author Bill Willingham so they made this instead. Bottom line, just go read the Fables Graphic Novels, almost same concept, but FAR better execution.
If Terra Nova can pull in at least 8 Million average by the end of the season, I think it will get picked up for one more (probably just a 13 episode order). My reasoning is just as you said, there's a gap in the market for this show, but also House is probably going to end. Hugh Laurie's contract is finished at the end of this season, and he has often said that he wants to be done with TV. Fox needs some shows with an established audience for next season if the Bones spin off doesn't take off.
... I never started with Terra Nova. Perhaps I should've given it a chance. But it just LOOKED like something that you'd see on Syfy channel as a cult show for a select group of fans that would run for about 3 years.
Oh and amen to the BB comment. There are also some producers from BtVS attached to this show as well. The names behind the scene(except BB) made me think this show had a real shot. Although I thought both pilots were weak, I actually love both shows now. I was actually more excited about TN but ended up liking OUaT more. I think part of it is that I'm starting to not care about the characters in TN. I like the weekly stories, but you could swap any of the characters out and I wouldn't care.
CM, I agree with you that not knowing there's something better for them seems like a weak punishment/curse. But I don't agree with you that their lives are fine. The queen is trying to take away what's most important from each character indvidually. Sure, Cinderella's prince is still loaded in both lives, but he is separated from his family in this one. Same with Jiminy. Yeah he's still "helping" people, but separated from his conscience. For fairy tale characters, that means everything.
I'm glad you pointed out Stephen Spielberg "whoring" his name. I felt guilty that I was loosing faith in him. But hey, if he's just slapping his name on things, then it's not my fault, lol
@Kachukeland No kidding: The Money Pit, Harry And The Hendersons, Innerspace, Arachnophbia, Casper, Balto, Deep Impact, Memoirs Of Gesha, Monster House, Hereafter and that are just the ones I saw in a couple of days it will be more!!!!
@reviewreviewer1 of course it was, but Spielberg did slap his name on it, lol. Actually, I think he was a little bit more involved with BTTF than the others you mentioned.
I haven't seen OUAT, but I do see Terra Nova consistently, and so far the show has reached below my expectations. It had a terrible pilot,but many shows today have it as well (for example, Game of Thrones also had, to me, a below average pilot), but there is what I call the 8th episode mark. Thats the point where the show's plot comes to full maturity, and the writers actually realize what they are doing.If below average at that point,then it will probably be cancelled (like Terra Nova)
@CaptainSweden I wouldn't call it a knock off, the premises are really different, the setting is different, the goals of the characters aren't similar, and the characters aren't anything like the versions in Fables. I love Fables and I like OUaT but they aren't very alike just that both involve fairytale characters in modern day.
My younger sister said Once Upon a Time was the kind of show I would like. I watched it up until I saw Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother sitting on the council. I couldn't stop laughing at that, but I guess that's what happens when you go from watching Game of Thrones to watching a family fantasy.
My thoughts on the Terra Nova episodes so far: Genesis: 1/10 (worst pilot ever) Instinct: 4/10 (has potential but it fails) What Remains: 3/10 (Amnesia virus defeated by common cold!?) The Runaway: 4/10 (Stupid!!! EVERYONE IS STUPID!!!) Bylaw: 6/10 (strong start, weak finish) Nightfall: 4/10 (too much coincidences) Proof: 5/10 (filler) Vs.: 7/10 (better filler) Now You See Me: 4/10 (stop shoehorning in plot twists that don't make sense) So far this show is consistently bellow average.
I really like Once Upon a Time. It's pretty intriguing, I like the effects, costumes, and the stories have been well written. I am a big fan of Fables the comic so it does help me get into the premise. Fairytale characters in modern day is a cool idea. I like it because things are unfolding more and more each episode and I think it can only get better. I think the kid's okay, I like that he's kind of like a kid Mulder. It's a fun idea. I hope the show goes on.
It's too early to call Once Upon a Time a success. Its ratings are still decent, but at the same time they're still dropping. The way it normally goes for new shows is that, after the pilot, they lose viewers for a while before stabilizing at some point, and that point is what decides their fates. OUAT hasn't reached that point yet. It's still got a ways to go before it actually becomes in trouble, but until it stabilizes we can't be sure. Terra Nova has stabilized, though...but at a low level.
Once Upon a Time intrigued me when I first heard of it, because I love Bill Willingham's 'Fables' comic series, and it sounded along those lines (I secretly hoped it was a television adaptation just with a name change). I am just not into into it, I think they should just make Fables instead, that storyline, even if only roughly followed, could sustain for multiple seasons. Once Upon a Time is only good for Begbie.
I am enjoying Once Upon A Time, however it really needs to be a mini series or season long story and then end. It does not feel like a show that can go on for several seasons. I believe some story ideas need more then a movie yet less than a season long story or no longer than one season.
I watched Terra Nova...and I liked it. But I saw a sinking ship. I had the feeling that it would go down. So I am in your camp on that one...p.s. Robert Carlyle does rule
I really hated Terra Nova. Not one likable character, and the same issue that killed Lost for me, where no one will explain a single goddamn thing, and worse, no one even asks for those explanations in the first place. I don't care why the Sixers are doing what they're doing, and I bailed after three episodes.
On the subject of shows on the verge of cancellation: everyone here NEEDS to start watching Community. We have the power to prevent it from becoming another Arrested Development case. Believe me, Community is awesome.
@ryan57693 Also, I wonder if the news about Kepler-22b will help spark any interest in Terra Nova. I know the show isn't exactly about an "Earth 2" (b/c that's already been done) but Terra Nova looks like it could be a nice sampling of what our eventual settling of that planet will look like in its infancy.
Haven't even heard of Once Upon a Time, to be honest. I've seen bits of Terra Nova, and it looked awful. The CGI appeared to be the focus, not the characters or the story. The way they really zoom in on some insect that's flying around and show the dinosaurs and all that junk running around. The story is an excuse for tons of CGI rather than CGI being used to immerse us into a great story. That's the impression I got from what I saw, anyway.
Brannon Braga doesn't know what his shows are about. He demonstrated that with Enterprise, when he thought people would be into Voyager-style stellar cartography missions instead of actual Star Trek prequel-type stories (which Manny Coto eventually gave us, too late). He's doing it again with Terra Nova. I don't care about some damn family and their bullshit family melodrama. DINOSAURS!! I WANT TO SEE DINOSAURS!! I WANT TO SEE DINOSAURS EAT PEOPLE!...
@CoryTheRaven ...What Terra Nova WANTS to be is real, classic, wonder-of-nature style Sci-Fi where the big bad humans who have been disenfranchised from the natural world rediscover the beauty and terror and value of life through their encounters with the crown beasts of evolution. It doesn't want to be fucking bullshit family melodrama.
A good show by contrast is the British miniseries Prehistoric Park. It's a show ABOUT how cool dinosaurs are, with the human cast as our lens.
Totally agree about Robert Carlyle. He's easily the best character on the show. I'm hoping they start to flesh out some of the supporting characters, especially Archie (Raphael Sbarge).
I've never even heard of this Once Upon a Time show.
I was never interested in Terra Nova, honestly, and for an admittedly shallow reason: Braga. Everything he touches turns to suck, so when I heard this was yet another of his terrible shows (seriously, they nearly ALL fail -- how does he keep getting green lights?), I decided not to bother.
It's unfair of me, I admit it, but I have a lot better things to do with my time than suffer through poor Braga plots and science.
I unfortunately cannot give Terra Nova a chance for 2 reasons, one is, if you can time travel why in the world would you go to Dinosaur land (even if that's the only place you could go...you think they'd bring a tank or something), and two, Brannon Braga...nuff said.
I never watched Once Upon a Time, I'm not sure I've ever even heard of it. I watched the Terra Nova pilot and was unimpressed but I came back the next week and was bored. Then I had a couple of Mondays where I was busy and it didn't seem worth my effort to look it up on demand. I try to watch it when I'm around on Monday nights, but I'm usually not and now I mostly forget it's even on. I see commercials for it on The Simpsons and say "Huh, maybe I'll check that out tomorrow," but then I don't.
Matthew, if you liked the premise in Terra Nova, read the book "The many-coloured land" by Julian May. It's the same basic premise; In the future, a one-way time machine is discovered that takes you back to the pliocene. A bunch of misfits chooses to go and start a new civilization on the other side. Interesting book!
The reason Terra Nova is losing viewership and will probably get canceled, is because of the horrible pilot it had. The exact same thing happened with the new series of V. The show improved over time, but the pilot was so horrendous that people moved on quickly. That's the lesson. If you're going to put millions into a series, make sure your pilot is awesome.
Can someone explain to me why its a good idea to travel back in time to the dinosaurs, aside from the obvious appeal to kids and cool CG effects, in terms of story it makes no sense. Not only will they go extinct in a certain amount of time, but clearly humans are on the bottom of the food chain. Why would anybody with a lick of sense want to put themselves in that situation.
@DarthEvilicus Well, depending on when they go back, they'll have millions or tens of millions of years to find a solution to whatever the mass-extinction event is.
Unless the mass-extinction event is an environmental collapse caused by OVER INDUSTRIALIZATION! Oh noes! It turns out WE were the monsters!!
Also: technology makes up for a lot, so I don't think it's fair to say humans are on the bottom of the food chain.
I've never heard of Once Upon a Time (cause I don't watch TV that much anymore), it sounds like the writers and producers wanted to make a normal drama but the hire ups wanted them to add a fantasy element so they shoehorned this fairy tail and curse stuff in in such a way that it can be ignored and they could make a normal drama.
As for Terra Nova; the premise is do dumb that I see no way of it being good (and I like science fiction)
I watched the pilot to Terra Nova and I watched some of the episodes to Once upon a time.
I liked the pilot to Terra Nova...that boy started out annoying but by the end he could be seen as useful and not just a whiny emo teenager.
I liked the the women (the doctor and the brainy girl) I liked the Father character, I liked the old man running the place, and I liked the idea that there was a rival colony.
The CGI didn't bother me or impress me...and thats a problem if its that expensive.
the horribly stupid thing about "terra nova" nobody with half a brain can ignore is that they travel back to before the dinosaurs supposedly got wiped out by an giant asteroid.
sure dinosaurs are cool for a tvshow and stuff but still... what were they thinking?!
@ezri85 yes of course i know ^^ but why put your newly founded civilization right infront of some giant global disaster you know will eventually occur. rather travel 63 million years in the past and pass that mass extinction all together. they also would have no dangerous dinosaurs around
Kinda sucks because I actually like tera nova despite the plot holes. I don’t mind the bad looking dinosaurs; I was expecting that from a tv show, but I really enjoyed the premise and the characters, so I’ll be sad to see it go. I just hope they answer a few questions before it happens, unlike Surface. Tera nova and Walking Dead are the only two new shows I watch, so I hate knowing one of them is doomed.
personally I hope this show is not taken off the air, but if it is I don't think the syfy channel
will pick it up because it's to expensive, that's why there taking eureka off the air because it to pricy for them plus there slowly replacing all there sci-fi shows with crappy and cheap reality shows plus wrasslin and what ever crappy monster movie asylum sells them cheap for there unwatchable saturday night movie, I actualy like terra nova and would miss it when it's gone.
Terra Nova is nothing more than this years attempt at being the next “Lost”. Last year it was the Event the year before that it was Flashforward. Both failed after the first season, the Event at least didn’t meander on irrelevant and boring plotlines that overshadowed its premise.
You should check out the comic Fables. That was going to be made into a tv show and they scraped it, two shows came of it as a result Once Upon a Time and Grimm.
I actually know someone who argued that the problems with Once Upon a Time is how TV is written in general; he defended J.J. Abrams not planning out what mysteries meant what and making it up as he went along. Would you say this is true and thus shouldn't be held against a show, or should a show know where it wants to go?
@confusedmatthew yeah that message asking you to change doesn't go away after you switch back, it reminds me of when my parent or teachers would ask me what I wanted to do when they where really trying to tell me what to do well trying to give me the illusion of control
I feel like I'm going to click on my channel and it will all have changed and the message will now read
"you know what we paid for these new sodding channel designers so your going to bloody well use them and like it"
Fox has just rencently announced that Terra Nova has been canceled.
landporpus 5 days ago
Once upon a time and grimm came out around the same time, and I noticed both were very similar in that fairy tale guys are real. I hate once upon a time, mainly because the plot is really lame and baddly done with how they butcher the characters. On the otherhand, grimm has it more rooted into our world, and is all together a more interesting premise. The thing is, once upon a time has fairly good actors while grimm has okay actors, but a lame protagonist.
MrDreamblade 1 month ago
I hate when writers try to take well established characters from other literature and start screwing with them. Its like when online roleplayers try to play as characters inside the series, and its completely different from what that character is actually like, so i'd never watch One Upon a Time except for the fact that Jennifer Morrison is hottttt.
Terra Nova? yeah i'd rather just watch the 1999 "The Lost World" show.
You wanna fill the family market put the drew carey show back on the air.
SilvoKnight 2 months ago
Got that right. I'm most likely tuning out of this show just like I am with "Falling skies."
Onelegobuilder 2 months ago
I've never heard of Once Upon a Time before now. But the minute you showed me Jennifer Morrison I'm sold. I miss her sulking around Dr. House.
TheConciseStatement 2 months ago
My thoughts on the Terra Nova finale.
For me it's a mixed bag. The buildup was good, the climax with the carnataur was good, the season 2 hook (if there even is one) was good. But I was really pissed off when the destruction and overtaking of the colony happened off-screen. There are scenes in movies and TV where you tell what happened and you show what happened. This is not one of those scenes where you tell what happened!
Onelegobuilder 2 months ago
@Onelegobuilder I agree with you on the finale and I'm not going to watch the second season. I'm extremely pissed how this show has a budget that puts Doctor Who to shame and yet Doctor Who has a more satisfying (present in the episode) action scenes. The whole series was ether extremely bad, boring or stupid, with bad storytelling, underdeveloped characters and retarded teen love subplots. Please don't watch the second season, you're wasting your time with this show.
TheSciFiJovian 2 months ago
I agree with you on how Terra Nova just kinda jumped around and rushed the characters and rushed how they were going back into time.
scottieman2 2 months ago
Second, dinosaurs. WHERE ARE THEY??? there's little to no dinosaurs, all it is is romance and boring storylines. Then when they do show up, they're not there for long and they never make any impact to the story! Why even have characters in a land filled with dinosaurs when you're not going to use them? it makes no sense and it really ticks me off. Other than that the show is just really boring at times. The reason it hasn't been up on ratings is because it lost our interest with the pilot.
MissEdge102 2 months ago
@MissEdge102 I read about how Steven Speildburg doesn't want the dinosaurs to be killed off. It's like, "What? Why?"
scottieman2 2 months ago
Terra Nova, to be honest I was looking forward to this being a great show. But there's two major problems with it. One: the characters, Two: the dinosaurs. First off, the characters are complete idiots, I really hate the characters in this show. They just slapped a bunch of stereotypes on a time portal and didn't pay any attention to the characters. The one I personally hate the most is Josh, or as I call him 'dumb ass' really that's what he is. First episode he should've been dead!
MissEdge102 2 months ago
But really the thing that almost killed Terra Nova for me and I'm still pissed about is the Thanksgiving episode. It was like the fucking Star Wars Holiday Special, well maybe not that bad but the plot and what they were celebrating was retarded.
southparkfan2717 2 months ago
I like Terra Nova. I like the characters, the son, the thing with him was the shit about him not just moving on from his girlfriend in the future and getting involved with that other girl from Terra Nova, but then he revels he had three friends commit suicide in a year, that made it more interesting. Stephen Lang's character is good because after Avatar he has bad written all over him but he's the good guy, nice twist.
southparkfan2717 2 months ago
I don't know about the dynamic on your side of the Atlantic, but over here, families don't really watch shows like this (Terra Nova, I haven't yet watched Once Upon a Time). My friends and my sister, who have similar tastes, all stopped watching Terra Nova after five episodes, precisely because of the family angle. I'm 34, I don't need to know about some highschool girl's crushes. The demographic who would watch it here (Ireland) are completely turned off by this
deciusfarts 2 months ago
The plot of Once Upon a Time is a bit worrisome and I understand exactly what you mean from the whole 'let's do one season and go from there' theroy. But I think you unknowlingly answered your own question "they're all going to figure out the curse eventually" YES! what's going to happen when they figure out the curse? is it going to reverse when everyone figures out? what's going to happen to them then? or are they going to start questioning everything about their exsistence? A time paradox?
MissEdge102 2 months ago
Also, if he did act the same as his fantasy self. Don't you think he'd be in some weird asylum? But yes I do agree he is my favourite character, mainly because of the acting and novelty he brings to each performance, but not because he's the only different character in the real world. But if you haven't seen the other ones some of the other characters are a bit different from their fantasy counterparts. Jimminy cricket, the huntsman, and king minus's daughter have minor differences.
MissEdge102 2 months ago
Rumplstiltskin, is a great character. If you read my first comment on here you might be asking me 'why isn't he the same?' I believe this is because he also has memory of the fantasyland and the curse. In one of the episodes the queen makes a deal with him about the curse and he asks for a life of riches. She also has a life of wealth so I'm guessing her wealth deal has that side effect on him as well. He's acting different so nobody can remember anything.
MissEdge102 2 months ago
Second, the curse is part of the whole mystery. We aren't supposed to get it yet. But even so, the episodes so far (I'm posting this since episode 7 aired) we have several hints the queen has memory of the fantasy world. So for your confusion, the victory is the underlying secret the queen knows about the curse, which is why the kid (Henry) doesn't want to show her the book, because he suspects she remembers. Oh and I'm not sure why you find him obnoxious he's really just a plot device kid.
MissEdge102 2 months ago
Okay Matthew, I usually agree with you on most things which is why I don't post comments, but this is a big exception. I'm going to start with Once Upon a Time, you said the characters had to be distinctive from their fantasy and real world counter parts. How would that make any sense? If the queen just dropped them in the real world with no memory why would they be any different than what they were? If you were dropped in a fantasy world, would you become a completly different person?
MissEdge102 2 months ago
I haven't watched a lot of Terra Nova, but from what I have seen, I haven't seen them trying to get the "wii" or "family" audience. I really don't understand where you are coming from here.
In addition, I don't know how you could ever say that you would expect it to do well. From what I have seen of it, it is a terrible show. It just takes itself too damn seriously. It thinks it is smarter than what it is, funnier than what it is, and deeper than what it is. Fuck you terra nova.
insidetrip101 2 months ago
You liked 'Enchanted'? I liked it too. I thought it would be terrible but it's not bad at all. It's well paced and you don't get to hate any of the lead characters. It's not perfect but many movies could learn from that. (if you want to see a like wise premise go wrong, watch the SMURFS. That movie has absolutely no respect for the source material)
junkypoet 2 months ago
** Does the Queen Know she's in the Real World? **
If Mayer/Queen does *NOT* remember being the Evil Queen, why does she:
A:> Use **Magic** to Crush the Heart of the Huntsman (Episode 6)
B:> Know about the Magic Mirror in the Mine
If the Queen Remembers She's the Evil Queen, why is she *NICE* to SNOW White.
Snow White is the *REASON* the town was cursed to begin with!!!
dufflepuds 2 months ago
When you are mentioning the series... You really should have done that Heroes review.
ZoidbergCZ 2 months ago
The most interesting thing about Once Upon a Time for me is the thread running through the entire show of Rumplestiltskin being on hand to help each character engineer their destruction. I wouldn't be surprised if the endgame of the series is everyone realizing the the true villain, the puppetmaster behind everything from the curse to the various miseries the fairy-tale characters endured in their own time, was a devilish deal-maker with a perpetually happy smile.
serafine666 2 months ago
...unaffected by the memory erasure, she can sit there, being the all-powerful and somewhat menacing mayor, and revel in the fact that the happiness these people had has been destroyed. Moreover, she continually takes action, using her knowledge of how things should be, to make sure that no one can recreate the happiness she took. Granted, they can find NEW happiness but not the happiness she deprived them of. Being unable to rise, she dragged everyone else down.
serafine666 2 months ago
Having watched the show religiously, I can explain the payoff for the wicked queen. Essentially, her life had reached a point where there was nothing but sadness and misery and no prospects for that to ever change. At the same time, people around her were finding happiness and one of those was the woman who she blamed for the destruction of her own happiness, Snow White. Without any joy in her life, her payoff is that she's taken away the happiness that everyone else had and since she's...
serafine666 2 months ago
The idea of the curse is that they "can't be happy." It's basically trying to say that we can't be happy in our world.
marscaleb 2 months ago
It took me 8 episodes to realize what it is wrong with this show. As a family show, they can't kill dinosaurs. Unfortunately in a show like this you can't go on forever without killing dinos. Bullets just bounce of them like battleships. In 10 episodes not a single dinosaur has died and only one has even remotely injured. (by fire). Its just so frustrating since shooting and eating humans in totally ok in this series, even for good guys. I could understand if they didn't kill cute dinosaurs.
Gilanas 3 months ago
@Gilanas you forgot to mention 1 raptor that was killed and dissected for the transmitter. But you make a good point. If people went back to the age of dinosaurs they would definitely bring weapons that would pack more of a punch than wimpy stormtrooper blasters on stun only. If they're from the far future where's the death rays? Where's the predator plasma cannons? Where's the rocket launchers? If there is another T-Rex attack, they need weapons powerful enough to bring it down.
Onelegobuilder 2 months ago
If Terra Nova gets a finale episode, how is it going to end? I mean not like the people are going from 24XX to 85 million in the past and its the same time line and someone from the future says "Hey, no over population and no smog. Thanks for the good work." I mean, really. I think it's going to end with a meteor crashing to Earth or a ancient disease.
scottieman2 3 months ago
please review Falling Skies please
melediv 3 months ago
Matthew, what about the show Grimm ?
melediv 3 months ago
I really like OuaT, even though they're following the recent trend of humanizing fairytails, it has its moments where emotional connections are made to the characters. Heck, I've even sympathized with the Wicked Queen a time or two.
Terra Nova, on the other hand, holds no real interest to me. I love SciFi and am a futurist so seeing a show set 65 million years in the past just doesn't pique my interest. I'd rather of seen their overcrowded, smoggy future than CGI dinosaurs threatening them.
FTLNewsFeed 3 months ago
@FTLNewsFeed Terra Nova is set 85 MILLION years in the past, it really annoys me when people do that, the Mesozoic lasted 186 million years it's not even been over for as long as it lasted yet, but people still always say "65 million years ago" when ever they talk about any period in the age of dinosaurs..... I mean it's like saying 31BC to mean any time in ancient Egyptian history because that's when the civilization ended, and completely ignoring the 3000 years that came before
255ad 2 months ago
@255ad Just get over it. It's a common usage phrase, it does not matter.
FTLNewsFeed 2 months ago
@FTLNewsFeed "common usage phrase" no it's not old enough or common enough for that to fly and a such it does matter because it misleads the ignorant
255ad 2 months ago
Writing a response to your discussion of Once that I'll be uploading soon :)
writerserenyty 3 months ago
What current shows do you love, Matthew?
LevvyVision 3 months ago
I have the opposite reaction to Terra Nova. The pilot was good, but the ongoing series is lifeless. We get fierce dinosaur attacks in the pilot, and then we barely see them at all. Instead we have uninteresting, underdeveloped villains lead by a black woman with a daughter back in the future. Big whoop. My thoughts going in were why do we need human villains all the time. Isn't nature back in her former glory already a villain?
Onelegobuilder 3 months ago
@Onelegobuilder Terra Nova should have it where someone from the future sabotage the portal and destroys it and it leaves the ones on the past without any more weapons, food, medical supplies for a long while and they have to survive with supplies dwindling.
scottieman2 3 months ago
@scottieman2 you're right if the evil corporation(s) want to liquidate terra nova, shut down the portal and cut off their food and supply shipment. Then re-enter years later after they died. But no we have a stupid one way conflict of who is the obvious Sixer spy that sabotages them. Which they can't keep that up that charade forever. Like CM once said evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.
Onelegobuilder 2 months ago 2
@Onelegobuilder lol got that right.
scottieman2 2 months ago
@Onelegobuilder Strictly speaking, that quote about evil is from Spaceballs.
ZoidbergCZ 2 months ago
meh im sure these shows are just as big train wrecks as the walking dead big deal
chorizo1337 3 months ago
man they need to bring back poochinski imo
chorizo1337 3 months ago
Why would you subject yourself to Once Upon a Time when you could be watching good shows like Dexter, Breaking Bad, The Killing, and other shows like those?
JonathanMorganFilms 3 months ago
What's your opinion on Mad Men?
KajiCarson 3 months ago
You should've brought up Grimm to... which also uses the whole fairytale thing, but not like Once Upon a Time. I have yet to see Once Upon a Time, but story is not appealing to me at all. Terra Nova is actually... fun, not good, but fun. I do follow Terra Nova, mostly because it's starting to get the story going (with corruption and secret spies)
FrangiPaint 3 months ago
I loved the concept for Terra Nova but the characters, the acting, and the writing were so ridiculous I just couldn't take any of it seriously. In fact, I saw the show as a commedy of bad writing, and I even laughed out loud a few times per episode. But then I missed an episode and I just couldn't be bothered catching up so I dropped the show entirely.
username4215 3 months ago
I have no interest in any story where pre-existing characters are stolen and all thrown into it. If they had invented original fantasy characters I may have been interested.
Neurolanis 3 months ago
Robert Carlyle had some place to go after Stargate:Universe. Good on him!
boydebrook 3 months ago
I might check out terra nova, but not once upon a time. I like fairy tales, but the premise is too much like a bad Fanfiction. I'm more of a Breaking Bad, Dexter, Walking Dead, and Game of Thrones kinda guy.
Chisht 3 months ago
Terranova didn't look that interesting to me. I saw one episode of Once Upon a Time, and it wasn't that bad but the fantasy stuff was much more interesting then the real world stuff. But I think Rumpelstiltskin is great.
TheMysteryTheatre 3 months ago
HA! 8:02-8:19 I was thinking Heroes the whole time too.
Still waiting for that review of Heroes btw Matthew.
Archedgar 3 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
I don't understand your main complaing about Once Upon a TIme. If they play different characters, then where's the novelty of them being the fairy tale characters? It could just be any group of people. +2
MarMotorbiker 3 months ago
Aren't the people responsible for LOST doing Once Upon a Time? If so, I feel like these people know how to write a show that looks like it can't go anywhere, but lasts.
erikrj711 3 months ago
I can't even tell what fairy tale characters are supposed to be in Once Upon a Time by the picture, looks more like a bunch of regular people.
Ryoku75 3 months ago
Terra Nova was really dissapointing. The writing absolutely sucks and it feels like a Disney series masquerading as a "serious" series like BSG
LordXehenniar 3 months ago
Why are Bollywood songs in the suggested column?
Liberator130 3 months ago
They both sounded awesome and I really wanted to start watching both, but I kept forgetting when they were on, or they were on at the same time as other things. If they make it to a second season I'll rent the first and make sure to watch them.
They just might end up like Pushing Daisies, except that show was too awesome for ABC to handle.
ckat13 3 months ago
@ckat13 YOU WATCH SHOWS THAT AREN'T CARTOONS?!!!!!!!?
255ad 3 months ago
Terra Nova had an interesting premise and kinda had me hooked from the beginning. I mean it sorta draws you in from the get-go. My main problem is I can't watch a show religiously like that every week. But if I could I would. And if from what you say is true, then that's sad. Terra had a lot going for it I think. The majority always decides I suppose.
VmanTheMind 3 months ago
once upon a time reminds me of sailor moon
kawaiialicia 3 months ago
I don't understand your main complaing about Once Upon a TIme. If they play different characters, then where's the novelty of them being the fairy tale characters? It could just be any group of people.
trlkly 3 months ago 3
Terra Nova> Once upon a time
I love Dinosaurs
i hate fairy tales, oh and i FUCKING hate kids in a semi drama show
Anacondas101 3 months ago
Hey, tiny toons is awesome!
marshalt 3 months ago
Great video Matthew. Really good explanation of the two shows
jonocosa 3 months ago
Heard of these shows; don't care for them at all.
My Little Pony on the other hand ... care to take a stab at a review?
DimmedDiamond 3 months ago
These shows were made on the old 'Wouldn't it be cool if...' premise. Never NEVER trust an idea that starts that way.
mjmanning123 3 months ago 12
This has been flagged as spam show
@mjmanning123 'Wouldn't it be cool if...' you mean high concept?
255ad 3 months ago
@mjmanning123 Truth be told, I still rather have that way of thinking rather than "lets recycle what has been done before." that is popular these days.
TheDutchGhost 3 months ago
@mjmanning123 Wouldn't it be cool if we explored Ayn Rand in an underwater setting?
blu4andor 2 months ago
About Stephen Spielberg: At least he's owned up to the fact that he should never have committed the walkie-talkie and CGI debacles in E.T. and that he's going back to the original film for the Blu-ray release. Hooray!
George Lucas made that oh-so impressive speech about how "film is part of our cultural legacy and we should preserve it", only to butcher his own Star Wars movies later on. Stephen Spielberg listened to that speech, and he's correcting his own misjudgments.
Spielberg is NO WHORE.
Foebane72 3 months ago 2
I've been told that Terra Nova is not a new idea at all, but based on a hackneyed premise from old sci-fi novels of the 50s and 60s, but I don't know the details.
Is there ANY originality in Sci-Fi TV shows these days? No.
Foebane72 3 months ago
Hate to jump on the ban wagon but yea, SCREW ONCE UPON A TIME!!! From what I heard, not sure if it's true though, OUAT was suppose to be the Fables TV show but they couldn't get the rights from the Fables author Bill Willingham so they made this instead. Bottom line, just go read the Fables Graphic Novels, almost same concept, but FAR better execution.
brokenhalo487 3 months ago
I wanted to like Terra Nova, but in the end the bland cliched characters sucked any enjoyment out of the show.
turelavatar 3 months ago
If Terra Nova can pull in at least 8 Million average by the end of the season, I think it will get picked up for one more (probably just a 13 episode order). My reasoning is just as you said, there's a gap in the market for this show, but also House is probably going to end. Hugh Laurie's contract is finished at the end of this season, and he has often said that he wants to be done with TV. Fox needs some shows with an established audience for next season if the Bones spin off doesn't take off.
XeyleniaTraes 3 months ago
... I never started with Terra Nova. Perhaps I should've given it a chance. But it just LOOKED like something that you'd see on Syfy channel as a cult show for a select group of fans that would run for about 3 years.
arthereld 3 months ago
I stop watching both episodes on episode 3
TTHEBLACKR0CK 3 months ago
terra nova sucks ass
brainstormnl 3 months ago
Oh and amen to the BB comment. There are also some producers from BtVS attached to this show as well. The names behind the scene(except BB) made me think this show had a real shot. Although I thought both pilots were weak, I actually love both shows now. I was actually more excited about TN but ended up liking OUaT more. I think part of it is that I'm starting to not care about the characters in TN. I like the weekly stories, but you could swap any of the characters out and I wouldn't care.
tsthunt 3 months ago
CM, I agree with you that not knowing there's something better for them seems like a weak punishment/curse. But I don't agree with you that their lives are fine. The queen is trying to take away what's most important from each character indvidually. Sure, Cinderella's prince is still loaded in both lives, but he is separated from his family in this one. Same with Jiminy. Yeah he's still "helping" people, but separated from his conscience. For fairy tale characters, that means everything.
tsthunt 3 months ago
I'm glad you pointed out Stephen Spielberg "whoring" his name. I felt guilty that I was loosing faith in him. But hey, if he's just slapping his name on things, then it's not my fault, lol
Kachukeland 3 months ago
@Kachukeland No kidding: The Money Pit, Harry And The Hendersons, Innerspace, Arachnophbia, Casper, Balto, Deep Impact, Memoirs Of Gesha, Monster House, Hereafter and that are just the ones I saw in a couple of days it will be more!!!!
reviewreviewer1 3 months ago
@Kachukeland Oh and We`re Back A Dinosaurs Story!!!!!!!!
reviewreviewer1 3 months ago
@reviewreviewer1 and Back to the Future!
Kachukeland 3 months ago
@Kachukeland Wasn,t that one great
reviewreviewer1 3 months ago
@reviewreviewer1 of course it was, but Spielberg did slap his name on it, lol. Actually, I think he was a little bit more involved with BTTF than the others you mentioned.
Kachukeland 3 months ago
@Kachukeland Yeah he had a lot of influence in it and also in I wanna Hold Your Hand, Used Cars and Gremlins 1 and 2.
reviewreviewer1 3 months ago
I haven't seen OUAT, but I do see Terra Nova consistently, and so far the show has reached below my expectations. It had a terrible pilot,but many shows today have it as well (for example, Game of Thrones also had, to me, a below average pilot), but there is what I call the 8th episode mark. Thats the point where the show's plot comes to full maturity, and the writers actually realize what they are doing.If below average at that point,then it will probably be cancelled (like Terra Nova)
DJbertjor 3 months ago
Isn't Once Upon a Time just a Fables knockoff?
CaptainSweden 3 months ago
@CaptainSweden I wouldn't call it a knock off, the premises are really different, the setting is different, the goals of the characters aren't similar, and the characters aren't anything like the versions in Fables. I love Fables and I like OUaT but they aren't very alike just that both involve fairytale characters in modern day.
Nightman221k 3 months ago
My younger sister said Once Upon a Time was the kind of show I would like. I watched it up until I saw Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother sitting on the council. I couldn't stop laughing at that, but I guess that's what happens when you go from watching Game of Thrones to watching a family fantasy.
Kalashnikov5741 3 months ago
@Kalashnikov5741 try mixing them both, you have hardcore mature fantasy on one, and family on the other
chorizo1337 3 months ago
Have you seen MlP FiM yet? you said in a review once that you watched the 80's show as a kid.
buc555 3 months ago
thesyfychannel15 3 months ago
I really like Once Upon a Time. It's pretty intriguing, I like the effects, costumes, and the stories have been well written. I am a big fan of Fables the comic so it does help me get into the premise. Fairytale characters in modern day is a cool idea. I like it because things are unfolding more and more each episode and I think it can only get better. I think the kid's okay, I like that he's kind of like a kid Mulder. It's a fun idea. I hope the show goes on.
Nightman221k 3 months ago
It's too early to call Once Upon a Time a success. Its ratings are still decent, but at the same time they're still dropping. The way it normally goes for new shows is that, after the pilot, they lose viewers for a while before stabilizing at some point, and that point is what decides their fates. OUAT hasn't reached that point yet. It's still got a ways to go before it actually becomes in trouble, but until it stabilizes we can't be sure. Terra Nova has stabilized, though...but at a low level.
lseths 3 months ago
Enchanted was the movie Matthew, and I liked it too. Not the best movie ever, but cute, fun and entertaining, with some honest heart to it.
adrius 3 months ago
Once Upon a Time intrigued me when I first heard of it, because I love Bill Willingham's 'Fables' comic series, and it sounded along those lines (I secretly hoped it was a television adaptation just with a name change). I am just not into into it, I think they should just make Fables instead, that storyline, even if only roughly followed, could sustain for multiple seasons. Once Upon a Time is only good for Begbie.
excepteuropa 3 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
I am enjoying Once Upon A Time, however it really needs to be a mini series or season long story and then end. It does not feel like a show that can go on for several seasons. I believe some story ideas need more then a movie yet less than a season long story or no longer than one season.
KonnorWolf 3 months ago
I don't know "once upon a time" , but I started watching Terra Nova and I soon lost interest, I agree with you, I'll probably be canceled...
M1kaTck 3 months ago
I watched Terra Nova...and I liked it. But I saw a sinking ship. I had the feeling that it would go down. So I am in your camp on that one...p.s. Robert Carlyle does rule
bradwolf07 3 months ago
I really hated Terra Nova. Not one likable character, and the same issue that killed Lost for me, where no one will explain a single goddamn thing, and worse, no one even asks for those explanations in the first place. I don't care why the Sixers are doing what they're doing, and I bailed after three episodes.
Rmlohner 3 months ago
Terra Nova's all business and Once Upon a Time's all frovolity.
So the show about fairy tales in the big city makes it; the show about dinosaurs doesn't; and Eureeka is cancelled. No wonder the terrorists hate us.
And if Fox cancels Fringe, I'll join them.
PaladinHero 3 months ago
@PaladinHero *frivolity
PaladinHero 3 months ago
On the subject of shows on the verge of cancellation: everyone here NEEDS to start watching Community. We have the power to prevent it from becoming another Arrested Development case. Believe me, Community is awesome.
ryan57693 3 months ago
@ryan57693 Also, I wonder if the news about Kepler-22b will help spark any interest in Terra Nova. I know the show isn't exactly about an "Earth 2" (b/c that's already been done) but Terra Nova looks like it could be a nice sampling of what our eventual settling of that planet will look like in its infancy.
PaladinHero 3 months ago
Personally, I'm fine with shows that don't have longevity. Just set out to tell a story, and then go away once it's told.
Rmlohner 3 months ago
Haven't even heard of Once Upon a Time, to be honest. I've seen bits of Terra Nova, and it looked awful. The CGI appeared to be the focus, not the characters or the story. The way they really zoom in on some insect that's flying around and show the dinosaurs and all that junk running around. The story is an excuse for tons of CGI rather than CGI being used to immerse us into a great story. That's the impression I got from what I saw, anyway.
foodlovingpig 3 months ago
Brannon Braga doesn't know what his shows are about. He demonstrated that with Enterprise, when he thought people would be into Voyager-style stellar cartography missions instead of actual Star Trek prequel-type stories (which Manny Coto eventually gave us, too late). He's doing it again with Terra Nova. I don't care about some damn family and their bullshit family melodrama. DINOSAURS!! I WANT TO SEE DINOSAURS!! I WANT TO SEE DINOSAURS EAT PEOPLE!...
CoryTheRaven 3 months ago
@CoryTheRaven ...What Terra Nova WANTS to be is real, classic, wonder-of-nature style Sci-Fi where the big bad humans who have been disenfranchised from the natural world rediscover the beauty and terror and value of life through their encounters with the crown beasts of evolution. It doesn't want to be fucking bullshit family melodrama.
A good show by contrast is the British miniseries Prehistoric Park. It's a show ABOUT how cool dinosaurs are, with the human cast as our lens.
CoryTheRaven 3 months ago
Opinions on any of FOX's animated shows?
fullmetalmedji 3 months ago
Oh that pun was SOOO intended Matthew.
Sploog321 3 months ago
I will watchTerra Nova Just for you Matthew :)
HowToUseBetaChannel 3 months ago
If I'd made OUaT, I would have ripped off the plot from Super Mario RPG.
handsomebrick 3 months ago
just out of curiosity, are you ever going to do a firefly review?
deathcrist2000 3 months ago
Totally agree about Robert Carlyle. He's easily the best character on the show. I'm hoping they start to flesh out some of the supporting characters, especially Archie (Raphael Sbarge).
Brycefied 3 months ago
I like Terra Nova better now that the son has stopped being just a prick.
Blizzard78 3 months ago
I had thought about watching the pilot for Terra Nova when it came out, but the sight of those Playstation 1 dinosaurs running around turned me off.
Leatherbubba 3 months ago
Brannon Braga?????? No wonder it's the way it is! Say no more!
MeatballsMarlowe 3 months ago
I've never even heard of this Once Upon a Time show.
I was never interested in Terra Nova, honestly, and for an admittedly shallow reason: Braga. Everything he touches turns to suck, so when I heard this was yet another of his terrible shows (seriously, they nearly ALL fail -- how does he keep getting green lights?), I decided not to bother.
It's unfair of me, I admit it, but I have a lot better things to do with my time than suffer through poor Braga plots and science.
ScreamingDoom 3 months ago
i like Terra Nova better
MrMrcam3 3 months ago
Never seen either of them. The only new televison show I watch is American Horror Story.
Leatherbubba 3 months ago
I unfortunately cannot give Terra Nova a chance for 2 reasons, one is, if you can time travel why in the world would you go to Dinosaur land (even if that's the only place you could go...you think they'd bring a tank or something), and two, Brannon Braga...nuff said.
navibc31 3 months ago
Do you have showtime, because I've been watching homeland and it's been great
ScoopsTherobotreal1 3 months ago
And Tiny Toons was AWESOME.
NotOrdinaryInGames 3 months ago
I never watched Once Upon a Time, I'm not sure I've ever even heard of it. I watched the Terra Nova pilot and was unimpressed but I came back the next week and was bored. Then I had a couple of Mondays where I was busy and it didn't seem worth my effort to look it up on demand. I try to watch it when I'm around on Monday nights, but I'm usually not and now I mostly forget it's even on. I see commercials for it on The Simpsons and say "Huh, maybe I'll check that out tomorrow," but then I don't.
aperson22222 3 months ago
If a show does its job good... why is it not a "good" show??
I do not ge
NotOrdinaryInGames 3 months ago
Matthew, if you liked the premise in Terra Nova, read the book "The many-coloured land" by Julian May. It's the same basic premise; In the future, a one-way time machine is discovered that takes you back to the pliocene. A bunch of misfits chooses to go and start a new civilization on the other side. Interesting book!
phlogios 3 months ago
@phlogios choose*
phlogios 3 months ago
The reason Terra Nova is losing viewership and will probably get canceled, is because of the horrible pilot it had. The exact same thing happened with the new series of V. The show improved over time, but the pilot was so horrendous that people moved on quickly. That's the lesson. If you're going to put millions into a series, make sure your pilot is awesome.
leebrandt33 3 months ago
Can someone explain to me why its a good idea to travel back in time to the dinosaurs, aside from the obvious appeal to kids and cool CG effects, in terms of story it makes no sense. Not only will they go extinct in a certain amount of time, but clearly humans are on the bottom of the food chain. Why would anybody with a lick of sense want to put themselves in that situation.
DarthEvilicus 3 months ago
@DarthEvilicus Well, depending on when they go back, they'll have millions or tens of millions of years to find a solution to whatever the mass-extinction event is.
Unless the mass-extinction event is an environmental collapse caused by OVER INDUSTRIALIZATION! Oh noes! It turns out WE were the monsters!!
Also: technology makes up for a lot, so I don't think it's fair to say humans are on the bottom of the food chain.
ScreamingDoom 3 months ago
@ScreamingDoom while yes technology can provide some advantage, what happens when that technology fails? Jurassic Park much?
DarthEvilicus 3 months ago
what do you think of survivor these days?
FangDragon47 3 months ago
Forget "OUaT" and read "Fables"
erisi236 3 months ago
how about glee?
j0nTHEj0n 3 months ago
Opinion of "The Big Bang Theory"?
theMadManTv28 3 months ago
I've never heard of Once Upon a Time (cause I don't watch TV that much anymore), it sounds like the writers and producers wanted to make a normal drama but the hire ups wanted them to add a fantasy element so they shoehorned this fairy tail and curse stuff in in such a way that it can be ignored and they could make a normal drama.
As for Terra Nova; the premise is do dumb that I see no way of it being good (and I like science fiction)
thenamelessone83 3 months ago
What do you think of firefly and serenity?
whitetoshiro 3 months ago
I watched the pilot to Terra Nova and I watched some of the episodes to Once upon a time.
I liked the pilot to Terra Nova...that boy started out annoying but by the end he could be seen as useful and not just a whiny emo teenager.
I liked the the women (the doctor and the brainy girl) I liked the Father character, I liked the old man running the place, and I liked the idea that there was a rival colony.
The CGI didn't bother me or impress me...and thats a problem if its that expensive.
StuffedAnimalAdvisor 3 months ago
I gave up on Terra Nova after about 5 or so episodes. It was going nowhere and the characters are dull.
ezri85 3 months ago
@ezri85 I was less tolerant, I gave up on it after 4 episodes. Still haven't seen Once Upon a Time yet...
ElBombastico883 3 months ago
*Asks for a minute, ends up taking 16*
thesmwassup 3 months ago
the horribly stupid thing about "terra nova" nobody with half a brain can ignore is that they travel back to before the dinosaurs supposedly got wiped out by an giant asteroid.
sure dinosaurs are cool for a tvshow and stuff but still... what were they thinking?!
happosai27 3 months ago
@happosai27 You realise dinosaurs were around for several million years before being wiped out by theoretical asteroid/comet impact?
ezri85 3 months ago
@ezri85 yes of course i know ^^ but why put your newly founded civilization right infront of some giant global disaster you know will eventually occur. rather travel 63 million years in the past and pass that mass extinction all together. they also would have no dangerous dinosaurs around
happosai27 3 months ago
@happosai27 they've gone back 85 million years, so that still gives them about 20 million years, give or take a century
secondly, they don't really have a choice of when they can go back. It's 85 million years, or stay in the present
ezri85 3 months ago
You should watch Breaking Bad. Please do.
TGMfilms 3 months ago
Kinda sucks because I actually like tera nova despite the plot holes. I don’t mind the bad looking dinosaurs; I was expecting that from a tv show, but I really enjoyed the premise and the characters, so I’ll be sad to see it go. I just hope they answer a few questions before it happens, unlike Surface. Tera nova and Walking Dead are the only two new shows I watch, so I hate knowing one of them is doomed.
togotfury 3 months ago
Do you watch Doctor Who?
woodsy1234567890 3 months ago
Was thinking of checking out Terra Nova. Don't give a shit about Once Upon A Time
DarkSpartan92 3 months ago
personally I hope this show is not taken off the air, but if it is I don't think the syfy channel
will pick it up because it's to expensive, that's why there taking eureka off the air because it to pricy for them plus there slowly replacing all there sci-fi shows with crappy and cheap reality shows plus wrasslin and what ever crappy monster movie asylum sells them cheap for there unwatchable saturday night movie, I actualy like terra nova and would miss it when it's gone.
AngryLiberalBastard 3 months ago
i saw the first episode of tara nova and i thought it was a little dull. and that other fairy tail show i havent ever watched
Ironriver57 3 months ago
What's your next review going to be?
ColonelPandabear 3 months ago
Terra Nova is nothing more than this years attempt at being the next “Lost”. Last year it was the Event the year before that it was Flashforward. Both failed after the first season, the Event at least didn’t meander on irrelevant and boring plotlines that overshadowed its premise.
You should check out the comic Fables. That was going to be made into a tv show and they scraped it, two shows came of it as a result Once Upon a Time and Grimm.
micronoid 3 months ago
Terra Nova sounded like a Trek-like show when I first heard about it. Being a dirty foreigner, I haven't seen it, is it anything like Trek?
666deadman1988 3 months ago
I actually know someone who argued that the problems with Once Upon a Time is how TV is written in general; he defended J.J. Abrams not planning out what mysteries meant what and making it up as he went along. Would you say this is true and thus shouldn't be held against a show, or should a show know where it wants to go?
abridgedfanboy 3 months ago
I hate Once upon a time: cheap graphics, cliche, poorly written, uninteresting.
Robocain1 3 months ago 6
@Robocain1 I would have thought this opinion would end up being the norm. Turns out its the minority. Who knew?
confusedmatthew 3 months ago in playlist Uploaded videos 5
@confusedmatthew Guilty pleasure, maybe?.
aciDC14 3 months ago
@confusedmatthew put your channel back to normal no one likes it this way
255ad 3 months ago
@255ad I didn't even realize it was switched over. Lets hope they don't make it permanent. Which they probably will.
confusedmatthew 3 months ago in playlist Uploaded videos
Comment removed
255ad 3 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@confusedmatthew yeah that message asking you to change doesn't go away after you switch back, it reminds me of when my parent or teachers would ask me what I wanted to do when they where really trying to tell me what to do well trying to give me the illusion of control
I feel like I'm going to click on my channel and it will all have changed and the message will now read
"you know what we paid for these new sodding channel designers so your going to bloody well use them and like it"
255ad 3 months ago
@255ad youtube changed it not him.
buc555 3 months ago