The Dinosaur Problem

I spent Sunday afternoons at my grandmother’s house. She had cable, so I’d camp out in front of Xena and seaQuest and Hercules while she rested after lunch. Earth 2 was the one that really grabbed me though—a whole other world, aliens, jungle, mystery, monsters, everything layered on top of everything else. It got cancelled after one season because the budget was enormous. I never found out how it ended.

Now Terra Nova shows up on Fox, another shot at the same idea—colonizing a new planet—but they’ve mixed in dinosaurs. The year is 2149 and Earth is basically over. Pollution, overpopulation, everyone’s sick. Scientists managed to build a time machine and they’re shipping colonists back 85 million years into the Cretaceous to start fresh. The Shannon family steps through the portal into what’s supposed to be paradise. Turns out paradise has problems.

The pilot episode aired recently and I’m going to say it: Terra Nova has something. A whole planet to discover, mysteries everywhere, rebels with weapons, messy relationships, strange symbols on the walls, people carrying baggage, and dinosaurs that look a little iffy but somehow work anyway.

If they actually managed it—if they pulled off the mythology and followed through on all these threads they’re setting up—this could wipe out anything science fiction television has done in years.

But it won’t happen. Five episodes in, the network will get spooked by the costs and the ratings will dip and that’s that. Same as Earth 2. Same reason I watched at my grandmother’s house. Good sci-fi on network TV doesn’t make it through. You never get to find out what happens next.