Terra Nova has promise as well as some retreaded territory...
"Terra Nova" aired last night, and I think it didn't leave a single apocalyptic dystopian button un-pushed to drive home how awful the world is near the year 2149. The world is pretty much a desert, unfiltered air is toxic, and thuggish police enforce strict population control. And while laid on pretty thick, it'd have to be or nobody would want to leave for a destination 85 million years in Earth's past. For a dystopia, they make removing your tracking chip awfully simple, but that could've been more for quick narrative purposes. There's also a lot of other hard science that was ignored which could have made for some interesting hand-waving acknowledgement. For starters, unless there was some heavy decontamination going on, 85 million years ago got a whole bunch of people carrying the result of millions of years of bacterial and viral evolution along with them. They did acknowledge the oxygen-rich atmosphere, though, so there's that. I was pleased that the male lead, who had been a cop (one who had to escape prison to sneak through the time portal for literally "breaking the rules") wasn't immediately put back on an 85 million-year-old beat... until he "proved" himself... ugh. Anyway, the show set up a few things:
- They're supposedly in an alternate timeline, so no paradoxes with the future, unless they are in the same timeline and they just fail. If it is an Alt-U, it's a free ticket to make up whatever they want, I suppose, as (1) the fossil record doesn't show every dino species anyway and (2) I'd say it's better than even odds we'll eventually have a sentient dino-race show up at some point.
- The leader of the colony is keeping secrets about the area.
- Attempts to introduce slang in fiction are never easy, often cumbersome, and even so the use of the word "fresh" to describe a newcomer was already overused by the third time it was uttered. This goes along with the teens being idiots, venturing away from Terra Nova when there are hostile people with guns and these big reptiles with teeth running around, not to mention the bugs...
- Said hostile people have reminded some reviewers of "The Others" from "Lost." Given that we're talking about time travel, I'm going to go out on a limb and say these "Sixers" (they came on the 6th pilgrimage through the gate) are from an alternate future that they want to protect by destroying the Terra Nova colony. Just a hunch...
- Sonic guns are used to fend off dinos. At first, I thought this was rather odd since bullets are probably easier to come by or bring along than sources of energy, but then again, assuming food wasn't a problem, a few tons of rotting biomass outside of the gates is probably an unappealing prospect that might attract other unappealing prospects which also have sharp teeth.
The father vs. son thing is standard fare for this kind of show, though the setting alone should have been enough to produce plenty of dramatics instead of insta-rebellion once our intrepid family made it across the time barrier. I figured there had to be a TV Trope for our intrepid Dad, but few of them (like the [warning: TVTrope] Atoner, or the Career Building Blunder) fit the bill, though they came close. I'm not sure what we'd call it when a former man of law & order breaks said law (often several times) only to find himself in a similar role later on, if not one that lets him/her use their skills. This instance was made even more face-palmingly rushed as the very life our Dad-cop saved was the leader of the whole expedition, which pretty much guaranteed that his TV Karma would get him out of his make-work position and let him carry a badge and a gun again. Also, since I "watched" some of it while looking at Photoshop, I found that actor Jason O'Mara who plays Jim "DadCop" Shannon sounds a lot like Colin "Sheriff Carter" Ferguson from "Eureka."
Overall, "Terra Nova" does intrigue, but it's got a lot of fairly standard drama stuff going on (which, I hate to say it, is often what keeps some shows on the air). The CGI dinos aren't bad, better than the ones on "Primeval," and it looks like there's going to be an arc to follow and stuff to be revealed. I'd sooner watch more of this than "Falling Skies," though I do hope that they make the teenagers a little less moronic as a whole; Even a wantonly destructive teenage moonshiner would probably not think venturing outside the fence is a good idea.
Not a hoax, not a what-if, Stephen King is writing a sequel to "The Shining." Danny Torrence will be in his 40's, still psychic, and facing off against a bunch of vampire-like people who feed on the energy people like him give off. I know it sounds lame, but so does "a killer clown-thing has returned and torments the same people it did when they were kids." King's strengths are in how he crafts the characters, so that's what's going to make or break the book (as well as if the director of the eventual TV/movie adaptation gets the material). I'm wondering if this book will tie the universe of "The Shining" into that of "The Dark Tower?" The vampires there seemed to get along with Randal Flagg, so... maybe?
If Cracked.com and horror movie imagery is verboten where you surf the web, you might want to skip this page about the upcoming film adaptation of "John Dies at the End." If you haven't read the novel, it's worth a look-see. It combines Lovecraftian horror with what I'd almost call a fusion of stoner-slacker-hipster culture along with a sense of unreality at times that makes me think the author read a little Philip K. Dick somewhere. It's a humorous though gory tale with a bit of a love story and some unnatural geometries tossed in for good measure, and it looks like the adaptation will be pretty faithful to the source material. If all goes well, this would probably do well in a double-feature with "Shaun of the Dead," though "Shaun" will probably be the lighter-spirited of the two.
Today I met an artist named Bob Bliss. Cristi and I bought a hand-made light box from him that he put up on Craigslist. Cristi's classroom has a similar device that the kids play with, letting them put translucent and opaque shapes on the lit surface, as well as playing with colored gels and other things what are supposed to be good for developing brainmeats. Mr. Bliss asked if I knew a lot of the other artists/writers he was aware of in the area, and a few I'd met in passing at conventions. We both remarked on what a strange biz this is, where you travel to different cities thousands of miles away to chat with people who live less than ten minutes away from you. :) Anyway, the pedigree of this light box just means Josh is under even more pressure to become a genius at some point. Since his latest learned skill is stomping his foot and declaring "CRAP!" I'd say he's well on his way... to something...
Maybe if I showed him something from here, it'd help:
- While looking for ideas on home-made rayguns, I came across this impressive and probably unwieldy firearm. I almost wonder if the kinetoscope is to blame for inspiring it?
- I never thought "The Jetsons" would be interesting to watch at my age. Now, it might deserve a second look...
- Forget all that stuff about winning through levels of minions. In Bosses!!!, boss baddies are all you have to fight.
- It's fall, school has started again, and this is the truest thing, ever.
- Fans of the anime "Lupin the Third" will soon be able to snag a board game based on the series. I should probably watch it at some point, as the only exposure I had as a wee shaver was the laserdisc game, "Cliff Hanger." Separate buttons for hands and feet? Jeeze...
- It's a re-creation of the opening of "The Simpsons," say it with me, made with "Minecraft."
- For a more insane film, here's what someone did with the game to make an animated clip simulating Tetris on the old Game Boy system. It's not an in-game game, but a stop-motion animation.
- I don't know why it appeals to me so much, but I dig this cartoon version of Marty McFly. Similarly, I think fellow Trekers will enjoy this animation study "Star Trek: The Next Generation" character sheet. Worf and Ryker look pretty capable of kicking the butts of whatever decides to beam aboard.
- Here's a review of the book, "Stealing C'thulhu", by the author of the brilliant shorthand "Cthluhu Dark" rules. The book sounds like a great resource for game masters and aspiring mythos writers.
- I'm very disappointed that these impressive cakes weren't posted along with their D&D stats.
- Due to budget cuts, the famous Bellagio Fountain in Las Vegas is being replaced a cheaper version. We don't expect tourists to notice.
- A new technique could "disarm" the AIDS virus. What can we do to make it look less like a d20? The gaming industry is in enough trouble as it is...
- There will be a new Doctor Who miniseries on the show's next DVD/Blu-Ray release, which will probably cut down on the depression among fans over the long, dry spell after the season finale.
- If cute toddlers and Doctor Who are a lethal combo for you, then don't click and see the youngest Time Lord ever face down a fearsome foe.
- "Sesame Street" is adding more science-based education to its content as it begins its 42nd season. Please attach no significance to the number of the season being 42. The mice don't appreciate that sort of thing.
- First gamers help fight AIDS using a video game, and now they might have found two new Earth-type planets via a browser game. I think we're an epic raid away from discovering warp drive or something.
- And here's Sketch Quest, a game where you draw (and it doesn't matter how well) your own weapons and hunt for hidden doodles while surviving a surreal sketched-up world.