Terra Nova drops new promo images

Beware of the slashers! The upcoming Fox series Terra Nova, set to premiere on September 26 in the US, has released a series of promotional posters, giving us the first good look at the dinosaurs in the series. The clearest one shows a dude being chased by an odd dromaeosaurish thing.

So, there it is. A bit of unfortunate Bunny Hands Syndrome, the barest hint of feathery stuff about its head, and an odd crest that doesn't quite fit any dromaeosaur I'm aware of. I'd love to see the first two changed, but because of the spottiness of the fossil record, I don't have a problem with invented dinosaurs for the series, as long as it's done well. Most importantly: will I give a darn about the characters? We'll see. I'm not sticking around for CGI dinosaurs if the people drive me crazy.

More of these from the Hollywood Reporter.

Terra Nova Super Bowl Commercial

Here's the quick spot for Terra Nova that played during the sporting event tonight. There's a brachiosaur, what appears to be a very fleet-footed Carnotaurus, and some good ol' fashioned "Spielberg gawking."

Terra Nova, Walking with Dinosaurs update

For dinosaur enthusiasts, a constant item of conjecture is what the next big dinosaurian pop culture event is going to be. There's been a bit of news lately concerning some high profile dinosaur projects in the media.

First, Steven Spielberg's Terra Nova project has been the subject of some speculation. The Hollywood Reporter writes that most of the writing staff has been sacked in an effort to reduce its enormous budget. But in a report in the New York Post, Fox maintains that the show is still on schedule, and will receive a two-hour preview in May. About the preview, the Post says:

The two-hour episode gives viewers a first look at the series, which revolves around a family living on Earth in the year 2149. With the planet on the brink of destruction, thanks to years of aggressive scientific experimentation and an exploding population, the family agrees to go back to prehistoric times in hopes of finding a way to save the Earth by attempting to correct mistakes made in the past.

A crazy premise, but I'll be able to forgive some of that if the dinosaurs are done well.

Though its stage show winds down, the Walking With Dinosaurs brand isn't giving up quite yet. Deadline reports that Fox is rumored to be doubling its dinosaur pleasure, inking a distribution deal for a forthcoming WWD 3D documentary. This is quite a show of faith, and the production probably has March of the Penguins to thank for it. Hat tip to Michael May for alerting me to this on twitter.

The other big upcoming project, Discovery's Reign of the Dinosaurs, has been pretty quiet since Comic-Con, which is probably a good sign. For a brief post on the event and a few pictures, check out the Discovery blog. All in all, there is good reason to be stoked about dinosaurs in the media. While Terra Nova will surely be more devoted to story and spectacle than accuracy, I have high hopes for Reign of the Dinosaurs and the WWD 3D project to widen peoples' appreciation for the science of dinosaurs.

Terra Nova

Note to producers: please try to remember that expensive visuals and quality storytelling aren't mutually exclusive. Please?



Fox has made a big commitment to the Spielberg-produced Terra Nova for 2011. It involves a family of time travelers from a hundred years in our future traveling back to the Jurassic. Spielberg's a big name, but I'd be more optimistic if it was Whedon, Lindelof, or Cuse. It would be really neat to have pretty dinosaurs and the kind of writing that will sustain them for more than one season.

Though in that case, maybe I shouldn't have invoked poor ol' Joss...