Science Fiction Today

Save Terra Nova with Dinosaurs

Terra Nova star Jason O’Mara is asking fans to #saveterranova by sending plastic dinosaurs to Fox, saying:

“If you want to address your package of little plastic dinosaurs to somebody at Fox, send them to president of the network. He’s a good guy so keep it friendly please. Mr Kevin Reilly, Fox Broadcasting Co, PO BOX 900, Beverly Hills, CA 90213.”

Terra Nova is an expensive production and its ratings have been low. Rumor has it that the well received, and much cheaper, Alcatraz will replace Terra Nova  so long as its ratings hold up. Overseas Terra Nova is a much bigger success, which may be the only reason it hasn’t already been canceled.

Past fan efforts have saved other shows from extinction, with the prime example being the post-apocalyptic drama Jericho. Cancelled after its first season, fans flooded the network with peanuts (a reference to a line at the end of the season ending episode) and a surprised CBS revived it for a seven episode second season. Although critical reviews were positive, the ratings were worse than ever and the show was again given the axe.

O’Mara is also asking fans to create viral buzz for the effort by using the #saveterranova tag in their Twitter posts.

(Source: scifinow.co.uk)

Terra Nova Delayed

Steven Speilberg’s Terra Nova was due to air in early 2011 but has now been delayed until the fall. A preview will air in May 2011 according to the Fox Network. The announcement comes on the heels of the canceled Terra Nova panel at this year’s Comic-Con, apparently because they did not have any footage ready to show.

The series premise is that in 2149 the Earth is dying and scientists have opened a portal to the prehistoric past in an effort to save humanity by colonizing the past. Terra Nova focuses on one of the families, headed up by series star Jason O’Mara (Life on Mars), that makes this incredible journey.

Source: SFX

Jason O’Mara Joins Terra Nova

Jason O’ Mara (Life on Mars) has landed the lead role in the upcoming Terra Nova. Producers Brannon Braga and David Fury actively pursued him in recent weeks for the part according to the report by Mania:

“Writing the character of Jim Shannon, we’ve thought of Jason O’Mara as something of an archetype,” Braga said. “He has an everyman quality to him, but there’s something dangerous underneath.”

O’ Mara will play Jim Shannon, who guides his family as part of a group of settlers who travel back in time to a colony built in prehistoric Earth.

Terra Nova Casting News and Plot Summary

Jason O’Mara (Life on Mars) has landed the lead role in Steven’s Spielberg’s Terra Nova series. O’Mara will play Jim Shannon, “a devoted father with a checkered past who guides his family through this new land of limitless beauty, mystery and terror.”

In related news is the official plot summary for the series:

In the year 2149 the world is dying. The planet is overdeveloped, overcrowded and overpolluted. With the majority of plant and animal life extinct, devotion to science has brought mankind to the brink of destruction, but has also provided its only hope for salvation. Knowing there is no way to reverse the damage to the planet, a coalition of scientists has managed to open up a fracture in the space-time continuum, creating a portal to prehistoric Earth. This doorway leads to an amazing world, one that allows for a last-ditch effort to save the human race … possibly changing the future by correcting the mistakes of the past.

The series centers on the Shannon family as they join the tenth pilgrimage of settlers to TERRA NOVA, the first colony of humans in this second chance for civilization. JIM SHANNON, a devoted father with a checkered past, guides his family through this new land of limitless beauty, mystery and terror. Jim’s wife, ELISABETH SHANNON, is a trauma surgeon chosen through a global lottery as a new addition to Terra Nova’s medical team. JOSH SHANNON is their son, mourning the girl he left behind, as he’s torn between two role models – his father and the charismatic COMMANDER FRANK TAYLOR, the leader of the settlement, and the heroic first pioneer through the time portal. MADDY SHANNON, Jim and Elizabeth’s teen daughter, is as independent and adventurous as her parents, but her distrust of authority soon leads her on a dangerous path.

In addition to blue skies, rolling rivers and lush vegetation, TERRA NOVA offers new opportunities and fresh beginnings to its recent arrivals, but the Shannons have brought with them a familial secret that may threaten their citizenship in this utopia. Additionally these adventurers soon discover that this healthy, vibrant world is not as idyllic as it initially appears. The areas surrounding Terra Nova are filled with dangerous dinosaurs, and other prehistoric threats, as well as external forces that may be intent on destroying this new world before it begins.

But perhaps even more threatening than what lies outside the protective walls is the Shannons’ realization that something sinister may be happening inside TERRA NOVA as not everyone on this mission has the same intentions of how best to save mankind.

Source: Deadline, Collider