Terra Nova

Season 1 Episode 3


Aired Monday 8:00 PM Oct 03, 2011 on FOX

Episode Fan Reviews (10)

out of 10
387 votes
  • Instinct

    "The Birds" (1963) is one of the best known films from the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock. Personally, not my favorite of the great master, but there is no doubt that it is a work that marked the history of cinema and suspense that still serves as a reference to many other stories I want to tell.

    Was deliberate or not, the truth is that the first reference that came to mind as soon as the third episode of "Terra Nova" began to unfold and I realized that the story paths was preparing to follow the precise " The Birds, "or even any other film in the long list of the genus (in which the animals decide to attack humans without, at least initially, an apparent reason), but especially" The Birds "by the obvious similarities in terms of appearance the animal (or group of animals) who stars attacks. That is to say: been there, seen that. Nothing very original here.

    But comparisons aside, because there is no need to make between a classic of cinema and a number that hardly become memorable, "Instint" episode turns out to be a more respectable than initially imagined it would. It is true that 40 minutes of the episode seemed too compact for everything that happened (the pterosaurs appear / start attacking people / discovers why / people get rid of them) and therefore there is not much room for create some real tension (except the time when kids have to defend themselves when they are refugees in their own home), but the narrative rhythm in conjunction with the consistency of the story itself ended up making the duration of this episode very tolerable 40 minutes and nothing monotonous.

    Or rather, almost 40 minutes and nothing quite tolerable boring ... because if we discount the airtime given to the first triangle of the series, then there is only about half an hour. Since it showed me that the relationship between the patriarchs of the family is Shannon something warm because he had been arrested during a portion of time, but really needed to bring in some guy's past Elizabeth (Shelley Conn), and that was the even if advised to come to Newfoundland to attempt to create disturbances in the family? Why this need to create love triangles in a series of science fiction or fantasy beyond me completely. Yes, there is room for love inside of both genders, of course. Especially because it provides the growth of the characters and the conflicts it generates within them can create interesting lines of argument. But why the radius of the love triangle?! Why is there always someone trying to steal the woman's husband or someone else?! Why is not content with the more realistic normal and the two love stories?! Anyway ...
  • Disappointing -- solutions appear out of thin air.


    I had great hope for this show when it first started. The pilot episode set the stage very nicely for what I thought was going to come: a story basically about human beings on the edge, feeling their way in an unfamiliar and dangerous world. I figured they would be kind of clueless.

    This episode started with something of a mystery to solve. Fair enough. It's the way they arrived at a solution that killed the show. First they see a bunch of birdlike dinosaurs, who then begin to attack. Why? Ask Mr. Science chief...

    Answer I expected: "I don't know. We'll need to study them for a while, things like this could take months." This would set up something I thought could be on ongoing issue, with periodic attacks.

    What we got: "Well, I've only seen one for a few seconds, but I can tell you exactly what they are and why they are attacking. Give me a couple of hours and I can create and synthesize 50 liters of their pheromones so you can lure them away!" Good thing he's both the best biologist AND best chemist in the history of the universe. And good thing this primitive little outpost has science facilities from thousands of years in the future instead of the near-future when it is set.

    Basically, this episode was a bit of build up, then a miracle scientific solution appears out of nowhere to save the day with no further hassle. If the rest of the episodes follow the same pattern--problem solved through rapid miracle science discovery--count me out as a viewer.

  • Oh dear.....


    Well after what i thought to be a really good pilot i was left hugely disopointed by this episode for many reasons..... the special effects were to be honsest really poor, i new that this episode wasnt going to have the big budget that the pilot did but i still expected the creatures to look realistic, the characters were still underdeveloped and we really dont know anything much about them, the subplots were awful i mean considering there were hundreds of flying killers on there way it felt very silly that are charcaters were concerned about guitars and boys, also the jim character is starting to get on my nerves which is never a good thing when you ont like thr leading man(mark benford-flashforward) although jim isnt that bad......yet

    I will stick with terra nova although i really hope next week is better as this show has so much potential

  • It's Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, meets Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park.


    Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen, as Hitchcock would say on his show. There are spoilers below.

    Besides the flying reptiles problem, we found that Dr. Shannon was hand picked by her former boyfriend to join Terra Nova. He knew very well that her husband was in jail.

    While there is a little hint of jeolousy with the dad over mom's ex-boyfriend, the teen siblings are developing their own relationships.

    The CG was ok, except for the close ups. At the beginning of the show, they had survival training and was taught "fire is the only thing these creatures understand." They should have lit some torches around camp.

    The solution was a little hurried. There are many types of pheromones not just sex pheromones. They found a way toextract and synthesizeboth male and females sex pheromones and lure them away. Also, they would not fly back. It's kind of like luring salmon up the wrong river hoping that they would not return to their original breeding spot. I guess the flying reptiles die after sex also.

  • The birds are coming...


    After the interesting two-parter pilot episode, we're in for our first stand-alone episode. And it certainly doesn't hold up as well. The problem, for me, is the balancing act of animal versus monster. Just look at Jurassic Park: the dinosaurs were firstly animals, not monsters. Here the Pterosaurs come off just as vicious monsters, trying to wreack havoc among the Terra Nova settlement.

    Another balance was actually hit pretty well: the show was surprisingly light-hearted at times, and serious at others. I'm all for dark and serious stuff, but it's quite refreshing to see something like this in a modern show, everything is usually so doomy and gloomy and serious.

    Random thoughts:
    - I though these flying lizards were like Compsognathus, and nothing too dangerous. Yeah, you can get a few cuts, but to die from them? Especially the guys at the start seemed to have just a few cuts in their faces and nothing fatal. Maybe it was just to keep the rating down and not show too much gore.
    - Most of the characters got some screen time. Washington is quickly becoming my favourite character.
    - CGI looked good from afar, bad from close up. I hope they'd use some props instead of all-CGI.
    - Sixers were nowhere to be found. Thankfully.

    While this episode wasn't as good as the pilot, it kept me somewhat entertained for the whole 42 minutes, so it wasn't too bad. But I do hope there's something different coming up in the next episodes.

  • Instinct


    Instinct was a fair episode of Terra Nova and there was a little more character development, but I still don't feel that the series has really caught me and pulled me in like some other high budget shows have. I enjoyed the story but wish there had been more depth to certain scenes. It was funny that the parents couldn't get private time until the end anyhow. I look forward to watching the next episode of Terra Nova, and hopefully things pick up!!

  • Good episode.


    Just watched this episode and it wasdefinitelymore entertaining than the premiere i dunno why people hate the dinosaur bird monster so much and say that it wasnt good enough or the graphics were bad i think that the graphics are great one of the best on tv and the bird dinosaur was a great add to the series i hope they bring them back but with a much larger story. As for the cast and acting, the cast is great but they need to work more on the kids cuz i think they dont have much purpose in the story, one of them misses his girl friends and the other wants to know if a boy likes her or not and the baby sister didnt have a thing in the series at all i see that the parents are always protecting their kids from the first episode and till now i hope that changes a bit. I still think that their leader is lying to them but that is some kind of mystery till now he does some things that make us want to trust him but some things make us think that if he has bad intentions and is using all these people for something. Im gonna watch the next episode to decide if im going to watch the series or stop watching it.

  • A good second look into the beginnings of character alignment and what the show will bring.


    This show has the possibility to be the best of the shows the season and still be cancelled. It promises to be like shows we have loved before, unfortunately no show can live up to everyone's nostalgia, so if it fails, it will be due to that.

    If people want more than the shows attempt for their 'A Game', go pick up a book. It's a tv show...how much do you really think they can show in 1 hour and still not be somewhat cliche' just to get through an episode.

  • Hitchcock is rolling in his grave and Daphne Du Maurier just asked to join him!


    Instinct starts off promising. Two men are discovered mauled to death-- much to the surprise of the Terra Novans, since theclaw marksdon't resemble that of any known creature. Come to find out that the attacks come from a sudden migration of newly discovered pterosaurs who are hot, horny, and looking for some major action, but are going on a killing/ mauling spree because those pesky human beings from the future are in the way.

    Cue Hitchcock's "The Birds"-- literally. The episode merely plays out the scenario from the classic Hitchcock movie storyby completely lifting two key scenes-- the famous schoolyard scene when the birds begin to gather and the even more famous scene when the major characters barricade themselves in the house. Hilarity ensues! Okay, more like disbelief. I mean, could this have been a more derivative episode?

    Ah, but not to worry-- it wasn't all derivative! There was also the cringe-worthy attempt at character development, like having the badass tough guy cop literally confront his wife's former lover like Phyllis Newman confronting her ex-husband's wife, Sharon Newman. And why? Because like Erica Kane, the lover decided to make a play by signing the wife up for Terra Nova while hubby was locked up. What is this, Dynasty? Are we going to start having scenes like that parody from American Dad, where the characters are slapping each other sillyand calling each other the B word?

    BTW, where is everyone getting their clothing from? Why does everyone look like they just got back from American Apparel when the compound has limited resources? Is there some outlet mall at Terra Nova I don't know about? Why the hell won't the writers spend at least two seconds explaining little details like this?

    Whatever. All I know is that the writers aren't even trying to produce a show that's innovative, different, or creative. They could've turned tonight's concept into something really special; instead they just chose to basically reshoot an old movie. Tsk tsk.

  • this episode was a littledisappointing this episode of terra nova showed me what the show is going to be about. Its going the same direction as does most crime type shows do, a case an episode or for terra nova, a new dinosaur an episode


    this episode was a littledisappointing

    this episode of terra nova showed me what the show is going to be about. Its going the same direction as does most crime type shows do, a murder an episode or for terra nova, a new dinosaur an episode. There was just little talk of the sixers and no mention of the hieroglyphs. Another problem i had with this episode was that the writers are trying to make this show about a colony trying to survive fromrebelsanddinosaurs, but at the same time trying to make the show family friendly, itdoesn'tfeel right to do that. To conclude, i had i hopes for this show as does FOX, but idon'tsee this show as a winner this year, I will give this show one more episode, it betterimpressme next week.

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