TERRA NOVA - Dinosaur trailer

With the production for Jurassic Park four finally getting the go ahead earlier this year, appetites for a blockbusting dinosaur series have never been stronger. Luckily for us, Fox has invested a large fortune in a new dinosaur based series that began filming in late 2010. It will now premier around the globe over the next few weeks. This new series is called Terra Nova.

What is Terra Nova?

Terra Nova is a show based in the year 2149, a time when all life on planet Earth is threatened with extinction due to dwindling worldwide air quality and overpopulation. Scientists discover a rift in spacetime that allows people to travel 85 million years back in time to the Late Cretaceous period on the prehistoric Earth of an alternate reality, offering a chance to save humanity. The Shannon family (father Jim, his wife Elisabeth, and their three children Josh, Maddie and Zoe) join the tenth pilgrimage of settlers to Terra Nova, the first human colony on the other side of the temporal doorway.

Terra Nova Production

The series is based on an idea by British writer Kelly Marcel. Alex Graves signed on to direct the pilot. Brannon Braga serves as showrunner.

Australia was chosen after producer Steven Spielberg vetoed Hawaii because he wanted a different filming location from his 1993 film Jurassic Park.

The two-hour pilot was filmed over 26 days in late November to December 2010. It was shot in south-east Queensland, Australia, with locations in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Gold Coast Hinterland. The shoot was plagued by torrential rain and additional material had to be shot in 2011, with a total estimated cost between $10 to $20 million to be amortized over the season. More than 250 sets were constructed. An episode takes eight to nine days to shoot, like most television dramas, but six weeks in post-production, twice the television average. The average episode budget is about $4 million.

Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly stated:

'...this thing is going to be huge. It's going to take an enormous production commitment...'

Let us all hope he is right.

TERRA NOVA - Dinosaur trailer
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