Brannon Braga: Terra Nova Has Star Trek Feel & New Kind of Time Travel + Wondercon Video

Bob Orci isn’t the only Star Trek writer/producer who went to Wondercon. Trek Vet Brannon Braga was also in San Francisco to prmote his upcoming time travel series Terra Nova, which he said has a "Star Trek feel". He also talked about how the show ill address time travel and more. More below including video.

 

Braga: Terra Nova has Trek feel + trying something different with time travel

Brannon Braga is once again traveling through time. The veteran Star Trek writer/producer is the executive producer and showrunner for Stephen Spielberg’s new FOX sci-fi series Terra Nova, which premieres in the fall of 2011. The show is about a 22nd century family that join a pilgrimage of settlers who travel back in time 85 million years to escape a devastated world. The show stars Jason O’Mara (Live on Mars) and Stephen Lang (Avatar).

Braga went to Wondercon in San Francisco over the weekend to promote Terra Nova, and in an interview with TV.com he talked about how this show is like Star Trek, saying:

It’s a very humanistic show. It’s about second chances for humanity. The episodes will be mostly standalone episodes that tell metaphorical little sci-fi parables in this frontier western—post-modern science fiction western town. So it has a Star Trek feel to it.

During the panel (full video below) Braga explained how time travel will work on the show, explaing that the "rift" was found accidentally and travel is "intermittent" and "one way". Braga also said that while it isn’t a major element of the show, they will be exploring the nature of time travel on Terra Nova, saying:

What’s the plan? Is it the Butterfly Effect? Are they going to try and change the future? Those questions will be answered early on. We’re trying something very different with the time travel… new and hopefully cool…

Here are two promos for the show (note show premiere moved from May to Fall)



 

VIDEO: Terra Nova Wondercon panel & video interviews

Wondercon panel video:


(Part 2 & Part 3)

Here is video Wondercon video of  Braga and Terra Nova producer/ Graves (via IGN).

Here is more video with Graves and Braga at Wondercon (via JenningsRothCornet on Youtube)

Collider also has a video interview with Braga and Graves where they talk about the time travel rules, and joke about the "red shirt" casualties.

 

 

36 Comments
oldest
newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Hmmm, I don’t know. It doesn’t seem like Star Trek; boldly going and figuring out solutions to our problems. It seems like the “well we messed up and can’t figure it out, but hey there’s a hole into the past that we fell into so let’s live there”.

I’m as big a Trek fan as anyone for the most part, and as hard as George Lucas tried, Trek is still the ‘gold standard’ for sci-fi franchises. But I think it’s time that any new entry into the genre should be able to stand on it’s own merits, and not have to resort to – or be held up to – comparisons to Star Trek. Because, let’s face it – ultimately, one way or another, they’ll be held up to that yardstick, fairly or unfairly. I think the last incarnation of BSG was probably the first sci-fi show in years that really stepped away from that cookie-cutter method and developed its own unique character. It didn’t evoke easily-drawn parallels to the ‘Trekniverse’, nor did it descend into Star Wars-type campiness. On one hand, it’s too bad it ended with such finality that it now has to draw water from the prequel well; on the other, it could have ended up recycled to the point of dessication, the way that the Trek franchise essentially did before J.J. defibrillated it and gave a good dose of alt-time line LSD.

That’s my opinion; you’re entitled to yours.

Terra Nova sounds like it could be interesting. I’ll probably give it a try.

Well said Viking.

This show looks damn cheesy from the posters.

The concept also seems to have been “borrowed” somewhat from the classic Pliocene Exiles penned by Julian May.

Now the Pliocene Exiles deserve to be adapted for TV.

I’ll give this a chance though.

Everything deserves a chance, I say

I’ve got two words for you: Alien Nazis.

That said, I wish him the best of luck.

#4 – thank you, sir. There’s enough cheese out there for everyone to nibble on; nobody needs to steal from each other. As you said, everything deserves a chance (within reason, of course). It may turn out to be a good series; then again, it may pull a Seaquest: DSV and sink into the abyss under the weight of it’s own self-propelled absurdity.

@6

Eloquently put my friend.

I doubt much of TN will have much comparison of
eloquence within it’s form!

: )P

“The show is about a 22nd century family that join a pilgrimage of settlers who travel back in time 85 million years to escape a devastated world.”

They’re trying to escape a devastated world, and they go back to a time when it was populated with giant meat eating dinosaurs? That was actually the safer option?

9. Don’t forget the pending asteroid;)

I KEEEED!

Ay, caramba

@9 Jeez! You just spoiled the first season cliffhanger, Bob! ;-)

If C22 is that buggered, the world of Trek may never happen!

Nooooooooooo!

Trek is a time-displaced documentary, right?

Nice to see Braga in the mix again.

I want to see it! :-) :-)

I like survivalist shows/movies/books but I’d like to see situation that hasn’t been done before. We’ve seen us humans dealing with dinos many times before.

That said, I like the actors featured in this and the production team, so I’m giving it a chance.

…And I’m still waiting for someone to adapt something from Octavia Butler.

hmmm should I give him another chance……… no.

too much damage to trek’s past and if this succeeds he could have another shot at doing yet again more damage because they might put him incharge of a revival show if this gets big.

plus lets not forget Voyager’s “Futures End” episode which he wrote.

Time Ship Captain Hails Voyager and says: No Time!
Confused matthew: Your IN A TIME SHIP!!!! you’ve got plenty of time!!!

#9 Bob -Redefine that statement, please. It took a turn my old ’72 Chevelle wouldn’t have kept up with. And that sucka had a 4:11 posi rear and Hooker headers. :-)

Here’s television these days:

If it’s good, but makes you think too much, CANCEL IT because the average viewer is too dumb to get it.

If it’s bad, but draws viewers because of pointless action and half naked women, RENEW IT because the average viewer has the attention span of a toddler.

So either way, Terra Nova is doomed. It’ll either be terrible and not worth watching, or great but too good for people to understand and get canned. I’ve seen so much junk get constantly renewed on TV and so much quality television get canceled I have no faith in it anymore.

I like to give Terra Nova a try.

Brannon Braga is a writer who wrote some cool concept episodes. I like his work. Even though I was disappointed in Flash Forward.

hmmm remember classic tos episode with mr atoz n the library? Escape the devasted world by plunging into thag planets past-this show seems kinda like that cept for plungin wayyy back in time sherman, said mr peabody—throw in a lil bit juassic park n primeval n u r there–i have nuthin against brannon-best of luck hope its a good series

@17 I think Bob’s statement addressed the theory that an asteroid hitting Earth was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs. So maybe time traveling humans wouldn’t survive it either. Therefore…

Viking what are you talking about?

and if it had a 454 and tuned up right with the right carbs and a manual 5 speed it would ^_^

So they have gone back in time to start over. Why chose to go back to a time when dinosaurs were about? Was it a mistake where they ended up? Won’t they eventually get wiped out by the asteroid that killed off all the dinosaurs?

sorry I just seen others have mentioned this already

Classic European science fiction novel, anybody? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Day_of_Creation
It’s good to see Brannon Braga finally learned to read.

They are supposed to have gone back 85 million years. That is 20 million years before the asteroid is said to have hit earth, wiping out the dinosaurs, except for tuataras and the dinos which evolved into birds…How did that work?

Terra Nova also has ridiculous enviro-Nazi brainwashing with the whole cliché, overused, pseudo-scientific “HUMANS EVIL. NATURE GOOD” nonsense. Have some originality. Use a storyline that DOESN’T involve global warming. Thanks.

They need to reboot this show already, hehehehhe

While this sounds interesting and I’ll give it a chance, I want real TV Star Trek.

The previews look a little bit more like Earth 2 meets Sound of Thunder. Not Star Trek.

However, I think they are on the right path with stand alone episodes. Star Trek and Star Gate generally provided a higher degree of fun factor in comparison to Battlestar Galactica or LOST. Not that BSG and LOST were not great shows, but there is a limit to the amount you can take before it feels like a chore rather than an relaxing escape.

This storyline has precedent in novel form: Julian May’s ‘The Many-Colored Land’. The series was set in the Pliocene tho, which was only about 6 million years ago. It was an awesome series and I highly recommend it. As reviewed by others, the first 100 or so pages are quite dense, but it’s the foundation or setup for the rest of the novel. Plow your way thru it and I *guarantee* you an awesome read.

Otherwise, this series sounds like ‘Jurassic Park’ meets ‘Land of the Giants’.

I’ve never been fond on the Braga bashers but I’m starting to wonder if they were right.
He mentioned Trek and then mentioned “Roddenberry-esque”
Horrible way to try and hitch your wagon to Star Trek Brannon.

The asteroid that will hit this show? Poor ratings probably.
I hope I’m wrong but I’ll give it a try.
I give it a 6 episode “Threshold” and then it’ll be gone

So basically Primeval, but entirely set within the anomaly and stranded in the past?

Just bring back ENTERPRISE already… I liked that show.

#22 Kavinsky – I wasn’t made of money in those days. It had a 327 with a single Q-Jet, a Turboglide tranny, and a lift kit in the rear that caused more than one front tie rod ball joint to fold up at inopportune moments. LOL! It was otherwise a good ride. Loud as hell, too – sounded like God coming home for dinner early. I miss it. What a cop magnet.

#34:

I’m with you.

What’s with all the posts being center justified rather than left border justified?