Giant Freakin Robot

Last May, word came down from the executives at Fox that their new sci-fi drama, Terra Nova, would only get one season. It was cancelled. Many of Terra Nova’s fans called “foul,” as another high-concept sci-fi series was prematurely swallowed up by the maw of the Fox Network.

Fair or unfair, Terra Nova had its share of problems long before the cancellation, including whiny teenagers, unlikable characters, and mediocre storylines. But the time travel/dinosaur series still had some fans who believed Terra Nova was good enough to earn another chance on another network. Well, they won’t get that, but here’s a consolation prize. In a new interview, former producer Brannon Braga spoke candidly about where the series would’ve went if they had a second season. Braga disclosed to the Media Geek Network:

The stuff out in the badlands, [there's] still an army out there, but we were going to find they were being massacred by what could be the possible next step in evolution for the dinosaurs. Highly intelligent dinosaurs, which we do know existed in that time … but done believably.

I’ve long since stopped getting attached to even the most promising of genre shows when they premiere on Fox. For genre fans, Fox is like the bully that offers you the delicious candy, but then holds it just out of your reach. Sadly, whenever Fox cancels a Firefly or a Sarah Connor Chronicles or what have you, there are inevitably still some vocal fans out there that will raise a hue and cry, demanding that the show be resurrected by cable nets or Netflix or some other entity. So it was earlier this year when Fox dropped the axe on the ambitious but poorly received Terra Nova. It could easily be just another name on the hit list, but now Fox is offering fans an intriguing challenge: the chance to create their own ending for the show.

Last year, Fox debuted Terra Nova, a TV drama produced by Steven Spielberg. It took place in a dystopian future where the Earth was dying. To survive the decay of civilization the government sent its citizens back in time to a prehistoric era when dinosaurs ruled the world. Once there, they had to re-build society and learn how to survive in this new world. It sounds awesome, right? Well, you’re wrong.

Terra Nova was a flop. It was the biggest and most expensive TV show of all-time. It premiered to a large audience but as time went on, their number and quality dwindled. It was eventually canceled as the show was just finding its identity.

The star of Terra Nova, Jason O’Mara, while doing press for his new show on CBS, Vegas, talked about what went wrong with the dinosaur show. The series had a strong international following but failed to live up to expectations in the States. But when a TV series becomes the most expensive TV series ever made, then a series has a responsibility to be profitable. O’Mara complains,

We were just finding our feet and I think we just proved that by the season finale,” he said. “There was a lot more story to tell and I think there was an audience to watch it, certainly internationally, the show went down extremely well, huge numbers. Just domestically I couldn’t quite get there.

FOX’s Terra Nova is now truly over. With the promise of time travel and dinosaurs, Terra Nova was a great premise for any sci-fi fan. It had a lot going for it in terms of making it a sci-fi TV series hit. Steven Spielberg produced it, it starred Stephen Lang of James Cameron’s Avatar and it had dinosaurs. How you could ask for anything more?

But sadly, the series devolved into TV clichés, bad special effects and whiny characters no one wanted to spend time with. Now that FOX has canceled Terra Nova, FOX has been selling off pieces of the production itself at auction in Queensland, Australia.

Have you ever wanted the Range Rovers, motorcycles or Landcruisers from Terra Nova? Now you can bid on them at auction. GraysOnline.com, an Australian retail and auction company, is facilitating the bids for vehicles used during the production of Terra Nova. For only $4,000 Australian (about $3,900 US) you can get yourself a piece of TV history and drive around your neighborhood in style. They’re also great for getting away from dinosaurs.