Terra Nova

** (2 stars out of 5)

Out of contact for 70 years, the human colony on Terra Nova went full "Miri" with a touch of "Friendship One" when a radioactive meteor tricked them into thinking they had been attacked by Earth, killed all the adults, and forced the children to live like moles, digging in holes. Granted, that's a lot to put on a meteor, but they should be grateful it didn't just wipe them all out like meteors are probably more likely to do.

When the rescue investigation begins in the nick of time, seven decades later, Enterprise's crew are taken for hostiles and attacked.

"Your words are shale!" snarls Erick Avari, calling the outsiders slippery fibbers in the kooky local patter. Where's that universal translator, Hoshi? So confusing!

Phlox can cure lung cancer but not contaminated water, so the Earthers must talk the Earth-encrusted into moving into some better caves on a more upscale continent. Or even get them to go outside sometimes. But that might be pushing it.

Speaking of pushing it, the writers pushed my buttons when they made Terra Nova Earth's first extra-solar colony. Since the original series told us Zefram Cochrane was from Alpha Centauri, it makes a LOT more sense that humans would have settled THERE first, right? (It's closer.)

"Terra Nova" does feature stuff from Terra, but is it all that Nova? Prequels have the chance to steal back the sense of wonder by giving us people doing things for the first time. Of course, they also have the chance to do exactly what has already been done before.