In honor of episode 104 being named “The Runaway” – and because I occasionally like watching things that actually entertain me – let’s all watch the following:
Also, Terra Nova, I’m confused. Why are all of your characters pronouncing Newt’s name “Leah?” That’s confusing.
Snark aside, I’m sorta glad to see this show spend more time dealing with its actual premise. The last two episodes really could have been ripped from any sci-fi series in the last 50 years, but The Runaway actually dealt with some issues specific to this show. Now, don’t get me wrong – that is intended to be faint praise.
Here are the awards for last night:
| EP 4 – The Runaway | ||
| I guess we’ll count 6 on 1 (child) as tracking | tracking | 1 |
| “this won’t hurt a bit” KICK! | unarmed combat | 1 |
| Wash fights off the sixers, pt. 1 | marksmanship | 1 |
| Wash fights off the sixers, pt. 2 | unarmed combat | 2 |
| undressing the wound | first aid | 1 |
| this is not a negotiation | bargaining | 2 |
| next time, I’m going to war | intimidation | 1 |
| the whole Leah thing | deception | 3 |
| Jim gets caught in a trap | traps and snares | 2 |
| shooting the dino out of the air | marksmanship | 1 |
| HUMPTY DUMPTY JOKE | first aid | 1 |
| children were fucking shit up | child | 2 |
It’s nice to see the social skill “deception” get some play. I realize that since this show is so family oriented, we’ll probably never see anyone employing seduction. Oh and teenage romance stories do not count as seduction. Hell, they barely count as stories. Adolescent hormones are gumming up the works on Terra Nova.
The Standings
| Total | Character name | The Runaway | Previous Total |
| 42 | Doctor Doctor | 5 | 37 |
| 42 | C.S. Lewis | 6 | 36 |
| 37 | Porkins | 7 | 30 |
| 34 | Turdball McStupid | 11 | 23 |
| 33 | Balrog | 10 | 23 |
| 32 | Catherine | 3 | 23 |
| 25 | Shortround | 5 | 20 |
| 23 | Lady GaGa | 2 | 21 |
| 18 | Jeff | 4 | 14 |
| 16 | Muldoon | 6 | 10 |
It still looks like it could be anyone’s game. Except those two Jurassic Park characters – they’re in a bad way.
Missions, Affiliations, Etc.
I’m starting to see that the characters are likely not going to split up into different groups, if for no other reason than this show insists on focusing on the family (FAMILY IS FOUR). The teaser for the next episode looks like there might be some of Josh going to kick it with the Sixers. On the off-chance that he decides to go with them, everyone will need to decide whether they’re defecting like Josh. Then points will be further split between Sixers and Terra Nova-ers. But I don’t think the show has the guts to do something like that, so likely it’ll be a non-issue and I created this “Missions/Affiliations” rule for no reason.
And just because it’s fun to rag on Terra Nova:
My buddy Heath (whose Turdball McStupid won the night with 11 points) – directed me to this article about the shaky astronomy in the Terra Nova pilot. Quick show of hands – anyone surprised they don’t have fact-checkers on staff? It’s hard to say what the Terra Nova staff does know – they get the astronomy wrong, last week demonstrated a complete lack of knowledge of medicine and science, and the second episode climax of “synthesizing the pheromone” shows they don’t understand basic storytelling. What am I missing? What else doesn’t Terra Nova know how to do?
Finally, because God is merciful and loves us all and wants us to be happy:
No Terra Nova next week! See you back here for more poorly paced, non-dinosaur action on the 31st!
Hooray for the Phil Plait link! I just recently read his book Death From the Skies.
Death from the Skies – recommended?
Thanks for the Kanye video. I love that song (and album), but have somehow never seen the video (even though I own the DVD).
The video is part of the “Runaway” short film, which is like 38 minutes long and includes just about every song on the record. The ballet dancer part with the actual Runaway song is probably the coolest part of the video, but it’s worth a watch. Especially if you’d like a new reason to revisit that record. Here’s a link: