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A Tale of Two Trailers: "A Game of Thrones" and "Terra Nova"

By Steven Lloyd Wilson | Posted Under Trailers | Comments (28)

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Development on “Terra Nova” and “A Game of Thrones” has pretty much pursued completely opposite courses despite being high budget genre shows that are both debuting within a month of each other this spring. And since they both released trailers yesterday, it’s a perfect time to compare the two. That’s totally not just because this is approximately the seventeenth trailer released for “A Game of Thrones” and I simply don’t have anything else to say about the series that I haven’t written several times already. But, hey, look! Dinosaurs!

Here’s the trailer for “Terra Nova,” which is about a group of colonists who go back in time to settle when dinosaurs roamed the Earth since the modern world is running out of oil and other resources. I have so many problems with this premise that it is causing a rash. I assume that they are aware that there are many periods of Earth’s history that did not have 50 foot tall carnivores yet still had just as many resources. But that just wouldn’t be as cinematic as this:

The bad guy from Avatar! A CGI dinosaur! Steven Spielberg’s name! This debuts in 11 weeks and costs $4 million per episode and this 21 seconds is what they come up with to hook an audience?

Compare that to “A Game of Thrones,” which debuts a few weeks earlier, but despite being on trailer #35 still manages to convey a mesmerizing energy that drags you to check on HBO pricing:


(sources: Blastr and Blastr)









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Comments

But if they're back in the age of the dinosaurs what are they powering their vehicles with?

You want to escape a world where natural resources that provide you with energy are running low so you go back to before the wheel was invented?

Okay, forget all that. You know my biggest peeve with these kinds of shows? It's the hair. I'll bet 10 episodes in the girl in the trailer will still have perfect braids because you just know that while they had no indoor plumbing, the dinosaurs did have a salon on the corner offering weaves, braiding and full blow outs.

Posted by: PaddyDog at March 2, 2011 10:12 AM

Fucking Lannisters!

Posted by: admin at March 2, 2011 10:14 AM

Don't have to worry about the price of HBO, because I'm waiting to watch the awesome that is this show till after I finish the books. And I'm not quite halfway through the first one. So I'll be contemplating the price of DVDs instead! Also, I watched that trailer on mute and it was STILL amazing. EPIC WIN.

Posted by: KatSings at March 2, 2011 10:24 AM

I have watched each of the 35 "Game of Thrones" trailers at least three times each and I continue to get the chills at certain points.

Terra Nova looks like warmed over poop.

Posted by: Forbiddendonut at March 2, 2011 10:27 AM

I really hope that Viggo Mortensen makes a cameo in Game of Thrones. Anywhere, it would just be....nice.

Posted by: grace b at March 2, 2011 10:32 AM

Terra Nova looks amazing. Really. Like they didn't even bother with a new shot, but just cropped the scene from Jurassic Park's dinosaur chasing what became the new crew in vehicles. I'm amazed since a twelve year old can do that much on his own cell phone.

I won't lie, HBO may be coming back on this television.

Posted by: Nicolae at March 2, 2011 10:45 AM

Really? Dinosaurs? 6 billion years of earth's history and you people pick the time period with 50-foot long, ten-ton lizards with mouths that make iron maidens look like a picnic?

I'd rather jump back to Egypt under Ramses and rebuild the fucking pyramids. At least I can't get BITTEN IN HALF BY AN ENUMERATION OF CREATURES HIGHER ON THE FOOD CHAIN!

Why not? If Ray Harryhausen has taught me anything, you can repel most large reptiles with pointy sticks, rocks, prehistoric ingenuity and grunts of despair while only losing 2-3 neanderthals at most.

Posted by: D-Day at March 2, 2011 11:01 AM

C'mon folks give "Terra Nova" a break. It's from Fox which is known for it's intelligent programming. I'm sure they will explain why they picked the time of dinosaurs instead of butterflies. For example maybe they were aiming for the age of butterflies but the Wayback machine malfunctioned. Or maybe the guy that invented the Wayback machine really LIKED dinosaurs! Did you ever think of that? Because whoever figured out time travel could probably fix any problem they had in their present time but then he wouldn't have gotten to see dinosaurs!It's logic, folks.

Besides butterflies DONT EAT PEOPLE!

Posted by: logan at March 2, 2011 11:11 AM

"What know you of hardship? You are a child of summer, my dear. Hardship is for the long night. Hardship is for winter. And winter, my dear, winter is coming."

I'm halfway through A Feast for Crows. It's taken me...4 weeks to plow right through this series. And my only concern is that I'm going to get to it and then go "NOW WHAT?!"

Posted by: Fredo at March 2, 2011 11:12 AM

I completely forgot about how awesome the tournament will be. Are we going to see The Mountain too? Isn't he supposed to be, like, 7+ feet tall? GRRM said they couldn't even get a tall enough Hodor.
(I complain because I love. And I'm a nerd. It's what we do.)

Posted by: Optimus Rhyme at March 2, 2011 11:17 AM

Hee, Paddy. I'd kill for the Cornraptorows.

Posted by: figgy at March 2, 2011 11:22 AM

Optimus, they are most definitely going to have the Mountain. He's being played by a guy named Conan Stevens. Look him up. He's 7 feet tall and looks mean as hell. As good a Mountain as they were likely to find.

Posted by: Forbiddendonut at March 2, 2011 11:30 AM

They can travel through time but instead of going back and preventing the waste of all resources they go back to before most of those resources were even formed? What resources would there be back then besides forests? Your source for oil is still walking around and is still a couple million years from becoming anything useful besides brontosaurus burger.

Posted by: Paultera at March 2, 2011 11:32 AM

I think, Paultera, that that is indeed the point of this genius premise.

It's not a comment on our remorse and desperation at using up all our natural resources like oil. On the contrary, it is a satire of human short-sightedness; we are not going back in time to figure out a way to do it again without using up all the resources; we are going back because we've eaten all the fucking tuna and chicken, and we need more food.

Which is where your brontosaurus burgers into the picture; there's, like, an infinite amount of them dinosaurs, right?

Satire.

Posted by: zeke the pig at March 2, 2011 11:41 AM

That's a great find, 'Nut. I really need to do more research into this. I worry that the Varys and Sandor and Brienne in my head can't actually be played by real people.

Posted by: Optimus Rhyme at March 2, 2011 12:47 PM

Figgy:

You just provided me with an image of my new favourite movie: The Flintstones Go to Honduras.

Posted by: PaddyDog at March 2, 2011 1:03 PM

Fredo, read them again. And again and again and again.

I find it very interesting who all is sitting on the throne in the trailers, considering that this is only covering book one. Unless I'm mistaken about that?

Posted by: (Not So) Blonde Savant at March 2, 2011 1:04 PM

No Sleestaks in Terra Nova? Pass.

Posted by: ed newman at March 2, 2011 1:24 PM

Okay, forget all that. You know my biggest peeve with these kinds of shows? It's the hair. I'll bet 10 episodes in the girl in the trailer will still have perfect braids because you just know that while they had no indoor plumbing, the dinosaurs did have a salon on the corner offering weaves, braiding and full blow outs

My pet peeve is always the teeth. No matter the year, the conditions, the country... anything; everyone always has perfectly white teeth.

Posted by: Lennon at March 2, 2011 1:28 PM

That jouster in the trailer IS the Mountain.

Posted by: Cerebomb at March 2, 2011 1:40 PM

Optimus Rhyme - To be honest, I've never really been able to mentally picture Brienne. Her features just seem to at odds.

Posted by: baboocole at March 2, 2011 2:57 PM

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

The guy playing Clegane...his real name is Conan?

FTW!

P.S. Butterflies do kill people...the gov't just covers it up.

Posted by: Adam at March 2, 2011 3:16 PM

Are we sure that Terra Nova show isn't just a joke? I mean, even for Fox it just looks ... preposterously dumb.

Game of Thrones, on the other hand ... *swoons*. It's on Sky Atlantic over here and they've started some heavy advertising with the tagline "The day after the States" so for once when I read the write-ups here I will actually be able to comment. Hurrah!

grace b: I'm totally with you on a Viggo appearance. A bit of sweaty Viggo goes a long way. So to speak.

Posted by: lingli at March 2, 2011 5:09 PM

"Welcome to Pando--"
"CUT!"
"Sorry, sorry, I'll get it this time."
"From the top, take 16."
"Welcome to Terra Pandor--"
"CUT!"

Posted by: Robin at March 2, 2011 5:38 PM

game of thrones is being done right (it would appear). yippee! very eager to see it. thank godtopus for torrents.

Posted by: splinter at March 2, 2011 5:47 PM

Wait...if they go back in time to dig up oil, doesn't that mean that they're making it even worse for the rest? The oil will just disappear faster...

What was that saying again? If you step on a dinosaur you could change the fate of...or was it if you step on a dinosaur's foot, he'll eat your granny?

Posted by: Saso Alauf at March 2, 2011 6:52 PM

I fucking love this series (Game of Thrones). If only the bastard would fucking finish the books. Sigh. Old gripe. Sorry. Looking forward to this, I hope it shows in Canada.

Posted by: tallulahc at March 2, 2011 11:04 PM

GRRM just posted on his "Not a Blog" that book 5, A Dance With Dragons, will be out July 12th, 2011. Will wonders never cease?!?!

Posted by: Mandacat at March 3, 2011 3:38 PM