Fox, 7 November; Sky 1, 14 November

A meteor strike causes an EMP providing plenty of opportunity for disaster…

Two episodes on the trot that take advantage of the show’s unique position, use dinosaurs in a neat way, move the ongoing plots forward and have their own standalone story? Halfway through the first season, this series is starting to develop its own identity.

It’s not perfect, by any means, but each of the Shannon family pretty much has their own strand, which connects into the whole. Jim and youngest daughter Zoe are trapped by the power outage, leaving Jim relying on the six year old to get them out while Dr Elisabeth is forced to use old-fashioned (i.e. modern day) techniques to complete an operation – although it has to be said that the ending of that particular plotline seems a little too good to be true. Maddy sneaks away with her boyfriend and is caught in the jungle at night, and Josh’s boss at the bar becomes the saviour of the day in more ways than one.

The Sixers capitalise on the power outage to go after the mysterious object that Mira has been seeking – and we learn a lot more about it, Mira’s abilities and Taylor’s son (the one mentioned in the pilot but not really much since) along the way. Add into that a physical fight that almost looks like a real punch-up (i.e. if there are two people fighting the hero, they don’t politely wait for the good guy to knock one of them out before wading in!), and a huge dinosaur – and at long last, Terra Nova is proving that it’s more than just a rip-off of various earlier ideas. 

Episode 7: “Nightfall” 7/10

Paul Simpson