History Series / TerraNova

** Humans would probably take a lot longer to adjust to the much higher oxygen levels in the Mesozoic age, but a simple facemask for a few minutes post-transfer seems to do the trick.

* OverprotectiveDad:
** Jim shows signs of this towards his daughter's dating life. It should be noted that Jim is likely just messing with Mark [[ItAmusedMe for his own amusement]]. He doesn't seem to mind the relationship, and is mostly just befuddled that Mark is “courting” his daughter the old-fashioned way.
--->'''Jim:''' ''[to Mark]'' You know I carry a gun and hold grudges, right?
** And then again when he became temporary CO:
--->'''Jim:''' You seem more nervous than usual. Is that because today I'm not just Maddy's father, I'm also your CO?\\
'''Mark:''' Permission to neither confirm nor deny, sir.\\
'''Jim:''' ''[wryly]'' Permission granted.
** He also half-heartedly pulls this routine regarding Josh; when Jim is questioning Skye in "Within" about her whereabouts, she comes up with the cover story that she was with Josh at her house:
--->'''Jim:''' Doing what?\\
'''[[TheMole Skye]]:''' ''[{{beat}}]''\\
'''Jim:''' Anything you say [[{{Irony}} can and will be used against you]].

* PrivateMilitaryContractors: The Phoenix Group.
* PsychoForHire: The mercenaries in the Phoenix Group.

* PteroSoarer: Averted with the unidentified tapejarids seen in a few brief flyovers.

* CasualDangerDialog: Nate Taylor. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by being ''that'' badass. Averted with the teenagers.

** When a crow-sized animal with hollow bones flies into people and clothing racks at full speed, more likely this will kill the animal, not fling things 40 times their weight into the air.

* StockDinosaurs: The show plays this straight while also averting it. Most of the dinosaurs appearing are fictional, but the few real species that appear are pretty famous: ''Carnotaurus'', brachiosaurs, ''Ankylosaurus'', etc. Even most of the fictional species resemble well-known dinosaurs. Completely averted with the Slashers, which look like proceratosaurs.

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: When your show’s premise is about colonizing an alternate Earth by way of a SwirlyEnergyThingy, you could have your setting include anything. So why not make it the Late Cretaceous and fill it with dinosaurs?

* SeldomSeenSpecies: ''Carnotaurus'' isn't very common in media despite being well-known, and (apart from the feathers and the forelimbs) was depicted very accurately. There are also ''Xiphactinus'', a type of marine fish, which [[MisplacedWildlife lives in the lakes]] near Terra Nova. The 20-foot-long adults are never seen or mentioned, but 3-foot juveniles are caught and eaten by Terra Novans. A less obvious example are the large pterosaurs seen in a few short scenes--rather than the typical ''Pteranodon'' seen in pop culture, it's an unnamed (and probably undiscovered) type of tapejarid. The slashers also aren't raptors at all; they're proceratosaurids.

* ZergRush: A flock of crow-sized pterosaurs attacks this way when their nesting ground is invaded [[spoiler:due to the fact that Terra Nova was literally built ''on top'' of it!]] And there are [[UpToEleven millions of them.]]

* RealityIsUnrealistic: The ''Brachiosaurus'' have fleshy nostrils on top of their heads, just like their counterparts in that [[Film/JurassicPark other mass media work showing dinosaurs]]. However, in the two decades since that movie came out [[ScienceMarchesOn Science Has Marched On]], with the most likely position of the nostrils being on the snout.

The premise is an ExcusePlot to have dinosaurs and humans interacting on a television show. The showrunners promised that the show would take pains to prevent [[ArtisticLicensePaleontology upsetting dinosaur fans]]. As expected, they lied.

* AdultFear: When the Shannons get to Terra Nova, one of the soldiers nearly slashes open with a knife the backpack their youngest daughter is hiding in.

* FingerlessGloves: Taylor, mostly, though Wash and Guzman also wear 'em. All the better to be badasses with, my dear...

* ArmiesAreEvil: The Phoenix Group
* ArtisticLicenseAstronomy: The moon ''was'' a bit [[TruthInTelevision closer to Earth]], 85 million years ago, but, unless the portal in time also displaced them in space and put them far nearer to the equator to create an optical effect, the Moon was barely distinguishable from the way it looks now.

** The Sixer who gets snatched out of his ATV and eaten by a carnotaur. FamousLastWords: "We're all clear!"

* AllAnimalsAreDomesticated: The Brachiosaur eating from Zoe's hand. Since they are grazing right next to the fence, though, it's doubtful Zoe is the first human they've met.

** Subverted with the "Empirosaur", the giant Spinosaur that appears in one episode; [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxalaia A Spinosaur of similar size and appearance- and possibly a species of Spinosaurus itself- was discovered in South America around the time the show aired]].

The premise is an ExcusePlot to have dinosaurs and humans interacting on a television show. The showrunners promised that the show would take pains to prevent [[ArtisticLicensePaleontology upsetting dinosaur fans]]. They were lying.

[[JustForFun/IThoughtThatWas Completely unrelated to]] [[SimilarlyNamedWorks the video game]] ''VideoGame/TerraNovaStrikeForceCentauri'', and the ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' episode [[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS01E06TerraNova of the same name]], which Braga co-wrote and produced.

* PsychoticManChild: Why does Lucas wants to destroy Terra Nova, kill countless innocent people and strip-mine the past for all its worth? Simply to get back at his dad for the delusional belief that he was a constant disappointment to him.

* LastFertileRegion: The alternate universe that Terra Nova inhabits is one compared to the devastated and ruined future Earth. Phoenix Group wants to take Terra Nova and strip mine it, regardless of how much damage they'll do the ecosystem, making Terra Nova just like Earth