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Q: What’s the deal with Steven Spielberg’s time-travel, dinosaur series Terra Nova? I thought it was coming in January. — Dan, Vancouver, WA

The Oracle Speaks:

Because this is such a high-profile project – Steven Spielberg doing a big-budget time-travel TV series about dinosaurs – interest has obviously been sky-high. Not surprisingly, every little move has been chronicled by the media (including a controversy last fall, which the show’s producers now deny even happened, attributing it all to mere scheduling problems).

But I’m not sure the show is as far behind schedule as some people think, or as any other show of this magnitude might be; I think it’s simply a question of higher visibility coupled with viewer impatience. Regardless, it will definitely debut in May with a two-hour premiere movie, setting it up for a regular run in the fall.

Truthfully? While I’m interested in the show, I’m also mostly pessimistic about it.

First, I was at the network’s preview presentation of the show at last week’s Television Critics Association conference in Pasadena: they showed brief clips, and the cast and crew all talked about the project (Spielberg wasn’t there).

I was unimpressed. They emphasized that this is big, broad entertainment, nothing like Lost, which, for all my issues with it, was smart and complicated. I interpreted this talk to mean they’re dumbing the show down. I’m all for popcorn entertainment, but the central dramatic premise — about a family trying to reconnect with each other by going back through time — screamed “cliche”.

Next, the showrunner is Brannon Braga of Star Trek fame. For some, that’s a good sign, but while Braga did some interesting work on ST: The Next Generation and Voyager, he’s stayed decidedly old-school and proven mostly unable to reinvent himself in this era of changes in the TV sci-fi genre: Battlestar Galactica was the Star Trek project that Enterprise should’ve been, and Threshold and Flash Forward, which Braga was intimately involved with, ended up being major disappointments to me.

And perhaps apropos of nothing, I just finished watching Steven Spielberg’s other high profile TV “event” of the year, the alien invasion series Fallen Skies, coming this summer on TNT.

It. Is. Terrible. I mean, shockingly bad: horribly written, cheaply produced, and a complete cliche is almost every way.

It’s debatable how involved Spielberg has been with either of these shows (and given the fair amount of crap Spielberg has produced in his career, an argument can also be made that he may not be the brilliant visionary he’s sometimes made out to be; his TV record is even more mixed than his movie one: Seaquest 2032 anyone? ).

Like I said, all this makes me a little pessimistic.

Q: It depressed me to see the new movie The Rite, which seems like yet another rip-off of The Exorcist. Just out of curiosity, how many “demon possession” movies have their been now anyway? – MM, Calgary, Canada

The Oracle Speaks:

It’s a little depressing, isn’t it? The Rite opens January 28th in the US and certainly proves the long-standing fascination with the Catholic ritual, doesn’t it?

But it’s an interesting question: how many Exorcist rip-offs er, films about exorcism have their been?

In addition to four Exorcist sequels or prequels, movies where exorcism plays at least a semi-major plot element include The Exorcism of Emily Rose; Exorcism: The Possession of Gail Bowers (2006); End of Days (1999); The Order (2003); Exorcismus (2010); Stigmata(1999): Possessed (2000); The Unborn (2009); Requiem (2006); and two parody films, The Last Exorcism (2010) and Repossessed (1990).

Q: A new year, a new slate of genre movies. Which are you most looking forward to? — Andrew, Miami, FL

The Oracle Speaks:

In the months ahead, fantasy or sci-fi movies I’m looking forward to include The Adjustment Bureau, starring Matt Damon (March 4), about a man who decides to defy his “destiny,” and The Source Code (April 1), about Jake Gyllenhaal forced to relive the last eight minutes of his life (it’s by the director of Moon, which was flawed but interesting).

Incidentally, expect to see many many such Inception-like movies in the years ahead!

Based solely on the premise of a man suing the devil for $8 trillion, I’m intrigue by Suing the Devil (March 11).

The word on the fantasy spoof Your Highness (April 8) is pretty good, and the cast (James Franco, Natalie Portman, Zooey Deschanel) is to die for, but the trailer was unfunny to me.

Movies I don’t want to see?

The worst actor in movies today, Nic Cage, has another movie I will naturally try to avoid, Drive Angry (February 25), and I’m already tired of the trend of “reclaiming” children’s fairy tales, so that rules out Beastly (March 3) and Red Riding Hood (March 11).

I’m think I’m mostly done with superhero movies for a few years, even Thor (May 6), but I may be talked into going to X-Men: First Class (June 3).

They’re pushing Limitless (March 18), about a man who takes a pill to tap into his potential, way too hard, and you obviously couldn’t pay me to see Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides (May 20).

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Terra Nova, Steven Spielberg’s dinosaur/time-travel TV series coming from Fox in May, was officially unveiled today at the Television Critics Association conference in Pasadena.

It was difficult to tell from the short clip that was shown and the comments of the producers, but the show seems fairly conventional with an intentional ”popcorn” feel, specifically designed to appeal to a large audience.

“Earth is essentially dying, animals are extinct,” says Executive Producer Brannon Braga. People are sent back via a time-travel portal to pre-historic times to re-colonize the Earth. “That’s their hope: a second chance at humanity.”

But Braga is quick to point out, “We’ve gotten a lot of questions about the dinosaurs and the ecosytems. But it’s really a very emotional show, about a family starting over in this primieval place.”

“This show is made for a  mass audience,” says director Alex Graves flatly – unlike Lost with its geek-friendly, labyrinthine storylines. “Unlike anything I’ve ever done, it’s made for everyone.”

“You’ve got characters in a prehistoric setting using modern technology,” Braga says. “Every aspect of the show appealed to me.”

What about last fall’s controversy over a supposed firing of the show’s writers?

“I don’t know where that was reported, but the [writing turn-over] wasn’t higher than usual,” Braga says. “We had one writer change.”

Some writers did leave due to production delays. “Creating a show is like giving birth,” Brago says. “There are labor pains.”

How’d they go about world-building?

“We’ve taken a long time to create this world, both the past and future worlds,” Braga says. “It’s primarily an episodic show, but we have over-arching mysteries as well. We’ll go to the future as it impacts the past.”

“It was a lush period, the beginning of flowers,” says Graves. “It goes into the types of dinosaurs, and the gray areas of evolution, when they were starting to turn into birds. So you’re going to see dinosaurs you’ve never seen before. We’re filling in some blanks.”

But he also adds, “No sleestaks.”

An environmental message is “an important part of the story, that [humans] wouldn’t go back and make the same mistakes,” Braga says. “The community [in the past] is a sustainable one. It was very important to Mr. Spielberg” to have a pro-environmental message.

“It is about a second chance for Earth, but Earth can only be restored if they restore themselves,” Braga says. “That’s the philosophical crux of the show: can utopia be built? Is it even possible?”

In the story of the show, a portal has been accidentally discovered that allows people to travel back in time. After initial volunteers determine that it was possible to survive in the past, groups of hundreds of pioneers are also sent into the past. The show follows one such family — a story that brings them in contract with not just dinosaurs and other dangers, but also earlier pioneers who have different ideas about community-building.

As for executive producer Steven Spielberg, “he’s very involved,” Braga says. “Every idea that this guy comes up with is genius. Every aspect, we waited for his input.”

“Part of the terror of directing this is he’s watching everything you do,” says director Alex Graves. ”It could’ve been nerve-wracking, but it was very positive.”

The show will premiere in May as a two-part movie, then join Fox’s fall schedule.

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• The drama this week is behind-the-scenes. Trouble on the set — huge cost-overruns and staff firings — at Steven Spielberg’s upcoming dinosaur TV series Terra Nova. The pilot debuts in May, with the series following in the fall.

• Meanwhile, the Broadway musical adaptation of Spider-Man is also encountering delays. If this thing wasn’t directed by The Lion King’s Julie Taymor, I’d say it was certain to be a colossal flop.

• Geez, did Megamind open today? I totally meant to review that one, and it totally got away from me. Sorry!

• The trailer for Dragon Age 2. Man oh man…

• Sally Field is in talks to join the cast of the Spider-Man movie reboot as — who else? — probably Aunt May. It’s reportedly Martin Sheen as the uncle.

• Johnny Depp and Tim Burton are moving forward with the movie version of Dark Shadows. Not a huge Burton fan, but I’ll grant that this seems perfect for them.

• This joke seems like more outright D&D bigotry. Perhaps I’m too sensitive, but man, I’ve been hearing this same tired shtick my whole life.

• The second-to-last book in the last Wheel of Time Trilogy is out this week!

• First Dungeons & Dragons Online goes free, now Lord of the Rings Online. It’s the future of MMO!

• On open letter to Syfy regarding Caprica. I wasn’t a fan of the show, but I’d be really, really pissed too.

• You gotta love the Scott Pilgrim action figures. Adorable!

• Wow, bitter much? Salon says don’t write that novel for November’s NaNoWriMo. But it worked, because I’m linking to it.

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• Warner Bros. has announced that the new trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 will premiere this Wednesday at 6pm on www.harrypotter.com.

• The opinions on Comedy Central’s Ugly Americans vary wildly. My own opinion on Ugly Americans varies wildly from episode to episode. And now we have new episodes October 6^th, and it looks like the new season has a lot more zombies. Also, I was unaware that demons were inflatable.

• Director Alex Proyas (Knowing) is set to direct a 3D action film version of Milton’s Paradise Lost. This one seems to focus on action more than the story of Adam and Eve’s temptation and expulsion from the Garden of Eden. There’s talk of aerial combat scenes, so I’m guessing angels and demons everywhere. And, possibly, a lot of angry Christians.

• Is True Blood going to spin off into movies? Probably not, but that’s the latest chatter on the internet.

• Next month we can expect Warner Bros to announce a plan and a timeline to turn the DC Comics characters into a coherent set of movie franchises that interlock in much the same way that Marvel has done with The Avengers.

• The first concept art for the Shadows of the Damned video game are out. The game follows Garcia Hotspur, a self described demon hunter, who travels to hell to save his true love. The game is due for release on PS3 and Xbox 360 next year.

• October 8^th and 9^th, the entire score to The Lord of the Rings will be performed live to the film at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Very cool.

• Avatar’s Stephen Lang has been confirmed as the leader of the settlement on Stephen Spielberg’s upcoming Terra Nova series (which includes dinosaurs!).

• In this clip from The Legend of the Guardians - Ezylryb (Geoffrey Rush) teaches Soren (Jim Sturgess) how to fly in the rain. I had assumed that owls knew how to do that automatically, given that they’re so darn wise.

• And the latest in the saga to get The Hobbit and James Bond out of limbo at cash-strapped MGM is that India’s Sahara Group has offered to buy the studio’s debt for $2 billion.

• The voice of Reepicheep in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader keeps changing. First it was Eddie Izzard, who was replaced by Bill Nighy. Now Simon Pegg is confirming via Twitter he’s now voicing the character. I’ve just watched the trailer three times, and couldn’t tell you.

• Don Cheadle and Frida Pinto have both been offered roles in the Planet of the Apes prequel, currently called Caesar. They would likely play scientists opposite James Franco’s character — they increase the intelligence of apes in modern-day San Francisco.

• I had no idea that Arthur and the Invisibles had a sequel, much less a trilogy. Arthur and the War of the Two Worlds is the third film, and while this trailer is in French, you can get the basic idea.

• Marshall Allman is playing Sam Merlotte’s brother on True Blood. In a new interview, he describes the character is essentially unloved. He evaluates every new person in his life under the basic rules of: should I impress, screw, or pummel you? Much like many of us.

• The only thing in the world of fantasy capable of drowning out True Blood is the upcoming Twilight film. On Wednesday night, Jimmy Kimmel hosts his Twilight special with Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson. He’s also having some special guests like Jersey Shore’s The Situation — apparently the first vampire to have a tanning coffin. Hey, if you’re going to have vampires who can go out in sunlight and sparkle, you’re going to end up with “guido” vampires.

• Jason O’Mara is time-traveling again. The Life On Mars star is going to headline the Steven Speilberg-produced Fox TV show Terra Nova about a colony of humans sent back in time to build a civilization without destroying the planet.

• Megan Fox is more than just a pretty face? Doing press for the abysmal Jonah Hex, she went off on a Lord of the Rings tangent about how no matter the effort, you can never please a comic book fan or a Tolkien purist. She says she hangs out in LoTR forums, and she sees posts, “And they’ll complain that Frodo is eating the Lembas bread outside of Mordor instead of in the Mines of Moria. And they get really mad.” Who knew?

• As long as we’re talking about Jonah Hex, it opened to a pathetic $5.1 million on a $65 million budget, with Toy Story 3 soaking up most of the oxygen for an estimated $109 million.

• Crowds lined up for six-hour waits to enter parts of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter during the formal opening. The new park expansion comes at a critical time for Florida tourism, already under pressure from the recession, and now with the beaches feeling the heat from the oil spill. And Daniel Radcliffe couldn’t be more impressed with what’s been built. They paid him to say that, but still.

EW is reporting that Steven Spielberg has taped an “introductory” message explaining a new science fiction series he’s producing for Fox called Terra Nova. Should the show get picked up by the network, they’ll play Spielberg’s message to advertisers this Monday night.

According to the magazine, the network is virtually certain to pick the series up for at least thirteen episodes. The show will film this summer in Hawaii and air next year as a mid-season replacement.

In the series, a family more than 100 years in an apocalyptic future travels  back to a prehistoric past via a massive time machine. They’re looking to “start over” in an unspoiled world, but what they find is entirely unexpected.

That includes dinosaurs — lots and lots of dinosaurs.

Brannon Braga (Star Trek, FlashForward) will executive produce, among others.

• Joss Whedon is looking for Comic-Con superfans for the documentary he’s developing with Super Size Me’s Morgan Spurlock. I don’t really know their angle, but consider Morgan (who I went to high school with) so immersed himself in junk food he nearly died to make his big film — so we could be looking at a geek reenactment of epic proportions.

• As for geek reenactments of slightly less-epic proportions, more than 100 Star Wars fans flashmobbed a shopping mall in Bristol, England for a massive lightsaber battle. Yes, there’s a video:

• Something was in the water in the UK, because days later, 99 costumed cosplayers dressed up in their Federation finest showed up at the London launch of the Star Trek MMO. They were trying to set the record for most costumed Trek fans in one place. I’d like to make a joke, but I can’t stop starring at the rack on Beverly Crusher.

• It’s official: you can see the trailer for Eclipse when Robert Pattinson’s Remember Me opens in theaters March 12.

• In case you’re waiting breathlessly for Sharktopus on SyFy March 13, you can whet your whistle with the network’s showing of Dinoshark, also from director Roger Corman. In the article, Corman explains how you get a Sharktopus in the first place, and as usual, the U.S. military is involved.

• Over at Entertainment Weekly, Michael Ausiello thinks that The Legend of the Seeker is a safe bet for renewal. He also gives dish on the March 20^th episode where Kahlan has a spell put on her, and Richard has to protect her greatest enemy to save her. I don’t watch the series, but based on my memory of the books, I’m going with Shota.

• This picture hit my inbox with no explanation — it could be real, it could be fake. All I know is that the combination of features in the image is slightly terrifying. Anybody want to explain how this isn’t scary?

• In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Sir Anthony Hopkins gives his take on playing Odin in Thor, and while he calls it a “ruthless charm,” I’d go with pig-headed.

• Director Stephen Norrington’s new take on The Crow will film before he gets around to Patrol, since he actually has a script on The Crow, even if he’s not telling us what it is. All we know is that it’s not a sequel/prequel, just a new look at the mythology.

• Viceland had a list of the Dumbest Action Figures of All Time that ranges from Mozart to George Lucas to Wonder Woman. It’s a bizarre walk through toys that never should have been.

• There’s a new feature trailer out for The Secret of Kells, and the more I see of this fantasy/historical animation, the more determined I am to see it.

• Eureka Unscripted takes us into the rather bland geek-den that the writers of the quirky SyFy program hole up in to create their imaginary technologies, which still make more sense that the science on Fringe.

• Slashfilm gives us a rambling interview with Mike Newell, the director of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. It doesn’t really spend much time on the movie, but more discusses Mr. Newell’s rather eclectic career choices. My favorite line? “The great thing about guys like me is I don’t have to make anything.” I love an honest man.

• All of Hollywood and the blogosphere is buzzing that Stephen Spielberg may go make something with dinosaurs again. We’re not talking about revisiting Jurassic Park (someone else is make those three films), but Terra Nova, a television series being called Land of the Lost , but nice. I keep having weird flashes of dinosaurs done on a television budget, and all I see is Primeval, and do we really need to see that again?

• Avatar gets the FunnyOrDie treatment today with Bavatar, where babies transfer themselves into adult bodies so they can gain control of the kitchens from the adult world.

• EA says Dragon Age: Origins has sold 3.2 million copies, an astounding run guaranteed to bring sequels and expansion packs for years to come. Bring on more of that troll on elf lovin’.

• The most elusive part of Avatar: The Last Airbender (besides any hint of humor) has been Appa, the six-legged flying bison. With only the briefest cameo in the trailer, our best indication of the live-action version of Ang’s best friend may be the toys that will accompany the film. Based on this gallery, well, it looks like a six legged flying bison. I don’t know why my mind thinks a plastic Appa is wrong, and he should be plush, but it does.

• Ratings for Spartacus: Blood and Sand were down Friday night opposite the Olympics Opening Ceremonies, which was no surprise, but numbers for rebroadcasts are up. Starz has a bona fide hit on their hands.

• We have a featurette from How to Train Your Dragon that makes me not hate the film as much as all the shameless Olympic plugs have been making me hate it. Mostly because we spend some time getting to know all the dragon types, and it sounds like someone thought about this for a while.

• And finally, we have a new featurette for Alice In Wonderland, this time focusing on the world building and the non-human creatures in that world like the Bandersnatch and the March Hare, who finally speaks. All in all, about four seconds of new footage, and three seconds of old footage with new sound — but what sound it is when the Bandersnatch roars!