Terra Nova/Characters

Jim Shannon
"Played By: Jason O'Mara"


 * Badass
 * Berserk Button: Don't touch his kids. Or his wife.
 * Cowboy Cop: Though oddly enough, Da Chief is still cowboy enough himself to rather appreciate it. Though as far as Terra Nova and Taylor is concerned, he's basically the -only- cop in town. Everyone else is technically part of the security force.
 * Daddy Had a Good Reason For Abandoning You: Prison, in this case.
 * Papa Wolf: Don't mess with his kids. Ever.
 * A great example happens in the finale.
 * Troll: Though he clearly doesn't have a problem with Reynolds dating his daughter, he seems to enjoy messing with Reynolds since he's always so serious.

Elizabeth Shannon
"Played By: Shelley Conn"


 * Absurdly Youthful Mother
 * Guile Hero
 * Hospital Hottie
 * Hot Mom
 * Hot Scientist: Though she dresses reasonably, is married, and has children.

Josh Shannon
"Played By: Landon Liboiron"


 * Distracted By the Sexy: Generally, if Skye is going somewhere or doing something, you can bet he's easily persuaded into going along.
 * The Load: More so in the pilot episode.
 * Rebellious Spirit: Ranging from the Deadpan Snarker variety to occasional Jerkass.
 * Took a Level In Badass: In the season finale.

Maddy Shannon
"Played By: Naomi Scott"


 * Adorkable
 * Bookworm
 * Girl Next Door
 * Girlish Pigtails: Shown in the season one premier, in order to make her seem older after the Time Skip.
 * Hollywood Nerd: Of the Type 2 variety.
 * Moment Killer
 * Miss Exposition

Zoe Shannon
"Played By: Alana Mansour"


 * Girlish Pigtails
 * Tagalong Kid

Commander Nathaniel Taylor
"Played By: Stephen Lang"


 * A Father To His Time-Travelling Community
 * Authority Equals Asskicking
 * Badass
 * Badass Beard
 * Commanding Coolness / Colonel Badass
 * Big Good
 * Cool Old Guy
 * Dark and Troubled Past: Mind Rape by Somalian and Russo-Chinese terrorists not the worst thing he went through before signing up for the Terra Nova project,.
 * My Greatest Failure:.
 * Parental Substitute: to Skye.
 * Reynolds as well. He's apparently been giving him dating advice.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: Sometimes. Other times (as in the end of the murder mystery ep) he's more Screw the Rules, I Make Them.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: It's becoming clearer as the series progresses that will do just about anything to protect his vision of Terra Nova's future.

Skye
"Played By: Allison Miller"


 * Action Girl
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: More recently, she's starting to help Josh find a way to bring his 2149-era girlfriend to Terra Nova.
 * Ms. Fanservice
 * Ms. Fanservice
 * Ms. Fanservice

Guzman
"Played By: Milo Hamada"


 * Papa Wolf: To his idiot kid, Tasha.

Lieutenant Alicia Washington
"Played By: Simone Kessell"


 * Action Girl
 * Badass
 * Combat Medic: Who served in an enormous mess in Somalia before a nasty hit took her out of action. Still manages to kick loads of ass.
 * Good Looking Privates: Although one with far too low a rank for her age.
 * Hypercompetent Sidekick: Not that Taylor needs a super awesome sidekick ... but he damn well has one.
 * Noodle Incident: Plenty between her and Taylor. Also somewhat justifies her low rank since it seems she's unwilling to outrank Taylor due to respect and camaraderie.
 * The Lancer: To Commander Taylor.
 * Subordinate Excuse: Strongly implied towards Taylor.
 * YMMV. She and Taylor are very much like Jurgen and Cain. Unless you'd say there was Ho Yay between those two ...
 * Subordinate Excuse: Strongly implied towards Taylor.
 * YMMV. She and Taylor are very much like Jurgen and Cain. Unless you'd say there was Ho Yay between those two ...

Mark Reynolds
"Played By: Dean Geyer"

""I would like to declare my intentions toward your daughter.""
 * Good Looking Privates
 * Meet Cute: When first running into Maddy.
 * Officer and A Gentleman: Though he's not an officer, he is excruciatingly, even old-fashionedly polite to Maddy and her parents when it comes to intimacy issues.

"Jim (to Maddy): That's how you know a boy likes you."
 * Shallow Love Interest: To Maddy. What exactly do we know about this guy?
 * He did volunteer to take over guard duty for the Shannons' house when the pterodactyls were swarming the colony. He got knocked unconscious for his efforts, but he was certainly more competent at it than the three Shannon siblings at any rate.

Malcolm Wallace
"Played By: Rod Hallett"


 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Might come with his job of Chief Science Officer.
 * Working With the Ex

Tom Boylan
"Played By: Damien Garvey"


 * The Bartender
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Noodle Incident: At least to anyone that isn't Boylan, Taylor, or Jim, why Taylor tolerates Boylan (and conversely, why Boylan is ultimately loyal to Terra Nova and will help Taylor). Ironically, said Noodle Incident is also seemingly responsible for his current state as
 * Noodle Incident: At least to anyone that isn't Boylan, Taylor, or Jim, why Taylor tolerates Boylan (and conversely, why Boylan is ultimately loyal to Terra Nova and will help Taylor). Ironically, said Noodle Incident is also seemingly responsible for his current state as

Mira
"Played By: Christine Adams"


 * Anti-Villain
 * Interestingly, this is a tactic that she herself is not above using.
 * Kick the Dog: Blackmailing a Sixer child into spying for her by threatening to hurt her brother.
 * Pet the Dog: When that falls through, however, she admits she was bluffing and lets the hostage rejoin his sister in the far more salubrious neighbourhood that is Terra Nova, no strings attached.
 * Rebel Leader

Lucas Taylor

 * Big Bad
 * Brother-Sister Incest: Okay, so Skye may not technically be blood-related, but Lucas takes her treatment of his father as a father-figure as being enough to make them brother and sister. And then proceeds to come on to her in an extremely creepy fashion.
 * Man Behind the Man:
 * Freudian Excuse:
 * Large Ham
 * Psychotic Man Child:
 * Psychotic Smirk: Often.
 * Self Made Orphan: He really wants to do this. Comes pretty close, too.
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy:
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy:

Weaver

 * Big Bad Duumvirate
 * Establishing Character Moment: Shooting a Brachiosaur while it was having lunch. Unprovoked.
 * Jerkass
 * Smug Snake
 * Smug Snake