This got absolutely slated by some, but personally I found it a lot of fun. I think some folk were expecting something groundbreaking, which this really isn’t; the sfx aren’t jaw-dropping, the storylines aren’t Lost-tastic.
In 2149, mankind has been reduced to living in cramped biodomes having finally polluted the rest of the planet to toxic status. A time portal is found and harnessed, allowing small numbers of the specially chosen to go back and set up a colony in some prehistoric, dinosaur-inhabited time: harsh, inhospitable, but the air is clean and promise good. (Incidentally, I wonder if the author Julian May has considered suing…!)
The bulk of the series follows the colonists, particularly the Shannon family. Alongside the daily practicalities (not that tough, actually, when you’ve taken a ton of tech back in time with you!) of life, family and friendship, there’s the far more interesting sideplots: why are the ‘Sixers’ – a splinter group – so determined to wage war on the main colony? What happened to the gruff leader’s (him out of Avatar!) son? What’s with the mysterious carvings in the out of bounds area? And is it all really so straightforwardly lucky that this is a different timeline, so stepping on butterflies isn’t a problem?
I can easily see what some people were disappointed, if they were expecting the next big fantasy/sci-fi masterpiece (the Spielberg connection maybe pushed that, and possibly the advertising – I didn’t see any). What they got was closer to a family adventure, with (disappointingly few!) added dinosaurs.