Prehistoric Park (DVD)

...tooth cat and Terror bird. Prehistoric South America is the setting for this rescue mission. Initially he goes back 1 million years and lands with some Toxodons. He disputes what was written about these animals in a book in a manner as to suggest that as he can see them here then this must be the correct version. He then catches a Terror Bird that was approaching extinction using highly dubious techniques. Then, he returns to the same place 10 thousand ...
...captured creatures are faring in Prehistoric Park. This was the most unbelievable part and the stories felt contrived just to make varied points about the creatures, which are not backed by any facts but only surmises.

The special features:
The making of Prehistoric Park was quite entertaining, surprisingly. I usually find these "making of" features to be dry, self-glorifying and navel gazing. This was done much more ... more

This is basically a DVD of the ITV1 series previously shown on Saturday nights in six weekly episodes of one hour each. (Here they are about fifty minutes long as there are no commercials.) The DVD consists of two discs, each with three episodes and some special features.

The series strap line is: What if extinction doesn't have to be forever? The premise is similar to that of the film Jurassic Park and continues the theme of the popular desire to bring extinct creatures back to life. Then to house the creatures in a big zoo come nature reserve and breed more. The difference between that film and this is that instead of extracting old DNA and breeding them, a time portal is used to go back in time and bring the actual creature back before its extinction. It sounds pretty fanciful and it actually is. However my five year old son loves Dr Who and dinosaurs in equal measure so for him such a combination is fantastic!

Nigel Marvin plays it for real as an actual conservationist who travels back in time to rescue animals. He goes to six different points in earth's pre history with a particular animal in mind. However during his adventures he collects other animals he wasn't originally intending to such as Woolly Rhinoceros and Giant Millipede. Why some are chosen as more worthy of saving is not made clear and seems deeply subjective and unworthy when trying to promote conservation. He also seems to go to their very point of dying such as an erupting volcano or a forest fire to go and save them. Why not go earlier and catch them far more easily? Also in some cases such as some bird-like dinosaurs he insists on catching a breeding colony or a pair of Sabre-Tooth Cats in order to get new young, whilst in others he gets one Giant Crocodile or one Giant Millipede. That's the end of the line for them!

Another bugbear (Why doesn't he save the wonderful Cave Bear?) is the authority given to the colour and sound of these ancient beasts. It is not known what their skin colour was or the noises they make. However because of films like this and "Walking with Dinosaurs", which this tries to emulate, people will come to believe the images supplied as facts. This is given in parallel with many true and interesting facts such as the previous shape and position of continents and what the world looked like back then. This blurring of known and unknown together has given my children some false ideas about the lives of these ancient creatures.

David Jason gives the background commentary, adding more authenticity to it all. It makes it all too real. It sounds so spookily like some real wildlife documentary films that my children have to be reminded about what is really real and what isn't.

The CGI effects, I have to admit, are stunning and in some ways it is fascinating to see what the huge creatures would have looked like and appreciate their colossal size in relation to the creatures of today. However, by mixing it in with humans and adventure it doesn't feel quite right.

The story features the manager of the zoo, Bob, trying to keep up with Nigel and his adventures. He is kept on his toes by Nigel bringing back unexpected creatures and the need to have enclosures ready for them. Then there is the vet, Suzanne, who uses her knowledge of current animals to try out solutions to cure the sick, previously extinct animals. I can see a link is trying to be made but it rings hollow and feels so unbelievable.

The episodes:
1) Tyrannosaurus Rex. In this first episode there is the scene setting of the formation of the ultimate wildlife sanctuary. Then Nigel's first adventure begins as he searches for the largest land-based carnivore ever to have existed. He goes back in time to Montana, USA, 65 million years ago, a short time before it is believed that the giant meteor hits Earth near Mexico and begins the chain of events that ultimately destroyed the dinosaurs. He spends the episode tracking Tyrannosaurus Rex and encounters other dinosaurs, Triceratops and Ornithemimus, along the way and brings them back to the present day.
2) Mammoth. In this episode, Nigel goes back to the ice age of Siberia of 10 thousand years ago. There he encounters a cave bear, which he thought would be already extinct. He decides not save it for now. Yet he does save a woolly rhinoceros. The mammoth he goes for is very ill which seems strange when there were plenty of others to go for. This seems to be a device to show the relationship between elephants and mammoths as we get to see this mammoth get incorporated into a present day herd of elephants.
3) Microraptor. Nigel goes after some less well-known dinosaurs. He goes back in time to China 125 million years ago with a small team. He encounters Pterasaurs and Titannosaurs, but only brings back the latter. Microraptors are among the smallest of the dinosaurs. They had four wings and are believed to have had feathers. In this case, he makes sure that he brings back a breeding colony. Yet he only brought back one mammoth. We don't know for sure that they really had wings but this films makes it appear definitely so.
4) Sabre tooth cat and Terror bird. Prehistoric South America is the setting for this rescue mission. Initially he goes back 1 million years and lands with some Toxodons. He disputes what was written about these animals in a book in a manner as to suggest that as he can see them here then this must be the correct version. He then catches a Terror Bird that was approaching extinction using highly dubious techniques. Then, he returns to the same place 10 thousand years ago to catch Sabre Tooth Cats. Whilst he was not concerned about that with the Terror Bird, he makes sure to get a pair so they could breed. He takes the cat expert Saba Douglas-Hamilton with him on this trip, which adds further to misplaced authenticity.
5) Dragonfly. This adventure is set in very ancient, pre dinosaur times of the Cambrian forest of 300 million years ago. Here Nigel searches for huge invertebrates in what is now modern day Scotland but then was a land on the equator. He goes about catching a giant dragonfly in such an amateurish way as to be unbelievable. Then he takes on a giant scorpion and stumbles upon an arthroplura, a giant millipede without any idea if it was carnivore or not.
6) Deinosuchus. This was a giant crocodile that hunted dinosaurs and lived in the inland seas that are now part of North America. Nigel goes back 75 million years to find and capture one of these species. He doesn't explain how it is going to live with the present day crocodiles that they currently have. Here we see Parasaurolophus and their definitive version of how they move and how they react to attack by Albertosaurus. It could be true but the certainty they portray unsettles me. Nigel goes out in a little dinghy where these monsters live, which would be ridiculously dangerous if it was for real. The capture of the crocodile was based on the behaviour of the current day equivalent, which was not necessarily true of these ancient creatures.

Running in parallel with these adventures, there is the running story of how the already captured creatures are faring in Prehistoric Park. This was the most unbelievable part and the stories felt contrived just to make varied points about the creatures, which are not backed by any facts but only surmises.

The special features:
The making of Prehistoric Park was quite entertaining, surprisingly. I usually find these "making of" features to be dry, self-glorifying and navel gazing. This was done much more lighthearted and sometimes tongue in cheek. Jasper James, a director, was particularly dry in his sense of humour. One example was his explanation of how time travel was achieved in opposition to Einstein. Basically, all you have to do is put two lights in the ground and you have a time portal. Brilliant! The programme shows the separate filming that goes into making it all and then how it is fitted together like a jigsaw. It shows the tremendous technology and creativity needed to create the effects.

The storyboards were more interesting after viewing the "making of" as it put them more into context. It was also interesting to see these drawings after watching the episodes as it made me appreciate the effort and skills used to make all these extinct animals look so real.

However after feeling so dubious about the whole thing, if it makes my son more interested in animals and their welfare, then it cannot be such bad a thing, can it? At school he plays his own made up Prehistoric Park game with his friends, so this series has given him hours of pleasure and inspiration and not just by sitting in front of the television screen. I, too, have learnt about interesting animals that I hadn't previously known such as the Terror Bird and the Deinosuchus, so perhaps, despite all of my misgivings, it is of some merit after all.

 

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