Dinotopia (TV series)

For other uses, see Dinotopia (disambiguation).

Dinotopia is an American television series based on the series of illustrated books of the same name by James Gurney, in which three Americans have crash-landed a plane and found themselves on a remote uncharted island inhabited by people and dinosaurs.

Dinotopia
Based on	Dinotopia by James Gurney
Starring	Erik von Detten Shiloh Strong Michael Brandon Georgina Rylance Sophie Ward Lisa Zane Jonathan Hyde
Composer	Trevor Jones
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	November 28, 2002 (2002-11-28) – August 17, 2003 (2003-08-17)

Outline

US pilot Frank Scott, with his sons Karl and David, crash-lands a light plane in a tropical storm and they find themselves on an English-speaking island called Dinotopia, remote and undiscovered, where people live alongside dinosaurs, mostly peacefully.

The Scotts settle at Waterfall City, capital of Dinotopia, which then is affected by the arrival of a group called the Outsiders, who live outside the laws of Dinotopia. The Outsiders pose less of a danger than the featured Saurian antagonists, such as Pteranodon, Tyrannosaurus, and Postosuchus.^[1]

Production

The series was produced as a sequel to the miniseries Dinotopia, broadcast in early 2002, and thirteen new episodes were filmed. None of the cast of the mini-series returned to their roles. Location shooting lasted for three months near Budapest, Hungary. Georgina Rylance played Marion Waldo, and Lisa Zane her friend Le Sage, leader of the Outsiders.^[2] Michael Brandon, Jonathan Hyde, and Erik von Detten also star in the series.

ABC first planned to launch the series in September 2002, but in the event waited until Thanksgiving in November. The network was disappointed by the 5.7 million viewers for Episode 1, but stated that it had been an "odd viewing night overall" and continued to broadcast the show.^[3] However, in December the viewing figures had not improved enough to satisfy the ABC network, and the series was canceled,^[4] with the result that only six of the thirteen episodes were aired on ABC, although all thirteen were broadcast in Europe in 2003.

Artisan Entertainment released the whole series on Region 1 DVD on January 20, 2004. This release was later discontinued and went out of print, but on March 15, 2016, Mill Creek Entertainment re-released the series on Region 1 DVD^[5] and also on Region 2 DVD in Europe.

Cast

• Erik von Detten as Karl Scott
• Shiloh Strong as David Scott
• Michael Brandon as Frank Scott
• Omid Djalili as the voice of Zipeau
• Sophie Ward as Rosemary Waldo
• Lisa Zane as Le Sage
• Jonathan Hyde as Mayor Waldo
• Georgina Rylance as Marion Waldo
• Sian Brooke as Krista
• Zoltan Papp as Martino
• Zoltán Seress as Quint

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code
1	"Marooned"	Thomas J. Wright	Raymond Khoury	November 28, 2002 (2002-11-28)	475179
2	"Making Good"	Thomas J. Wright	Raymond Khoury	November 28, 2002 (2002-11-28)	475179
3	"Handful of Dust"	David Winning	Nick Harding	December 5, 2002 (2002-12-05)	475179
4	"Le Sage"	Marco Brambilla & Mike Fash	Story by : Howard Ellis & Nick Harding Teleplay by : Simon Moore	December 12, 2002 (2002-12-12)	475179
5	"Car Wars"	Mario Azzopardi	Story by : Nick Harding Teleplay by : Simon Moore	December 19, 2002 (2002-12-19)	475179
6	"The Matriarch"	Mario Azzopardi & Marco Brambilla	Story by : Judy Morris Teleplay by : Simon Moore	December 26, 2002 (2002-12-26)	475179
7	"Night of the Wartosa"	David Winning	Story by : Nick Harding Teleplay by : Simon Moore	July 27, 2003 (2003-07-27)	475179
8	"The Big Fight"	Mike Fash & David Winning	Teleplay by : Simon Moore	July 13, 2003 (2003-07-13)	475179
9	"Contact"	Mario Azzopardi & Marco Brambilla	Story by : Raymond Khoury Teleplay by : Simon Moore	July 20, 2003 (2003-07-20)	475179
10	"Lost & Found"	Mario Azzopardi	Raymond Khoury	July 6, 2003 (2003-07-06)	475179
11	"The Cure Part 1"	Thomas J. Wright	Unknown	August 3, 2003 (2003-08-03)	475179
12	"The Cure Part 2"	Thomas J. Wright	Unknown	August 10, 2003 (2003-08-10)	475179
13	"Crossroads"	Mario Azzopardi	Unknown	August 17, 2003 (2003-08-17)	475179

Dinosaurs

• Ankylosaurus
• Brachiosaurus ("Brach")
• Chasmosaurus (incorrectly classified as a hadrosaur)
• Parasaurolophus ("Overlander"/Guard)
• Mosasaurus (more crocodilian in appearance than in the fossil record, with arms and legs instead of flippers)
• Postosuchus
• Pteranodon
• Quetzalcoatlus ("Skybax")
• Stegosaurus one makes a cameo during the first episode and has a bigger role in episode 3
• Dunkleosteus (resembles more of an eel-like creature than in real life, with spikes on its face instead of armor plating)
• Stenonychosaurus
• Tyrannosaurus rex
• Triceratops (mentioned by Captain Oonu after the first Tyrannosaurus attack)
• Dimorphodon (portrayed inaccurately as a feathered bird)

Notes

1. Terrace, Vincent (January 10, 2014). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 263. ISBN 9780786486410.
2. "Dinotopia". Cinefantastique. Vol. 34, no. 3/4. 2002. p. 20.
3. Petrozzello, Donna (3 December 2002). "'Dinotopia' Gets Chance to Avoid Extinction". Daily News. Tribune Publishing. Archived from the original on December 8, 2008. Retrieved October 14, 2008.
4. Lowry, Brian (December 17, 2002). "ABC's 'Dinotopia' is a thing of the past". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 14, 2008.
5. Lambert, David (December 16, 2015). "Dinotopia - 'The Series' to be Re-Released in 2016 by Mill Creek Entertainment". TVShowsOnDVD.com. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2018.

External links

• Dinotopia at IMDb