Prehistoric Park
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| Prehistoric Park | |
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| Genre | Science fiction / Docu-fiction |
|---|---|
| Starring | Nigel Marven |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes (including commercials) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV Animal Planet |
| Original run | 22 July 2006 – Present |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Chased by Dinosaurs Sea Monsters Walking with Dinosaurs Walking With Beasts Walking With Monsters Primeval |
Prehistoric Park is a six-episode docu-fiction television mini-series that premiered on ITV on 22 July 2006 and on Animal Planet on 29 October 2006. The program was produced by Impossible Pictures Limited, who also created Walking with Dinosaurs. Each episode is an hour long including commercial breaks.
The programme is narrated by David Jason and presented by Nigel Marven. The fictional component is the theme that Nigel goes back to various geological time periods through a time portal, and brings back live specimens of extinct animals back to the present day, where they are exhibited in a wildlife park named Prehistoric Park, which is a big area between high steep mountains and ocean (which serve to help confine any escapes) with varied environments.
On the DVD of the series, the introduction says that "the events in these 6 episodes are largely to find the possibility of keeping animals from old geological periods alive in the modern world and later they may get breeding populations of more species".
The soundtrack to the series, composed by Daniel Pemberton, was released on iTunes in August 2007 by 1812 Recordings.
Contents |
[edit] Characters
- Nigel Marven (as himself) - responsible for travelling back in time to collect the animals. Played usually by himself, sometimes by Physical Effects Supervisor Jamie Campbell: see [1]
- Bob (Rod Arthur) - the long-suffering head keeper at the park. In charge of feeding, cleaning and controlling the animals in the park.
- Suzanne (Suzanne McNabb) - the head vet. Responsible for treating animals when they're sick or injured.
- Saba Douglas-Hamilton (as herself) - a big cat specialist, whom Nigel invites back to catch Smilodon in episode 4.
- Bill - a crew member who travels back with Nigel. Introduced in episode 5.
- Jim - an associate of Nigel who travels with him through time. Also introduced in episode 5.
- Ben - One of Nigel's crew. Four Mei long attacked him for meat in his backpack. Introduced in episode 3.
There are various other staff members, but none of their names have been given. One of the more prominent is Suzanne's blonde assistant, who appears in episode 2 & 3
[edit] Episodes
[edit] Locations within the park
[edit] Animals
- Triceratops horridus - a three-horned dinosaur (one male, named Theo)
- Ornithomimus - a dinosaur somewhat like a modern ostrich (at least 13, males and females, later they had 8 chicks, one chick may be named Ollie)
- Tyrannosaurus rex - one of the biggest theropods (a brother and sister named Terence and Matilda)
- Mammuthus primigenius (Woolly Mammoth) (one female, named Martha)
- Elasmotherium (one male)
- Microraptors - (four, at least one female)
- Titanosaurs -one of the biggest sauropods (nine)
- Phorusrhacos (one male)
- Smilodon gracilis (one male and one female, who later had two cubs, the female may be named Sabrina)
- Meganeura (one male)
- Pulmonoscorpius (one, gender unknown)
- Arthropleura (one male)
- Deinosuchus (one female)
- Troodon (one male, accidentally brought back (stowed away in jeep))
There are also several non-extinct animals in the park. These are:
- African Elephants (a herd of ten, females and one male calf)
- Cheetah (one, male)
- Nile Crocodiles (over seven, males and females, one named Henry)
Nigel also has several pets at his base, including Blue-and-yellow Macaws, a Western hog-nosed snake, a Hermann's Tortoise and two Jackson's Chameleons.
There are also several animals that appear in the opening but are not in the park. These are:
- Two Nyctosaurus
- Two Parasaurolophus
- Five more Triceratops, though it is possible one could be Theo.
- One Crassigyrinus
[edit] Devices/vehicles used
The time portal is generated by two metal poles about 3 feet tall. The tops of the poles need to be turned to switch the gate on. When activated, a blue light near the tops of the poles flashes, and the gate field develops between them. The park end of the Time Portal is always at the same place, and leads into a long strong high-walled stockade passage. In close-ups, a faint image of either the park or the time period can be seen. The Time Portal is similar to the anomilies in Primeval
A list of the (non-vehicular) technology seen in the series:
A list of all vehicles seen in the series:
- Snowmobile (used in Mammoth Undertaking)
- Covered truck/Land Rover (used in The Bug House)
- RIB with an A-frame and a steering wheel (used in The Bug House)
- Inflatable raft (used in Supercroc)
- Tractor/mock Triceratops (used in T-Rex Returns)
- Special containment vehicles for transporting the creatures that are fitted to the back of a jeep.
These items were taken through the time portal:
- Portable air-cylinder-powered bicycle horn. In episode 6, Nigel uses it to scare away some Troodon. (He uses it when he is being threatened by Velociraptor in The Giant Claw.)
- Carbon dioxide detector. (Carbon dioxide is lethal at high levels.)
- A light strapped to the head without a helmet.
- Microlight
- Netgun
- Tranquilliser gun
- Videocamera, fitted with movement detector and night vision device.
- Walkietalkie
[edit] Where the prehistoric scenes were filmed
- Episode 1: Montana, U.S.: the Andean national parks of Chile where there are plenty of Araucaria and Nothofagus trees.
- Episode 2: Siberia: the Yukon in Canada.
- Episode 3: China: Rotorua, New Zealand, in the Redwood, Ohakuri, and Tikitere forests.
- Episode 4: South America: dry grassland near Brasilia in Brazil.
- Episode 5: coal forest in Scotland: swamp forest in southern Florida, but some of the vegetation was CGI.
- Episode 6: Texas, U.S.: the freshwater lakes of Fraser Island, Australia.
[edit] Miscellaneous points
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Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (April 2008) |
- Nigel's drawing of a terror bird is Titanis,[citation needed] a North American terror bird, though Nigel brings back a Phorusrhacos, a South American terror bird.
- The pictures of the Triceratops show that it had grinding teeth, while in reality, they have shearing teeth.
- The Ornithomimus are shown to have sexual dimorphism (This is entirely speculative). The females are all grey and the males have bright blue heads and necks.
- The Triceratops also appear to have sexual dimorphism. They start out with brown-red crests, which the females retain. However, males develop striking blue crests (shown when Nigel points out a mature male in the herd), which appears as they reach sexual maturity. This is shown by Theo - when originally captured, he has a brown crest, which turns blue in the park, as pointed out by Suzanne. This change coincides with his increasingly aggressive behaviour.
- The Elasmotherium is captured in the second episode, but not mentioned again until the sixth, though not by name. Similarly, after the episode in which four Microraptor are caught, only one is shown again.
- In Episode 5 CGI was used to create much of the vegetation (consisting of a species of lycopsid tree). Ground shots were made in a modern swamp forest in southern Florida: as a result, the bases of the tree trunks are not the usual Carboniferous lycopsid tree shape with the trunk splitting into 4 equal big roots (Stigmaria).
- The DVD of the series contains some storyboard sequences. One shows a discarded early version of the confrontation between Martha and Matilda. In it: Matilda is smaller than in the movie. Matilda jumps on Martha's head, making it into a fight. Nigel throws a big stone at Matilda.
- In the Animal Planet version of the series, many of the scenes present in the ITV original were cut, including Bob bringing an insufficiently sized bird cage, and Nigel's first encounter with the Parasaurolophus.
- Episode 6 is the only one in which Nigel does not travel to the past twice, as Nigel does return to the past in Episode 5 but only to tie the rope to the Land Rover which was then pulled into the park by a titanosaur.
- Episode 5 was the only one in which Nigel had no specific target species to catch.
- Episodes 1 and 5 are the only episodes in which Nigel brings three species back to the park.
- The actual species of the titanosaurs in the series is never stated. Titanosaur remains are known from the Yixian Formation which contains all the fauna in the episode, but they have never been given a scientific name or assigned to a genus.
- When Nigel captures the Pulmonoscorpius in episode 5, he mentions how the scorpions are built more to suit the sea than the land. This is a reference to the fact that scorpions are thought to have had an aquatic origin. One prehistoric marine scorpion, Brontoscorpio, was featured in a similar television documentary series, the BBC's Walking With Monsters.
- Although this series is related to the Walking With series, including the plot of episode 1 being similar to Walking with Dinosaurs episode "death of a dynasty" all of the CGI dinosaurs are completely new models.
- Nigel Marven made a cameo appearance in the third season of a similar TV series called Primeval, which is also made by Impossible Pictures.
[edit] DVD
- The Region 1 DVD was released on June 5, 2007 by BCI Eclipse, under license from Fremantle Media.
- The Region 2 DVD was released in Britain on 28 August 2006 by Fremantle Media. [2]
- The Region 4 DVD was released in Australia and surrounding islands on October 6, 2006. Charles Wooley narrated the series when broadcast on Australia's Nine Network, and the Region 4 DVD has the original narration by David Jason.
[edit] See also
Prehistoric Park is part of a series of BBC documentaries that also include:
- Walking with Dinosaurs (1999)
- Walking with Beasts (2001), depicting life after the dinosaurs
- Walking with Cavemen (2003)
- Walking with Monsters (2005), depicting life before the dinosaurs
The following are Walking With... series specials:
- The Ballad of Big Al (2000)
- Chased By Dinosaurs (2002)
- Sea Monsters (2003)
The following are similar programs, produced by the BBC:
- "Prehistoric America (film)" (2003)
- "Monsters We Met" (2004)
[edit] External links
- Prehistoric Park at itv.com/citv (including episode guide and images)
- Animal Planet - Prehistoric Park
- Impossible Pictures minisite
- A Prehistoric Park RPG at Jurassic Park Legacy
- Nigel Marven's production photos
- Prehistoric Park at the Internet Movie Database
- Prehistoric Park at TV.com
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