In the original mini-series “Dinotopia” Frank Scott, a wealthy American crashes his plane into the Caribbean and appears to perish. His two teenaged sons, Karl and David, survive, only to find themselves castaways on Dinotopia… a fantastic lost continent where humans and dinosaurs peacefully co-exist. I missed the six-hour mini-series “Dinotopia” when it aired a while back on ABC, but caught the DVD that was released from Hallmark Home Entertainment through Artisan Entertainment. I had heard a lot about the production, and was relatively familiar with the best-selling books by James Gurney, but had no idea what I was in for. “Dinotopia” had to be one of the most lavish mini-series I have ever seen. It boasted an 85 million dollar budget (the most ever for a television production), 336 total scenes (258 containing special effects) shot on 9 sound stages, and over 3,000 special effects shots, “Dinotopia” was easily one of the most extravagant made-for-TV productions, and it showed.

“Dinotopia” utilized the talents of the CGI wizards at Framestore (“Walking with Dinosaurs), and the puppeteering masters at Jim Henson Studios to bring the dinosaurs to life.

The popularity of the mini-series warranted a 13 episode series that aired about a year later. I’m not sure if it was supposed to last longer than the episodes that were made as the final episode of the series did have an ending to the overall story. If this was done because of an impending cancellation, or simply the plan all along, either way the series was able to re-capture some of the magic of the mini-series.

The main thing that was different, and again I’m not sure of the reasons behind this, but it seems that all the lead characters were re-cast with all new actors. The new cast was certainly as talented as the old cast, but it took a while to get used to the new faces on familiar characters. Fortunately, there was no need to replace the Dinosaurs, so those faces remained as I remembered.

This new series takes up right where the old one left off and continued to offer up the mythos of the world created by Gurney. All of the special effects were still top-notch, and the interactivity between humans and dinosaurs still looked very real.

The new DVD release from Artisan features all 13 episodes of the series as well as a few perplexing extra features. I say perplexing because they all seem to be about the original mini-series and not this new series. It’s never really pointed out, but when you watch them, you can tell which series they are talking about. You see the original actors which is the first giveaway. There are four separate featurettes that focus more on the storyline than anything else as only one really touches on some behind the scenes shots. The fifth feature has some short sound bites from interviews with some of the creative team as well as author Gurney. But again, they all seem to be talking about the mini-series. I really would have liked to have seen some features about this new series. Again, I just found it odd.

And as if things weren’t odd enough, I have to mention the packaging. The DVD set for “Dinotopia” has three discs and they are all held in a case that is about the size of a regular 2-disc case. When you open it up, the first disc is held on the left side (hidden under the insert), while the other two discs are on the right. The second disc slightly overlaps the third disc with the hub holding it just slightly higher so they don’t rub against each other. It’s kind of interesting, the only problem is that you have to take out the remove disc every time you want to take out or return the third.

“Dinotopia”, though slow at times, was still a pretty good series. It was every bit as good as the original mini-series and I think younger audiences will enjoy it. Not really young kids mind you, as some of the meaner dinosaurs can be a bit scary, but I’m talking about 7-8 and up.

Episodes:
Marooned
Making Good
Handful of Dust
Le Sage
Car Wars
The Matriarch
Night of the Wartosa
The Big Fight
Contact
Lost & Found
The Cure, Part 1
The Cure, Part 2
Crossroads

Starring: Michael Brandon, Jonathon Hyde, Georgina Rylance, Shiloh Strong, Erik Von Detten, Sophie Ward, Lisa Zane
Extras: Exclusive Dinotopia Game, “Discovering Dinotopia” Featurette, “Witness from Dinotopia” Featurette, “26 Hatches” Featurette, Interviews with Dinotopia Creative Team, “Creating Dinotopia’s Dinosaurs” Featurette
Specifications: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, 2.0 Dolby Digital
Studio: Artisan
Release Date: Available
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website
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We'll give Dinotopia: The Series a B.