Dinotopia

[metadude1234]

Hi, this is a thread for the film/tv series of dinotopia

Does anyone here besides me know how to write in the footprint language?

[Malte279]

I'm relatively sure there must have been a Dinotopia thread somewhere, but I admit that I don't know where exactly it is. Gurney's ideas are really awesome. I could not read or write the footprint alphabet without looking it up (I didn't learn it by heart), but I think I got the font for it somewhere on my computer.
Which books did you read? Do you know the audio plays of the original two books? And did you watch any of the movies?
Even though I found the mini series very bad I recently got the dvd (being out for the English language version of it) when I saw it for a mere 3 Euros. The series was (in my opinion) significantly better than the miniseries, but not nearly as good as the books of course.

[Kor]

I like the James Gurney books better, and parts of the mini series I can watch again in the future.  I've not read any of the other books & only saw a few episodes of the tv series.

[Ptyra]

I have the original book and just re-watched the mini-series, and watched the TV series. I can honestly say I was quite disappointed in the third. But it turned on my giggidy-goo machine when Zippau's girlfriend Yal(a?) showed up...for two minutes T_T . Ha. Zippo is my favorite character. He's such a geek X3 ! And I'd like to try his cooking...even though I'd have to choke down that curry. I would have loved to get to know Yal better. I actually used to think he had a  non-human mate that had died at some point, because what we had recorded did not have Zippo talking about how Sylvia of the Hatchery (HOORAY!!!) had been his partner.

I'm thinking of my own plotline revolving around the Scott family timeline, where a young woman crashes on the island with her cat and is separated from her foster father. She eventually becomes soulmates with a Stenonychosarurus whose name is Krauw/Krau/Krow (I have not decided on the spelling, but it's pronounced as Craow). I'm trying to think of the main character's issues with leaving. At first, she was having a HORRIBLE time being separated from her loved ones who think she's dead and became extremely depressed, since she has a habit of being extremely clingy. I might just change that with her just having clinginess to her closest loved ones, being her foster father and her kitty, with whom she was moving to Denmark to get away from the potential corruption of America. One of the things that keeps her from adjusting is her health, which cannot take to Dinotopia's strict vegan diet.

One of the things I didn't like about the TV series was Marion. I LOVE her in the miniseries, but in the TV series, she was..."urg". I never thought of her as the type of person that would want to leave Dinotopia and to become snarky at times. I like to think of her as the ideal Dinotopian. Ah. And the ending. Good greif. Cancel THERE of all times, will you!?

And one of my favorite scenes was Marion catching Karl desecrating the school desk with Stegosaurus sex, and her remark "...and that is NOT how Stegosauruses reproduce". It sends giggles to me.

[Kor]

I prefer the James Gurney book.  But I do like certain elements & bits of the mini series like Zippo.  He's an interesting character & funny also.

Was poking around youtube & came across an excerpt of the 2nd book using some audio (I guess from the cd) and some pictures of the 2nd book.  The video is just under 9 minutes.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1xfqZFDSqA

[Almaron]

There was another Dinotopia post on this board wasn't there? I believe it was in the book section. Hang on...

Ah! Here it is: http://z7.invisionfree.com/thegangoffive/i...topic=1203.0 .

I always preferred the Mini-Series to the TV Series. The drastic change of actors was a bit too ridiculous for me, and the opening scene (where Karl wakes up and goes "Wow! I just had a dream where <plot recap>".)...just urgh. Plus I didn't like the new characters of the Outsiders, as it sort of ruined the feel of things. But I eventually watched the whole thing, and I did like how the designated bad guy in the wrestling episode even thought that everything had gotten way out of hand. Plus I also thought it was hilarious when they found the wrecked ship with the cheeseburgers and Coca-Cola on board.

By the way, how did you guys first discover Dinotopia? For me, I saw the Mini-series years ago when it first premiered, but I didn't think much of it at the time. Then, a few years later, as a result of rewatching LBT (and discovering this message board), I was having a look at anything about Dinosaurs that looked interesting, and one day at the library, I happened to see Dinotopia sitting on the top shelf. It looked interesting, and so I got it. Before long, I had checked out the other books in the series (or at least the pitiful amount that the Library had) and bought as many as I could find! In fact, not long after that, I was looking up the Miniseries, and thinking how I'd like to see that again. That very day, I happened to go out and find it in the discount bin at the store. What are the odds of that happening?

I could go on for a while (I once had a theory that fixed the problems with the differences between Crabb and the World Beneath in Book and TV Series, but I'll need to remember that before I can post it!) but I think this is a good time to stop. Although I will add that, like Ptyra, I had an idea for a Dinotopia story once, but like my other story on this forum, I didn't finish it, and instead uploaded the plot synopsis. It's here if you want to read it (It started out as once of those "if you were shipwrecked, what would you take with you" quizzes, and then evolved into me thinking how I'd get to Dinotopia).

[Sky]

I have only seen the mini-series. But I would like to read the book too someday...  
The first time I heard of Dinotopia was on a commercial on TV. Since I liked dinosaurs so much, I checked it out and was overwhelmed.  
Though, it was a 'cutted' version of the mini-series (they merged all three movies and deleted scenes to fit the airtime).
Good thing I have the complete series on DVD.  

[Kor]

I saw the first book on display in thr new book section in the library where  I was a bit after it first came out.  I checked it out, then the 2nd when it came out.  Saw the mini series, like bits of it, but it has elements hat differ from Gurney books and other stuff that bugs me.  Didn't see much of the tv series.

[Malte279]

I prefer most of the books ("First flight" being kind of an exception) by over the movie versions (the audio book adaptations of the first two books are excellent by the way). As for the movies I preferred the series to the miniseries for a number of reasons. The many actor changes in my opinion were a positive point about the series, not because I liked changing actors but because I found a number of the actors in the series a lot better than the original past. Above all I found that in the series the atmosphere was significantly more "Dinotopian" than was the case in the mini series. The best example I think would be the mayor of Waterfall City who in the mini series acted as an autocratic dictator who didn't care much about what others thought. In the series on the other hand he came across as much less autocratic, very integer and very caring (none of which were qualities he showed in the mini series). The mayor however was only one example, I had the impression that the dinosaur in the series were treated as more important and less like "pets" (though not quite as equal when it comes to their "importance" in the plots compared to the human actors).

[Ptyra]

I also thought it was hilarious when they found the wrecked ship with the cheeseburgers and Coca-Cola on board.

 

I liked that scene too...and everything related to it. Like Karl explaining to Zippo how it took a whole year to make it and that wars were fought over it because "it was so hard to get" (where the heck does THAT happen  :blink: ?). And Zippau meeting Sandy the dog. "IT'S GOING TO EAT ME!!!"

While I HATED the change in the actors in the TV series, I did warm up to Mayor Waldo more. One of the things that made that happen was during the Ginko shortage, when the very little bit they had was used for the Skybax instead of the dying Chasmosaur that Rosemary wanted to save. I like that he understood how extremely important it was for her to save them, even though it had to be used for others. He was much better in the TV series...and I liked how he got depressed when Frank was the mayor for that very short period of time, then got to be his "Ghost of Christmas Future"   .

I didn't really like the Outsiders myself. They were quite annoying, and I don't think they were in any of Gurney's works...as far as I know. I didn't mind their leader though...I forgot her name. At first, I was extremely annoyed that she landed her, David, and 26 is Budapest, but then I enjoyed it that she became a "Guinea Pig" for the doctors and they set the plot point that Dinotopians could NOT leave for health reasons, because their lungs could not handle the polluted environment of our world...and that they were almost freakishly healthy.

I did have several giggidy-goos throughout the TV series.  I liked showing that Freefall was a mommy in the last episode and how she wanted David to help her save her baby from the other Pteranodons. And in the toad episode, when Karl realized that is mistake was not paying attention to 26 (now that I think about it, he does that A LOT T__T ) then finding her out that she ate poisonous berries and saving her. And, of course, Zippau's girlfriend Yara. My silly idea from childhood came truuue X3 ! Man, I wish she had been around more. Oh well. I have my fanfiction.

[Saft]

Vaguely...I am not sure if it's the mini series or the television series...but I remember a dinosaur called Zippo (or something similiar).
That's about it...can't remember much about it, it was a while..

[Ptyra]

Zippeauuuuu <3 !
Yes, that's the one you're thinking of .

[Petrie.]

Going to bump an old thread:

Dinotopia fans might want to check out the ZBS Foundation's work on these stories.  They've created audio plays, musical stories based on the books.

http://www.zbs.org/catalog/advanced_search...notopia&x=0&y=0

[Kor]

Vaguely...I am not sure if it's the mini series or the television series...but I remember a dinosaur called Zippo (or something similiar).
That's about it...can't remember much about it, it was a while..

Yes, he was called Zippo in the miniseries.  I think his name was changed in the tv series due to a lawsuit from the Zippo lighter company, or so I heard.

[Malte279]

Dinotopia fans might want to check out the ZBS Foundation's work on these stories. They've created audio plays, musical stories based on the books.

And those audio plays are truly awesome
I have the audio plays of "A land apart from time" and "The world beneath" and I must really say that the makers did an excellent job. The voice actors are well picked (with fitting accents or ways of talking), the dialogues are well written, the music is very well used to give an additional mood to some scenes (while it is not used excessively), and dinosaur voices and sounds of all kind are really done very realistically. These audio plays are really a fine example of how good a a job can be done in making audio plays

[Kor]

The audio plays were a good idea.  I've heard bits of them and they do sound great.   Reminds me of some of the old radio shows I've listened to.