User:T.Neo/Prehistoric park

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Prehistoric Park
Format Science fiction/Docu-drama
Starring Nigel Marven
Country of origin United Kingdom
Production
Running time 60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel ITV
Animal Planet
Original run 22 July 2006 – 26 August 2006
Chronology
Related shows Chased by Dinosaurs
Sea Monsters
Walking with Dinosaurs
Walking With Beasts
Walking With Monsters
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Prehistoric Park is a 6-episode mini-series in documentary style, from Impossible Pictures Limited, (the creators of Walking with Dinosaurs) which premiered on ITV on 22 July 2006 and on Animal Planet on 29 October 2006 (Animal Planet aired an edited cut of the programme which omitted a number of scenes present in the original ITV broadcast).

The programme was narrated by David Jason and hosted by Nigel Marven. The premise of the programme has Marven traveling back in time to various periods through a time portal, in order to bring prehistoric animal specimens to a present day wildlife park.

The soundtrack to the series, composed by Daniel Pemberton, was released on iTunes in August 2007 by 1812 Recordings.

Contents

[edit] Episodes

The plot of each episode follows Nigel Marven to a new prehistoric time period, and follows his adventures as he attempts to capture animals for study and display at the park. Between Nigel's trips to the past, each episode typically features segments set in the fictional "Prehistoric Park", which explore the speculative biology and behavior of that episodes featured prehistoric animals. Each episode is an hour long including commercial breaks.

[edit] Episode 1: "T. rex Returns"

  • Airdate: July 22, 2006
  • Plot: The first episode (titled "T. rex Returns") involves Nigel Marvin attempting to capture a Tyrannosaurus rex from the Late Cretaceous of Montana. During the episode, Nigel encounters a variety of other Late Cretaceous fauna, including a flock of Ornithomimus, and witnesses and attack on Triceratops by a group of tyrannosaurs, one of which is injured in the attempt. Nigel's team builds a stockade along the river in order to get the tyrannosaur throught the time portal, but the Ornithomimus flock appears and, after being chased by the tyrannosaur, end up going through the time portal instead. Nigel follows the tyrannosaur and discovers its two babies. Nigel plans to bring the Tyrannosaurus mother and her babies back to the park, but a male Tyrannosaurus attacks and kills the mother. At this point, in a portrayal of the Alvarez hypothesis of the dinosaurs extinction, a large asteroid impacts the Earth. Nigel is able to lures the two young Tyrannosaurus through the time portal. In the park, they are put in an observation pen and named Terence and Matilda. Several ornithomimes have also been added to the park's collection, as has a Triceratops.
  • Science: The Triceratops returned to the park is depicted exhibiting aggressive rutting behavior, prompting the head zookeeper to make a mock-Triceratops out of a tractor to serve as a "rival". This is speculative behavior based on modern animals and not supported by fossil evidence. Additionally, the Ornithomimus are portrayed as sexually dimorphic, with males more brightly colored than females, as in modern birds. There is no actual evidence for dimorphism among this genus.
  • Production: The episode was filmed at the Andean national parks of Chile, where there are Araucaria and Nothofagus trees reminiscent of plants that existed in North America at the end of the Cretaceous Period.

[edit] Episode 2: "A Mammoth Undertaking"

  • Airdate: July 29, 2006
  • Plot: In the second episode, Nigel travels back to 10,000 BCE in northwest Siberia just east of the Ural Mountains, where he encounters wooly mammoths, cave bears, and cave hyenas. One mammoth has been killed by a pitfall trap set by human hunters. The other mammoth has a spear wound, which Nigel's team attempts to mend, as they needs the mammoth strong enough to walk through the portal. When the mammoth is strong enough to transport, and they bring it to the park, giving it the name "Martha." After bringing Martha to the park, she refuses to eat, and Nigel must study mammoth dentition (finding it similar to modern African elephants) and collects samples of ice age grasses to study. During this expedition, he travels even further back in time (150,000 years ago) and encounters an Elasmotherium, which he also brings back to the park. Martha continues her refusla to eat, which is finally remedied by introducing heri nto an exisitng herd of modern elephants for companionship.
  • Science: The Ornithomimus introduced in the first episode are again featured in the park segments. The zookeepers find that they are not eating the grasses in their enclosures (grass as not present in Mesozoic North America). One zookeeper realises that they have duck-like mouths: rough like sandpaper. He decides to put them into an enclosure with a pond, where they thrive. This is based on an hypothesis proposed in 2001 (and since refuted) that ornithomimids were filter feeders.[1][2]
  • Production: The episode was filmed in Yukon, Canada.

[edit] Episode 3: "Dinobirds"

  • Airdate: August 5, 2006
  • Plot: Nigel and his team travel back to northeast China, 125 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous. After exploring a forest lake, they find that something had raided their camp and destroyed much of their equipment in search of food. Subsequently, the tam lis stalked and eventually attacked by a group of Mei long, and encounter other feathered dinosaurs such as Incisivosaurus and Microraptor The Microraptor group leads the team to a herd of titanosaurs. Nigel attempts to catch a Microraptor specimen but they are too quick for him. He devises a net trap baited with insects, but is still unsuccessful. finally, using a net gun, Nigel is able to capture several Microraptor. A volcanic eruption spooks the titanosaurs, which run through the time portal and are added to the park's collection.
  • Science: Nigel comes across several Mei killed by noxious carbon dioxide gasses released from under the lakes. This is based on paleoecological interpretations of the Yixian Formation, which show evidence for periodic volcanic and other geothermal activity.[3] The "sleeping" position of the Mei long was also based on the posture seen in actual Mei fossils.[4] The actual species of the titanosaurs in the series is never stated; though titanosaur remains are known from the Yixian Formation, they have never been given a name or assigned to a genus.[5]
  • Production: The episode was filmed near Rotorua, New Zealand, in the Redwood, Ohakuri, and Tikitere forests.

[edit] Episode 4: Saving the Sabretooth

South America, 1 million and 10,000 years ago respectively, late Pliocene

Genera encountered:

In the park the titanosaurs break their fence and wander around. Nigel goes through the time portal to South America 1 million years ago.

In the park the female Ornithomimus had laid more eggs. Two of them have rolled out of the nest and she leaves them there, so Susanne must rescue them for artificial incubation. Bob puts the 2 eggs in an incubator at 33 °C, as this is best temperature for crocodile and ostrich eggs. On site Nigel sees a female Smilodon stalk a Toxodon. More Smilodon come, including some cubs, and then leave. A Phorusrhacos starts to eat from the carcass. Another Smilodon chases it away. Nigel tows the piece of meat behind his jeep and entices the Phorusrhacos to chase it through the time portal into the park. In the park the eggs incubated by the Ornithomimus hatch, but the two eggs in the incubator do not hatch. Accompanied by big cat expert Saba Douglas-Hamilton, Nigel goes through the time portal to South America in 10,000BC when the sabertooth species were dying out. Saba later finds something in the grass, a dead Smilodon cub. Nigel realises that the cub must have died from starvation.

In the jeep they anaesthetic-dart the male Smilodon and start to wait 10 minutes while the dart drug works. In the park the men have built partition across the Tyrannosaurus enclosure, and put a Tyrannosaurus on each side. Matilda keeps threatening Terence. Saba anaesthetic darts the female Smilodon. The two Ornithomimus eggs in the incubator hatch late.Bob the two hatchlings see Bob and imprint to him.

With good food and no need to lactate, the two Smilodon and the Phorusrhacos recover from their hunger.

  • Production: The episode was filmed in dry grassland areas near Brasilia, Brazil.

Airdate: August 12, 2006

[edit] Episode 5: The Bug House

Isle of Arran in Scotland, 300 million years ago, late Carboniferous/Pennsylvanian

Genera encountered:


He goes back to the park to serious trouble among the Tyrannosaurus.

The injured Terence is in good hands, so Nigel, with assistants, drives in the jeep through the time portal to Upper Carboniferous Arran, where the land is covered with coal forest. He had aimed at an island of dry land, but drives out of the Time Portal's field into a swamp over his jeep's axles. The jeep's engine gets wet and stops and will not start. The forest is very quiet, as there is no bird song or tree-frog noise, only wind and insects. A Meganeura flies over.

In the park, Terence is in the animal clinic, anaesthetized, and Susanne is operating on the wounds. She prefers absorbable sutures to surgical clips, since Terence would need to be anaesthetised again for the clips to be removed. She sews the wounds with the skin edges sticking out a bit, as is sometimes done when operating on reptiles.

On site, Upper Carboniferous air is 35% oxygen, not 20% as now, and that is why the insects are so big. Nigel climbs a 150-foot-tall tree (Sigillaria or Lepidodendron or similar): it has no branches until near its top, and he must use a loop of strap around himself and the tree, to climb. He reaches its top and sees a wide view, and patches of open water: the place to look for Meganeura. A Meganeura flies over.

In the park, an enclosed building to contain a 35% nitrox atmosphere for the coal forest wildlife is being built, with airlock doors. A titanosaur goes past, knocks a partly-built wall down with its head, looks at the rubble, then goes away. Bob says that the titanosaurs cannot seem to settle in one area. Bob offers the titanosaur a cycad leaf, but it does not eat.

Image:.png Nigel tries to capture an Arthropleura, which stands its ground.On site, Nigel wades through a swamp. Something big moves about underwater and makes bubbles. Nigel hears something big moving about in undergrowth on land, and chases it, and finds an Arthropleura. It rears and confronts him. It is 10 feet long and has big dangerous-looking mandibles. Some modern millipedes can squirt cyanide, which smells of almonds, and Nigel fears that Arthropleura may also.

In the park, Susanne has put climbing poles in the Smilodon enclosures: this is environmental enrichment, which will hopefully make them happier so she will be more accepting of the male.

Bob suspects that the titanosaurs are looking for stomach stones, and collects stones for them.

On site, the Arthropleura has gone, leaving a track. Nigel says that that may be the same track that he saw fossilized on modern Arran. He sees two male Meganeura have a dogfight. Afterwards, one flies away and the other looks for food. Nigel has a butterfly net, but a butterfly net big enough to catch a Meganeura is cumbersome. As Nigel makes a move to catch a Meganeura, something in the water bites his right ankle. He says "Animal bites for us wildlife folks are just a badge of courage." They look for a dry area to camp. Evening is coming. The crew camp for the night. They have head lights strapped to their heads. Nigel warns them never to walk without boots on in case of stinging animals. Someone by force of habit puts mosquito net up, and Nigel tells him to take it down, as mosquitoes have not evolved yet. Nigel sleeps under a waterproof sheet in a hammock slung between two giant lycopsid trees in the coal forest. There is a thunderstorm in the night.

In the park, Bob brings a wheelbarrow full of the stones to some titanosaurs; one of them investigates it.

In an observation enclosure, Terence is lethargic, and blood tests show Susanne that Terence has septicaemia, and she reluctantly gives him antibiotic (not knowing how the drugs will react with a prehistoric reptile). While it is risky giving antibiotics to an unknown species, Suzanne knows if she does not, the infection of his injuries will probably kill Terence.

On site, the thunderstorm stops, and it is still night, and animals tend to become active after rain. Nigel goes about with a large ultraviolet light. He finds a Pulmonoscorpius nearly a meter long, by its shell fluorescing. He films it, but his camera work is shaky and he would need the team's cameraman to take good footage. The Pulmonoscorpius then begins crawling onto Jim's bed, and looks as if it may sting him when he twitches in his sleep. Nigel grabs it by the tail end, and it nips him with its pincers. He lets it go away from the camp. This wakes Jim, and Nigel explains to Jim what happened.

In the park Sabrina, the female Smilodon, seems happier, and as if she will accept the male. Susanne wonders whether to raise the door between their enclosures.

On site, Nigel tries to catch a Meganeura by a technique known for catching modern dragonflies, by filling a long two-handed hand-pumped water-gun with detergent solution to squirt on a Meganeura so that it will fall in the water and become wet, so it can be caught easily. The Meganeura are very fast and agile, but after many failed attempts, he hits one perched on a floating log. Nigel gets his net and catches the Meganeura. In the water he sees a big amphibian. He passes the net with the Meganeura in to a companion and swims underwater (without a diving mask) and catches the amphibian after a struggle, as it is very strong and slippery. He shows that it is an underwater ambush predator. It has two rows of teeth in its upper jaw and one in its lower jaw. He sees that it is a Crassigyrinus, whose fossils have only been found in Scotland; he nicknames it a "swamp monster" as it has no common name. That is what bit his ankle earlier. He has to let it go, as he has no way to transport it safely. He holds the Meganeura vertically by its thorax so its wings fan his face, as the forest is very hot and damp, then puts the Meganeura in a net cage.

In the park Susanne lifts the door between the Smilodon enclosures. They have a water jet ready to separate the two if they fight. The male goes into the female's enclosure. They growl somewhat at each other, but do not fight.

On site, Nigel looks for the Pulmonoscorpius. He finds one nearly a meter long under a half casing of a rotted-out fallen lycopsid log. It has thin claws, so Nigel is worried, because with scorpions small claws mean big sting. He holds its attention with a thin stick and works his a hand behind it and grabs its telson just in front of its sting. As he puts it in a dog carrier, it stings the back of his right hand as he lets it go. But a worse danger is coming.

In the park, Bob has filled the insect house with 35% nitrox atmosphere and has realized the resulting increased fire risk. He lights a thin piece of wood to show the fire risk.

The lightning storm has started a forest fire, which is spreading fast towards them, and in the 35%-oxygen air vegetation is much more inflammable than in modern air. They run towards the jeep. Nigel trips over a big Arthropleura hidden in ground litter. It rears to confront him. Nigel, who was wanting to get away quickly, was not thankful for this delay, but says he must rescue it, else it will be burned alive. After a struggle, he and another man wrap it in a plastic sheet and tie red cord around it. They load everything on the jeep and set up the Time Portal just in front of the jeep, whose engine still will not start. Nigel runs through the Time Portal, comes back with the end of a tow rope, and ties it to the jeep, which is towed out of the coal forest swamp back into the modern age. They see that the tow rope was being towed not by a towtruck or other vehicle, but by a titanosaur, which Bob was enticing with the wheelbarrowful of gastrolith stones. (This seems to imply that someone went back through the Time Portal earlier to tell the park staff to arrange a tow.)

The Arthropleura, the Meganeura, and the Pulmonoscorpius are put in the high-oxygen building. Terence is recovering well from his injury and infection but wrecks Suzanne's surgery once he wakes up from anaesthetic: Susanne had not restrained him, not realising he would come around so fast. Nigel's sting site has swollen but still shows no serious symptoms, so either the Pulmonoscorpius's venom does not affect mammals (it came from a time before mammals), or it did not inject any venom, or he pulled his hand away before it could inject. Bob seems to take a liking to the Arthropleura and hand-feeds it ferns. He says that he likes it because "it isn't some kind of creepy-crawly bug, it's more like a proper animal."

Airdate: August 19, 2006

[edit] Episode 6: Supercroc

Texas, 75 million years ago, Upper Cretaceous

Genera encountered:

Nigel goes through the Time Portal to the Cretaceous in Texas. In the park, Bob is planting young trees to help feed the titanosaurs. The Smilodon have bred and now have two cubs. Susanne sees that their mother is not making enough milk for the cubs, so she has to take the cubs and bottle-feed them. On site, Nigel drives onto a sea beach. A herd of Parasaurolophus run past. Nigel flies along with some Nyctosaurus in a microlight On site, Nigel paddles in a red inflatable boat on the river. A Deinosuchus bites the boat's stern, does not like the taste of rubber, and lets go. An unwary young Parasaurolophus goes to the lake to drink. A Deinosuchus rockets out of the lake and grabs it by the chest. Nigel encounters some troodon, and scares them away with a bicycle horn. In the park Bob sees the Phorusrhacos looking at him through a fence. On site, Nigel plans to use the rest of his meat to bait a Deinosuchus up the stockade. In the park Martha the mammoth is still isolated from the elephant herd. On site, Nigel must use himself as bait. They set up the time portal close outside the blind end of the stockade. Troodon emerges from the kit on the back of the jeep, it has stowed away. It snaps at Bob, and the swerving jeep runs straight at a titanosaur, causing it to stampede through several enclosures, causing the Ornithimimus flock, Phorusrhacos, Elasmotherium, and, worst of all, Matilda the Tyrannosaurus, to flee through the broken fences and run around freely through the park. Matilda then heads for the elephants - she separates the calf from the rest of the herd and quickly runs it to the ground. But Martha, although the herd earlier drove her away, instinctively defends the calf, and with some trumpetings, growls, roars, and waving of tusks, her attack stops Matilda. Nigel then arrives and runs away on foot, luring Matilda away to follow him. The Deinosuchus, accustomed to fighting giant theropods, surges out of the lake at Matilda, who swings around just in time to dodge the attack. Nigel shuts the enclosure and Matilda is contained. A few weeks later, extra keepers have been hired. The escaped animals are back in their enclosures. Bob catches the Troodon in a long tunnel trap with droppable doors at both ends.


  • 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 Episode 6, as a Deinosuchus chases Nigel's paddle boat down the river, the camera cuts between alternate shots of him wearing boots and barefoot.
  • Also in Episode 6, as Nigel takes off in his glider to fly alongside the Nyctosaurus, you can clearly see civilization on the horizon. [citation needed]

Airdate: August 26, 2006

[edit] DVD releases

[edit] References

  1. ^ Norell, M. A., Makovicky, P., and Currie, P. J. (2001). "The beaks of ostrich dinosaurs." Nature, 412: 873-874.
  2. ^ Barrett, P. M. (2005). "The diet of ostrich dinosaurs (Theropoda: Ornithomimosauria)." Palaeontology, 48: 347-358.
  3. ^ Jingeng, S. (2007). "Current research on Cretaceous lake systems in northeast China." Cretaceous Research, 28(2): 143-145.
  4. ^ Xu and Norell, (2004). "A new troodontid dinosaur from China with avian-like sleeping posture." Nature, 431: 838-841.
  5. ^ Barrett, P.M. and Wang, X.-L. (2008). "Basal titanosauriform (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) teeth from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Liaoning Province, China." Palaeoworld, 16(4): 265-271.

[edit] External links

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Category:ITV television programmes Category:Animal Planet shows Category:Prehistoric park Category:Prehistoric life in popular culture and entertainment