Dinotopia (TV miniseries)
| Dinotopia | |
|---|---|
| Based on | Dinotopia by James Gurney |
| Written by | James Gurney Simon Moore |
| Directed by | Marco Brambilla |
| Starring |
Wentworth Miller Tyron Leitso David Thewlis Katie Carr Jim Carter Alice Krige Colin Salmon Lee Evans |
| Composer(s) | Trevor Jones |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 3 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Robert Halmi Sr. Robert Halmi Jr. |
| Producer(s) | Dusty Symonds William P. Cartlidge |
| Cinematography | Tony Pierce-Roberts |
| Editor(s) | Oral Norrie Ottey |
| Camera setup | John Bailie |
| Running time | 250 minutes (total) |
| Release | |
| Original network | Disney Channel |
| Picture format | 1080i (HDTV) |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original release | May 12, 2002 |
| Website | |
Dinotopia is a four-hour (three-episode) TV miniseries co-produced by Walt Disney Television and Hallmark Entertainment. It is based on the fictional world of Dinotopia, a utopia in which sentient dinosaurs and humans coexist, created by American author James Gurney. The miniseries uses plot details from Gurney's first two Dinotopia books, Dinotopia and Dinotopia: The World Beneath, although it takes place in a time farther into the future. The main characters are two American teenage boys from a contemporary time frame (unlike the Victorian era castaways in the books—the film thus loses some of the classicism of the original books). The boys crash their father's plane into the sea and get stranded on Dinotopia, where they must adjust to a new society. The story in the film contains references to many of the characters in the book series, with some of their descendents occupying key roles in the plot. The original score was composed by Trevor Jones.
The miniseries premiered as an episode of The Wonderful World of Disney anthology on May 12, 2002 on Disney Channel. It received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special. It was soon followed by a television series which only lasted for one season.
A pair of teenage half-brothers, Karl and David Scott, are on a flight with their father on his private plane when Karl takes over the controls, allowing his father to fall asleep. After flying into a storm, Karl struggles, causing Frank to retake control before it crashes into the ocean. Frank saves his sons, but had trouble escaping the crashed plane as his seatbelt failed to release. Karl and David wash up on the shore of a large uncharted island. Looking for help, Karl and David meet a man named Cyrus Crabb who leads them to Waterfall City, the capital of Dinotopia, a hidden civilization where human beings and dinosaurs peacefully coexist. In fact, some of the dinosaurs, notably a neurotic, but friendly Troodon named Zippo, possess human intelligence and speak perfect English. Among the many rules in Dinotopia is the edict that, once an outsider arrived, he or she was never allowed to leave. As Karl and David prepare to take their places in their new surroundings, both boys develop a strong bond with young Marion, who is on the verge of becoming a "matriarch" of the Dinotopian society. Unfortunately, the incursion of vicious carnivores, not to mention an unanticipated human villain, threaten to destroy Dinotopia and everyone living there.
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