Product Description

Studio: Bci Eclipse Comp Llc Release Date: 06/05/2007

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9172 in DVD
• Brand: BCI ECLIPSE LLC
• Released on: 2007-06-05
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .40 pounds
• Running time: 288 minutes

Amazon.com
What if extinction didn't have to be forever? That's the premise of this BCI Eclipse docu-drama by the animatronics and computer graphics teams of Walking With Dinosaurs in which naturalist Nigel Marven rescues now-extinct creatures from the past 300-million years and brings them via time portal to a present-day wildlife sanctuary known as Prehistoric Park to be studied, preserved, and bred. Like a Jurassic Park with much more scientific information and minus the high level of sheer terror, Prehistoric Park deals with the housing of prehistoric creatures in the modern world. Nigel travels through the last 300-million years collecting specimens of everything from the heavily researched tyrannosaurus rex, wooly mammoth, and saber tooth cat to the newly discovered four-winged microraptor and the centipede-like arthropleura. Each episode skillfully blends scientific fact with scientific inference and Nigel's demonstrated knowledge of modern day animals and his ability to extrapolate that knowledge to understand prehistoric animal behavior and their needs is impressive. At Prehistoric Park, the very knowledgeable veterinarian Suzanne is similarly adept at adapting current medical knowledge and practice to help the prehistoric animals under her care and park caretaker Bob is a master improviser, building containment pens and modifying environments, and sometimes animal behavior, to ensure a healthy and safe captivity. An adventure series in the truest sense, each 47-minute episode juxtaposes the modern with the prehistoric and the scientific with the imagined, is full of suspense and drama, and features an amazing combination of very skilled computer animation and realistic animatronics that leave audiences believing that they've just seen genuine footage of prehistoric creatures. Scenic locations are stunning and conjure up localities ranging from the subtropical prehistoric park to the icy tundra, rock formations of Scotland, and ash-strewn volcanic lands of prehistoric China. The talents of Nigel Marven, sometimes compared to the Crocodile Hunter, Suzanne McNabb, Rod Arthur (park keeper Bob), and narrator David Jason are considerable. Bonus features include a great "Stats and Facts" feature which allows viewers to select on-screen facts about specific creatures as they appear within the episodes, storyboards, photo gallery, and a 27-minute making-of featurette that details the entire creative process from imagining the impossible to scouting locations, creating the incredible animatronics with "Crawlie Creatures" and cutting-edge computer animation with "Framestore," and finding talented actors and natural history experts up to the challenge of re-creating 300-million years of history. This six-episode television adventure is at once entertaining and educational and is sure to fascinate and inspire the entire family ages 6 and older. --Tami Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

Fabulous!
This is a fabulous, entertaining little series. My sons LOVE them- its kind of Walking With Dinosaurs meets the Crocodile Hunter. Nigel is wonderful, the dinosaurs are well-done, and the pace keeps right on movin'. Put this with Chased By Dinosaurs, and you have a ton of fun. I hope he does more seasons of this! We want to know what happens next, and what animals Nigel will bring back next, at Prehistoric Park!

A Dream Come True
I'm 21 and even I loved this DVD. If you liked Jurassic Park, you haven't seen anything yet. An absolutely fascinating watch for anyone, no matter the age, who has ever had even the slightest interest in prehistoric animals. Huge round of applause for Animal Planet successfully bridging the gap between entertainment and education. The cinematography is breath-taking, the acting is surprisingly well done, the facts are not made up by Hollywood, and there's even gory dino battles! I'm speechless. Even the hairs on my arm went up. Yowza. This DVD is worth every penny and will continue to be a captivating DVD even after Season II premieres. ;) If you liked this, check out the "Walking With Dinosaurs" series from the BBC, as well, and keep a sharp eye for Zoo Tycoon II: Exctinct Animals, if you want to take a stab at running your own digital prehistoric zoo. Exciting stuff, my friends, exciting stuff.

**On a side note, if you have really young children (under 10 perhaps?) you may want to watch it with them, but Prehistoric Park presents extinct animals just as any nature show would, so keep in mind it's tasteful.

Fantastic! If you liked "Chased by Dinosaurs" you will love this, and your kids will love it too!
A great six-episode series featuring Chased by Dinosaur's Nigel Marvin. This series combines the Chased by Dinosaurs time-travel premise with the premise of Jurassic Park. Nigel travels back to various points in prehistory to rescue extinct animals and bring them back to the present, to "Prehistoric Park".

Of course, you have to ignore the fact that a few individuals do not constitute a viable breeding population, not to mention the fact that the "time gate" consists of two stick-like instruments which Nigel just turns on and sticks into the ground to create a "doorway". But if you can suspend your disbelief, this show is great fun.

Of all the things my 4 and 6 year old daughters like to watch (over and over and over and over), this is by far one of the most bearable for Mommy. Highly recommended, we watch it almost every night.