Dinotopia

How often has there been a film or show that imagines an isolated island that is home to a species long thought to be extinct?  The short-lived Dinotopia TV series on ABC during late 2002 was intended to be a sequel to the Disney three-part mini-series of the same name that aired in May of that year.  Both are based on books by American author James Gurney.

Frank Scott and his teenaged sons, half-brothers Karl and David, are flying on their private plane when they are hit by a severe storm and crash into the ocean.  Frank drowns after saving his sons, who wash up on the beach of Dinotopia, an island inhabited by sentient dinosaurs.  There are a few humans also, the descendants of people who were marooned here in the past.  The boys quickly discover that they can't leave due to dangerous tidal currents that surround the island.

David adjusts to their new life fairly easily, but Karl is rebellious and tries to find ways to get back to the "normal" world.  Aided by a friendly Troodon named Zippo, the boys struggle to keep Dinotopia safe from factions of carnivorous Saurians and humans who want to use ancient artifacts to control the island for themselves.

The TV show picks up from the end of the mini-series, introducing new Saurian and human antagonists.  There was much potential for story development, and the CGI and animatronics work was well done for the time, but the series fell a bit short.  Not only did the network wait until Thanksgiving to launch the series instead of airing it in September, there was little sense of continuity from the mini-series, as none of the principals from the mini-series reprised their roles.

Only six of the thirteen episodes were aired on ABC, and the series was cancelled in December 2002 due to a lack of improvement in the viewing figures.  However all the episodes were broadcast in Europe in the summer of 2003, with a more favourable reception.  The series was released on DVD twice, the first time in 2004 (this edition is now out of print) and again in 2016.