Dinotopia
Encyclopedia
Dinotopia is a fictional utopia
created by author
and illustrator
James Gurney
. It is the setting for the book series with which it shares its name. Dinotopia is an isolated island
inhabited by shipwrecked human
s and sentient
dinosaur
s who have learned to coexist peacefully as a single symbiotic society. The first book has "appeared in 18 languages in more than 30 countries and sold two million copies." Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time and Dinotopia: The World Beneath both won Hugo award
s for best original artwork.
Since its original publication, over twenty Dinotopia books have been published by various authors to expand the series. A live-action TV mini-series, a brief live-action TV series, an animated film, and several video games have also been released.
" and "utopia
". Ironically, in Greek
"Dinotopia" (Δεινοτοπία) means "terrible place" or "land of suffering", since the original Greek word for "dinosaur" (δεινόσαυρος) translates as "terrible lizard" and is made up of the words for "terrible" (δεινός, dinos) and "lizard" (σαύρα, savra, transliterated as saura). "Utopia" in Greek loosely translates as "a land or place that does not exist", and is made up of a negative interjection meaning roughly "no" (ου, ou) and the word for "place" (τόπος, topos). The disillusioned character Lee Crabb mentions this discrepancy, claiming that humans on the island are slaves to dinosaurs.
The character Bix in the series is modeled after the Dino-Riders
Protoceratops
toy.
Rather than digital tools, Gurney used "plein-air studies, thumbnail sketches, models photographed in costume and original cardboard or clay maquette
s" to create 150 oil paintings for his 2007 Dinotopia book.
Many have claimed that some scenes in the film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
(particularly those in the city of Theed on Naboo
) unfairly copy images from Gurney's books. Gurney acknowledges the resemblance but has remained positive about it. In 1994, director George Lucas
had met with producers to discuss some of the concepts and visuals behind a Dinotopia movie that was never made.
of Dinotopia, human
s and dinosaurs live and work together in harmony
with one another and with the Earth
itself. It is a place of beauty
and wonder
lost to the rest of the world. The island itself is surrounded by a storm system and dangerous reefs that prevent safe travel to or from the island.
Aside from a highly diverse ecosystem
ranging from desert
s to mountain
s to swamp
s, Dinotopia also has an extensive system of natural and man-made cave
s.
The dinosaurs, according to their own legend
s, have inhabited the island for millions of years, having sought shelter in the underground caverns during the climate changes that caused the extinction of dinosaurs
elsewhere on the planet
.
The caverns are referred to as the World Beneath, and many dinosaurs go there to die. According to legends, a half man-half ceratopsian being named Ogthar climbed down there (where the sun is said to sleep at night) and stole pieces of it (known as "sunstones"), using them to create the empire of Poseidos and populating it with metal dinosaurs. However, the sea grew angry with the artificial city and rose to destroy it. It is implied that this is where the Atlantis myth originated.
The human population consists of shipwrecked travelers called Dolphinbacks (who are often rescued and brought to shore by dolphin
s) and the descendants of such arrivals. As such, they often fall into cultural zones based on the relative societies from whence their ancestors came, creating a cultural landscape across the island that is both unified and incredibly diverse.
Dinosaurs are not the only prehistoric creatures on the island. In the higher regions of the Forbidden Mountains (a Himalaya-like mountain
chain), woolly mammoth
s, giant ground sloths
, Chalicothere
s, Sabre-toothed cats, and other prehistoric mammal
s can be found. At least one Lystrosaurus
and one Edaphosaurus
can be found in the city of Pooktook. Pterosaurs are also common, especially the Quetzalcoatlus
skybax
, which serve as steeds for the skybax messenger riders.
The center of the island is made up of a dense rainforest called the "Rainy Basin". This place is where most of the island's large carnivores live, such as Giganotosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, and Allosuarus. They are just as sentient as the other dinosaurs on the island but must be kept apart due to their instinctual need to hunt. They have their own language yet it is very deep and guttural and difficult even for other dinosaurs to speak or understand fluently. The Basin is cut off from the rest of the island by a series of retractable bridges. There are caravans that make passages through the basin and are made up by very large sauropod dinosaurs outfitted with heavy suits of armor studded with sharp spikes and carry offerings of meat appease any carnivores they meet. Often, a dinosaur that senses it will die soon will make a pilgrimage to the basin and die there so that it may be eaten by the carnivores and continue to contribute to the good of the island as a whole. The carnivores are actually very respectful of this and always wait for the dinosaur to pass peacefully, never attacking them while alive. The unofficial king of the basin is StinkTooth, an extremely large bull Giganotosaurus plagued with chronic halitosis.
Both halves of the society
share responsibility equally and live under a common set of law
s known as the Code of Dinotopia. The society is highly communal, lacking a monetary system
or even a concrete concept of ownership
. Individuals are educated from youth to be compassionate, co-operative, and generally conscious of others' needs. For example, food
on the island is provided at no cost, but citizens take only what they need and leave the rest for others. Stealing or other crime is virtually non-existent.
A children's flip-up version of the first book was also issued.
The Dinotopia Digest series consists of sixteen young adult novels penned by several different authors. These books feature other characters who are not specifically involved with the events of the main books.
Two full-length adult fantasy novels were also issued with Gurney's authority, written by Alan Dean Foster
: Dinotopia Lost and Hand of Dinotopia.
Several video games, as well as a TV miniseries
, a short-lived TV series, and an animated children's movie, were also produced. These are also set in the Dinotopia universe
, but do not tie in directly with the main series.
s are written as if they were Arthur's journal
s, with Gurney going so far as to explain in the introductions how he happened to come across the old, waterlogged volumes.
is a place where dinosaurs are born, tended by both dinosaurs and humans. The Denisons then set out to explore the island, hoping to find a means of returning to their old lives. Note: Although the story is set in 1862, Arthur Denison mentions Tyrannosaurus Rex; however Henry Fairfield Osborn
, president of the American Museum of Natural History
, named Tyrannosaurus Rex in 1905 long after the events in Dinotopia are supposed to take place, although it is possible that the Dinotopians were the first to discover Tyrannosaurus and coincidentally gave it the same name.
Arthur and Will undergo a broad journey, circling the island, as they endeavor to learn the customs
and culture
of their new neighbors. Arthur in particular develops an interest in the scientific accomplishments of the natives, which far exceed that of any human culture. Among the subjects he studies are the flora
of the island, the partnership of its inhabitants, and the existence
of a place known as the World Beneath. This World Beneath is an explanation for Dinotopians surviving the saurian extinction
; according to the story, most of the Earth's dinosaurs were destroyed, whilst a few hid in vast underground caverns. These few became the original Dinotopians. No one has entered the World Beneath for centuries, but Arthur intends to do so.
His son Will, on the other hand, has chosen to train as a messenger of the sky; a Skybax rider, who lives in symbiosis
with his mount, the great Quetzalcoatlus
(nicknamed Skybax
), a species of pterosaur
. Training alongside Will is a girl called Sylvia, with whom Will falls in love. The natives refer to this and any other profound bond as Cumspiritik, which literally means "together-breathing." (Romana Denison of the later Dinotopia film series is said to be Will's daughter.)
Arthur, for his part, travels into the World Beneath, at the same time that Will and Sylvia are learning to fly with the Skybax. When he returns, he is fascinated by the ancient relics found there and is convinced that they may be key in enabling him to leave or explore the island.
Meanwhile, Will and Sylvia learn and master Skybax flight. When at last they have been accepted as Riders, they travel to meet Arthur and his Protoceratops
guide Bix, but are distracted on the way by a thunderstorm. Luckily, they survive and arrive on time to meet their kin. Will is at the time too young to marry Sylvia, but it is promised that they will. Arthur recognizes that his son has grown up, and they each accept the changes that are results of their new lives on the island.
ornithopter
modeled on the dragonfly
. The Dragoncopter fails and Will is narrowly saved by Cirrus, his Skybax mount, before the Dragoncopter plummets into a waterfall.
After returning from his first expedition in A Land Apart From Time, Arthur presents two items he discovered – a sunstone and half of a key – to the council at Waterfall City in an attempt to get a second expedition into the World Beneath.
A musician named Oriana Nascava comes forward with the missing half of Arthur's key, claiming it to be a family heirloom. She is only willing to give it up if she is allowed to accompany Arthur in his expedition, a term that he reluctantly accepts. Together with Bix as a guide and the scandalous Lee Crabb, the group travels to the shady Pliosaur Canal where they board a submersible
in order to take an underwater route to the World Beneath.
Meanwhile, Will and Sylvia have been assigned to accompany a sauropod caravan
through the Rainy Basin and keep a watch for predatory Tyrannosaurus
. However, Cirrus flies Will to ancient ruins in the jungle of which the Tyrannosaurus are strangely protective.
Arthur, Oriana, Bix, and Lee continue to explore the caverns underneath Dinotopia where they come across instantly germinating
fern
spore
s, uncut sunstones that appear to store ancestral memory, and mechanical limbs that twitch when the sunstone is brought near. Eventually, they reach an enormous man-made chamber filled with abandoned dinosaur-like vehicle
s called Strutters, left behind by the ancient civilization of Poseidos. Arthur, Oriana, and Bix commandeer a ceratopsian strutter while Crabb takes a strutter modeled after a sea scorpion
and they both climb out of the World Beneath, ending up in the Rainy Basin. They join the sauropod convoy, but are attacked by a pack of tyrannosaurs and Allosaurus
, during which Crabb escapes in his strutter and the head of the ceratopsian strutter is ripped off.
After escaping the carnivores, Arthur realizes that the Tyrannosaurus at the ruins may have been guarding the mythical ruby sunstone, and takes his strutter back into the Rainy Basin with Oriana and Bix to discover it. Along the way, they come across a trapped juvenile Giganotosaurus
and free it. The grateful father, named Stinktooth, protects Arthur and his companions from the tyrannosaurs and allows them passage into the ruins.
Inside the temple, Bix reveals that in the past, people have escaped the island and brought with them culture from Dinotopian civilizations, influencing ancient Egyptian
and Greek
civilizations.
However, they are too late, as Crabb has arrived first and taken the ruby sunstone. Vowing to escape Dinotopia and bring back an army of strutters to plunder the island, he destroys Arthur's strutter with his sea scorpion and escapes. Riding on top of Stinktooth, Arthur chases Lee into the sea and pulls the sunstone out of the power socket in the strutter before Lee can escape. During this chase, Arthur's journal is lost to the ocean where it will be discovered by Philippine sailors and eventually make its way to the library where James Gurney
discovers it.
At the end, the ruby sunstone is lost, a new romance is suggested between Arthur and Oriana, and Crabb is placed under guard by a pair of Stygimoloch
.
published by Gurney and included a board game
.
The main protagonist
of the story is Gideon Altaire, a flight school student living in the capital city of Poseidos off the Dinotopian mainland, in which all organic life (save for humans) has been replaced by mechanical counterparts. After discovering an injured Scaphognathus
named Razzamult, Gideon discovers that the city is planning to launch an attack on the mainland and conquer all of Dinotopia and that they have stolen the ruby sunstone from the pterosaur home of Highnest.
Gideon sneaks into a factory and discovers an enormous air scorpion attack strutter under construction. He locates and steals the ruby sunstone and frees a group of captive pterosaur
s before escaping to the mainland in a police skimmer. He arrives only to find the island already under attack. He discovers and enlists the help of a band of indigenous creatures- Binny, a Necrolemur
, Bandy, a Plesictis
, Bongo, a Plesiadapis
, and Budge, an Estemmenosuchus
. During their trek towards Highnest, they are ambushed by a spider like attack strutter which proceeds to steal the ruby sunstone.
Gideon and his band reach Highnest, where they help the pterosaurs evacuate the eggs, then take to the air atop their pterosaurs to engage the air scorpion. During the battle, Gideon manages to pull the ruby sunstone out of the flying machine's power socket, causing it to crash and stopping the invasion of Dinotopia.
Interestingly enough, Gideon is presented as the first ever Skybax rider, although the species he rode was Quetzalcoatlus northropi
.
Henriette in the ruins of an old city, a town called Bilgewater made completely out of salvaged ships that the inhabitants believe will carry them into another world, and Jorotongo, a consistently festive and completely nomadic village composed of pilgrims from the Sunflower, sister ship to the Mayflower.
Eventually, they meet Lee Crabb on route at Sauropolis, who escapes from his Stygimoloch guards and steals the invitation. Without proper passes for the border guards, Arthur and Bix are forced to sneak through the swamp of Blackwood Flats while evading packs of carnivorous Allosaurus. After passing through the mountain city of Thermala, the duo encounter Nibor Dooh, a bandit who steals all the possessions of passing travelers and compensates them with the possessions of the previous victim. Although Arthur loses all of his scientific equipment, he is given a set of desert robes which allow him and Bix to blend in to a Chandaran caravan and pass the border without harassment from the guards.
They stop by the ruins of Ebulon, where Arthur finds Will and Sylvia preparing for an air-jousting
tournament. Soon after that, they make their way to the capital city of Chandara. By the time they arrive, they find themselves with few possessions left to barter save for ideas, so Arthur sets up shop in the Marketplace of Ideas. During the night, the writings at Arthur's stand catches the attention of the emperor and he and Bix are invited into the court.
Once at the court, they discover that Lee Crabb has also entered the court under the guise of Arthur Denison and is attempting to gather up a stockpile of weapons, arguing that he is preparing for a Tyrannosaurus invasion. Hugo Khan finally reveals himself to be a small Microraptor
, and the real Denison promptly exposes Crabb. Khan punishes Crabb by assigning him to be a chef for a band of Acrocanthosaurus
Shaolin-monks, who ate their last chef after he failed to satisfy them.
To commemorate Arthur and Bix's presence on the court, Hugo Khan flies out during the night to find a child in sorrow. The next day, Arthur, Bix, and a handful of the Emperor's selected entertainers arrive at the house of and greet Rita Rose and Jeffer, an orphan
ed Europasaurus
hatchling who has lost the ability to walk. At the end of the day, Hugo Khan expresses his wish for Chandara to be reopened culturally to the rest of Dinotopia. Arthur and Bix accept the Emperor's offers to stay in Chandara for a while to fully discover the city and its culture.
:
Two full-length adult fantasy novels were also issued with Gurney's authority, written by Alan Dean Foster
: Dinotopia Lost (1996) and Hand of Dinotopia (1999).
who is said to have worked with Sylvia; and a new plot device, the sunstones, which are described as a source of power and protection originating in the World Beneath. This in turn became the pilot for a short-lived series, wherein the failure both of the sunstones and of Dinotopian officials to adhere to the underlying meanings of their culture
's philosophy
caused several discontented people – a leader-in-training, Zippeau himself, and two twentieth-century Dolphinbacks, Karl and David – to embark on a quest
that led ultimately to the World Beneath. The characters in the miniseries refer several times to figures from the various books, including Will Denison, Gideon Altaire, and Lee Crabb, whose son Cyrus features as the antagonist
. The mini-series won an Emmy for its special effects.
by Hallmark Entertainment. The code itself is as follows:
The recovered first letters of each sentence spell out "SOW GOOD SEED". It was first written in the Dinotopian alphabet. In the TV miniseries, the 11th code began with Fin... and was found to be "Find the light".
In the original book by James Gurney, the last line of the code was a small joke amongst the historians and the librarian, who seemed to think it could have been "Don't pee in the bath" referencing the Saurian community's distaste with some humans' lack of cleanliness and hygiene. This was never elaborated on further or confirmed to be true though.
, Tyrannosaurus
, and crocodile
-like mosasaur
s.
ABC originally planned to launch the series in September of 2002 but decided to wait until Thanksgiving. ABC was somewhat disappointed by the initial 5.7 million viewers and the poor ratings, but continued to air the series for a little while longer, pointing out that it had been an "odd viewing night overall." The series was finally canceled in December. Only six of the thirteen episodes were aired on ABC, but all thirteen were broadcast the following year in Europe and were released onto a 3-disc DVD box set.
Sci-fi
veteran David Winning
directed two episodes of the series, and location shooting lasted for three months near Budapest
, Hungary
. Georgina Rylance
played Marion Waldo, and Lisa Zane
portrayed her old friend LeSage, the leader of the Outsiders.
movie called Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone
. This film deviated from the original books in more than the miniseries by featuring Ogthar, a mythical ruler of the World Beneath (mentioned in the miniseries) as a human warlord
rather than a benevolent, if commanding emperor; by creating an "evil" counterpart to the sunstones; and by having Ogthar command dinosaurs (rather than humans) as his cohorts.
There were also a series of dolls resembling a chasmosaurus. There were many different names and colors but the dolls were abandoned and taken off the market.
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
created by author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
James Gurney
James Gurney
James Gurney is an artist and author best known for his illustrated book series Dinotopia, which is presented in the form of a 19th century explorer’s journal from an island utopia cohabited by humans and dinosaurs...
. It is the setting for the book series with which it shares its name. Dinotopia is an isolated island
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
inhabited by shipwrecked human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
s and sentient
Sentience
Sentience is the ability to feel, perceive or be conscious, or to have subjective experiences. Eighteenth century philosophers used the concept to distinguish the ability to think from the ability to feel . In modern western philosophy, sentience is the ability to have sensations or experiences...
dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s who have learned to coexist peacefully as a single symbiotic society. The first book has "appeared in 18 languages in more than 30 countries and sold two million copies." Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time and Dinotopia: The World Beneath both won Hugo award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
s for best original artwork.
Since its original publication, over twenty Dinotopia books have been published by various authors to expand the series. A live-action TV mini-series, a brief live-action TV series, an animated film, and several video games have also been released.
Etymology
The name "Dinotopia" is a portmanteau of "dinosaurDinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
" and "utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
". Ironically, in Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
"Dinotopia" (Δεινοτοπία) means "terrible place" or "land of suffering", since the original Greek word for "dinosaur" (δεινόσαυρος) translates as "terrible lizard" and is made up of the words for "terrible" (δεινός, dinos) and "lizard" (σαύρα, savra, transliterated as saura). "Utopia" in Greek loosely translates as "a land or place that does not exist", and is made up of a negative interjection meaning roughly "no" (ου, ou) and the word for "place" (τόπος, topos). The disillusioned character Lee Crabb mentions this discrepancy, claiming that humans on the island are slaves to dinosaurs.
Background
Gurney's assignments for National Geographic magazine required him to work with archaeologists to envision and paint ancient cities that no one alive today has ever seen. This inspired him to imagine his own, so he painted "Waterfall City" and "Dinosaur parade". These were originally done as "art prints for collectors". He later decided to create an imaginary island based on these paintings.The character Bix in the series is modeled after the Dino-Riders
Dino-Riders
Dino-Riders is a cartoon television series that first aired in 1988. Dino-Riders was primarily a promotion to launch a new Tyco toy line. Only fourteen episodes were produced, three of which were produced on VHS for the United States. It aired in the U.S...
Protoceratops
Protoceratops
Protoceratops is a genus of sheep-sized herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur, from the Upper Cretaceous Period of what is now Mongolia. It was a member of the Protoceratopsidae, a group of early horned dinosaurs...
toy.
Rather than digital tools, Gurney used "plein-air studies, thumbnail sketches, models photographed in costume and original cardboard or clay maquette
Maquette
A maquette is a small scale model or rough draft of an unfinished architectural work or a sculpture...
s" to create 150 oil paintings for his 2007 Dinotopia book.
Many have claimed that some scenes in the film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is a 1999 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the fourth film to be released in the Star Wars saga, as the first of a three-part prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as the first film in the saga in terms...
(particularly those in the city of Theed on Naboo
Naboo
Naboo is a fictitious planet in the fictional Star Wars universe with a mostly green terrain and which is the homeworld of two societies: the Gungans who dwell in underwater cities and the humans who live in colonies on the surface...
) unfairly copy images from Gurney's books. Gurney acknowledges the resemblance but has remained positive about it. In 1994, director George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
had met with producers to discuss some of the concepts and visuals behind a Dinotopia movie that was never made.
The island
Upon the hidden islandIsland
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
of Dinotopia, human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
s and dinosaurs live and work together in harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
with one another and with the Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
itself. It is a place of beauty
Beauty
Beauty is a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction. Beauty is studied as part of aesthetics, sociology, social psychology, and culture...
and wonder
Wonder
Wonder most commonly refers to:* Wonder , an emotion comparable to surprise that people feel when perceiving something rare or unexpected.Wonder may also refer to:In fiction* Wonder Boys, a 1995 novel by Michael Chabon...
lost to the rest of the world. The island itself is surrounded by a storm system and dangerous reefs that prevent safe travel to or from the island.
Aside from a highly diverse ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
ranging from desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
s to mountain
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
s to swamp
Swamp
A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...
s, Dinotopia also has an extensive system of natural and man-made cave
Cave
A cave or cavern is a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter. The term applies to natural cavities some part of which is in total darkness. The word cave also includes smaller spaces like rock shelters, sea caves, and grottos.Speleology is the science of exploration and study...
s.
The dinosaurs, according to their own legend
Legend
A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...
s, have inhabited the island for millions of years, having sought shelter in the underground caverns during the climate changes that caused the extinction of dinosaurs
Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event
The Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, formerly named and still commonly referred to as the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, occurred approximately 65.5 million years ago at the end of the Maastrichtian age of the Cretaceous period. It was a large-scale mass extinction of animal and plant...
elsewhere on the planet
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
.
The caverns are referred to as the World Beneath, and many dinosaurs go there to die. According to legends, a half man-half ceratopsian being named Ogthar climbed down there (where the sun is said to sleep at night) and stole pieces of it (known as "sunstones"), using them to create the empire of Poseidos and populating it with metal dinosaurs. However, the sea grew angry with the artificial city and rose to destroy it. It is implied that this is where the Atlantis myth originated.
The human population consists of shipwrecked travelers called Dolphinbacks (who are often rescued and brought to shore by dolphin
Dolphin
Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...
s) and the descendants of such arrivals. As such, they often fall into cultural zones based on the relative societies from whence their ancestors came, creating a cultural landscape across the island that is both unified and incredibly diverse.
Dinosaurs are not the only prehistoric creatures on the island. In the higher regions of the Forbidden Mountains (a Himalaya-like mountain
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
chain), woolly mammoth
Woolly mammoth
The woolly mammoth , also called the tundra mammoth, is a species of mammoth. This animal is known from bones and frozen carcasses from northern North America and northern Eurasia with the best preserved carcasses in Siberia...
s, giant ground sloths
Ground sloth
Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths, in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. Their most recent survivors lived in the Antilles, where it has been proposed they may have survived until 1550 CE; however, the youngest AMS radiocarbon date reported is 4190 BP, calibrated to c. 4700 BP...
, Chalicothere
Chalicothere
Chalicotheres were a group of herbivorous, odd-toed ungulate mammals spread throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa during the Early Eocene to Early Pleistocene subepochs living from 55.8 mya—781,000 years ago, existing for approximately .They evolved around 40 million years ago from...
s, Sabre-toothed cats, and other prehistoric mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s can be found. At least one Lystrosaurus
Lystrosaurus
Lystrosaurus was a genus of Late Permian and Early Triassic Period dicynodont therapsids, which lived around 250 million years ago in what is now Antarctica, India, and South Africa...
and one Edaphosaurus
Edaphosaurus
Edaphosaurus is a genus of prehistoric synapsid which lived around 303 to 265 million years ago, during the late Carboniferous to early Permian periods. The name Edaphosaurus means "ground lizard" and is derived from the Greek edaphos/εδαφος and σαυρος/sauros...
can be found in the city of Pooktook. Pterosaurs are also common, especially the Quetzalcoatlus
Quetzalcoatlus
Quetzalcoatlus was a pterodactyloid pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous of North America , and one of the largest known flying animals of all time. It was a member of the Azhdarchidae, a family of advanced toothless pterosaurs with unusually long, stiffened necks...
skybax
Skybax
The Quetzalcoatlus skybax is a fictional creature in Dinotopia. It carries "skybax riders" to their destination, although the skybax itself does the steering. The master pilot that trains the riders is Oolu, one of the Aerial Habitat Partners. It is considered a separate species from Q...
, which serve as steeds for the skybax messenger riders.
The center of the island is made up of a dense rainforest called the "Rainy Basin". This place is where most of the island's large carnivores live, such as Giganotosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, and Allosuarus. They are just as sentient as the other dinosaurs on the island but must be kept apart due to their instinctual need to hunt. They have their own language yet it is very deep and guttural and difficult even for other dinosaurs to speak or understand fluently. The Basin is cut off from the rest of the island by a series of retractable bridges. There are caravans that make passages through the basin and are made up by very large sauropod dinosaurs outfitted with heavy suits of armor studded with sharp spikes and carry offerings of meat appease any carnivores they meet. Often, a dinosaur that senses it will die soon will make a pilgrimage to the basin and die there so that it may be eaten by the carnivores and continue to contribute to the good of the island as a whole. The carnivores are actually very respectful of this and always wait for the dinosaur to pass peacefully, never attacking them while alive. The unofficial king of the basin is StinkTooth, an extremely large bull Giganotosaurus plagued with chronic halitosis.
Both halves of the society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
share responsibility equally and live under a common set of law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
s known as the Code of Dinotopia. The society is highly communal, lacking a monetary system
Monetary system
A monetary system is anything that is accepted as a standard of value and measure of wealth in a particular region.However, the current trend is to use international trade and investment to alter the policy and legislation of individual governments. The best recent example of this policy is the...
or even a concrete concept of ownership
Ownership
Ownership is the state or fact of exclusive rights and control over property, which may be an object, land/real estate or intellectual property. Ownership involves multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different parties. The concept of ownership has...
. Individuals are educated from youth to be compassionate, co-operative, and generally conscious of others' needs. For example, food
Food
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
on the island is provided at no cost, but citizens take only what they need and leave the rest for others. Stealing or other crime is virtually non-existent.
Series overview
Dinotopia began as an illustrated children's book called Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time. It was a huge cross-over success, appealing to both children and adult readers, which led James Gurney to write and illustrate three more books called Dinotopia: The World Beneath, Dinotopia: First Flight and most recently Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara. They all deal with the adventures of Arthur and Will Denison to one degree or another. These are considered the main books of the series and establish the fictional world in which the others are set.A children's flip-up version of the first book was also issued.
The Dinotopia Digest series consists of sixteen young adult novels penned by several different authors. These books feature other characters who are not specifically involved with the events of the main books.
Two full-length adult fantasy novels were also issued with Gurney's authority, written by Alan Dean Foster
Alan Dean Foster
Alan Dean Foster is an American author of fantasy and science fiction. He currently resides in Prescott, Arizona, with his wife, and is also known for his novelizations of film scripts...
: Dinotopia Lost and Hand of Dinotopia.
Several video games, as well as a TV miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
, a short-lived TV series, and an animated children's movie, were also produced. These are also set in the Dinotopia universe
Universe
The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
, but do not tie in directly with the main series.
Main books
The plot of the main Dinotopia books concerns Arthur Denison and his son, Will, and the various people they meet in their travels in Dinotopia. The first and fourth bookBook
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
s are written as if they were Arthur's journal
Diary
A diary is a record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. A personal diary may include a person's experiences, and/or thoughts or feelings, including comment on current events outside the writer's direct experience. Someone...
s, with Gurney going so far as to explain in the introductions how he happened to come across the old, waterlogged volumes.
A Land Apart from Time
In Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time (1992), the Denisons are shipwrecked near Dinotopia and, after making it ashore, are found by the people of the Hatchery. The HatcheryHatchery
A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish or poultry. It may be used for ex-situ conservation purposes, i.e. to breed rare or endangered species under controlled conditions; alternatively, it may be for economic reasons A hatchery is a...
is a place where dinosaurs are born, tended by both dinosaurs and humans. The Denisons then set out to explore the island, hoping to find a means of returning to their old lives. Note: Although the story is set in 1862, Arthur Denison mentions Tyrannosaurus Rex; however Henry Fairfield Osborn
Henry Fairfield Osborn
Henry Fairfield Osborn, Sr. ForMemRS was an American geologist, paleontologist, and eugenicist.-Early life and career:...
, president of the American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
, named Tyrannosaurus Rex in 1905 long after the events in Dinotopia are supposed to take place, although it is possible that the Dinotopians were the first to discover Tyrannosaurus and coincidentally gave it the same name.
Arthur and Will undergo a broad journey, circling the island, as they endeavor to learn the customs
Norm (sociology)
Social norms are the accepted behaviors within a society or group. This sociological and social psychological term has been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be explicit or implicit...
and culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
of their new neighbors. Arthur in particular develops an interest in the scientific accomplishments of the natives, which far exceed that of any human culture. Among the subjects he studies are the flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
of the island, the partnership of its inhabitants, and the existence
Existence
In common usage, existence is the world we are aware of through our senses, and that persists independently without them. In academic philosophy the word has a more specialized meaning, being contrasted with essence, which specifies different forms of existence as well as different identity...
of a place known as the World Beneath. This World Beneath is an explanation for Dinotopians surviving the saurian extinction
Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event
The Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, formerly named and still commonly referred to as the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, occurred approximately 65.5 million years ago at the end of the Maastrichtian age of the Cretaceous period. It was a large-scale mass extinction of animal and plant...
; according to the story, most of the Earth's dinosaurs were destroyed, whilst a few hid in vast underground caverns. These few became the original Dinotopians. No one has entered the World Beneath for centuries, but Arthur intends to do so.
His son Will, on the other hand, has chosen to train as a messenger of the sky; a Skybax rider, who lives in symbiosis
Symbiosis
Symbiosis is close and often long-term interaction between different biological species. In 1877 Bennett used the word symbiosis to describe the mutualistic relationship in lichens...
with his mount, the great Quetzalcoatlus
Quetzalcoatlus
Quetzalcoatlus was a pterodactyloid pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous of North America , and one of the largest known flying animals of all time. It was a member of the Azhdarchidae, a family of advanced toothless pterosaurs with unusually long, stiffened necks...
(nicknamed Skybax
Skybax
The Quetzalcoatlus skybax is a fictional creature in Dinotopia. It carries "skybax riders" to their destination, although the skybax itself does the steering. The master pilot that trains the riders is Oolu, one of the Aerial Habitat Partners. It is considered a separate species from Q...
), a species of pterosaur
Pterosaur
Pterosaurs were flying reptiles of the clade or order Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period . Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight...
. Training alongside Will is a girl called Sylvia, with whom Will falls in love. The natives refer to this and any other profound bond as Cumspiritik, which literally means "together-breathing." (Romana Denison of the later Dinotopia film series is said to be Will's daughter.)
Arthur, for his part, travels into the World Beneath, at the same time that Will and Sylvia are learning to fly with the Skybax. When he returns, he is fascinated by the ancient relics found there and is convinced that they may be key in enabling him to leave or explore the island.
Meanwhile, Will and Sylvia learn and master Skybax flight. When at last they have been accepted as Riders, they travel to meet Arthur and his Protoceratops
Protoceratops
Protoceratops is a genus of sheep-sized herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur, from the Upper Cretaceous Period of what is now Mongolia. It was a member of the Protoceratopsidae, a group of early horned dinosaurs...
guide Bix, but are distracted on the way by a thunderstorm. Luckily, they survive and arrive on time to meet their kin. Will is at the time too young to marry Sylvia, but it is promised that they will. Arthur recognizes that his son has grown up, and they each accept the changes that are results of their new lives on the island.
The World Beneath
The first sequel, Dinotopia: The World Beneath focuses mainly on Arthur Denison's return expedition to the World Beneath and opens with Will fly testing an invention of his father, the Dragoncopter – a steam engineSteam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
ornithopter
Ornithopter
An ornithopter is an aircraft that flies by flapping its wings. Designers seek to imitate the flapping-wing flight of birds, bats, and insects. Though machines may differ in form, they are usually built on the same scale as these flying creatures. Manned ornithopters have also been built, and some...
modeled on the dragonfly
Dragonfly
A dragonfly is a winged insect belonging to the order Odonata, the suborder Epiprocta or, in the strict sense, the infraorder Anisoptera . It is characterized by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent wings, and an elongated body...
. The Dragoncopter fails and Will is narrowly saved by Cirrus, his Skybax mount, before the Dragoncopter plummets into a waterfall.
After returning from his first expedition in A Land Apart From Time, Arthur presents two items he discovered – a sunstone and half of a key – to the council at Waterfall City in an attempt to get a second expedition into the World Beneath.
A musician named Oriana Nascava comes forward with the missing half of Arthur's key, claiming it to be a family heirloom. She is only willing to give it up if she is allowed to accompany Arthur in his expedition, a term that he reluctantly accepts. Together with Bix as a guide and the scandalous Lee Crabb, the group travels to the shady Pliosaur Canal where they board a submersible
Submersible
A submersible is a small vehicle designed to operate underwater. The term submersible is often used to differentiate from other underwater vehicles known as submarines, in that a submarine is a fully autonomous craft, capable of renewing its own power and breathing air, whereas a submersible is...
in order to take an underwater route to the World Beneath.
Meanwhile, Will and Sylvia have been assigned to accompany a sauropod caravan
Caravan (travellers)
A caravan is a group of people traveling together, often on a trade expedition. Caravans were used mainly in desert areas and throughout the Silk Road, where traveling in groups aided in defence against bandits as well as helped to improve economies of scale in trade.In historical times, caravans...
through the Rainy Basin and keep a watch for predatory Tyrannosaurus
Tyrannosaurus
Tyrannosaurus meaning "tyrant," and sauros meaning "lizard") is a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex , commonly abbreviated to T. rex, is a fixture in popular culture. It lived throughout what is now western North America, with a much wider range than other...
. However, Cirrus flies Will to ancient ruins in the jungle of which the Tyrannosaurus are strangely protective.
Arthur, Oriana, Bix, and Lee continue to explore the caverns underneath Dinotopia where they come across instantly germinating
Germination
Germination is the process in which a plant or fungus emerges from a seed or spore, respectively, and begins growth. The most common example of germination is the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm. However the growth of a sporeling from a spore, for example the...
fern
Fern
A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...
spore
Spore
In biology, a spore is a reproductive structure that is adapted for dispersal and surviving for extended periods of time in unfavorable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many bacteria, plants, algae, fungi and some protozoa. According to scientist Dr...
s, uncut sunstones that appear to store ancestral memory, and mechanical limbs that twitch when the sunstone is brought near. Eventually, they reach an enormous man-made chamber filled with abandoned dinosaur-like vehicle
Vehicle
A vehicle is a device that is designed or used to transport people or cargo. Most often vehicles are manufactured, such as bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, and aircraft....
s called Strutters, left behind by the ancient civilization of Poseidos. Arthur, Oriana, and Bix commandeer a ceratopsian strutter while Crabb takes a strutter modeled after a sea scorpion
Eurypterid
Eurypterids are an extinct group of arthropods related to arachnids which include the largest known arthropods that ever lived. They are members of the extinct order Eurypterida ; which is the most diverse Paleozoic chelicerate order in terms of species...
and they both climb out of the World Beneath, ending up in the Rainy Basin. They join the sauropod convoy, but are attacked by a pack of tyrannosaurs and Allosaurus
Allosaurus
Allosaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period . The name Allosaurus means "different lizard". It is derived from the Greek /allos and /sauros...
, during which Crabb escapes in his strutter and the head of the ceratopsian strutter is ripped off.
After escaping the carnivores, Arthur realizes that the Tyrannosaurus at the ruins may have been guarding the mythical ruby sunstone, and takes his strutter back into the Rainy Basin with Oriana and Bix to discover it. Along the way, they come across a trapped juvenile Giganotosaurus
Giganotosaurus
Giganotosaurus is a genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaur that lived around 97 million years ago during the early Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period. It included some of the largest known terrestrial carnivores, slightly larger than the largest Tyrannosaurus, but smaller than the...
and free it. The grateful father, named Stinktooth, protects Arthur and his companions from the tyrannosaurs and allows them passage into the ruins.
Inside the temple, Bix reveals that in the past, people have escaped the island and brought with them culture from Dinotopian civilizations, influencing ancient Egyptian
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
and Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
civilizations.
However, they are too late, as Crabb has arrived first and taken the ruby sunstone. Vowing to escape Dinotopia and bring back an army of strutters to plunder the island, he destroys Arthur's strutter with his sea scorpion and escapes. Riding on top of Stinktooth, Arthur chases Lee into the sea and pulls the sunstone out of the power socket in the strutter before Lee can escape. During this chase, Arthur's journal is lost to the ocean where it will be discovered by Philippine sailors and eventually make its way to the library where James Gurney
James Gurney
James Gurney is an artist and author best known for his illustrated book series Dinotopia, which is presented in the form of a 19th century explorer’s journal from an island utopia cohabited by humans and dinosaurs...
discovers it.
At the end, the ruby sunstone is lost, a new romance is suggested between Arthur and Oriana, and Crabb is placed under guard by a pair of Stygimoloch
Stygimoloch
Stygimoloch is a putative genus of pachycephalosaurid dinosaur from the end of the Cretaceous period, roughly 65 million years ago...
.
First Flight
Dinotopia: First Flight was a prequelPrequel
A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...
published by Gurney and included a board game
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
.
The main protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
of the story is Gideon Altaire, a flight school student living in the capital city of Poseidos off the Dinotopian mainland, in which all organic life (save for humans) has been replaced by mechanical counterparts. After discovering an injured Scaphognathus
Scaphognathus
Scaphognathus was a pterosaur that lived around Germany during the Late Jurassic. It had a wingspan of about one meter.-Naming:The first known Scaphognathus specimen was described in 1831 by August Goldfuss who mistook the tailless specimen for a new Pterodactylus species: P. crassirostris. The...
named Razzamult, Gideon discovers that the city is planning to launch an attack on the mainland and conquer all of Dinotopia and that they have stolen the ruby sunstone from the pterosaur home of Highnest.
Gideon sneaks into a factory and discovers an enormous air scorpion attack strutter under construction. He locates and steals the ruby sunstone and frees a group of captive pterosaur
Pterosaur
Pterosaurs were flying reptiles of the clade or order Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period . Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight...
s before escaping to the mainland in a police skimmer. He arrives only to find the island already under attack. He discovers and enlists the help of a band of indigenous creatures- Binny, a Necrolemur
Necrolemur
Necrolemur is an extinct genus of primate.The long creature closely resembled a tarsier; it was a nocturnal hunter with very large eyes and ears. Necrolemur had sharp teeth, which it probably used to bite through insect armor. Like modern tarsiers, it also possessed long fingers and toes, and a...
, Bandy, a Plesictis
Plesictis
Plesictis is an extinct prehistoric genus of mustelid endemic to Europe during the Oligocene 33.9—28.4 Ma existing for approximately ....
, Bongo, a Plesiadapis
Plesiadapis
Plesiadapis is one of the oldest known primate-like mammal species which existed about 58-55 million years ago in North America and Europe. Plesiadapis literally means "near-Adapis", which is a reference to the Eocene lemuriform, Adapis...
, and Budge, an Estemmenosuchus
Estemmenosuchus
Estemmenosuchus is a genus of large, early omnivorous therapsid that lived during the middle part of the Middle Permian period. It was among the largest animals of its day, and is characterised by distinctive horn-like structures, probably for intra-specific display...
. During their trek towards Highnest, they are ambushed by a spider like attack strutter which proceeds to steal the ruby sunstone.
Gideon and his band reach Highnest, where they help the pterosaurs evacuate the eggs, then take to the air atop their pterosaurs to engage the air scorpion. During the battle, Gideon manages to pull the ruby sunstone out of the flying machine's power socket, causing it to crash and stopping the invasion of Dinotopia.
Interestingly enough, Gideon is presented as the first ever Skybax rider, although the species he rode was Quetzalcoatlus northropi
Quetzalcoatlus
Quetzalcoatlus was a pterodactyloid pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous of North America , and one of the largest known flying animals of all time. It was a member of the Azhdarchidae, a family of advanced toothless pterosaurs with unusually long, stiffened necks...
.
Journey to Chandara
A fourth Dinotopia book by James Gurney, Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara, was published in October, 2007. In it, Hugo Khan, the mysterious and reclusive emperor of Chandara, an empire long since isolated from the rest of Dinotopia, has heard of Arthur Denison and Bix's exploits and sends them a personal invitation to his court. Along the way, the duo encounter several new locals, including an old musician named Cornelius Mazurka and his companion TherizinosaurusTherizinosaurus
Therizinosaurus is a genus of very large theropod dinosaur. Therizinosaurus lived in the late Cretaceous Period , and was one of the last and largest representatives of its unique group, the Therizinosauria...
Henriette in the ruins of an old city, a town called Bilgewater made completely out of salvaged ships that the inhabitants believe will carry them into another world, and Jorotongo, a consistently festive and completely nomadic village composed of pilgrims from the Sunflower, sister ship to the Mayflower.
Eventually, they meet Lee Crabb on route at Sauropolis, who escapes from his Stygimoloch guards and steals the invitation. Without proper passes for the border guards, Arthur and Bix are forced to sneak through the swamp of Blackwood Flats while evading packs of carnivorous Allosaurus. After passing through the mountain city of Thermala, the duo encounter Nibor Dooh, a bandit who steals all the possessions of passing travelers and compensates them with the possessions of the previous victim. Although Arthur loses all of his scientific equipment, he is given a set of desert robes which allow him and Bix to blend in to a Chandaran caravan and pass the border without harassment from the guards.
They stop by the ruins of Ebulon, where Arthur finds Will and Sylvia preparing for an air-jousting
Jousting
Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two knights mounted on horses and using lances, often as part of a tournament.Jousting emerged in the High Middle Ages based on the military use of the lance by heavy cavalry. The first camels tournament was staged in 1066, but jousting itself did not...
tournament. Soon after that, they make their way to the capital city of Chandara. By the time they arrive, they find themselves with few possessions left to barter save for ideas, so Arthur sets up shop in the Marketplace of Ideas. During the night, the writings at Arthur's stand catches the attention of the emperor and he and Bix are invited into the court.
Once at the court, they discover that Lee Crabb has also entered the court under the guise of Arthur Denison and is attempting to gather up a stockpile of weapons, arguing that he is preparing for a Tyrannosaurus invasion. Hugo Khan finally reveals himself to be a small Microraptor
Microraptor
Microraptor is a genus of small, four-winged dromaeosaurid dinosaurs. Numerous well-preserved fossil specimens have been recovered from Liaoning, China...
, and the real Denison promptly exposes Crabb. Khan punishes Crabb by assigning him to be a chef for a band of Acrocanthosaurus
Acrocanthosaurus
Acrocanthosaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur that existed in what is now North America during the Aptian and early Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous. Like most dinosaur genera, Acrocanthosaurus contains only a single species, A. atokensis. Its fossil remains are found mainly in the U.S...
Shaolin-monks, who ate their last chef after he failed to satisfy them.
To commemorate Arthur and Bix's presence on the court, Hugo Khan flies out during the night to find a child in sorrow. The next day, Arthur, Bix, and a handful of the Emperor's selected entertainers arrive at the house of and greet Rita Rose and Jeffer, an orphan
Orphan
An orphan is a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called an orphan...
ed Europasaurus
Europasaurus
Europasaurus is a basal macronarian sauropod, a form of quadrupedal herbivorous dinosaur. It lived during the Late Jurassic of northern Germany, and has been identified as an example of insular dwarfism resulting from the isolation of a sauropod population on an island within the Lower Saxony...
hatchling who has lost the ability to walk. At the end of the day, Hugo Khan expresses his wish for Chandara to be reopened culturally to the rest of Dinotopia. Arthur and Bix accept the Emperor's offers to stay in Chandara for a while to fully discover the city and its culture.
Other books in the series
From 1995, James Gurney worked with a number of other authors on a series of short novels for children using the Dinotopia characters and themes, published by Random HouseRandom House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
:
- Windchaser by Scott CiencinScott CiencinScott Ciencin is an American author. He sometimes writes with Denise Ciencin.-Biography:Scott Ciencin is a New York Times bestselling author who writes adult and children's fiction and works in a variety of mediums including comic books. Among his works are novels written for the Dungeons &...
-- Raymond, 13, and Hugh, a young street thief, are shipwrecked on Dinotopia Island, where humans and dinosaurs live in idyllic harmony. Raymond adjusts quickly, but Hugh's hard life has not prepared him for this peaceful communal existence. His feelings of inadequacy are echoed in Windchaser, a reclusive Skybax, and he resolves to communicate with the outcast creature. - River Quest by John VornholtJohn VornholtJohn Blair Vornholt is an American science fiction author known primarily for his media tie-ins, particularly Star Trek novels.-Original works:*The Troll King*The Troll Queen*The Troll Treasure*The First Third...
-- Waterfall City is in grave danger when the Polongo River mysteriously dries up. Magnolia and her dinosaur friend Paddlefoot, along with Birch and a triceratops called Rogo, battle the elements in their desperate quest to save Dinotopia's most beautiful city. - Hatchling by Midori SnyderMidori SnyderMidori Snyder is an American writer of fantasy, mythic fiction, and nonfiction on myth and folklore. She has published eight novels for children and adults, winning the Mythopoeic Award for The Innamorati...
-- Janet, a young Hatchery apprentice, runs away when she accidentally endangers a dinosaur egg. Then she meets a gravely wounded Gryposaurus, a very rare dinosaur. Entrusted with the dying Gryposaurus's newly laid egg, Janet knows she must brave the wilds of Dinotopia--and return to an uncertain reception at the Hatchery. - Lost City by Scott Ciencin -- Andrew, the son of a Dinotopian innkeeper, makes a strange discovery one night when a hooded dinosaur leads him and two friends to a remote, sealed-off city. When they begin to explore the forbidden area, the trio are thrust into a dangerous adventure--one they can survive only if they can put aside their chronic rivalries and come to understand the lost race of TroÜdons, who have existed there in seclusion for centuries and have created their own warrior culture in a mix of chivalry and bushido.
- Sabertooth Mountain by John Vornholt -- High in the Forbidden Mountains of Dinotopia, sabertooth tigers prowl and hunt, far from humans and dinosaurs alike. In this chilling, Kipling-esque adventure, a daring 12-year-old boy is forced to join a sabertooth clan. Then disaster strikes, and he must brave the treacherous crags of Sabertooth Mountain--for the good of all Dinotopians!
- Thunder Falls by Scott Ciencin -- For Joseph and Fleetfeet, a young Stegosaurus, a journey across the dangerous terrain of Dinotopia to retrieve a stolen prize for their guardian is hampered by their constant competitiveness. But the two friends must put aside their differences to shoot the treacherous rapids of Waterfall City's Thunder Falls.
- Firestorm by Gene De Weese -- Becoming the new apprentice to the Habitat Partner of Forest is very important to young Albert, but it seems like it will take forever. While doing another dull, jungle plant life survey with his Plateosarurus partner, Hightop, they hear disturbing news--the root that guarantees all Dinotopians longevity is disappearing. Every potential apprentice is dipatched to all corners of Dinotopia and now Albert has a chance to guarantee his own apprenticeship. But in his hurried, hopeful search for answers, what important questions is he forgetting to ask?
- The Maze by Peter DavidPeter DavidPeter Allen David , often abbreviated PAD, is an American writer of comic books, novels, television, movies and video games...
-- A witty young Raptor, Booj, teams up with Jason and Gwen to search for the legendary Odon, a Raptor who long ago became a recluse. To find him, the three friends must survive the dangerous traps of Odon's underground maze. No matter the challenge, they must succeed, because only Odon has the cure for the mysterious disease that has afflicted Gwen's father. - The Rescue Party by Mark A. Garland -- Every day, Loro enviously watches caravans of armored Brachiosaurs leave his town and cross the bridge into the dangerous jungles of the Rainy Basin. Someday, he promises himself, he will go there too. Then a deadly storm sweeps over Dinotopia, and the Brachiosaurs go to help the towns that were hit the hardest. So when a hot-air balloon crashes into the jungle, Loro and his friends know they are the only ones who can help. Loro's dream will finally come true, but can he survive the perils of the Rainy Basin
- Sky Dance by Scott Ciencin -- Since he was small, Marc has wanted to be a tightrope walker - even though he has no sense of balance and a fear of heights. His buddy Gentle, a Parasaurolophus, dreams of being a musician - even though his notes are wildly out of tune. Through sheer determination, the two join a troupe of traveling entertainers. They learn quickly, but their new found skills are put the test when tragedy strikes. A Sky Galley is sent wildly out of control during a terrible storm. Only an aerialist like Marc can save the passengers. But performing isn't easy when lives are on the line!
- Chomper by Don Glut -- Perry and his friend Stoutpoint come across an unusual find--a hatchling gigantosaurus! Unable to resist the baby's cries of hunger, they take the injured dinosaur to their village. Chomper conforms to a diet of fish and invertebrates, but when the dinosaur's appetite outgrows the village stores, something has to be done!
- Return to Lost City by Scott Ciencin -- Young Andrew and Lian pay a return visit to their old friends in Lost City, a place that served for years as the secret home of a noble tribe of Troodon knights. When they arrive, they find that an elder Troodon has gone off on a crazy, Don Quixote-like quest to prove he's still a great champion. Now it's up to Andrew, Lian, and their Troodon friend Arri to find this old knight and bring him back before he wreaks havoc in Dinotopia. But they may find out that his quest is not so crazy after all--and that the lives of an entire saurian race may hang in the balance.
- Survive! by Brad StricklandBrad StricklandWilliam Bradley Strickland is an American author known primarily for his fantasy and science fiction. He was born in New Holland, Georgia....
-- After an earthquake sends him tumbling down a cliff, young Kurt awakens unhurt, but terrified. He can't remember anything -- not even his own name! Hopelessly confused, Kurt stumbles away from the cliff, unknowingly wandering deeper into dangerous rain forest. Meanwhile, Kurt's family and his Deinonychus friend Tostri are urgently searching for him. But without his memory, how will Kurt know who they are? - The Explorers by Scott Ciencin -- Long ago, a group of brave Troodon knights undertook difficult quests to help their fellow Dinotopians. They called themselves the Explorers. When five young descendants of these knights hear the heroic tales of their ancestors, they become inspired to form a brand-new Explorers club. Pointynog the clever, Snicknik the quick, Hardshell the strong, Seeno the stealthy, and Plodnob the jovial say they are ready for any adventure, no matter how dangerous! But the original Explorers club was made up of experienced Troodon knights. Can these junior knights-in-training live up to their ancestors’ legend?
- Dolphin Watch by John Vornholt -- A boy and his Cryptoclidus friend begin diving with Dinotopia?s dolphins, the marine animals who rescue people from shipwrecks and bring them to safety on Dinotopia. But when the dolphins help rescue a warrior, will the stability of Dinotopia be at risk?
- Oasis by Cathy Hapka -- Jack and Ty are opposites. So when they travel together in a caravan across the Great Desert, there are bound to be disagreements. And when a sandstorm separates the boys from the rest of their group, the arguments get worse. Then they stumble upon a legendary oasis where they find a lost colony of small dinosaurs called Saltopus. Somehow, Jack and Ty must put aside their differences long enough to befriend the shy dinosaurs–and figure out how to help them!
Two full-length adult fantasy novels were also issued with Gurney's authority, written by Alan Dean Foster
Alan Dean Foster
Alan Dean Foster is an American author of fantasy and science fiction. He currently resides in Prescott, Arizona, with his wife, and is also known for his novelizations of film scripts...
: Dinotopia Lost (1996) and Hand of Dinotopia (1999).
TV miniseries
A 2002 four-hour TV mini-series produced by Hallmark Entertainment was also based on James Gurney's work, and was advertised as the first "mega-series." The show featured new characters such as Zippo (changed to Zippeau for the TV series to avoid legal issues with the lighter maker Zippo), a troodonTroodon
Troodon is a genus of relatively small, bird-like dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period . Discovered in 1855, it was among the first dinosaurs found in North America...
who is said to have worked with Sylvia; and a new plot device, the sunstones, which are described as a source of power and protection originating in the World Beneath. This in turn became the pilot for a short-lived series, wherein the failure both of the sunstones and of Dinotopian officials to adhere to the underlying meanings of their culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
's philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
caused several discontented people – a leader-in-training, Zippeau himself, and two twentieth-century Dolphinbacks, Karl and David – to embark on a quest
Quest
In mythology and literature, a quest, a journey towards a goal, serves as a plot device and as a symbol. Quests appear in the folklore of every nation and also figure prominently in non-national cultures. In literature, the objects of quests require great exertion on the part of the hero, and...
that led ultimately to the World Beneath. The characters in the miniseries refer several times to figures from the various books, including Will Denison, Gideon Altaire, and Lee Crabb, whose son Cyrus features as the antagonist
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
. The mini-series won an Emmy for its special effects.
Code of Dinotopia
In the world of Dinotopia, the Code of Dinotopia is an ancient stone tablet citing the rules of living in Dinotopia. As the part of the tablet cracked since it was first carved, the last portion of it had been missing, but was recovered in DinotopiaDinotopia (TV miniseries)
Dinotopia is a four-hour 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...
by Hallmark Entertainment. The code itself is as follows:
- Survival of all or none.
- One raindrop raises the sea.
- Weapons are enemies, even to their owners.
- Give more, take less.
- Others first, self last.
- Observe, listen and learn.
- Do one thing at a time.
- Sing every day.
- Exercise imagination.
- Eat to live, don't live to eat.
- Don't p...
The recovered first letters of each sentence spell out "SOW GOOD SEED". It was first written in the Dinotopian alphabet. In the TV miniseries, the 11th code began with Fin... and was found to be "Find the light".
In the original book by James Gurney, the last line of the code was a small joke amongst the historians and the librarian, who seemed to think it could have been "Don't pee in the bath" referencing the Saurian community's distaste with some humans' lack of cleanliness and hygiene. This was never elaborated on further or confirmed to be true though.
The later TV series
A TV series of thirteen episodes was produced later in 2002 as a result of the success of the mini-series, but none of the cast of the mini-series reprised their roles. In the later TV series, a group of people known as Outsiders live outside the laws of Dinotopia and are one of its dangers. Other dangers are the featured carnivorous dinosaurs including PteranodonPteranodon
Pteranodon , from the Late Cretaceous geological period of North America in present day Kansas, Alabama, Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota, was one of the largest pterosaur genera and had a maximum wingspan of over...
, Tyrannosaurus
Tyrannosaurus
Tyrannosaurus meaning "tyrant," and sauros meaning "lizard") is a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex , commonly abbreviated to T. rex, is a fixture in popular culture. It lived throughout what is now western North America, with a much wider range than other...
, and crocodile
Crocodile
A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: i.e...
-like mosasaur
Mosasaur
Mosasaurs are large extinct marine lizards. The first fossil remains were discovered in a limestone quarry at Maastricht on the Meuse in 1764...
s.
ABC originally planned to launch the series in September of 2002 but decided to wait until Thanksgiving. ABC was somewhat disappointed by the initial 5.7 million viewers and the poor ratings, but continued to air the series for a little while longer, pointing out that it had been an "odd viewing night overall." The series was finally canceled in December. Only six of the thirteen episodes were aired on ABC, but all thirteen were broadcast the following year in Europe and were released onto a 3-disc DVD box set.
Sci-fi
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
veteran David Winning
David Winning
David Winning is a Canadian and American dual Citizen film and television director, screenwriter, producer, editor, and occasional actor. Although Winning has worked in numerous film and TV genres, his name is most commonly associated with science fiction, thrillers and drama.-Biography:Winning...
directed two episodes of the series, and location shooting lasted for three months near Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
. Georgina Rylance
Georgina Rylance
Georgina Elizabeth Rylance , English actress, best known for Dinotopia.-Early life:Rylance is the daughter of Judge John Rylance QC, a circuit judge....
played Marion Waldo, and Lisa Zane
Lisa Zane
Elizabeth Frances "Lisa" Zane is an American actress and singer who has starred on stage, in film and television.-Personal life:...
portrayed her old friend LeSage, the leader of the Outsiders.
Animated film
There is also a 2005 traditionally-animatedTraditional animation
Traditional animation, is an animation technique where each frame is drawn by hand...
movie called Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone
Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone
Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone is a 2005 animated film directed by Davis Doi. Based on the Dinotopia series, this is the first related animated version.-Plot:...
. This film deviated from the original books in more than the miniseries by featuring Ogthar, a mythical ruler of the World Beneath (mentioned in the miniseries) as a human warlord
Warlord
A warlord is a person with power who has both military and civil control over a subnational area due to armed forces loyal to the warlord and not to a central authority. The term can also mean one who espouses the ideal that war is necessary, and has the means and authority to engage in war...
rather than a benevolent, if commanding emperor; by creating an "evil" counterpart to the sunstones; and by having Ogthar command dinosaurs (rather than humans) as his cohorts.
There were also a series of dolls resembling a chasmosaurus. There were many different names and colors but the dolls were abandoned and taken off the market.
Video games
A number of Dinotopia video games have been produced:- Dinotopia Adventure Game for PC (PC: 1995)
- Dinotopia: Living the Adventure (PC: 1996)
- Dinotopia Game Land Activity Center (PC/Mac: 2002)
- Dinotopia: The Timestone PiratesDinotopia: The Timestone PiratesDinotopia: The Timestone Pirates is a platform based video game for Nintendo Game Boy Advance, developed by RFX Interactive and published by TDK Mediactive. It is set in James Gurney's Dinotopia.-Plot:...
(Game Boy Advance: 2002) - Dinotopia: The Sunstone Odyssey (GameCube/Xbox: 2003)