Based
on the children's books by author/illustrator James Gurney, the three-part,
six-hour ABC miniseries Dinotopia got under way when a pair of teenaged half
brothers, Karl and David Scott, took over the controls of their father
Frank's (Stuart Wilson) private plane. Not surprisingly, the boys crashed
the plane into the ocean, whereupon they were washed on the shore of an
unchartered continent. While searching for their missing dad, Karl and David
wandered into Waterfall City, the capitol of Dinotopia, a hidden
civilization where human beings and dinosaurs peacefully coexisted. In fact,
some of the dinosaurs, notably a neurotic Stenonychosaurus named Zippo,
possessed human intelligence and spoke perfect English. Among the many rules
in Dinotopia was the edict that, once an outsider arrived, he or she was
never allowed to leave. As Karl and David prepared to take their rightful
places in their new surroundings, both boys developed a strong bond with
young Marion (Katie Carr), who was on the verge of becoming a "matriarch" of
the Dinotopian society. Unfortunately, the incursion of vicious carnivores,
not to mention an unanticipated human villain, threatened to destroy
Dinotopia and everyone living on the island. Decked out with special effects
courtesy of Jim Henson's Creature Shop and the British FrameStore CFC,
Dinotopia was designed as the pilot for a proposed weekly ABC adventure
series. Co-produced by Disney Television and Hallmark Entertainment, the
miniseries premiered as an episode of the Wonderful World of Disney
anthology on May 12, 2002.| Colin Salmon | Oonu |
| Wentworth Miller | David Scott |
| Zienia Merton | Teacher |
| Christian Simpson | Sunstone Restorer |
| David Thewlis | Cyrus Crabb |
| Stuart Wilson | Frank Scott |
| Jim Carter | Mayor Waldo |
| Katie Carr | Marion |
| Tyron Leitso | Karl Scott |
| Alice Krige | Rosemary |
| Lee Evans | Zippo [Voice] |
| Terry Jones | Messenger Bird [Voice] |
Genre/Type - Fantasy, Children's Fantasy, Fantasy Adventure
Running time - 285 min.