Dinosaur Week Roundup

Monday, I said there was something in the air because dinosaurs were making a comeback. Today, we discuss a number of recent dinosaur sightings...

PrimevalThe show about temporal anomalies through which the "Walking with" creatures come through to the present and the paleontologists who love to fight them came back this year a hiatus of almost two years. Series 4 aired in January, and Series 5 is airing now. Of course, that's all in the UK (or BBC America, which I don't get), and I'm waiting for DVD versions to be issued to Region 1.

Terra Nova

Not waiting to be outdone by the Brits, FOX has made a big commitment to the Spielberg-exec-produced series about humanity abandoning the present (the grossly polluted year 2149) to colonize Prehistory. It's Star Trek's "All Our Yesterdays" meets Jurassic Park. The pilot was supposed to be aired in May as a sneak preview, but the amount of effects pushed it back to the fall. Looks promising, though the involvement of both FOX (the dreaded cancelers of things I like) and Brannon Braga (of Voyager infamy) do make me a little wary.

Jurassic Park 4
But that's not the only Spielberg dinosaur project in the pipeline. The Hollywood Reporter yesterday reported that there were ongoing talks about rebooting the franchise with a fourth film. Good possibility that Terra Nova is being used to grease the market's wheels and progress some CGI development?

Discovery Channel Comics
On Free Comic Book Day, the Discovery Channel unveiled a couple of upcoming series in a special free flipbook. One was about deadly sharks, the other was called Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Predators. While the art is competent, I'm afraid the story (about the "supercrocodile" Sarcosuchus) didn't agree with me. It tries to be a comic book version of the "Walking with" series, but fails by choosing the use the past tense in the narration. All the immediacy is lost. Of course, results may vary in the actual series, and this may yet prove a fun educational book for kids.

Power Girl
Recently, Power Girl and her cross-Earth cousin Superman could be seen fighting magical dinosaurs(!) in the pages of PG's comic, proving all the fun didn't go out of it when Palmiotti, Gray and the wonderful Amanda Connor left the book.

Heroes for Hire
Meanwhile, we've had Spider-Man swinging bioengineered velociraptors(!) around in the pages of Heroes for Hire!

Doc Savage
This month's issue of Doc Savage features the Man of Bronze fighting with a pteranodon!

Invincible
And as if Master Robert Kirkman didn't have his fill of dinosaurs in his recent hit, Super-Dinosaur, he also features the return of Dinosaurus in the pages of Invincible #80 this month. It's pure awesome with a side order of shocking ending.

Avengers Academy
Lest I forget before I leave the comic book world, the Avengers Academy still features Reptil, a superhero who can turn into any kind of dinosaur.

Doctor Who
And after getting only lukewarm reviews last year, the new Silurians are completely redeemed by Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat in the person of Madame Vastra, the Victorian Silurian samurai detective and monster hunter who, along with her butler and gay interspecies lover Jenny, became an overnight sensation after Series 6's mid-season finale. It seemed that for the better part of last week, people were more inclined to talk about the unlikely duo (and wishing very strongly for a spin-off series) than of the revelations about River Song. Quite right too. (Announcing heavy Doctor Who content next week. I've held my tongue too long.)

And I'm not even counting the new Godzilla comic now on the stands (not technically a dinosaur)... and may have missed some! Please, use the comments to tell us about other dinosaur sightings from the past couple months! Share the Dino Fever!

Comments

chiasaur11 said…
Godzilla's not a dinosaur?

That's rather unfair. It would be like saying Jay Garrick or Peter Parker weren't humans.
Siskoid said…
Those two mutates?!

;)

Well, maybe you're right, but I put Godzilla into the giant atomic monster category, even if he is a reptile. I agree that he deserves a mention at least as much as any "Silurian" (which is why I mentioned him on the sly).
Anonymous said…
And then there's Dr. Dinosaur, who lives to annoy Atomic Robo like none of his other enemies can.