The Dinotopia toys that never were

[Newt]

Apparently Hasbro made some prototypes for Dinotopia toys, to tie in with a Dinotopia feature film that ended up being shelved. James Gurney shared some images on his blog.

[Stegotyranno420]

How does a dinotopia film get shelved but they approve mundane, garbage and even offensive shock horror films.
Yeah i understand finances and marketing plays a role, but it is not fair.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I think it was mentioned it Prehistoric Times Magazine? I had devoured the books and loved the world, Montgomery Ward carried merchandise already, pins, kites, ect..   I was really looking forward to it. They said it would be the jewel in Columbia's crown?  Sounded like a big budget blockbuster.

[Faelrin]

How unfortunate. At least there's a plush of the Protoceratops. Definitely odd there wasn't even merch to come out for that short series back in the early 2000's (at least not that I encountered sadly).

[Newt]

Now that we're in an era of well-crafted TV shows with good special effects, I would love to see a Dinotopia adaptation on the small screen. I think the travelogue style of the stories lends itself to an episodic series better than a movie anyhow. If given the kind of care and budget that Game of Thrones or the various Star Wars shows receive it could be very good, I think, so long as it's protected from any clueless corporate knuckleheads that want it to be Jurassic World lite.

If anybody here has Hollywood connections, please start pulling some strings...

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

How unfortunate. At least there's a plush of the Protoceratops. Definitely odd there wasn't even merch to come out for that short series back in the early 2000's (at least not that I encountered sadly).

Hallmark had a few things. the bean bag baby dinos in eggs Kenner JP style for one.

I don't think a normal tv series would fair any better than the Hallmark one.  Maybe Netflix or Disney?

[Faelrin]

@Blade-of-the-Moon Wow I never knew about those. Just searched them up. I would have adored those when I was younger. I was like 11 when it came out.

[Gwangi]

How does a dinotopia film get shelved but they approve mundane, garbage and even offensive shock horror films.
Yeah i understand finances and marketing plays a role, but it is not fair.

It takes a lot of money invested in special effects to convincingly put dinosaurs on the screen, money that studios are reluctant to gamble with. Horror movies can be made dirt cheap and make bank. I do think that Dinotopia is a property begging to be revisited though. Would make for a great Game of Thrones type of show.

[Roselaar]

Let's also not forget these Dinotopia prototypes Kenner was cooking up back in the day:

[Gwangi]

Interesting that Kenner was playing around with the idea of a large sauropod toy but never produced one for the Jurassic Park line, especially since that Brachiosaurus head has an uncanny resemblance to Jurassic Park's.

[BlueKrono]

@Roselaar Those are some wild-looking Dewbacks!

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Interesting that Kenner was playing around with the idea of a large sauropod toy but never produced one for the Jurassic Park line, especially since that Brachiosaurus head has an uncanny resemblance to Jurassic Park's.

Looks like a modified Horizon JP Brachio kit. 

I really wish we got these.  Maybe David could branch out and do Dinotopia line?

[Crackington]

The stormtroopers' use inadvertently raises some intriguing possibilities. Potential crossovers even with JP instead of Dinotopia....

[EmperorDinobot]

TKenner had a lot more dinosaurs planned for Series 2, and some could have easily crossed over to Dinotopia.


I've seen them.

[Gwangi]

Interesting that Kenner was playing around with the idea of a large sauropod toy but never produced one for the Jurassic Park line, especially since that Brachiosaurus head has an uncanny resemblance to Jurassic Park's.

Looks like a modified Horizon JP Brachio kit. 

That would make sense.

[Halichoeres]

I was looking through my copy of The World Beneath the other day. Gurney did an absolutely bang-up job on Dunkleosteus, Kronosaurus, and a bunch of aquatic invertebrates. He really did his research.