JURASSIC WORLD: CHAOS THEORY

[Gwangi]

I binged the entire show as soon as I could (yesterday) in an attempt to avoid spoilers. I will say this, it was vastly better than I thought it would be and better than any season of CC, which I felt jumped the shark towards the end. I felt myself invested in these characters, the story, and the intrigue far more than I expected. Frankly, the Nublar Six are much more likeably and fleshed out than any Jurassic Park/World characters since the first film. And the show felt more mature and grounded than a lot of Jurassic Park sequels did too. That said, I also felt frustration over the same things that S @Shane outlined.

I don't have much I want to say that would spoil anything but...

Spoiler

I really enjoyed that this show was basically a long road trip. The raptor handler was terrifying and I loved it! The standout main characters for me were probably Sammy and Ben but all the characters were handled exceptionally well and improved upon.

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One of things that I did find very interesting is how the show deals with the fact that all of these individuals are extremely affected by the events of the island, to the point where almost all of them exhibit some kind of PTSD or extreme coping mechanism. These kids are NOT okay, because (obviously) they went through some serious trauma of almost being eaten by dinosaurs for several seasons of TV. But while most kids shows would just have them being fine after all that, here we get Darius's isolation, Ben's obsessions, Yaz's withdrawal from society, etc.

Agreed. These literal cartoon characters are less cartoony than those from the World movies. 

[Shane]

Agreed. These literal cartoon characters are less cartoony than those from the World movies. 

Kind of a "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" and "Monsterverse" situation where the show features fully fleshed out characters and a real expansion of the fictional world building, while the feature films just play out like a child banging their toys together for 2 hours.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Spoiler

What they call Season 2 is actually the rest of Season 1 from how I understand Netflix orders shows and how they are made. So building up problems to answer them, partially in the first part does play to the overall plot by the end of the run. The episodes are pretty short too. Not a full 30 min or anything.

I think we did get answers, just not totally complete and full ones which is important in storytelling to keep the reader/viewer engaged. To paraphrase Shrek, " stories are like onions, they have layers" lol

 

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Spoiler

I definitely appreciate that they can't give us ALL the answers. But to me they just dragged things out in a way that felt unnatural, and what we DO get is frustratingly incomplete and ultimately just left me unsatisfied.

By the end of Season 1, I want to feel like I've watched a complete season of television. Obviously there will be dangling threads and loose ends that need to be addressed in the following season, but this seemed to really be the pinnacle of the "leave them wanting more", keeping basically all the major questions almost entirely gatekept behind a second season.

The idea that this is basically one long season split into two makes sense, but still leaves me cold when I realize I'm out of show to watch and still don't really have a satisfying conclusion to any of the mysteries.

To use your onion analogy, it felt to me like this season has just barely peeled the skin off the onion, and there's still just about all the layers left even though it's taken about 200 minutes of media just to get the skin off.

This isn't a criticism that's unique to this show either, it's the nature of a lot of shows in the streaming era, where they slowly trickle out details and then almost never end a season on an actual conclusion, instead always ending on a cliffhanger, even if the show is likely to be canceled and a second season never comes. It's just with Chaos Theory, it really feels like they took this to an extreme degree.

I know it's kind of a moot point since you mentioned they basically split the story over two seasons, but imagine if this were a show without the clout of the Jurassic franchise behind it, and the first season was this vague in terms of its major plot threads, and then it just...never got a second season. It would be immensely unsatisfying! Maybe I'm just old, but I feel like your seasons should be self contained to a degree, even if there is an overarching mystery that involves a multi-season arc, you still need to dole out enough answers to keep people from just watching a bunch of people (figuratively and literally) spinning wheels.

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Spoiler

Maybe I'm just getting used to shows with less plot, I watch anime where it can take 60 episodes to get half way through a story arc.
 This to me, felt decently done, like the first act was setup and dealt with leaving just enough to carry over for the next part. I've seen a LOT of shows that get one season and done, none of them ever feel fully finished. They should at least plan for that and do a mini/movie for these kind of shows. In my opinion it gave enough but I can see where others might not think so.

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[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Spoiler

Interesting detail. Brooklyn's new VA actually was born without an arm so they incorporated that into her character.

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[Shane]

Spoiler

Interesting detail. Brooklyn's new VA actually was born without an arm so they incorporated that into her character.

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That's interesting. According to Wikipedia they had wanted Jenna Ortega back but she had "scheduling conflicts" which I think is a nice way of saying she's much more famous, busy and important than she was when she lent her voice to Brooklynn.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Spoiler

Interesting detail. Brooklyn's new VA actually was born without an arm so they incorporated that into her character.

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That's interesting. According to Wikipedia they had wanted Jenna Ortega back but she had "scheduling conflicts" which I think is a nice way of saying she's much more famous, busy and important than she was when she lent her voice to Brooklynn.

It's hard to 100% trust Wiki unless they cite a specific source but I imagine they did want her back..but they probably didn't lock her into a contract.  She is still working for Netflix with the Wednesday S2 show though..I can't imagine doing voice work especially for this season would have been that much more?

[Shane]

Spoiler

Interesting detail. Brooklyn's new VA actually was born without an arm so they incorporated that into her character.

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That's interesting. According to Wikipedia they had wanted Jenna Ortega back but she had "scheduling conflicts" which I think is a nice way of saying she's much more famous, busy and important than she was when she lent her voice to Brooklynn.

It's hard to 100% trust Wiki unless they cite a specific source but I imagine they did want her back..but they probably didn't lock her into a contract.  She is still working for Netflix with the Wednesday S2 show though..I can't imagine doing voice work especially for this season would have been that much more?

I'm sure her rates have gone way up. She's a bonafide star now, and she was not when she first signed on to Camp Cretaceous. Wednesday was a huge hit, and really catapulted her into being a household name. Between that, the Scream franchise, and her upcoming appearance in the Beetlejuice sequel, I'm sure there genuinely were scheduling issues, but also she may just not have wanted to commit to multiple seasons, or maybe asked for too much money.

[HD-man]

Spoiler

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[MLMjp]

I really enjoyed the show, I think it is too early for me to say if it is better than Camp Cretaceus (the first 3 seasons at least), but it has the potential.

Spoiler

Like everyone said the show tackled the whole dinosaurs in the mainland idea better than Dominion, granted the whole concept so big that there was no way a single movie would be able to do it justice (specially if you decide to focus on a locust plot nobody cares and you don't know what the hell to do with your film, minus couple scenes here and there..) that even though the show does it better is still falls short, but we have at least one more season so there's more time for that.

Speaking of things that it did better than Dominion, OMG, they made the Atrociraptors scary, despite them being "controlled" (and in a more efficient way that makes some sense). Colin, this is what you failed to do.

And yes, their handler gave me the creeps, all without a single word.

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More comments tomorrow, I'm not feeling like typing more today..

[HD-man]

[HD-man]

It's not much, but...:

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

The anatomy of the Sucho in that scene as it turns and looks back seems a bit..odd?

[Takama]

Ok i finally saw the entire season 1 in a single binge

All i will say, Dinosaur action aside, as a struggling adult.  This had moments that hit me too hard at times, regardless if it were a kids show

[Quiversaurus]

I really like that Sucho. Can't wait to see models of it, maybe in Takara Tomy Ania style. (Just realised Tomy hasn't released a Pierce the Kentrosaurus from Camp Cretaceous yet either. Here's hoping!)

[Carnoking]

Nice to know that the wait won't be too long, although as I recall Camp Cretaceous followed a similar release schedule of essentially two "seasons" a year.

I finished watching this first season on Sunday and whereas I wasn't as taken by it as others seem to be for reasons already mentioned, I am glad to see these characters again and that the storytelling  has ditched the more outlandish aspects of the later CC season in favor of a more grounded mystery story.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Yeah I mean it's essentially one season divided into two. I sort of wish they had just released one episode a week. That might have helped with spoilers too?

[Dilopho]

Yeah I mean it's essentially one season divided into two. I sort of wish they had just released one episode a week. That might have helped with spoilers too?

Me too, idk why shows these days just follow the binge watch method. It often hurts the ratings a lot.
it's fun to react and speculate alongside the community.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Yeah I mean it's essentially one season divided into two. I sort of wish they had just released one episode a week. That might have helped with spoilers too?

Me too, idk why shows these days just follow the binge watch method. It often hurts the ratings a lot.
it's fun to react and speculate alongside the community.

Exactly. Days before the show even aired people were posting spoilers somehow. I enjoyed it so much more going in knowing nothing. But to get that I felt I had to watch it ALL at once..and I was right. I read spoilers that would have killed major plots for me a day later.

[Faelrin]

I finally finished the show. Two important things that just dropped in the last episode. Okay maybe three.

Spoiler

First, is that Bumpy laid an egg? Kenji said it was speckled. Are we gonna have another dinosaur named Speckles out there?
Second, Brooklyn is still alive? Bruh. That's nuts, and uh messed up. The kids all think she's dead and she's still alive?! Okay Mattel needs to drop a figure of her at some point (and Sammy too while we're at it).
Third, guess the kids are heading to Malta. I mean this is where this is eventually going to lead to, since the Atrociraptor were under control by Santos in Dominion there.

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Kind of guessing that Suchomimus in that S2 preview is the one that has a Captivz figure and card, and the upcoming Mattel set with Ben and the case of eggs. Curious to how much of a role it will play. Must be more then the one in this first season which was of a darker coloration (I think).

Also man this first season was really good. Kept it real, so hopefully S2 is more of this. Still have lots of unsolved questions that they could address there.

Edit: Here's a list of the total species I caught wind of from watching it (those in bold had major screen time this season, and/or new):

Spoiler

-Allosaurus (BaBR blind eye)
-Ankylosaurus (Bumpy)
-Atrociraptor (Ghost, Panthera, Tiger)
-Baryonyx
-Becklespinax (orange and black/grey, gold and red)
-Brachiosaurus
-Carnotaurus (green, and hologram)
-Compsognathus
-Dimorphodon
-Gallimimus
-Nasutoceratops (BaBR family?)
-Pachyrhinosaurus
-Parasaurolophus lux
-Pteranodon
-Stegosaurus
-Stygimoloch
-Suchomimus (blue/grey and red)
-Tyrannosaurus (Big Eatie?)
-Velociraptor

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[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I finally finished the show. Two important things that just dropped in the last episode. Okay maybe three.

Spoiler

First, is that Bumpy laid an egg? Kenji said it was speckled. Are we gonna have another dinosaur named Speckles out there?
Second, Brooklyn is still alive? Bruh. That's nuts, and uh messed up. The kids all think she's dead and she's still alive?! Okay Mattel needs to drop a figure of her at some point (and Sammy too while we're at it).
Third, guess the kids are heading to Malta. I mean this is where this is eventually going to lead to, since the Atrociraptor were under control by Santos in Dominion there.

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Kind of guessing that Suchomimus in that S2 preview is the one that has a Captivz figure and card, and the upcoming Mattel set with Ben and the case of eggs. Curious to how much of a role it will play. Must be more then the one in this first season which was of a darker coloration (I think).

Also man this first season was really good. Kept it real, so hopefully S2 is more of this. Still have lots of unsolved questions that they could address there.

Edit: Here's a list of the total species I caught wind of from watching it (those in bold had major screen time this season, and/or new):

Spoiler

-Allosaurus (BaBR blind eye)
-Ankylosaurus (Bumpy)
-Atrociraptor (Ghost, Panthera, Tiger)
-Baryonyx
-Becklespinax (orange and black/grey, gold and red)
-Brachiosaurus
-Carnotaurus (green, and hologram)
-Compsognathus
-Dimorphodon
-Gallimimus
-Nasutoceratops (BaBR family?)
-Pachyrhinosaurus
-Parasaurolophus lux
-Pteranodon
-Stegosaurus
-Stygimoloch
-Suchomimus (blue/grey and red)
-Tyrannosaurus (Big Eatie?)
-Velociraptor

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Spoiler

Yeah  I was all like, your killing Bumpy too!? Glad she was just pregnant. One egg only was kind of odd. It will probably be different so they can sell more toys.  

i know..and that lady at the DPG / rangers knows about it..gonna be some major heat later. I think Sammy has one planned, Brooklyn won't be out til S2 toys show up I bet.

I'm not sure they are going to Malta myself. I'm still a bit confused on the continuity of this series. I do think we will see the Giga again, so maybe they will end up in Biosyn's valley.

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Spoiler

I'm almost sure the Velociraptor shown near the end was a Nublar specimen?

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