ARK: The Animated Series

[stargatedalek]

https://youtu.be/6ZBrMJSYi_o

ARK: The Animated Series chronicles the story of a mysterious primeval land populated by dinosaurs and other extinct creatures, where people from throughout human history have been resurrected. When 21st century Australian paleontologist Helena Walker awakes on the ARK after tragedy, she must learn to survive and find new allies, or die again at the hands of ruthless warlords -- all while trying to uncover the true nature of their strange new world.

Voice talent and character descriptions, in alphabetical order:
(Potential minor spoilers if you aren't already familiar with some story elements of the game.)

Spoiler

● Gerard Butler plays General Gaius Marcellus Nerva, a brutal ancient Roman despot.
● Devery Jacobs plays Alasie, a peppy 17th century Inuit teenager, now finding her place on
the ARK.
● Cissy Jones plays The Gladiatrix, a formidable commander in Nerva's army.
● Madeleine Madden plays 21st century Australian paleontologist Helena Walker, newly
awoken on the ARK.
● Deborah Mailman plays Deborah Walker, a 21st century Aboriginal Australian activist, and
mother to Helena Walker.
● Zahn McClarnon plays Thunder Comes Charging, a 19th century Lakota warrior who leads
a thriving community on the ARK.
● Malcolm McDowell plays Senator Lucius Cassius Virilis, a manipulative aristocrat during
the reign of Caesar Augustus.
● Juliet Mills plays Chava, a wise healer and village councilmember.
● Elliot Page plays Victoria Walker, an idealistic humanitarian aid worker, and wife of Helena
Walker.
● Ragga Ragnars plays Queen Sigrid, a bellicose 10th century Viking warlord.
● David Tennant plays Sir Edmund Rockwell, an egocentric 19th century scientist harboring
dark ambitions.
● Alan Tudyk plays The Captain, a crusty buccaneer who profitably sails the dangerous
waters around the ARK.
● Karl Urban plays Bob, a recent square-jawed ARK arrival.
● Jeffrey Wright plays Henry Townsend, an 18th century American watchmaker and Patriot
spy.
● Michelle Yeoh plays Meiyin Li, a 3rd century Chinese rebel leader, known on the ARK by
her reputation as the formidable "Beast Queen."
● Ron Yuan plays Han Li, a 3rd century Chinese rebel leader and brother to Meiyin.
● With Russell Crowe playing Kor the Prophet, an eccentric 'dino-whisperer' hailing from
a time before recorded history.
● And Vin Diesel playing 24th century 'Mek'-pilot, gearhead, & freedom-fighter Santiago.

[close]

[Sarapaurolophus]

I have no interest in the Ark games so maybe this will get me into the franchise. I was expecting it to be CG, so this is a nice surprise. Not feeling the "star studded" voice cast. I'd rather see more voice actors by trade. And yes, I know a lot of these have done voice roles in animated movies or games before. Still not feeling it.

I assume this mount is supposed to be a Saurolophus or Parasaurolophus? Looks a bit weird but I'll accept it

[HD-man]

Parasaurolophus? Looks a bit weird

I know, right? Horse teeth, human hands, & don't get me started on the dromaeosaur. Also, the animation looks a bit janky to me.

[Sarapaurolophus]

Parasaurolophus? Looks a bit weird

I know, right? Horse teeth, human hands, & don't get me started on the dromaeosaur.

I know these animals are not supposed to look realistic but the teeth honestly made me laugh. I can't recall ever seeing something like this in dinosaur cartoons from even 30 years ago.

The generic raptor is the usual Jurassic Park/World thing, I'm not even surprised anymore that they are drawn that way.

[Faelrin]

@Sarapaurolophus Yep it is a Parasaurolophus. There are definitely some that are more faithful in their designs (such as the Carnotaurus, Yutyrannus, most of the Paleozoic and Cenozoic animals), whereas others are more fanciful (such as the Raptor and Dilophosaurus being inspired directly from the Jurassic Park designs of the animals, much of the other dinosaurs designs like the Triceratops, etc).

Now I'll put this info in a spoiler tag as it while it will be informative, it can also spoil some of the story elements (which I would expect the show to cover to some extant):

Spoiler

All of the creatures are genetic recreations and/or have been modified in some way, which is not too different from Jurassic Park's creatures in that sense. Each is its own new species, such as the Parasaurolophus being called P. amphibio, instead of like P. walkeri, etc. The setting is also in the distant future.

[close]

Honestly I am very excited for this show as I am still relatively new to learning about the lore of the game, and what little I am aware has been very interesting for me.

Edit: I also quite liked the original game score and sound effects used in the trailer too. Though that isn't to say I'm not against new stuff as well. ARK has a fantastic soundtrack for what it is. Very cinematic like too.

[stargatedalek]

The designs are meant to play off of pop-culture versions of the animals, the earlier dinosaurs that were released at launch especially so. So if they feel distinctly strange while also familiar (even annoyingly so for some of us), that's the general intention.

[HD-man]

The generic raptor is the usual Jurassic Park/World thing, I'm not even surprised anymore that they are drawn that way.

I wouldn't even call that a "Jurassic Park/World thing", more like a Beginner's Bible Coloring Book dino ( https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/128/414998399_4b1b06b1b8_b.jpg ) w/a half-arsed amount of feathers ( https://www.deviantart.com/ikechi1/art/Half-arse-Raptor-skin-202648904 ). Point being, if creators aren't gonna make their dinos accurate, they should at least make them awesome. Primal is a good example of that, but ARK isn't. Personally, I prefer dinos that are both accurate & awesome, like this (which reminded me of ARK, but better: https://twitter.com/brianengh_art/status/896473835230248960 ):

[PumperKrickel]

Can we please stop this borderline offtopic discussion about the raptor design? It's accurate to the game, that's all that matters. There's no need to bash ARK for not reaching arbitrary levels of awesomeness.

I don't think the artstyle and animation looks impressive and I'm kinda worried that most of the budget might have been used on the voice cast. Then again it's only a trailer, so maybe the final result will be more polished. I absolutely loved that they had a smallish herbivore without any horns or spikes triumph over a carnivore. This is shown way too rarely in my opinion.

With the trailer for ARK 2 showing off a new Rex design, I wonder if they'll use that one for the show or the old one. Or maybe both?

[HD-man]

Can we please stop this borderline offtopic discussion about the raptor design?

I don't think the artstyle and animation looks impressive

So it's OK to criticize the art style & animation, but not the creature designs? Sorry not sorry, but that doesn't make sense. Speaking of creature designs, the following quotes are in reference to JW's, but sum up my thoughts on ARK's:
-To quote Zubin Erik Dutta ( https://www.facebook.com/ZDuttaArt/posts/1335038923329022 ), "this is an issue with the creature design of the Baryonyx, not its scientific inaccuracy. Scientific inaccuracy ≠ bad creature design. The Tyrannosaurus and the Velociraptors are scientifically inaccurate but still well designed/appealing from a creature design standpoint, and I like them. The JW:FK Baryonyx looks like melted plastic toy."
-To quote Tom Parker ( https://jurassicparkterror.net/jurassic-park-dinosaurs/ ), "Jurassic World, unfortunately, ended up minimizing most of these features, making it look much more like a generic monster theropod, In fact, the design looks almost identical to their depiction of the adult Allosaurus...I don't really get the point of using Baryonyx if you are going to downplay its most distinctive features. I especially don't get the de-emphasis of the meat-hook claws on its hands, which seem like prime movie monster material."

I'm kinda worried that most of the budget might have been used on the voice cast.

Probably.

I absolutely loved that they had a smallish herbivore without any horns or spikes triumph over a carnivore. This is shown way too rarely in my opinion.

That would've been cool, but that's clearly not what happened. Rather, the "smallish herbivore" almost got it throat torn out before it fell off a cliff & its human rider triumphed over the carnivore.

[PumperKrickel]

So it's OK to criticize the art style & animation, but not the creature designs? Sorry not sorry, but that doesn't make sense.

The creature design was taken directly from the game, the art style and animation are unique to the show. That's the difference. There's a thread for the game, where complaints about the game's designs might be more appropriate. I'm simply asking for this thread not to become yet another thread where people who clearly don't care about the subject constantly complain about arbitrary things just for the sake of it.

That would've been cool, but that's clearly not what happened. Rather, the "smallish herbivore" almost got it throat torn out before it fell off a cliff & its human rider triumphed over the carnivore.

Which dinosaur survives the encounter and actively assists in finishing the fight though? The Parasaurolophus, despite being the ultimate prey item in the game. No need to be nit-picking.

[Sarapaurolophus]

If something looks off to me I'll point it out. Such as giving a Parasaurolophus horse teeth, which is just comical. I am currently watching another cartoon based on a game and the art style is completely different to the game, so it's not like any of these art directions are beyond criticism. When translating something into a different medium there are some style choices that work more or less and it's up to the individual viewer to decide that for her- or himself.

I've had these same nitpicks about JW:CC where I favored the 2D concept arts over the final CG models because I felt the style worked better in 2D.
So just based on this trailer, I think some of the Ark game designs don't work in 2D. I'll see if the series can change my mind but so far it looks like it won't.

[HD-man]

Which dinosaur survives the encounter and actively assists in finishing the fight though?

That's a pretty big stretch of logic, like claiming that Oscar really did triumph over Frankie in Shark Tale. Last I checked, surviving an attack b/c someone else killed the attacker =/= triumphing over the attacker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfwKhSToQNg

You can do that in a thread about the game but here it makes no sense to criticize anatomical inaccuracies on the animals.
They are game accurate and that is all they need to be to represent these computer game creatures.
Again, complaining about the anatomical accuracies here is like complaining that the dinosaurs in Camp Cretaceous aren't anatomically accurate or that the animals in the Primeval toy line aren't anatomically accurate.

Again, to quote Zubin Erik Dutta (which is in reference to JW's creature design, but sums up my thoughts on ARK's: https://www.facebook.com/ZDuttaArt/posts/1335038923329022 ), "this is an issue with the creature design of the Baryonyx, not its scientific inaccuracy. Scientific inaccuracy ≠ bad creature design. The Tyrannosaurus and the Velociraptors are scientifically inaccurate but still well designed/appealing from a creature design standpoint, and I like them. The JW:FK Baryonyx looks like melted plastic toy."

If something looks off to me I'll point it out. Such as giving a Parasaurolophus horse teeth, which is just comical. I am currently watching another cartoon based on a game and the art style is completely different to the game, so it's not like any of these art directions are beyond criticism. When translating something into a different medium there are some style choices that work more or less and it's up to the individual viewer to decide that for her- or himself.

I've had these same nitpicks about JW:CC where I favored the 2D concept arts over the final CG models because I felt the style worked better in 2D.
So just based on this trailer, I think some of the Ark game designs don't work in 2D. I'll see if the series can change my mind but so far it looks like it won't.

This.

[stargatedalek]

Please stop repeating the same complaint ad nausea. Yes, the designs are inaccurate, please just say it once, make your peace, and move on unless someone questions you for more detail.

The designs being inaccurate was a deliberate choice when the game was being designed, as it ties into story reveals and they are deliberately meant to play off of pop-culture tropes. Could they have worked around making them accurate, or "more accurate"? Probably. Would I also have preferred that? Probably.

But that's too bad for us, because these designs are already recognizable from the game and judging from the other stuff that's been revealed it seems a lot of effort is going into keeping this show true to the games story, which frankly I find impressive given the degree of representation it has that is likely to draw ire from certain audiences (who likely wouldn't even be aware of it in the original context). Just like I wouldn't want Jurassic Park to suddenly switch their dinosaurs to being accurate with no explanation or context, I'm happy to see ARK: The Animated Series sticking to its lore even in regards to designs I personally wasn't very fond of.

I may not like ARK's Parasaurolophus design, but I'm happy to see it staying true to its origins if that means the story will be adapted as faithfully and not back down to pressures to appeal to a broader audience (especially given the kind of people generally thought of as a safe marketing demographic for video game content).

[HD-man]

Please stop repeating the same complaint ad nausea. Yes, the designs are inaccurate, please just say it once, make your peace, and move on unless someone questions you for more detail.

Apparently, I need to repeat myself since you think I'm complaining about inaccuracies despite my explicitly stating otherwise

[PumperKrickel]

That's a pretty big stretch of logic, like claiming that Oscar really did triumph over Frankie in Shark Tale. Last I checked, surviving an attack b/c someone else killed the attacker =/= triumphing over the attacker:

I'm not going to argue semantics with you here. The Para survived and actively helped winning the battle. I think thats a triumph, you don't. Please just move on.

Apparently, I need to repeat myself since you think I'm complaining about inaccuracies despite my explicitly stating otherwise

We understand that you don't like the designs, because they're not "awesome" enough. Stargatedalek's point still stands, though.

If something looks off to me I'll point it out. Such as giving a Parasaurolophus horse teeth, which is just comical.

The horse teeth are indeed interesting, because I'm pretty sure they didn't have those in the game. My best guess would be that they were added as a visual aid to easily read the impressions even at a quick glance.

[Sarapaurolophus]

If something looks off to me I'll point it out. Such as giving a Parasaurolophus horse teeth, which is just comical.

The horse teeth are indeed interesting, because I'm pretty sure they didn't have those in the game. My best guess would be that they were added as a visual aid to easily read the impressions even at a quick glance.

That might be it. Maybe also to play on familiar characteristics so audiences connect more to the animal (?)
A common trope like this is when non-canine animals whimper and wag their tails like dogs. Now I kinda want the dinosaur to neigh

[Libraraptor]

Honestly, I do not have the slightest cue as to what this thread is all about.

But I do sense a kind of petulant atmosphere which I don´t want to escalate.

Please calm down a bit, everybody! Ask yourself how important your concerns will be in a week, in a year, in five years.

[Brontozaurus]

I'm honestly super excited. ARK's always had an interesting story behind each of its maps and seeing it in series form is a really cool idea. Plus they're keeping the character diversity, which I was always impressed by.

[Faelrin]

New trailer dropped today:

Featuring an unparalled voice cast with the talents of Michelle Yeoh, Gerard Butler, Russell Crowe, and Executive Produced by Vin Diesel, ARK: The Animated Series is an adaptation of the hit video game. In a sweeping story that spans eons of human & world history, 21st century paleontologist Helena Walker finds herself resurrected on a mysterious primeval land after tragedy. There she must learn to survive and find new allies, or die again at the hands of ruthless warlords -- all while trying to uncover the true nature of their strange new world. ARK: The Animated Series will release on a to-be-announced platform in 2023. Join us then for an ageless adventure beyond life & death itself!

The above is from the youtube description. Can't wait for more details. Been quite a while since this has been in the works. But I'm glad it hasn't been rushed out either.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I thought it was supposed to be a movie? Series is fine though..hopefully it's on Netflix or something similar I have.