Dinotopia premiered on ABC last night, I was wondering if any fans of the books, or audio series watched, if you did what did you think?

We tried.

My wife and son read the books, I did not.

All they kept saying was "why did they change that?"

We turned it off after the first hour. I was appalled at the horrible dialogue and acting.

I never read the book, but the 2 hours were unwatchable for us adults. The 3 kidz with us that watched it, liked it, so I guess Disney got what they wanted. Come on talking dinosaurs?

I won't be watching/wasting my time for the next 2 parts. There is too much to watch this week anyways. Chris

Probably one of the lamest most unwatchable things I have ever seen.

I read the book.

As usual, Disney kept the title and the character names intact, but nothing else.

Attrocious.

James Gurney would be rolling in his grave if he was dead.

As someone who is knowledgeable of neither the book nor the tv series --- what are the major differences?

Story takes place in 1860. What little I watched of the show, the main characters are 20-21st century.

Main characters in the book: Arthur and Will Denison, father and son.

Movie: main characters are brothers named Carl and something (didn't catch the other's name).

The father and son disappeared during a Darwinian voyage of exploration. They were transported to Dinotopia by a pod of dolphins.

People on Dinotopia (in the book) speak an archaic form of english. They are able to speak to and understand the dinosaurs.

They did get the vegetarian diet thing correct in the movie.

The humans in the book DO interact with the smaller predators such as Ceratosaur (smaller version of t-rex).

I stopped watching after about twenty minutes.

What little I saw was visually pleasing, as most disney movies are, but like all disney adaptations, there is almost no resemblance between the book at the movie apart from where it is set and the title of the story.

I didn't watch because I thought it was a Hallmark film believe it or not. I know they butcher stories all the time.

Now, I'm glad I didn't. Even though it's a Disney film, looks like they screwed it up. Kind of like making Pochahantis(sp?) an adult.

I've always wanted to read the books but I'm glad I didn't waste time on the tv movie.

My biggest peeve with Disney is they *always* destroy a perfectly good story.

My advice is to pick up the book. It's a very good read and beautiful to look at. James Gurney is one of my favorite artists, and he is an extremely nice guy. I got to meet him at a convention one year and had a great conversation about art as a day job.

I'd love to see Dinotopia made right. Full on Jurassic Park CGI dinosaurs (the ones in the tv movie had that polygon feel you get with movies like Ice Age - a little too distracting to watch), and someone who can write a decent screenplay.

Oh, and that Margules woman from Mists of Avalon would be a welcome change from that horrid big headed freak Disney got to play the lead in the tv adaptation.

Disney/ABC/Hallmark collaboration -- Hallmark Entertainment did produce the thing.

Reminds me of when they did Noah's Ark.... (shiver).....

waiting for the DVD so I dont have to scan through all the adverts and wear down my VCR in the process.

Is it my imagination, or did they throw away the whole thing with spoilers at the beginning?

I don't watch made-for-TV movies much, and noticed something like this when they showed Empire Strikes Back a few weeks ago. Is this the way these things are, give away everything in the beginning?

Is there something I'm missing here?

one word ....retarded...
one post-count

David

really? Cool.

26 is a little cutie.

I just watched the first two parts of dinotopia and I think it got better in part 2. Cant wait for part 3

I just read on ZapIt that Dinotopia the series is coming to ABC, and will pick up where the mini series leaves off....

Heard that on the radio this morning as well.

Will there be a moral message in each episode?

Eisner is a D#$k

Yeah but how long will it last on THURSDAYS at 8:00 up against Friends & Scrubs?

Ill watch it. Well actually ill tivo it :-) I never watched friends or scrubs anyway. WWE is on :-)

OK. I've seen the whole thing.

Two words:

Stu pid!

An excellent example of why I don’t watch made-for-TV movies. The third night showed either incredibly inept writing or they edited the crap out of it.

Thank God I've got Buffy and Angel on tape. I’d hate to admit that I totally missed them for this drivel.

das

Yah, 32 years with her and I still can't to get across the idea of "priorities."

The things I do for Love...

I got the feeling that this thing was edited to bits because the last two nights felt very choppy.

The only saving grace is the lead characters became a little less whiny as the series progressed.

I just wish it wasn't to obvious about what was going to happen at the end. It's almost like the writers were saying at the beginning of the third installment, "You see, it's like this...because we don't think you'll understand the story unless you're told what will happen ahead of time."