History YMMV / Dinotopia

* AdaptationDisplacement: Majority of the people who know about Dinotopia only watched the TV miniseries and/or the InNameOnly animated movie, ''Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone'' due to television being more widespread than the books as a medium.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids?: The first ''Dinotopia'' illustrated novel is a book with loads and loads of illustrations. And it involves [[TalkingAnimal talking dinosaurs]]. It ''never'' had a chance. Gurney has stated that his books are for all ages; he likes media where things can be enjoyed both at a shallow surface level and also when more thought is applied.

* SoOkayItsAverage: The miniseries. Passable story, decent effects and David Thewlis is enjoyable as the antagonist (confusing motivation aside), but that's all it has going for it, especially if you're a fan of British comedian Lee Evans who is wasted as the talking dinosaur Zippo.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: At a cursory glance, Dinotopia seems to be an island where man has DomesticatedDinosaurs. However, humans and dinosaurs are supposed to be on equal standing. And if you ask Lee Crabb, ''he'' would tell you that the dinosaurs are the true rulers and the humans just their opposable thumbed little servants.

* MarySuetopia: To an extent, but Guerney has stated that this is intentional.

* ScienceMarchesOn: Inverted in one case, with the books predicting an actual paleontological finding. ''Oviraptor'' (literally "egg thief") is referred to as ''Ovinutrix'' (egg tender) in western Dinotopia. ''Oviraptor'' got its name from its holotype being found with a clutch of eggs that it was thought to have stolen; three years after ''A Land Apart From Time'' came out, it was found that the eggs in question ''belonged'' to the ''Oviraptor'' holotype, and it was likely brooding with them.

* ScienceMarchesOn: Inverted, with the books predicting an actual paleontological finding. ''Oviraptor'' (literally "egg thief") is referred to as ''Ovinutrix'' (egg tender) in western Dinotopia. ''Oviraptor'' got its name from its holotype being found with a clutch of eggs that it was thought to have stolen; three years after ''A Land Apart From Time'' came out, it was found that the eggs in question ''belonged'' to the ''Oviraptor'' holotype, and it was likely brooding with them.

%%* TheProblemWithLicensedGames

* HilariousInHindsight: ''First Flight'' has a plot that revolves around the main characters riding around on [[GiantFlyer Giant Fliers]]. Doesn't sound familiar enough? His mount is named {{Film/Avatar}}
* InkStainAdaptation: The TV series.

* TheyJustDidntCare: The TV miniseries. It dumped the Victorian-era setting and naturalist protagonists for modern-day teenaged boys right out of the CW casting offices. (This completely disregarded the fact that ''every single Dinotopia book'', including the spin off novels written by other authors, had been set in previous centuries - turning an easily [[JustifiedTrope justified]] trope into a more ridiculous variation with some kind of magical continent that never showed up on satellite imaging but could still literally be reached by riding the back of a dolphin.) It plays the AnthropomorphicShift and changes the Code of Dinotopia (which was originally a acronym for SOW GOOD SEED) to something else that doesn't make sense. And then it [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] the Dinotopians' peace loving ways into naivety and ignorance of the outside world (in the books Dinotopians were quite enlightened) and turned the intelligent [[BarbarianTribe Barbarian Tribes]] of carnivores in the Rainy Basin into standard [[PrehistoricMonster Prehistoric Monsters]] (as well as completely ignoring the fact that carnivores never leave the basin to wreck havoc). Finally, it turned Dinotopia itself from a peaceful utopia mostly devoid of technology to a static anti-innovation regime dependent on Sunstones to keep out the carnivores.
** And the television series that followed took it UpToEleven
*** It's best to not even mention the animated film.
** The worst part is that the mini-series has experienced some limited AdaptationDisplacement among younger audiences. They view this trash as '''THE''' Dinotopia.
** Paleontological inaccuracies also abound, but the most glaring would be the "[[PteroSoarer Dimorphodons]]", which are turned into "postal birds" with feathers and everything. Pterosaurs did NOT have feathers[[note]]although the covering they ''did'' have was likely to have had a similar origin[[/note]] and were most certainly NOT birds. To make matters worse, the Skybax and Pteranodon are actually depicted as relatively decent looking pterosaurs.
*** Not to mention ''Chasmosaurus'' was described as [[CriticalResearchFailure a member of the hadrosaur or duck-billed dinosaur family]]. And mosasaurs are portrayed as crocodiles.

* TheyJustDidntCare: The TV miniseries. It dumped the Victorian-era setting and naturalist protagonists for [[ViewersAreMorons modern-day teenaged boys right out of the CW casting offices]]. (This completely disregarded the fact that ''every single Dinotopia book'', including the spin off novels written by other authors, had been set in previous centuries - turning an easily [[JustifiedTrope justified]] trope into a more ridiculous variation with some kind of magical continent that never showed up on satellite imaging but could still literally be reached by riding the back of a dolphin.) It plays the AnthropomorphicShift and changes the Code of Dinotopia (which was originally a acronym for SOW GOOD SEED) to something else that doesn't make sense. And then it [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] the Dinotopians' peace loving ways into naivety and ignorance of the outside world (in the books Dinotopians were quite enlightened) and turned the intelligent [[BarbarianTribe Barbarian Tribes]] of carnivores in the Rainy Basin into standard [[PrehistoricMonster Prehistoric Monsters]] (as well as completely ignoring the fact that carnivores never leave the basin to wreck havoc). Finally, it turned Dinotopia itself from a peaceful utopia mostly devoid of technology to a static anti-innovation regime dependent on Sunstones to keep out the carnivores.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: At a cursory glance, Dinotopia seems to be an island where man has DomesticatedDinosaurs. However, humans and dinosaurs are supposed to be on equal standing. And if you'd ask Lee Crabb, ''he'' would tell you that the dinosaurs are the true rulers and the humans just their opposable thumbed little servants.

** Paleontological inaccuracies also abound, but the most glaring would be the "[[PteroSoarer Dimorphodons]]", which are turned into "postal birds" with feathers and everything. Pterosaurs did NOT have feathers and were most certainly NOT birds. To make matters worse, the Skybax and Pteranodon are actually depicted as relatively decent looking pterosaurs.

*** Not to mention ''Chasmosaurus'' was described as [[CriticalResearchFailure a member of the hadrosaur or duck-billed dinosaur family]].

** Paleontological inaccuracies also abound, but the most glaring would be the "[[PteroSoarer Dimorphodons]]", which are turned into "postal birds" with feathers and everything. Pterosaurs did NOT have feathers and were most certainly NOT birds. To make matters worse, the Skybax and Pteranodon are actually depicted as relatively decent looking pterosaurs.

* JumpedTheShark: For some fans. The first book was a fascinating voyage of self-discovery. A few fans had some problems with ''The World Beneath'', citing a rather irritating anti-technology plot along with turning elements that were left very mysterious in the first book into a more generic lost empire with PowerCrystals, but they still give the book overall high marks. However, in ''First Flight'', the plot had degenerated into an unremarkable action-adventure (it came with a ''board game'') featuring YouMeddlingKids. Fortunately, ''Chandara'' was a return to form.

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames

* TheyJustDidntCare: The TV miniseries. It dumped the Victorian-era setting and naturalist protagonists for [[ViewersAreMorons modern-day teenaged boys right out of the CW casting offices]]. (This completely disregarded the fact that ''every single Dinotopia book'', including the spin off novels written by other authors, had been set in previous centuries - turning an easily [[JustifiedTrope justified]] trope into a more ridiculous variation with some kind of magical continent that never showed up on satellite imaging but could still literally be reached by riding the back of a dolphin.) It plays the AnthropomorphicShift and changes the Code of Dinotopia (which was originally a acronym for SOW GOOD SEED) to something else that doesn't make sense. And then it [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] the Dinotopians' peace loving ways into naivety and ignorance of the outside world (in the books Dinotopians were quite enlightened) and turned the intelligent [[BarbarianTribe Barbarian Tribes]] of carnivores in the Rainy Basin into standard [[PrehistoricMonster Prehistoric Monsters]]. Finally, it turned Dinotopia itself from a peaceful utopia mostly devoid of technology to a static anti-innovation regime dependent on Sunstones to keep out the carnivores.

* HilariousInHindsight - ''First Flight'' has a plot that revolves around the main characters riding around on [[GiantFlyer Giant Fliers]]. Doesn't sound familiar enough? His mount is named {{Film/Avatar}}

* MarySuetopia - To an extent, but Guerney has stated that this is intentional.

* TheyJustDidntCare - The TV miniseries. It dumped the Victorian-era setting and naturalist protagonists for [[ViewersAreMorons modern-day teenaged boys right out of the CW casting offices]]. (This completely disregarded the fact that ''every single Dinotopia book'', including the spin off novels written by other authors, had been set in previous centuries - turning an easily [[JustifiedTrope justified]] trope into a more ridiculous variation with some kind of magical continent that never showed up on satellite imaging but could still literally be reached by riding the back of a dolphin.) It plays the AnthropomorphicShift and changes the Code of Dinotopia (which was originally a acronym for SOW GOOD SEED) to something else that doesn't make sense. And then it [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] the Dinotopians' peace loving ways into naivety and ignorance of the outside world (in the books Dinotopians were quite enlightened) and turned the intelligent [[BarbarianTribe Barbarian Tribes]] of carnivores in the Rainy Basin into standard [[PrehistoricMonster Prehistoric Monsters]]. Finally, it turned Dinotopia itself from a peaceful utopia mostly devoid of technology to a static anti-innovation regime dependent on Sunstones to keep out the carnivores.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids? - The first ''Dinotopia'' illustrated novel is a book with loads and loads of illustrations. And it involves [[TalkingAnimal talking dinosaurs]]. It ''never'' had a chance. Gurney has stated that his books are for all ages; he likes media where things can be enjoyed both at a shallow surface level and also when more thought is applied.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids? - The first ''Dinotopia'' illustrated novel is a book with loads and loads of illustrations. And it involves [[TalkingAnimal talking dinosaurs]]. It ''never'' had a chance.

** And the television series that followed took it BeyondTheImpossible.

* HilariousByHindsight - ''First Flight'' has a plot that revolves around the main characters riding around on [[GiantFlyer Giant Fliers]]. Doesn't sound familiar enough? His mount is named {{Film/Avatar}}