Prehistoric Park Reimagined / Awesome

The people at Prehistoric Park certainly think that dinosaurs are awesome. And if the idea of rescuing dinosaurs and multiple other prehistoric animals from extinction doesn't already sound awesome enough, look no further than this page for additional proof.

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Prologue/The Adventure Begins

At the very beginning of the story, Drew, Leon, and Adrian are understandably not all that quick to immediately believe that Theodore is telling the truth when he first tells them about the time portal. What convinces them that he's indeed telling the truth and not senile? Them putting their heads through the open portal in time to catch sight of none other than a gigantic Jurassic Era Morrison formation valley filled with living breathing dinosaurs in the flesh, that's what! Naturally, this undeniable proof, plus the amazing possibilities that could come with their potential work at the upcoming Prehistoric Park, is all the trio need to say yes to Theodore's offer to work at the park.
And they weren't the only ones to be stunned and in awe of the portal in fact being genuine upon receiving a demonstration of undeniable proof. As Theodore points out upon getting a good look at the trio's reactions, the Novum Board reacted similarly to them in complete Stunned Silence (to the point that a few of them were 'quieter than they'd ever been in years').

Novum Initium

Expecting the park to start small and 'insignificant' like in Prehistoric Earth? Well not this time. For this story, they're starting big from the very beginning. For their first target? None other than the mighty brachiosaurus!
While not the explicit main target for the first mission, the first prehistoric animals successfully rescued and rendered no longer extinct are nothing to sneeze at either. The animals in question? A herd of stegosaurus^note!
In a spectacular Big Damn Heroes moment, the team manages, despite their still being rusty overall at working together, plus Leon and Jack ending up at a bad start to their working relationship after an unpleasant moment of situational clumsiness on Leon's part, to successfully work together to rescue an injured and trapped adolescent apatosaurus from both a large pit of quicksand as well as a combined group of hungry ceratosaurus, amphicotylus, and diplosaurus.
Jack proves himself up to his usual impulsive 'pulling stuff out of his arse' tricks as early as Novum Initium, managing to get a pair of ornitholestes to unwittingly charge through the portal into the future and safety of the park by using an air horn to entice them into coming after him. And he does so in time to rescue a combined colony of fruitafossor and paurodon.
Unlike in Prehistoric Earth, where she had to wait until the 2nd to last mission of the first phase to get her first scene properly on the job as a veterinarian, here Linda gets to show herself in her element during one of her first proper days on the job at the park by taking part in a surgery on the newly rescued Arlo, with said operation proving a smashing success to boot!
As awesome as the rescue of their first apatosaurus is, the means in which they rescue additional members of the species is arguably even more so. How? An entire large combined herd of apatosaurus, brontosaurus, barosaurus, and diplodocus end up spooked into stampeding by a large pack of allosaurus. By sheer luck, Drew and the team manage to rush into appropriate position in time to allow all but a single luckless old male to successfully come charging through the portal. And of course, once the allosaurus pack have finished eating their kill, it isn't long before they too manage to come bursting through the portal as well via enticement by airhorn.
And for the finale of Novum Initium two different giants are successfully brought through the portal, the target sauropod brachiosaurus and the mighty apex predator of the area saurophaganax. And for further points, unlike in some stories where predators manage to easily take down the herbivores after a long battle (regardless of whether or not the herbivores put up a good fight), here the brachiosaurus actually manage to get their would-be killers to back off by putting up a sufficient enough fight to convince them to wait until they can have the chance at a comparatively easy time picking off a young, sick, or elderly member of the herd.
At the end of Novum Initium, Theodore himself arrives in person to meet up with Drew at the newly inhabited Morrison Formation zone. And from there, the final words of the chapter before the rescue tally make it very clear indeed that, regardless of whatever happens next, this is truly only the beginning.

All Creatures Great and Small

At the very beginning of All Creatures Great and Small, Khatin gets to show off his genuine intellect by letting it be pointed out to Drew how he managed to figure out that some of the sauropods were misidentified. In fact, he even manages to point out subtle details to differentiate the now properly identified brontosaurus, diplodocus hallorum (as opposed to the more commonly known carnegii species), and cathetosaurus that Leon managed to miss.
As explained in Mohinder's introductory scene, the mere fact that, after untold millions of years, sauropods are back from extinction and gracing the world once more with their awe-inspiring presence thanks to the rescue team's successful efforts at rescuing them in the previous mission. And speaking of Mohinder, the fact that, since it's implied he's had to do so multiple times, the fact that, despite his annoyance at it happening so often, he's able to successful make peace and keep things civil between all his considerably less humble and more prideful peers amongst the sauropod keepers.
In yet another example of how the larger herbivorous dinosaurs in this story are very much not either passive wimps that barely even put up a fight or nonetheless doomed to lose in a fight regardless of how good of a fight they put up, the combined herd of supersaurus, lusotitan, lourinhasaurus, and zby manage to get a pair of torvosaurus to back off and wait for an ideal chance to pick off an elderly, sick, or infant member of the herd by making it clear that just up and charging in to make a meal out of them won't be an easy task in the slightest.

New Blood

Jack once again proves himself a grand master of the Indy Ploy by managing to successfully entice an entire large combined flock of eudimorphodon and preondactylus into going through the portal and prevent them from eating an entire placodont carcass that he and the team planned to use as bait...with nothing but a spare bucket of chum.
In a first for this story, the team manages to pull off a mass rescue of multiple species at once that consists almost entirely of carnivores rather than herbivores. Specifically, they manage to lure a pack of lophostropheus, a float of nicrosaurus, and a pack of ticinosuchus, plus a flock of caviramus, through the portal all at once by attaching a tow wench to a prosauropod carcass they wanted to eat and having it dragged through the portal. Bonus points for the three land-based carnivores all being in the midst of fighting each other over who got the right to eat the carcass first immediately prior to said carcass starting to get towed away.
And naturally, just like in the previous two missions, the gang manages to rescue both a combined group of herbivores and a pack of carnivores within seconds of each other. This time, the carnivores in question are liliensternus while the herbivore group consists of multiple species of prosauropods.
In the climax, while surrounded by a pod of cymbospondylus that have booted them out of their boat (and also destroyed said boat in the process for good measure), Jack and Drew manage to keep themselves alive long enough for Alice and the Ancient Mariner's crew to arrive, at which point the ichthyosaurs are led away from Drew and Jack by a dead placodont that Jack had earlier fished out alongside the ship's crew that gets dropped into the water near them. And for the cherry on top, both species of ichthyosaur end up getting sent right through the portal for their trouble over the course of their efforts at going after the newly provided free food.

Red in Tooth and Claw

In a truly unexpected turn of events, phorusrhacos turn out to be present in the same place and time as smilodon populator in this continuity. Clearly, as Drew comments after Adrian and Alice lampshade the presence of the birds despite this being a time that occurred after the birds' officially accepted extinction date, a small number of the birds managed to hang on and stay alive past that date.
Speaking of the phorusrhacos, the birds are portrayed, in absolute defiance of their Adaptational Wimp status in the original Prehistoric Park, as the truly capable carnivores that they actually were. For instead of being very easily driven off from their prey or acting as lowly scavengers, one pair of phorusrhacos manages, while still in the wild, to successfully prevent a pack of theriodictis from stealing their kill while another pair manages to at least put up a decent fight against a pair of bachelor smilodon brothers in an effort to steal the cats' kill before eventually backing down.
How does Drew manage to get the park's first glyptodonts through the portal? By goading them via swinging red cloth into charging at him one at a time. And he does all this without getting so much as a scratch (an especially good feat considering the doedicurus could have just as easily tried to swing their tails at him instead of charging his way).
Credit where credit is due. The same smilodon brothers mentioned above prove themselves not ones to back down from their kill easily long before they get a pair of phorusrhacos to back down by at least trying to put up a good fight when a single lone male arctotherium arrives to try to steal an earlier kill from them. And of course, props to the bear as well by very swiftly putting an end to the conflict by rearing up to full height before then slamming back down on all fours and roaring. This display proves enough to get the two smilodon brothers to reluctantly back off from their kill. Even in the Pleistocene, Bears Are Bad News.
Much like in Prehistoric Earth, and in real life, the megatherium in this story turn out to be not at all helpless idiots like Sid. In fact, the very first megatherium encountered in this story (Sid and Camille) are introduced holding their own and going toe to toe against a single adult female arctotherium. And even after the arctotherium in question has been successfully enticed into going through the portal, the two megatherium are still wary enough to make the rescue team consider their next actions carefully so as to avoid getting on the receiving end of their claws themselves.
The awe inspiring sight that awaits the rescue team at the Pleistocene Santa Cruz watering hole. In previous missions, the team had either only found a small number of animals present at any equivalent of a watering hole, or had to split up and cover a large distance after arrival to find more than one or two species of animal to rescue. Here though, the water hole is crowded with multiple groups of different species of local animal. Even without a drought going on, this water hole appears to be a very much active and thriving gathering ground for the local wildlife to drink and feed at.
While somewhat scary at the same time, the gang manages to keep themselves and a newly tranquilized pride of smilodon alive against a large pack of protocyon long enough to both lead the pack (and their four attending wingegyps cartellei) on a wild chase across the savanna and subsequently get them at a speed where they're running Too Fast to Stop to avoid skidding right through the portal when it is finally summoned at their expense.
And not too long after that, the trio end up arriving in the nick of time to rescue an entire mass group of animals trapped in a lightning strike induced wild fire that's taken shape at the same water hole from earlier, with Adrian successfully goading four phorusrhacos present into chasing him through the portal, Alice enticing a pair of adult female smilodons as well as a mother arctotherium and her two cubs into barreling through the portal after a bag of raw steak, and Drew himself sticking around to enter the portal last after coaxing (via honking of the jeep's horn) all the herbivores that had already been present at the water hole before the rescue trio got the viator picis through the portal and departed to go after the leaving herd of toxodon to go stampeding through themselves. And all this in time to avoid running the risk of the tranquilized smilodon pride still in the trunk of the jeep suffocating to death in their sleep from the smoke.

Oozing From the Pit

In an early sign of Taking a Level in Badass, Leon proves himself capable of competently enticing animals through the portal through use of a specially designed 'broadcasting device' (something he noticeably didn't have in Prehistoric Earth) that plays back recordings of animal vocalizations, effectively allowing him, albeit through a technicality, to embrace Jack's malicious nickname for him and make it his own to an almost literal degree. And with his first usages of this device, he manages to rescue both a foursome of Jefferson's ground sloth and a small pack of homotherium.
Furthermore, once he manages to repeat this same strategy to successfully rescue an entire pride of American lions, Leon finally gets an acknowledgment from Drew and Alice of how he's taking a step in the right direction to improve his skills and standing amongst the park staff. Well done Leon. You may not have yet fully shed your No-Respect Guy status, but you're definitely making progress for the sake of eventually achieving as much.
For that matter, Alice herself manages to take a page out of Leon's book by using a lion's roar recording on the backup audio device Leon allows her to burrow to scare a hungry pair of teratornis into flying through the portal in time to prevent them from finishing off a grievously wounded Eshe the American cheetah so they can eat her.
After one seemingly antagonistic remark too many from Joe Bristow and Peter Farnsworth over the course of the giant theropod inspections after expressing of concern for the torvosaurus' safety and health in regards to a potentially harmful security measure against possible escapes from them in particular, Jack leaves Bristow and the other security guards present in impressed Stunned Silence (and Bristow even eventually giving what looks like a Smile of Approval as if to say Jack has successfully passed his Secret Test of Character) with the following remark:
Jack: I'm here to do my damn job. The last time I checked, this was a team effort that we were co-operating on. Not for you to lord it up over me and treat me like a bunny-hugging idiot. Translation: my input matters.
And even better, once the team has acknowledged Jack's show of possessing a backbone and being worthy of respect, they all hear out Jack's alternate security idea that allows proper safety for both the humans and the torvosaurus. And said idea is promptly accepted by Willowby, followed by Colette giving off one of her rare smiles.
Over the course of their time at the La Brea Tar Pits, the trio manage to first successfully attract the attention of an entire herd of Columbian mammoths in time to convince them to change direction and go through the portal instead of unwittingly go waltzing right into the tar pits and then briefly return to the park and return to the tar pit with a large group of keepers swiftly enough to successfully rescue ALL the struggling animals currently still above the surface of the tar.
While also admittedly rather scary, the fight between Diego the smilodon and Smokey the arctodus is also a very spectacular battle. For not only does Smokey manage to largely wipe the floor with Diego to the point that he completely no-sells a bite to his shoulder from the smilodon, but Diego himself, despite a massive number of serious wounds, manages to still put up an impressively good fight against the bear and is clearly not the type to give up easily. And furthermore, it is implied by virtue of him being in the midst of working to get back up on his feet not too long after getting Punched Across the Room to the point of slamming hard against a tree that, if Smokey had been just a minute or so slower in charging over towards said tree, Diego would have perhaps successfully gotten up and been ready to keep fighting even in spite of THAT!
And no sooner is Smokey out of the picture when Leon, with some much appreciated help from Drew and Alice, manages to successfully get Diego up on his feet and through the portal entirely through a mixture of coaxing touches, soothing words, bait meat, water, realistic sounding cat-like snarls, and sheer luck.

Return of the King

Drew is understandably excited at the start of this mission, and eager to allow 'all hands on deck' as far as the rescue team roster is concerned. For now it is finally time to rescue the king itself, Tyrannosaurus rex.
The introduction of the t-rex in this chapter is appropriately spectacular. Managing to sneak up on a large clearing's worth of multiple different herbivores, they then burst into the clearing in a way that briefly causes a cloud of dust to form that obscures them from view. And once this dust cloud finally fades away, an entire four-member family of the mighty king of the dinosaurs is revealed to be present in the clearing in all their glory. And appropriately for such a awe-inspiring, yet also fearsome, giant theropod carnivore, their arrival is enough to send all but a single alamosaurus (which the t-rex wouldn't necessarily consider an option on their menu to begin with) fleeing for their lives.
In another show of his gradually increasing competence, Leon is able to use a recording of Broken Jaw's bellow (which sounds fairly similar to that made by the local t-rex) to distract a pack of acheroraptor long enough to allow a leptoceratops herd to still have a free route with which to escape the raptors before they can finish surrounding them and subsequently rush through the portal. Bonus points for the raptors managing to notice their fleeing would-be prey in time to follow them through the portal before it closes.
While it ultimately takes Duke the dromaeosaurus managing to escape and lead them away for this to happen, Jack still managed to get caught and chased by the t-rex family and live to tell the tale!
For the sake of rescuing a single basilemys that would have otherwise gotten herself eaten and her shell broken, Jack proceeds, in a truly spectacular Indy Ploy, to to take a cannonball dive right into the midst of an entire frenzied float of brachychampsa, complete with yelling "GERONIMO!" in the process.
In what could very well have been his very first time using the broadcasting device without prompting, Leon manages to goad an entire pack of the troodontid pectinodon into charging towards him and the Denhams in time to end up barreling through his portal instead.
And over the course of the argument that ensues between Jack and Leon immediately after the rescue of the pectinodon, Alice finally reaches Rage Breaking Point and intervenes in time to get her two arguing teammates to keep things civil at least long enough to avoid getting themselves and everyone else on the team killed by the infamous meteor destined to crash into the earth that very day.
Meanwhile, Drew manages to get exactly nine additional quetzalcoatlus through the portal to keep the previously rescued Cirrus company, with nothing but an airhorn.
In a multi-rescue scene involving a mass Animal Stampede that blows the one involving the combined herd of sauropods back in Novum Initium clean out of the water, the rescue team manages to allow a truly massive combined herd of thescelosaurus, ornithomimus, edmontosaurus, torosaurus, triceratops, and pachycephalosaurus to successfully come stampeding en masse through the portal while being chased by the t-rex family, with only the successful capture of The Runt at the End preventing the t-rex family themselves from following the mass herd of herbivores through as well right then and there.
In a truly epic bit of timing, the rescue team manage to finally rescue the t-rex family...within a minute or so after the infamous KT event Colony Drop arrives right on schedule. And for bonus points, according to Word of God, they even manage to pull an Outrun the Fireball without even knowing!
Via sheer lucky timing and a truly bonkers Indy Ploy on Drew's part (albeit, at the cost of having Leon unwittingly end up volunteered to risk his life as live bait), the park is able to successfully resolve their first major escape by successfully preventing the escaped male torvosaurus from leaving the park boundaries as well as successfully getting it led into a trap that allows it to be safely escorted back to its enclosure.

Alien Empire

There is a subtle implication regarding the success level of Leon's efforts at increasing his competence and other's faith in him being able to handle himself by virtue of Drew and Adrian both accepting his volunteering to accompany them on the Carboniferous mission despite both his inability to bring the broadcasting device this time without it just being dead weight (by virtue of the animals to be rescued in this mission largely don't make any noises that the device could be easily used for) and the fact that they're well aware of how unnerved he is by multiple types of invertebrate (which they'll be likely to encounter quite a few times in this particular point in prehistory). All in all, props to Leon for being willing to face his fears.
Compared to most missions, this mission involves the local 'top predator' (in this case proterogyrinus) being literally the very first animal rescued.
As startling as their appearance is in the first two scenes featuring them, the fact that the team discovered a previously completely unknown to science species of prehistoric spider is truly a magnificent achievement.
The rescue of Felix proves quite wonderful by virtue of the team being able to successfully avoid causing the already startled arthropleura to become even more afraid to the point attacking, and subsequently get him through the portal to the park.
Even a malfunctioning portal on Drew's end isn't enough to put too significant of a wrench in plans for rescues. Putting his intelligence to good use, he manages to figure out a way for him and the team to adequately rescue animals in ways that allow use of Leon and Adrian's still operational portals to be done as sparingly as possible.
For once, Kyle and Nikolai are explicitly shown to have been able to adequately work together sufficiently enough to think up and agree upon a plan that will help increase security for the park; and it's one they'll explicitly need Jack's assistance with to boot.
Speaking of Jack, his practice with the ornitholestes has clearly paid off, as he is seen making excellent progress in training the dromaeosaurus at least to view him as their 'alpha'.
In a spectacular case of facing his nerves, Leon manages to successfully capture four pulmonoscorpius unscathed. Double points for his capture of the fourth one due to it being in the midst of crawling on the sleeping Drew's back when he catches it.
In a spectacular show of teamwork, Khatin, Alice, Will, Matt, and Kaisumi manage to keep Felix the arthropleura mollified and still long enough to successfully confirm his gender.
Adrian managing, after a few tries, to successfully get the hang of the water gun strategy in time to capture ten meganeura.
Drew diving into a lake in time to help Leon after the latter gets bitten on the ankle by a crassigyrinus in the center of said lake, followed by the both of them managing to get the guilty crassigyrinus (plus seven more that show up not too long afterward) through the portal without any further injuries.
The team manage to outrun a lightning strike induced wildfire in the swamp (despite both Leon having to use a makeshift crutch to walk and having them pause briefly so that he can pull a page out of Drew's book in time to rescue a group of pholidogaster) and make it back to camp in time to strike it, pack up their supplies and newest captured animals, and still have time for Leon and Adrian to make it back to safety before things get worse while Drew stays behind hopefully just long enough to rescue a second (and preferably female) arthropleura to keep Felix company.
Not too long after Drew runs off into the blaze to find a second arthropleura, Leon and Adrian discover the hard way that swamp water has gotten into the jeep's engine and caused the vehicle to start stalling at what couldn't be a worse time. How do they manage to get themselves and the crated up small animals in the trunk through the portal in spite of this? By Adrian getting Linda to have Arlo (who is already prepared for his training to someday undergo part-time duty as a makeshift emergency 'tow-truck' for veterinary transports) tow them through the portal, that's how!
And much like he did in Prehistoric Earth, Drew manages to save the second rescued arthropleura by first proceeding to bronco ride it in the middle of a clearing surrounded by fire!

South of Heaven

Yet another spectacular and high profile prehistoric animal is the target for this mission. The target animal in question? The mighty dimetrodon itself!
In a case of really doing your research, the Permian landscape is shown to have some snow present on the tops of sufficiently tall enough mountains and hills. For as Drew himself points out after he and the team notice the snow, the Permian Period was actually set during a time in which the Earth was experiencing an Ice Age (but with what would become North America largely being free from ice). So the fact that this portrayal of a Permian Period landscape even has snow present instead of being nothing but dry desert land like in most other media allows for one of the more unique and well researched portrayals of the period.
You thought that the rescue of the meganeura was awesome? Well the rescue team this mission manages to outdo themselves in that regard with their rescue of the even larger griffinfly species meganeuropsis. Specifically, they manage to lure them into flying through the portal by first sending through a group of titanodictya, another local prehistoric insect that the meganeuropsis like to feed upon (with bonus points for the fact that they got the titanodictya through by managing to be fast enough to swiftly net them within seconds after summoning the portal near them before they even have the chance to fly away in startled fright).
Even within moments after being visibly startled by their abrupt introduction, Jack is as skilled as ever in enacting plans thought up on the fly when he subsequently sends the eryops and acheloma through the portal. For by the time Alice and Drew themselves have finally recovered from their initial surprise and fright over the temnospondyls' suddenly revealing themselves, Jack has already started on his way towards the creatures with an air horn. And from there, Alice is only seconds away from trying to ask him what he's about to do when he goads the first of the temnospondyls to have emerged (an eryops named Grime) into charging towards him with a burst of his airhorn, with the rest of his kind as well as the acheloma following close behind him.
Jack's Indy Ploy mastery strikes again during the rescue of the varanops and diadectes. To be more specific, he sneaks up behind a pack of varanops right as they're thoroughly focused on trying to find a weak point in a protective circle that the adults in a diadectes herd have formed around their offspring before then startling them into chasing after him by blowing his airhorn at them.
Much like in Prehistoric Earth, Leon successfully works to overcome feelings of nervousness he feels around types of scorpion. And this time, the scorpions in question are ones that are actively venomous. Double points for the fact that, in this continuity, he'd already been unnerved by scorpions even before he started work at the park.
Also much like in Prehistoric Earth, Leon rises to the challenge in time to rescue Yolanda after she falls into a pool full of carnivorous animals. And this time, the animals in question are crassigyrinus (with Sasha in particular being the very same animal responsible for his ankle injury in the previous episode). And this time, with Mia noticeably nowhere to be seen this time around, he is able to put up an admirable enough effort to keep the hungry amphibians at bay entirely by himself in the time it takes for a larger and more powerful animal (in this case, Andrias the proterogyrinus) to be released into the same pool as them at the moment when it looks as if the 'enemy' animals are on the verge of finally overwhelming Leon. And unlike when Hedetet intervened in Prehistoric Earth against the brontoscorpio, this time Sasha the crassigyrinus is able to slip past Andrias in time to make one last (albeit futile) attempt at lunging to take a bite out of Leon or Yolanda while the young keeper and assistant vet are in the midst of finally escaping from the pool.
The very first scene in which a dimetrodon is featured proves an appropriately awesome introduction to the creature. Specifically, right as an elderly male sphenacodon and a six strong group of younger adult sphenacodon are about to fight each other over a freshly killed edaphosaurus, the sound of something moving in the lake behind them attracts the attention to the water in time for them (and the rescue team) to see a single fully grown adult male dimetrodon rise into view and exit the lake before making his way towards the sphenacodon with his eyes firmly on the edaphosaurus carcass. The sight of him clearly wanting the food they were about to fight each other over instantly galvanizes the seven sphenacodon into uniting together to try to scare him off, at which they all charge towards him while snapping their teeth and ready to try to attack him. Undeterred, the dimetrodon lets out a loud bellow at the charging sphenacodon right before he then starts charging at them; at which point the sphenacodon decide to cut their losses and flee, allowing themselves the perfect chance to go charging right through the portal as a result. And no sooner are the sphenacodon through when Drew resorts to his usual tactics and successfully gets the dimetrodon to come barreling after him...only to, naturally, end up going through the portal instead.
The moment in which additional dimetrodon get rescued also deserves mention. Specifically, an entire larger group of dimetrodon are seen going fishing for xenacanthus at a river while sharing the area with a pack of secodontosaurus, a pack of watongia, a herd of angelosaurus, a couple small groups of platyhystrix, macroleter, pantylus. But then an unexpected lightning strike against a tree on top of a nearby snow covered hill triggers a massive snowy avalanche that comes rocketing down towards all the animals. From there, taking full advantage of the animals' fear and desperation to avoid the avalanche, the rescue team summon the portal in time for all the understandably panicked land animals to come hurrying through to the future after brief hesitation. And moments after all the land animals have already vanished, the rescue team still have enough time to hurriedly go over to the river and send the xenacanthus through the portal as well before hurriedly returning to the future themselves; at which point the portal closes just in time for only the tiniest burst of snow from the avalanche to make it through the portal before the rest of the avalanche is cut off from following by virtue of the portal closing.
While largely played for laughs, the means in which the acleistorhinus, captorhinus, kahneria, and rothianiscus are rescued is also surprisingly awesome when it is taken into account that the rescue team managed to rescue them without even realizing at first that they'd managed to do so! Specifically, the little critters are trapped completely by accident when an exploration they make inside the team's backpacks to try to find food to eat ends up causing them to still be inside the bags when the rescue team return to the bags and zip them closed with the animals inside right as they were about to leave. And from there, the animals manage to spend the entire remainder of the team's time in the Permian period inside the bags without escaping before finally being let out of the bags offscreen in time to be already in the perfect time and place to be given a brand new home in the future at the park.

Devils of the Deep

Much like in Alien Empire, an apex predator of a specific environment the rescue team is exploring is amongst the first animals rescued. More specifically, the apex predator in question is an onychodus. Bonus points for Leon managing to very narrowly avoid getting one of his arms bitten off by the creature when it very abruptly lunges out of hiding as part of its ambush hunting style.
In a relatively subtle example, the fact that Kyle has managed over time to form a close enough bond with Rommel over the course of the dimetrodon's early days of living at the park to be capable of working with him personally without having to constantly be on his toes and have an airhorn on him at literally all times around him the way he originally had to be while working with the originally quite ornery and temperamental dimetrodon. And even better, with all the appropriate facts and details available to be considered as to why he and the other dimetrodon all start suddenly acting somewhat more aggressive than normal, he manages within a few moments to solve the mystery when Matt (someone who was especially interested in working with and researching dimetrodons and other synapsids) was legitimately stumped as to what was going on with the creatures.
In yet another display of his ability to think on his feet, Jack is very quick to successfully work to attract a second onychodus as well as a pair of eastmanosteus into barreling towards him and through the portal within seconds after he's already rescued a combined shoal of five different species of prehistoric lungfish that were scared into going through the portal by the arrival and subsequent battle between the two predatory fish species.
Drew manages to successfully round up five large and vicious harrytoombsia through the portal more or less by himself.
Over the course of the adventure, the team manages to come across an undiscovered species of anomalocariid. Double points for the creatures themselves by virtue of being a member of a scientific group that was supposed to have already gone extinct by this point in time (much like the phorusrhacos from back in Red in Tooth and Claw).
As much as he likes to improvise in a lot of situations, Drew also proves himself a very skilled planner by coming up with a seemingly quite flawless plan for himself, Leon, and Jack to engage in for the sake of getting the very first titanichthys they encounter through the portal to the park. And not only does the plan almost go entirely smoothly from start to finish, but Drew is able to also be quick enough to salvage a rescue right as it's starting to look as if an ill timed scuffle that unfortunately begins to unfold between Jack and Leon is about to cost them the rescue.
While they still end up undergoing one more scuffle afterward, Leon and Jack are able to bring their 4th major scuffle to a stop right as its entering a lull by virtue of Drew managing to successfully get them to at least temporarily stand down.
The first rescued titanichthys in particular likewise proves an awesome sight for the holding pens team for this mission, with the aquarist division greatly looking forward to the opportunity to personally care for such a gigantic prehistoric fish.
In another personal success for the park, Rommel and Otrera, the arguably two strongest dimetrodon at the park, show signs of potentially mating someday in the future. Considering how the mesadactylus have already lain eggs, and both the ornithomimus and ceratosaurus have become gravid with eggs of their own, the fact that a pair of dimetrodon is now potentially on the verge of mating and raising offspring themselves is another win for the park's breeding efforts.
When a powerful storm comes upon the Ancient Mariner while the rescue team and ship crew are still in the Devonian period, Stavros gets to for once really show off how capable he is as a figure of authority by going full Let's Get Dangerous! mode in his work at getting his crew on task and off to work in ensuring that they manage to do everything they can to keep the ship steady and afloat long enough for the rescue team to hopefully finish their mission.
By virtue of quick thinking, his using a shark cage to go under the water instead of outright going scuba diving, and masterful use of his portal remote (and later a portal grenade), Drew is able to successfully rescue seven additional titanichthys, a combined shiver of stethacanthus and gogoselachus, and precisely four dunkleosteus over the course of the storm despite strong currents, the dangerous nature of the dunkleosteus in particular, and the other dangerous conditions in the ocean brought about by the storm.
And much like in Life in Transition in Prehistoric Earth, Leon and Jack manage to successfully put aside their differences (and right as they were in the midst of one last vicious squabble to boot) in time to rescue Drew once they realize they've accidentally gotten him severely endangered. And likewise double points to Drew for managing to last as long against the dunkleosteus as he did before Leon and Jack finally engaged in their belated rescue for him.
On the continued subject of his clashes with Jack, Leon actually manages to show subtle signs of continuing his work in taking a level in badass over the course of them by virtue of managing to actually hold his own and successfully latch onto and use appropriate elements of Jack's personality and behavior against him the same way Jack does against him. This is doubly awesome in comparison to how cruelly outmatched he seemed to be against Jack over the course of Prehistoric Earth's equivalent of this chapter.

Building Bridges

Five minutes in, and the rescue team proves already very much off to a good start in their work by virtue of successfully getting both an entire sounder of platygonus (aka. flat headed peccary) and an entire pack of armbruster's wolves successfully through the portal within seconds of each other.
Showing off her daring Action Girl side, Alice is able to explicitly (and loudly) goad a subadult male Florida jaguar into lunging at her so that it ends up sailing through her portal for its trouble. Drew and Adrian (but particularly the latter) are visibly impressed.
Drew: Not bad. Took a page right out of my book. I like it.
While Jack and Leon themselves don't have a high opinion on their performance in the matter, they managed entirely offscreen, to successfully feed the dunkleosteus and live to tell the tale. And for added points, despite the duo themselves not having a high opinion of how well they did, both Colette and Nikolai agree that they actually did even better at the task than expected.
The very first adult eremotherium the rescue team gets to the park is introduced determinedly fighting a pair of smilodon gracilis for the sake of defending her single baby. And on further credentials to Alice's Action Girl status, she manages to distract the two cats away from the sloths and attract them into coming at her and the rest of the rescue team just in time to end up rushing through the portal instead by using none other than the very same backup audio recording device that Leon had given her all the way back in Oozing From the Pit.
Jack and Leon, with help from Yolanda, manage to successfully determine a suitable alternate food source for the titanichthys. And even better, by the end of the day, they both appear to have proven themselves capable of working together without arguing as well as capable of perhaps someday being friends.
The entrance of the adult female Florida jaguar more than shows off the species' status as The Dreaded amongst the environment's herbivores when the animal is at its prime (in comparison to the subadult male from earlier). It's mere arrival and presence is enough to send even a pair of fully grown adult eremotherium (a species previously introduced valiantly fighting against a pair of smilodon gracilis) shambling away in terror. And it further sums up its skill as a hunter by successfully bringing down a fully grown (albeit elderly) Florida tapir by first taking it down with a single pounce before then likewise killing it with a single bone-crushing bite to its skull (which is actually how modern jaguars hunt and kill their prey).
While it ultimately proves ineffective in the long run, the fact that the t-rex keepers were able to at least temporarily put a stop to Terrence and Matilda's squabbles through use of high pressure water hoses.
Alice once again proves how her skill at taking a page out of Leon's book hasn't remotely waned by using jaguar vocalization recordings to attract the attention of the same adult female Florida jaguar from earlier (at this point revealed to be a mother of two) before then using more of those recordings as well as the sight of her and Drew stepping out of hiding to entice her into coming through the portal, with the two cubs subsequently (and quite unexpectedly) immediately running through as well to follow their mother proving the cherry on top.
While he ultimately ends up needing assistance, points to Adrian for managing, in spite of a serious Morton's Fork situation he's found himself in, to successfully keep himself defended from an adult male Florida jaguar and making sure the big cat stays at bay away from him and the remainder of a group of castoroides (with two of their number already gone through the portal beforehand) long enough for Drew and Alice (whom Adrian had called to return to his area to provide backup) to arrive in time to help get the beavers through the portal before allowing Adrian himself to finally get both himself and the jaguar through the portal.

Awesome / Prehistoric Park Reimagined

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