Two weeks after the compsognathus mission, the park is now ready to broaden their horizons by having the rescue team travel further back in time all the way to the Triassic Period for the sake of rescuing the nothosaurus instead of assigning them yet another Jurassic period target. And so, Drew, Alice, and Jack set off through the portal on the newly introduced Prehistoric Park ship, the Ancient Mariner, to rescue nothosaurus and various other prehistoric animals from Triassic period Switzerland. Meanwhile, back at the park, Linda and Yolanda hope for the best as Arlo finds himself on his final week prior to attempts at integration with the larger apatosaurus herd being allowed to begin, all while Kyle and multiple other staff members find themselves having to deal with the rather irritating problem of the compsognathus almost constantly escaping from their exhibit.
- A Day In The Lime Light: According to Nathanoraptor, this is intended to somewhat serve as such for Jack. It also allows a proper introduction for all the prominent characters amongst the veterinary division.
- Amphibian at Large: The truly massive temnospondyl mastodonsaurus is amongst the animals rescued this mission.
- Appetite Equals Health: The sight of the allosaurus europaeus Broken Jaw eating healthily and happily alongside his mate and offspring without any trouble a full two weeks after his jaw correction surgery is enough to convince Linda and Yolanda that he's still recovering well and doing perfectly fine after said surgery.
- Big Damn Heroes: Thanks to Jack keeping an attacking pod of cymbospondylus at bay with a cattle prod long enough for Drew to radio Alice and the Ancient Mariner crew for backup, the latter group come through for the two rescue team boys just in time to get the ichthyosaurs' attention with an earlier fished out placodont corpse that the ichthyosaurs might consider a more substantial meal compared to Jack and Drew.
- Canon Foreigner: In this chapter, we are introduced to Stavros Ballas and Kira Nagayoshi, captain and first mate (respectively) of the Ancient Mariner. We are also introduced to veterinarians Harold 'Harry' Carver and Bethany Williams,
who were initially planned for inclusion in Prehistoric Earth before getting cut for pacing reasons. - Chekhov's Gun: The dead placodont corpse Jack and the Ancient Mariner crew fish out of the ocean while Alice and Drew are in the midst of underwater rescue work early in the mission soon proves far more useful than they'd already hoped it would be when it's used as a distraction for a combined pod of cymbospondylus that knock Drew and Jack out a lifeboat, destroy said lifeboat, and briefly consider the possibility of eating them.
- Cool Boat: With this chapter, the Ancient Mariner is introduced.
- Cuteness Proximity: Yolanda shows signs of being susceptible to this when she giggles joyfully at the sight of a pair of baby allosaurus europaeus playing tug-of-war with a chunk of meat they are trying to eat.
- Devious Dolphins: A pod of cymbospondylus knock Jack and Drew out of a life boat (breaking said life boat in half for good measure in the process) and circle around them threateningly near the very end of the mission.
- Enemy Mine: A pack of lophostropheus, a float of nicrosaurus, a float of ticinosuchus, and a flock of caviramus are convinced into running together after a dead plateosaurus they were initially fighting over the rights to eat when the dead prosauropod in question ends up getting towed away from them through the portal by a jeep.
- Escaped Animal Rampage: Played with. While this mission shows what appears to be the latest incident of the compsognathus escaping their exhibit, the little dinosaurs and their escapes prove only a minor nuisance at worst. Nonetheless, it comes as a relief when the exhibit flaw responsible for them escaping is finally discovered and neutralized accordingly.
- Failed a Spot Check: A small gap in the compsognathus exhibit designed to allow an already existing natural stream to enter the exhibit and provide water for the little dinosaurs ends up proving an accidental free escape route for the compies due to Kyle having not accounted for the possibility of them being capable of swimming when he first passed the blueprints for the exhibit over to the technicians and construction workers.
- Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: The phytosaurs encountered in the Triassic period behave (and heavily resemble) much like modern day crocodiles, the ticinosuchus behave a lot like modern day monitor lizards, and the caviramus are implied to play a role similar to that of modern day vultures. And the nothosaurus are even described as having behaviors and personalities similar to those of sea lions.
- Gentle Giant Sauropod: As of this chapter, it is discovered that even prosauropods like plateosaurus aren't immune to this portrayal.
- Gone Horribly Right:
- Played with, and ultimately subverted, in regards to the dead placodont that gets fished out of the ocean by Jack and the Ancient Mariner crew. As Jack points out when Drew and Alice notice the corpse on the ship's deck, it's been brought on board under the hopes of being used as bait. Proof of it being viable for as much soon comes descending right down onto the ship in the form of a flock of eudimorphodon and preondactylus that have a brief feast upon the corpse before being successfully lured away and through the portal by the contents of a bucket of chum.
- Played straight, on the other hand, with a gap in the compsognathus exhibit designed to allow an already existing stream to successfully flow through the exhibit and provide the inhabitants with a natural source of water. While successful in this intended purpose, it also resulted in an unwitting free escape route for the compies due to Kyle having not accounted for the possibility of them being capable of swimming when he chose to allow this gap to be incorporated for the stream.
- Here We Go Again!: Judging by dialogue from several characters, this compie escape shown in this chapter isn't the first one the park has experienced since their rescue in All Creatures Great and Small.
- Malicious Monitor Lizard: The ticinosuchus display a couple of monitor lizard-like behaviors, and are fairly dangerous animals in their own right.
- Mythology Gag: This episode bears some minor similarities to the episode Degrees of Greatness from Prehistoric Earth. Specifically, not only are plateosaurus and several other Triassic period animals rescued in this mission, but a pod of cymbospondylus surround and menace members of the rescue team much like they did in the former fanfic (although in this case, they're menacingly swimming around Jack and Drew instead of Alice).
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: Averted for the erpetosuchus, saltoposuchus, and terrestrisuchus. Played straight with the mystriosuchus, nicrosaurus, and ticinosuchus.
- No-Sell: Played for laughs when it takes a respectably long amount of time for Jack, Alice, and Drew to successfully get the attention of 8 mastodonsaurus that are lazily basking in water at the moment the trio decide to send them to the park. Specifically, it takes a long while before they even register the fact that the humans are throwing free holocene fish at them for them to eat (and hopefully get baited through the portal with) right at their heads.
- Resurrect the Wreck: The Ancient Mariner was initially a cargo boat Novum used to transport their goods during the days when the company was still starting out, only to end up spending years in the company boat yard as a result of Technology Marches On. It was by sheer luck that it successfully avoided getting either sold to another company or sent to the scrap yard long enough for Theodore to notice it and decide it would be a perfect ship for Prehistoric Park to use for ocean-based rescue missions. And from there, the Ancient Mariner as it is now known was born.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Nemo the young nothosaurus.
- Sea Monster: While portrayed as realistic animals, the cymbospondylus that Drew and Jack encounter at the very end of the mission nonetheless give them a bit of an uncomfortable experience before getting sent through the portal.
- Shout-Out:
- At the sight of the Ancient Mariner docked in one of the berths at the previously empty Prehistoric Park harbor, Jack comments that the park clearly "spared no expense."
- The episode is named after the Triassic Period devoted episode of Walking with Dinosaurs.
- To further solidify the previous episode's association with being an extended Dinosaur Revolution shoutout, the male allosaurus europaeus with a broken jaw that was rescued in that episode is named Broken Jaw.
- Back at the park, the elderly alpha female of the larger apatosaurus herd is revealed to be named Gertie while a younger fully grown adult male that acts as her enforcer is named Bron (and according to A-LionGleek, Bron just so happens to have a juvenile son amongst the herd named Littlefoot).
- The lone juvenile nothosaurus that ends up spending time on the Ancient Mariner prior to going through the portal is named Nemo.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: While the compsognathus escape plotline is 100% Played for Laughs, it nonetheless also helps to emphasize how Kyle still most definitely feels like his working relationship with Nikolai qualifies as this.
- That's No Moon: What is initially thought to be a large group of greenish colored logs is discovered the hard way by a young prosauropod to actually be a float of mystriosuchus (with the rescue team vicariously finding out about this themselves through watching the prosauropod finding out).
- Throwing the Distraction: Of sorts. When a dead placodont carcass that Jack and the Ancient Mariner crew had fished out earlier is thrown into the ocean near a pod of cymbospondylus that have knocked Drew and Jack into the sea with them (and destroyed their lifeboat in the process) and are circling around them threateningly, it proves just the more substantial meal the ichthyosaurs need to dismiss Jack and Drew from their concern. And so they swim right over to the carcass...at which point they and the carcass get sent right through the portal.
- Would Hurt a Child: A darkly played for laughs example is implied by virtue of some of the escaped compsognathus seeming more than a little too interested in the eggs of several of the Morrison formation small pterosaurs.
