Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous

I'm surprised this show doesn't have its own thread. So, what do you guys think about season 1? Any theories and speculation?

Also, season 2 is slated for January 22nd. Here is the trailer.

This confirms my theory that a big chunk of CGI cartoons is made out of obscure adaptations of big franchises: see also CGI Zorro, King King, Spy Kids, Fast & Furious, Garfield, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Inspector Gadget, Pac-Man....

Some of them are also connected by companies. This series and Fast & Furious: Spy Racers is Dreamworks taking advantage of their biggest Universal franchises. I think the CGI King Kong and Tarzan also were under the same company and the latter even had a crossover with the former. I dunno about the others, though.

I enjoyed the show greatly. The characters start rough and kinda unlikeable (on purpose) but they develop nicely over the course of the story, so I'm really invested in seeing how they'll handle being on the island.

Not a big fan of the look of the Cerato. Looks pretty flat compared to the JP 3 speciment, but the rest of the dinos still look amazing, so it's not decreased rendering quality as I suspected in the teaser, but rather just an unflattering design.

A couple of articles about the upcoming season, plus a clip.

This clip came out.

Anyone watch the newest episodes?

I think season 2 was pretty good, but a bit of a downgrade for me. You'd think the kids being stranded in the island by themselves would raise the stakes and make everything feel more dangerous, but it unfortunately doesn't. I think even the rating went to TV-Y7 after last season's TV-PG. That's not to say there weren't some thrills, but still.

I'm liking the kids more now that they've more or less bonded and they don't have to stick to their initial stereotypes. Darius is still the dino nerd, but his appreciation for them takes a backseat from his PTSD from letting go of Ben. Kenji, while still having a bit of an ego, is much more friendlier than before. Brooklynn, someone how easily could've been a caricature of online influences, is probably the most pro-active and intuitive one of the team. Sammy no longer has something to hide, so her positivity and joy comes off as genuine, not that it wasn't before. Yaz is more open to people, and not just Sammy, as she gets moments with Darius and Kenji.

And there's Ben, who has gone through a lot of changes in just a few weeks (?). He not only survived his experiences, but became tougher and more battle-worn than before. Is it a bit over-the-top? Probably. But his solo episode was probably the most fun one. I liked seeing grown Bumpy and I liked that Ben was still just as social awkward, between suggesting more deadly solutions to their problems and reminding everyone he defeated Toro. Everyone's development was pretty good, but I think Yaz got the short end of the stick this time.

The main conflict involves the discovery of humans that have ventured on the island. Initially friendly, they later discover that they are big game hunters that are out to kill dinosaurs to make them trophies. Hap, the gruff-looking mercenary who was hired by Mitch and Tiff, actually has a conscience and tries to keep the kids from being harmed by his employers. It's neat to see some human antagonists alongside the dinosaurs, but the conflict over whether to protect the dinosaurs or get home felt hokey. I don't think anyone realistically is going to choose to save some dinos over staying safe at home. I would've liked it if some of the main kids were at least conflicted about it. There was that scene with the Baryonyx trio with Darius, Sammy, and Brooklynn, but it should've come up in the plot later on.

There's some cool set-up for next season, between whatever was inside Wu's basement coming out and the beacon signal being received. Plus, Mantah Corps is still a potential story thread. I'm wondering when we'll get to the point where the story ties in to the upcoming movie.

I'm assuming that the mysterious project E750 is one of Wu's little projects, so there's that.

That said, it's a little tricky for me to place this in the timeline relative to the films. Some time has passed as Bumpy is a big chonkasaurus now but Rexy is still Queen of the Island so Fallen Kingdom has not happened/started yet.

Still haven't been able to sit and watch it due to work, but from what I've read, somewhere it is explained about 22 days have passed since the fall of JW.

There's still two or three years until Mt. Sibo starts acting up and the events that lead to FK begin.

I've been wondering what will happen to Bumpy. Maybe Ben can actually get her off the island with him and she becomes the first dinosaur to settle on the mainland in canon.

Bumpy grew up quickly because she's a lab grown Ankylosaurus meant to be an attraction for public view in no time. I think only a few 2-3 weeks passed between seasons

I got to see it early today, and man, this show is stupid fun. Absolutely loved the character dynamics of the kids now that they are a closer, though they still got reasonable moments of conflict between them.

Brooklynn really shined this season, and Ben's story, while over the top towards the end, was very fun and entretaining (and the show does hint that the isolation got to him, though it seems interacting with the others is helping him find himself again).

Man, I'm really bummed about Hap. The dude might be grumpy and give a bad vibe, but he cares, and they even show that he had the potential to form a genuine bond with Brooklynn (who seems to be extraodinarily lonely). Such a shame. Badass last stand tho.

According to this promo/stats page◊, we can expect around 49 episodes total for this series.

How many are out so far?

Two seasons of eight episodes each, so 16.

So, it'll be six seasons long with some extra episode or special of some kind.

Edited by Blueace on Jan 31st 2021 at 1:10:15 PM

• Fun fact:
  • Two of the kids share surnames with characters from past intalments in the Jurassic Park Franchise:
    • Darius Bowman shares his surname with the rich family whose daughter was injured by Compies in TLW
    • Sammy Gutierrez shares her surname with Martin Gutierrez one of the protagonists of the Jurassic Park book prologue.

• Just some cool Mythology Gags

Edited by VengefulBale on Feb 19th 2021 at 6:45:45 AM

The floral pattern in Sammy's undershirt is also a callback (and I guess foreshadowing) to Dennis Nedry and his Hawaiian shirt.

Its kinda weird how there are surprisingly good shows nobody talks about ._.

Well, with so many shows coming out, only so many can be talked about, even if said show is well received.

I have this frustration with fans of action/adventure cartoons. There's less to talk about, but there's still plenty, yet they refuse to talk about them while complaining that there's no more.

Anyway, this show has a fairly strong fanbase on Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram. It just isn't really here. I guess it's also kind of my fault because I started the thread kinda late.

Edited by GamerSlyRatchet on Feb 26th 2021 at 11:29:59 AM

Don't worry, soon the fanbase shall grow stronger in these forums

The show is in a weird position in that it tries to fit alongside/in-between the main films but can't do anything that will have a dramatic effect on said films (because not everyone will have seen it.)

Like, the mysterious project E750 looks a whole lot like a prototype Indo-something (either raptor or half grown Rex) but will never get referenced in the films.

Not completely a bad thing but puts a cap on some of what they can do.

Maybe it's the Indominus's sibling, and the explantation we got in the movie that "she ate it" was a lie.

The season 1 episode "Welcome to Jurassic World" was nominated for the Best FX Annie Awards.

Edited by GamerSlyRatchet on Mar 3rd 2021 at 10:59:21 AM

The good thing is that they don't have to have a dramatic effect on said films, since this is basically a Gaiden Game scrawled into the margins around the film. The advantage of film is having the budget to do the big blockbuster events that shatter everything you ever knew about the franchise, with massive stakes and titanic consequences from which nothing will ever be the same again. But the disadvantage is that you have about two to three hours to tell your earth-shattering story from start to finish, so character development and concept exploration tend to just be serviceable.

TV shows like Camp Cretaceous have less of a budget for the epic apocalypse shenanigans (though this is less of an issue in animation), but the tradeoff is much more time that can be spent exploring the characters and setting. Movies are about disrupting the status quo of a given premise; shows are about existing within it.

The show isn't going to shake up the universe the way Jurassic World and Fallen Kingdom did. It won't have the kinds of far-reaching stakes the films have. It's a smaller, more personal tale about living in this world. As it is, we've already spent more time getting to know Darius, Yasmina, Brooklynn, etc. and watching them survive dinosaur carnage than we have with Owen Grady and Claire Deering, and that's counting both films.

EDIT: As an aside, I feel like somebody slapped the writers with a memo that just had "She/Her" written on it between seasons. In the first season, even Darius was referring to the dinosaurs as He/Him. You'd think the Jurassic World nerd of all people would know these animals are exclusively female. Yes, even the cool carnivores with the huge ripping teeth. Rexy is the undisputed titanic lizard queen of Isla Nublar. But come season two and everyone's suddenly gendering the dinosaurs correctly.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Mar 3rd 2021 at 4:37:30 AM