The Dinosaur Box

Creatures, romance, futuristic mind control; the best is still to come on our Primeval Series 2 review. Join Tom, Darby and O’Reilly as we gush over new creatures and creature designs – from sabretooths to Silurian scorpions to the show’s VERY FIRST DINOSAUR – question the evolutionary pathway, biologically and creatively, of a certain aquatic primate, delve into the greatest series finale in Primeval history (and the laughably bad security measures that enabled it), and relive the unforgettable scene that melted every fan's heart with five simple words: “I can’t! I love you!”Find us on IG at: @dinosaurboxpodcast

Back for two more bites! After an already strong Series 1, Primeval Series 2 ups the ante to 11 with its creatures, characters, ambition and imagination, rightfully earning its reputation as, quite simply, one of the very best of the show. Join Tom, Darby and guest host, O’Reilly Carroll, in the first of this two-part review, as we revisit the best sci-fi HQ set ever built for British television, the (literal) alternate timelines Series 2 could have taken, a surprisingly complex debate of government censorship vs public transparency, and our volcanic rage at a character with a disturbing taste for recreating Fatal Attraction's bunny boiler scene with a freezer and our favourite Permian reptile.Find us on IG at: @dinosaurboxpodcast

In our longest episode of The Dinosaur Box so far (skip to the 58-minute mark if you’re just here for the creatures), Tom, Darby and guest host, Woody Laui, check out a paleo drama about a dysfunctional family living in a prehistoric world with a frustrating lack of creatures in it…Wait, didn’t we cover that show already? Join us as we find out how much La Brea really lifts from its spiritual predecessor, Terra Nova, encounter godawful CGI dire wolves and ground sloths, wonder who thought having magic psychic visions in a sci-fi series was a good idea, and try to answer the show’s most baffling question: …Why does Tom somehow still love this shit?  Find us on IG at: @dinosaurboxpodcast

Wh-What? A Jurassic World animated TV show that's actually...dare we say it...good? Who would have guessed it? Certainly not us or the Jurassic fandom at large. Yet here we have a show that despite being animated, despite being (ostensibly) for kids, despite having no business being as good as it is, somehow has a better story, characters and writing than all the JW movies put together (no, we are NOT making this up)! Join Tom, Darby and guest host, Ken Yu, as we enjoy the welcome breath of fresh air that is Camp Cretaceous, question the design choices for its mascot baby dinosaur, wonder why we can't help but love/pity rich douchebag, Kenji, and ask if this show does for Jurassic World what the Clone Wars TV show did for Star Wars.Note: This episode was recorded before the release of Jurassic World: Rebirth, hence why we refer to the Jurassic World movies as a trilogy.Find us on IG at: @dinosaurboxpodcast

From the creator of Samurai Jack comes a dark, twisted, beautifully animated drama with not a single word of dialogue to speak of – full of dinosaurs, mammoths, cavemen, and a surprising throughline of compassion amidst the gore-spattered creature battles ... and Darby can't stand it! Find out why as we debate on this darling of new age paleo media, overly nitpick the ecology of a cartoon world where tyrannosaurs rub shoulders with literal witches, and force Tom to relive an old childhood trauma involving a giant, murderous, hideously animated beast, courtesy of another giant, murderous, hideously animated beast.Find us on IG at: @dinosaurboxpodcast

Hope you liked the Terra Nova pilot, because it only goes downhill from here. Join Tom and Woody for Round 2 of our Terra Nova two-parter, as we dissect how a show that should have been on par with the creativity, fun and creature action of Primeval instead ended up with barely any dinosaur screentime, a plot no one asked for about spies and colony intrigue or something, and a teen romance — not even the same one from the pilot — that couldn't be more wooden and unbelievable if the writers manufactured it that way (oh wait, they did). But hey, with any luck, we at least hopefully got a half decent podcast episode out of it 10+ years later.Find us on IG at: @dinosaurboxpodcast

Remember Terra Nova? That show that seemed to combine Jurassic Park, Avatar, Lost and Stargate into an epic sci-fi family drama? Remember when we all thought it was going to be good? In our very first two-parter episode, Tom and guest host, Woody Laui, look back at one of the biggest let-downs in paleo TV...and the brief period when it looked like it wouldn't be. Join us as we enjoy Stephen Lang in his other role as a soldier in a fictional rainforest world, marvel at a set that's better made than most of the show going forward, and apply real evolutionary biology to a totally made-up species of dinosaur. Also, how many Jurassic Park and Avatar references can we squeeze into one episode? Answer: a lot. Find us on IG at: @dinosaurboxpodcast

It's back to the halcyon year of 2007 as Tom and Darby revisit Primeval Series 1 in all its nostalgic British sci-fi glory. Widely considered to be one of the best of the show, this is the series that did prehistoric wildlife in the modern world right the first time — Jurassic World: Dominion should have taken notes — helped in no small part by great characters, imaginative writing and a healthy dose of groundedness too. Relive the series that briefly popularised a Permian predator, turned a former pop star into an accomplished actress long before Lady Gaga, concludes with one of the most epic creature battles in paleo media, and somehow makes you sob your heart out for a conspiracy theorist fighting the urge to infect other people with a deadly parasite.Find us on IG at: @dinosaurboxpodcast

We like Prehistoric Park, but there are reasons why it was cancelled after one series (and no, it wasn't because of Primeval). Join Tom and guest host, Alex Croney, as we both celebrate a beloved 2000s mockumentary series with seemingly everything going for it — a charismatic host, a premise ripe with potential, and of course, dinosaurs — and try to answer why it came to an unceremonious end that still leaves fans clamouring for its revival long after that has ceased to be realistic. Warning: Rose tinted glasses may be removed here.Find us on IG at: @dinosaurboxpodcast

Really? That company for soppy holiday TV movies made a dinosaur show too? Based on a series of best-selling books, Dinotopia had the task of taking an IP renowned for its breathtaking artwork and unique fantasy worldbuilding (less so for its story) and adapting it into three 90-minute TV episodes, with all the constraints that entailed in 2002. What followed was a magnificently "meh" miniseries that gets some things right (like its villain), fails spectacularly at others (like its love interest), but manages to stay just on the right side of mediocre to be enjoyable. Join us we compare the book vs the miniseries, witness a future Prison Break star riding a pterosaur, wonder if we accidentally watched a Star Wars prequel movie, and ask the question, "How did this god-awful CGI win the Emmy for Best Visual Effects?"Find us on IG at: @dinosaurboxpodcast

In our pilot episode of The Dinosaur Box, Tom and Darby kick things off with a beloved paleo drama that ripped the boundaries of space and time to shreds. Taking a concept that could so easily not have worked, Primeval instead became the show that forced Doctor Who to share the late-2000s British sci-fi landscape with its colourful cast of characters, imaginative twists on its already imaginative premise, wackily weird creature designs that would make Tim Burton or Guillermo Del Toro applaud, and a surprisingly sweet, genuine love story (yes, for real). Come through the anomaly with us as we look back on the show that defined our childhoods as dinosaur nerds and made everyone watching think 'Hey, Brits can do good paleo fiction too."Note: This episode was recorded before the release of ARK: the Animated Series and Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, hence why we refer to both of those shows in the future tense.Find us on IG at: @dinosaurboxpodcast