The Perfect Jurassic World TV Show Already Happened In 2006
As Universal’s Jurassic World continues to expand, audiences have wondered when they’d potentially see a live-action TV series; however, little do they know that the perfect show already happened in 2006. Starring British naturalist Nigel Marven the serial was Jurassic Park in almost every way, except for the name. Airing on both National Geographic and Animal Planet, the docu-drama was considered a cult classic and a fun take on a wildlife sanctuary for extinct animals.
Seemingly inspired by previous shows such as Walking with Dinosaurs and The Crocodile Hunter, Prehistoric Park was a sci-fi docu-drama that explored a real-life Jurassic Park and the problems it would probably face. Focusing on the prehistoric animals rescued and the zookeepers who had to care for them, the miniseries ran for six episodes before concluding. Since then, the show’s legacy has subtly lived on, with host Nigel Marven making a cameo as a “documentarian” in Primeval and having narrated the trailer for the upcoming Prehistoric Kingdom game.
Almost three Jurassic World movies in, although it’s true that both Lego Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous made it to television, there has yet to be a live-action series. Despite the fan demand for a dinosaur docu-drama, Prehistoric Park has everything they could want besides the official Jurassic Park branding. Nigel Marven’s miniseries is the perfect show for Jurassic World audiences who always wanted to get a glimpse of what it was like not only to walk with dinosaurs but work with them too.
Since the ending of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, fans saw potential in a show about rescuing the dinosaurs now loose on the mainland; however, Prehistoric Park already successfully executed the premise of a paleo-veterinary series back in 2006. Each of Marven’s adventures began with him traveling back in time and usually moments before a cataclysmic event set to turn an area into a future fossil site. Although campier in its execution, Prehistoric Park was educational and featured some interesting scenarios, like having to transport a mammoth injured by prehistoric hunters or wrestling a 10’ bug while escaping a devastating forest fire. The show did its best to recreate prehistoric times in more accurate ways than a modern-day Jurassic World series ever could to teach its audiences about paleontology.
The other idea that gets pitched is a prequel series set on Isla Nublar that focuses on the staff and what went on behind the scenes. While nowhere near as high-tech as Jurassic World’s park, Marven’s sanctuary did provide interesting insight into what it’d be like to care for these animals. Nigel’s staff presented some real-life scenarios zoos had to deal with, like mating behaviors, herd dynamics, and breakouts. Additionally, the menagerie of creatures sometimes reflected Michael Crichton’s writing, with parallels drawn to the observations made about dinosaur behavior in his Jurassic Park novels. Prehistoric Park felt like an extension of the franchise, and in some respects, more true to it than Jurassic World was, making it a hard act to follow as a live-action series.
As Universal figures out its future, people can look back at what Nigel Marven did without their brand or blessing. Prehistoric Park’s gates may be closed, but not unlike the incredible animals they rescued, they left their mark on history, as well as created the Jurassic World series. Paleontology has a habit of demonstrating, sometimes it’s in the past true treasures are found by those who dig.