As more and more kid-oriented comedies are pumped through the pipeline, it seems as though kid-friendly dramas are falling by the wayside, unless they’re from outside the U.S. That tradition continues as Discovery Kids partners up with BBC America for a new show called DinoSapien.
. As you would expect, the dinosaurs themselves are in CG, but they’re done rather well. They’re colored reasonably realistically, given realistic sounds, and even act animal-like, except for Eno, who is smart enough to tear the wrapper off a candy bar as well as find Lauren’s locket. Some of the CG looks rather bad in some shots, and it isn’t quite at the level of Stargate Atlantis or Battlestar Galactica, but it’s definitely better than the CG kids cartoons out there like Jimmy Neutron.
Much of the cast will be unfamiliar to those in the United States, though those who watch MegaMan NT Warrior (Maylu), Romeo! (Myra), and Johnny Test (Mary Test) might recognize Brittney Wilson. The only other Ocean Group voice actor in the cast is Jeffery Watson, who was Taro in Magical Stage Fancy Lala and Axl in the MegaMan X video games. Oh, and Bronson Pelletier sounds so much like Matt Hill (Kira in Gundam SEED/Destiny, Bankotsu in InuYasha) it’s scary. Most of the cast are newcomers, and their acting ability shows it, as it’s about as good as your average Nickelodeon/Disney Channel sitcom or TV movie, which isn’t a compliment. Aside from Porter and Watson, who do well enough given the material, the only bad characters are Brendan Meyer and Lexi Gingras, who play brother/sister dino trivia experts Nelson and Danny. They’re pretty much more annoying versions of Tim from Jurassic Park and drag the show down whenever they’re on screen. I know kid shows need to have little kids for the young ones to relate to, but they’re just annoying and don’t contribute anything to the story at all.
Overall, if you’re looking for a new drama that isn’t pre-packaged crap from Nick and Disney, DinoSapien‘s a decent enough choice. It’s not quite as serious as Ghostwriter or any of the excellent dramas Nick produced in the early-to-mid 90’s, but it does have potential. Just hope that the story starts focusing on the dinos more, because DinoSapien proves once again that dinosaurs do indeed rock.
DinoSapien premieres Saturday, July 7, with a marathon of the first four episodes from 1:00pm to 3:00pm on Discovery Kids Channel.
