T-Rex Returns

T-Rex Returns - broadcast in France as Le retour du Tyrannosaure (The return of Tyrannosaurus) and in Spain as El regreso del tiranosaurio rex (The return of T-Rex) is the first episode of Prehistoric Park.

Summary
On his first adventure, Nigel Marven tries to rescue the king of the dinosaurs from extinction - Tyrannosaurus rex. However, he has limited time since the dinosaurs' demise comes ever closer...

Full synopsis
When the episode begins, the park workers are busy constructing the enclosures that will house the park's prehistoric inhabitants. The park's creator, Nigel Marven, goes on to explain that the location of the park is optimal for housing such creatures, as the climate is warm and tropical, something especially necessary for housing many reptiles, and there are natural barriers like a mountain range and the ocean enclosing the area, should an animal ever escape. With preparations going smoothly, the only thing that is missing are the park's prehistoric inhabitants, which will be rescued from the past, and Nigel already knows exactly what he's going to bring back first: the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex.

In his base, Nigel explains that he will be traveling to Montana at the very end of the Cretaceous period in order to find a Tyrannosaurus. As fossils indicate that the king of the dinosaurs was fairly common in that time and place, it shouldn't be a problem for him to find one. Once everything is ready, Nigel and his crew set off through the Time Portal to begin their mission.

Once arriving in Cretaceous Montana, Nigel and his crew set up camp in view of a large mountain. While his crew is busy setting up base camp, Nigel decides to head into the nearby forest and look for signs of T. rex. While hiking through the forest, he notices some interesting signs in the undergrowth: small plants that have been stripped of their leaves, and a trail of three-toed footprints marked in the ground, made by a group of theropod dinosaurs. Nigel follows the trail until he arrives at a clearing with a grove of bushes, where the rustling of the nearby bushes catches his attention. As he tries to get a glance of the mystery dinosaur, a loud cry draws Nigel's attention to turn to his right, where a blue, ostich-like creature comes into view. Nigel identifies the creature as an Ornithomimus before trying to see how close he can get to it. However, the Ornithomimus lets out a warning cry, causing Nigel to retreat. Other individuals then begin to pop their heads out from the bushes, and it becomes apparent that this animal is the sentry, keeping a lookout while the rest of the flock feeds.

As some members of the flock begin to come out of the bushes to forage, Nigel decides to catch one of the Ornithomimus, and after sneaking up on the flock, manages to nab one while the rest of the flock runs off. He attempts to calm his catch down by putting a sock over its head, but this is difficult while the animal is struggling. Because he is busy wrangling with the Ornithomimus, Nigel fails to notice some unsettling noises coming from the forest. Suddenly, the herd runs back the way it came, apparently being chased by something else. Nigel's concentration is broken and his target escapes, and he tries to figure out why, but that is soon answered when he turns back around: three hunting Tyrannosaurus have stumbled upon him and now have their sights set on him. Nigel makes a break for it and runs deep into the forest, where the Tyrannosaurus trio struggle to catch up, due to being so top-heavy and many fallen trees posing a tripping hazard for them. After Nigel slips through some fallen trees, the T. rex trio end their pursuit at the fallen tree, not wanting to risk their own lives by tripping over it. Empty-handed, a dejected Nigel returns to camp as the sun begins to set.

In the morning, Nigel is washing his face at the river his team camped next to when a large herd of Triceratops arrives for a morning drink. While watching them, he explains what their species name Triceratops horridus literally means, "horrid three-horned face". Nigel doesn't know why, because he thinks they are beautiful animals. Shortly afterward, Nigel resumes his search and comes across Tyrannosaurus footprints on a volcanic field. He then follows the trackway until he finds himself at the heart of the den of the field's resident pack of Tyrannosaurus. Nigel hides behind a rock and observes the Tyrannosaurus pack interact with each other, all the while waiting patiently for them to leave. Once they leave, he searches the area for any nests, as he believes that if he can bring some eggs back to Prehistoric Park, it will be much easier than herding adult animals through the time portal. However, the only eggs he finds are crushed and shattered, having hatched a long time ago.

Again, the day ends with no luck, but something much more worrying is approaching; a giant meteorite dubbed the "K/T meteorite" is due to hit the Earth soon, and it is believed to have caused a mass extinction event that killed off all of non-avian dinosaurs. Already, there are signs that the meteorite is nearing, because as Nigel sits by the campfire, he can see a barrage of shooting stars burning up in the atmosphere. The shooting stars themselves cause no harm, but they herald the coming of the much larger threat. The next day, there is trouble: the Tyrannosaurus pack has arrived at the river where the Triceratops herd is feeding. As Nigel arrives on the scene, the pack charges, and the herd is thrown into chaos. As the larger Triceratops try to fend the predators off, the juveniles scatter in a stampede, resulting with Nigel being knocked off his feet by a fleeing Triceratops and bruising his forehead. Amidst the chaos, one of the juveniles becomes confused and runs into the opposite direction, straight into the jaws of the alpha female Tyrannosaurus. However, the juvenile's mother comes to its aid, eventually spearing the alpha female in the upper left thigh. Upon the alpha female's injury, the rest of the pack flee and abandons her. Desperate for a meal, she starts moving towards her next victim: a sub-adult male Triceratops who is hiding in some bushes. Seeing a two-for-one rescue opportunity, Nigel sets up and activates the time portal, and tries to get the Triceratops's attention with his jacket, similar to what a matador would do with a bull. Although reluctant at first, seeing the incoming alpha female Tyrannosaurus prompts the young male to run straight into the time portal, with Nigel following him shortly afterward. However, despite Nigel's hopes, the alpha female Tyrannosaurus simply stops in her tracks and stares at the portal in confusion.

Back at Prehistoric Park, Head Keeper Bob walks over to the end of the catwalk overlooking the time portal, just in time to see the Triceratops come through. Although it certainly wasn't a T. rex, Bob seems pleased with the new arrival. As the young male is moved into an observation pen, staff from around the park flock over to see the park's first prehistoric resident. Among them is the park's head veterinarian, Suzanne McNabb, who is mesmerized by the new arrival.

While Bob prepares to move the Triceratops into an enclosure, Nigel is back in his base, deciding where to put the Triceratops, which he named Theo. He remarks that in the Cretaceous, grass still hadn't evolved yet, so Theo will need a paddock with more shrubs and bushes in it. He then goes on to explain how he and Bob have decided to build Theo's paddock by the river, and marks the new enclosure as Triceratops Creek on his map. Nigel then heads down to the new enclosure and meets up with Bob, and together, they watch as Theo is released into his new home. While Theo begins to explore his new surroundings, Bob and his crew pack up and gets back to working on the Tyrannosaurus paddock, dubbed T-Rex Hill. It has all the amenities the king of the dinosaurs could want; forested areas to hide in, a small pond, and a large hill from which it can look out upon its [new] domain.

Meanwhile, Nigel heads back to the Cretaceous, where he travels to a river with a spectacular-looking waterfall close to the campsite. He samples some of the fresh, sweet water as pterosaurs soar over head, but sooner or later, the river will be choked with ash and dust once the asteroid hits the Earth. As he travels down the rocky bank of the river, Nigel notices a peculiar set of Tyrannosaurus tracks, where the left foot is being drag along the rocky sand. He suspects the trackway was made by the injured alpha female. Knowing that she will be slowed down by her injuries, Nigel follows the tracks, hoping to catch up to her, and eventually finds her following a Triceratops carcass drifting down the river. He is forced to hide along the side of the hill overlooking the river as the Tyrannosaurus stands above him before she continues her pursuit of the corpse. Nigel follows her downstream, where he finds her trying to grab the Triceratops corpse, which has been caught between two large rocks. Unfortunately, it too far out of reach, and her injured leg prevents her from wading further into the river, unless she wants to risk getting swept away by the strong currents. Giving up, the female limps away, leaving Nigel by the river wondering what he should do next.

Back at the park, Bob observes Theo via the control room and notices that he is displaying some interesting behavior; ramming at the small tree in his paddock with his horns. Head over to Triceratops Creek with Suzanne to investigate, they observe Theo ram into the tree again before Suzanne notices that his frill has changed color, from the reddish-brown when he first arrived at the park to a bright, vibrant blue. She speculates that it might be the dinosaur's breeding season, and that a surge in testosterone levels in his body might be the cause behind his aggressive behavior, which would mean fighting for other males in his own time. She thinks that Theo might be ramming the tree because he believes that it's a "friend" (or rival). Upon hearing this, Bob gets an idea, which he refuses to tell to Suzanne upon being asked before walking away. While Suzanne stays behind to watch Theo for a little longer, Bob heads to his workshop and begins working on his idea.

Back in the Cretaceous, Nigel has come up with an idea. He knows that the female Tyrannosaurus has been following the river, so he is going to take advantage of this fact. With the aid of his team, Nigel as built a palisade of large logs and pieces of wood that he and his team have gathered further downstream. The idea is that when the female arrives, she will be funneled into the small space between the palisade and the river, where the time portal will be set up at the very end, and will be left with no choice but to go through the portal (hopefully). However, when the female does arrive, she is chasing a flock of Ornithomimus. Nigel opens the time portal and takes cover behind the palisade as the female closes in on the trapped flock. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, the flock opts to not become food and barrels straight through the time portal, much to Nigel's delight and Bob's dismay (which prompts him to call Suzanne for help). However, a young straggler in the flock is unable to reach the portal in time, and tries to leap over the palisade to escape. However, the female quickly catches up and, after crashing into the palisade, kills the juvenile Ornithomimus with a bone-crunching bite. However, instead of eating her kill, the female carries it back the way she came, much to Nigel's confusion. With time running out and determined to rescue her, Nigel follows the Tyrannosaurus to see where she goes.

Back at the park, Bob has put the Ornithomimus herd into an ostrich paddock, figuring that since they look similar, they will have the same requirements. Once the herd is taken care of, Bob lets them settle into their new home and heads back to his workshop to continues working on his grand plan, which is now in full swing. As several park workers, whom Bob had enlisted for the task, work on several components, Bob supervises their progress, complimenting them every so often and reminding them of the deadline, which is set in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, back in Cretaceous Montana, Nigel has followed the female Tyrannosaurus and her meal up a mountain. Near the summit, she stops and Nigel realizes the reason for her endeavor: hiding among the rocks are her two baby Tyrannosaurus chicks, who soon come out for their meal. However, before she can feed her chicks, a rival male Tyrannosaurus approaches, apparently having followed the injured female up the mountain for the dead Ornithomimus. As the two chicks retreat into their hiding spot, a fight between the two adults ensues. While the female initially had the advantage, she is ultimately defeated when when the male freed himself from her hold of his neck, inadvertently causing her to smash her head against some nearby rocks and fall to the ground. As the male walks away with the dead Ornithomimus, the female's babies come out of hiding while Nigel cautiously approaches the fatally injured female. He observes no visible signs of life from her, but just as he is about to touch her head, the female suddenly comes back to life and raises her head to give one last roar at the zoologist before finally succumbing to her injuries. With the prospect of rescuing a family of T. rex now dead, Nigel stares at the dead Tyrannosaurus with a defeated look while the newly orphaned T. rex chicks watch him from a safe distance away.

If things weren't bad enough for Nigel, at that very same moment, the K/T asteroid finally enters the Earth's atmosphere at 20,000 miles an hour and strikes the Yucatán Peninsula with a tremendous force seven billion times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. As Nigel covers his ears from the sound of the blast, the devastating blast wave begins to spread around the planet at over two hundred times the speed of sound, causing raining fireballs of debris to start enormous wildfires across nearly all exposed land and clog the sky with ash, which will send the Earth into a year-long perpetual darkness. With all this is just over three minutes away from Montana, and Nigel must act fast. As fast as he can, he quickly sets up the time portal and turns it on. Then, he attempts to entice the two now-orphaned Tyrannosaurus chicks towards the time portal with a ham sandwich from his backpack. It takes some work, but the two chicks eventually follow him through the time portal, just seconds before the edge of the blast wave reaches Montana and incinerates the entire area, putting an end to the reign of dinosaurs.

Bob, Suzanne, and several park staff are there to watch Nigel and the two Tyrannosaurus emerge from the time portal, and as they celebrate with joy from the mission's success, the two chicks are herded into one of the holding pens. Later, as they are fed a slab of meat inside the holding pens, Suzanne checks up on them to make sure they are in good health. While they seem to be a bit under-nourished, the two siblings, a male and a female, are eating well, and have already seemed to form a small rivalry as they squabble over the meat slab.

However, there is still one other problem. Theo the Triceratops has become even more aggressive, and Suzanne leads Nigel over to the edge of the paddock, where Theo is staring at them. As they talk, they are forced to jump back as Theo charges at them, ramming his horns through the wooden fence. Thankfully, the posts hold, despite suffering some damage. Nigel notes that he has seen this behavior before in male foxes as they reach maturity. Then, to everyone's surprise, Bob arrives in a tractor covered with large, stocky tires and two poles sticking out of the front. Dubbed the Triceratops Tractor, it is designed for Theo to charge at so he can let off a bit of steam. Bob lets Nigel hop aboard with him and tells Suzanne to slide open the paddock door so they can get inside. Once inside, they look for Theo, only for him to surprise them with charge from behind. After backing away, Bob and Nigel begin their jousting match with Theo while a bemused Suzanne watches with the other park staff present at the paddock.

Later, Nigel is back at his base relaxing with a drink in hand, where he remarks that while jousting with the Triceratops Tractor is great fun, they must be careful to let Theo win every time. Fossils of male Triceratops skulls show injuries that were dealt by jousting with other individuals, so they must take extra precautions not to hurt him at all. Some time later, Theo has finally calmed down and is back to his usual self while the Ornithomimus herd is slowly adjusting to their new paddock.

With all of the new prehistoric residents settling into their new homes, Nigel and Suzanne meet up with Bob outside of T-Rex Hill, where the two Tyrannosaurus chicks have been moved in. While Bob says that he hasn't seen them since moving them into the enclosure, it doesn't take long for the two Tyrannosaurus chicks to appear. As the two babies run around and play with each other, Nigel, Suzanne, and Bob decide to name the two Terrence and Matilda. The three staff members realize that it's going to be quite a challenge to keep them happy and under control. Let's hope Prehistoric Park knows what it's getting itself for...

Cast

 * Nigel Marven as himself
 * Rod Arthur as Bob Arthur
 * Suzanne McNabb as herself
 * David Jason as Narrator

Characters

 * Nigel Marven
 * Bob Arthur
 * Suzanne McNabb

Creatures

 * Ornithomimus
 * Tyrannosaurus rex
 * Triceratops
 * Nyctosaurus (identified as pterosaur, first appearance)
 * Edmontosaurus annectens (skull; unnamed in the episode)
 * Ornithocheirus (puppet)
 * Iguanodon (fossil exhibition)
 * Boa constrictor
 * Red-tailed boa

Locations

 * Prehistoric Park
 * Nigel's Base
 * Observation pen
 * Triceratops Creek
 * T. rex Hill
 * Oxford University Museum of Natural History
 * Montana

Objects and technology

 * Time Portal
 * Triceratops tractor

Errors

 * Analysis of the muscular attachments of heavier built large Tyrannosaurs has led paleontologists to believe that their maximum speed could seldom exceed 11 miles per hour. They could certainly not travel at 40 mph as stated in the episode.
 * The episode is named "T-Rex Returns," however, the correct abbreviated spelling for the species Tyrannosaurus rex is T. rex. Abbreviated scientific names always include the first letter of the genus name capitalized, a period and space, and then the lowercase species name. However, the abbreviation T-Rex is, in the modern day, tantamount to a common name when it comes to this species.

Critical Response
The response to T-Rex Returns has been overwhelmingly positive. On the Prehistoric Park wiki, user pcaspian12 gave the episode a 4/5, stating that, "This was a very well made episode and my personal favorite. There was a very nice mix of battling dinosaurs and a good storyline." On the other hand, on IMDb, the episode received a 7.8/10, still a good score, but the lowest of all the Prehistoric Park episodes in conjunction with Dinobirds.

Extended Links

 * T-Rex Returns from Prehistoric Park Fanon Wikia