Fridge Brilliance
- Most of the time the animal characters who have repeated major roles are the titular animals of their episode (T.Rex, Mammoth, Smilodon), with two exceptions if one ignores the Deinosuchus. First the bugs, but none of them were 'titular' characters to their episode. The second was the Microraptors. However, the Microraptors were not the only dinosaurs Nigel brought back. He also brought back the Titanosaurs. Who broke out quickly. In universe, one could almost call them...break out characters.
- Many of the animals that don't pop up again have a good reason for it: they live alone. They can't fight each other like the rex siblings, can't breed like the Ornithomimus or Smilodon, don't get in the middle of everything like the Titanosaurs, or have social issues like Martha. Their issues are mundane and thus uninteresting to watch.
- The Cave Bear incident actually highlights a real issue: very few fossils are formed from animals, which means that we only have a general idea of creature's lifespans. It is very much possible that cases of animals appearing in the wrong times are in fact accurate due to gaps in the fossil records. Deliberating having this incident occur in the second episode gives the series a possible explanation for these events for any mistakes that occur in later episodes.
- Heck real life had it eventually show that the Elasmotherium lived longer than assumed in the very same episode. Said Rhino ended up proving this point on a meta level.
Fridge Logic
- It seems odd why Nigel doesn’t use the time portal to go back in time in order to rescue animals before they die (such as the Smilodon Cubs or the dead herd-member that Martha was protecting) if he failed to do so the first attempt or why he doesn’t go back in time to rescue animals when they are more common and not going extinct and easier to find.
- Aside from the obvious need for dramatic storytelling, the series shows that it would be incredibly difficult even with the Time Portal to accurately track the animals and that Nigel only has a rough idea of where to find them (in unfamiliar terrain) which he is limited to exploring by foot or sometimes jeep (which could be to minimize any effects to the environment in the past).
- The reason that they go to points in the past where creatures are dying out or are on the brink extinction is to prevent any alterations to earth’s timeline. If the animals that are saved are about to inevitably go extinct and they instead disappear off the face of the earth as if they went extinct then the past is unaltered. The animals simply go through the time portal where they can continue to survive in the 21st century. (This does however raise the question if they have plans to go back to the past and rescue mates for the creatures already at the park as part of a breeding program for all animals that arrived alone or in small populations.
Fridge Horror
