With the appropriate staff hired, an appropriate first target chosen, and the park itself well and truly under construction and on its way to becoming a reality, Drew and the rescue team set off to Jurassic Period Morrison formation to rescue the Brachiosaurus.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Several species in this episode weren't rescued in Prehistoric Earth until around the beginning of 'season 2'. Here, those same species (plus a considerably large number of additional species that weren't featured in the former fanfic) are amongst the very first animals rescued.
- Always a Bigger Fish: A subtle example - even before the arrival of the Amphicotylus and Diplosaurus delays them, the Ceratosaurus are notably cagey about approaching the injured Apatosaurus, which turns out to have been attacked by a Saurophaganax sometime prior. Further invoked when Leon calls the Allosaurus one of the top predators, but explicitly calls Saurophaganax the apex predator of the area.
- And the Adventure Continues: As Theodore and Drew make clear when they meet at the end of the episode, this first mission is very much only the beginning of the adventures to come.
- Animal Stampede: A combined herd of Diplodocus, Apatosaurus, and Barosaurus end up taking part in one of these as a result of a pack of Allosaurus hunting them.
- Astonishingly Appropriate Interruption: Right as she's working to reassure Jack on eventually finding animals to rescue while working separately from Drew, Leon, and Adrian, she is interrupted mid-sentence by the sound of Ornitholestes squawking while hunting.
- Bad Vibrations: The ground noticeably vibrates whenever giant herbivorous animals are in the area over the course of the mission.
- Big Damn Heroes: Jack ends up intervening in time to prevent Leon from getting swarmed and eaten by the ceratosaurus, diplosaurus, and amphicotylus after Leon's stumbling at an inopportune moment (much to his annoyance).
- Crazy Enough to Work: Lampshaded by Drew himself in regards to the plan he rapidly cooks up for the sake of rescuing the stampeding sauropod herd.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: A variation unfolds when a pair of Ornitholestes ends up trying to defend their kill from getting stolen by an entire pack of Stokesosaurus. By virtue of superior size and sheer numbers, the Stokesosaurus manage to easily drive off the Ornitholestes without any actual combat taking place despite brief resistance from the Ornitholestes.
- Death Glare: Jack finds himself subjected to this twice. First by Adrian after clearly not being amused at being called 'Tall, Dark, and Asian', and then by Leon later when Jack expresses disbelief at his tripping and accidentally leaving himself at the potential mercy of the Ceratosaurus, Ampicotylus, and Diplosaurus being an accident.
- Death of a Thousand Cuts: A variation of this is the strategy used by the Allosaurus pack when they go hunting the sauropod herd they send into a stampede. Specifically, they sufficiently weaken an elderly male Apatosaurus into collapsing helplessly on his side by dealing multiple swift bites in a row to him. Once he's on his side, he is helpless to defend himself from being killed instantly via Slashed Throat by the alpha female Allosaurus.
- Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: The stegosaurus are described as behaving very similar to rhinos while also appearing to have a symbiotic relationship with the camptosaurus in a style similar to the kind found between ostriches and zebras. Furthermore, the ornitholestes are explicitly described by Jack as playing a role similar to modern day jackals while the allosaurus and saurophaganax are at least subtly implied to serve a role similar to that of modern day lions.
- Fascinating Eyebrow: Colette's reaction upon noticing that the folder Leon passed over to her and Nikolai had only a single copy of the planned mission's 'animal dossier' inside it despite his earlier claiming not too long ago that he'd made two copies is to raise her eyebrow at him.
- Foreshadowing:
According to both authors, several important arcs from later in the phase have their beginnings shown in this episode. - Gentle Giant: Many of the large herbivores rescued prove to be this when not in a wary mood.
- Gentle Giant Sauropod: The main target for this mission is Brachiosaurus. Also rescued this mission are Camarasaurus, Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, Barosaurus, and Haplocanthosaurus. And as of All Creatures Great and Small, it retroactively turns out that brontosaurus and cathetosaurus ended up rescued this mission as well.
- Indy Ploy: Jack very quickly thinks up a plan on the fly for him and Leon to distract the Ceratosaurus, Diplosaurus, and Amphicotylus away from the wounded and weak lone young male Apatosaurus long enough to send them through the portal. He likewise very quickly thinks up an idea to get a pair of Ornitholestes through the portal.
- Jumped at the Call: As it turns out, just about all the known major staff members so far had few, if any, reservations about accepting Theodore's offer to work there.
- Kindly Vet: Linda quickly proves herself this in her work with the rescued lone male Apatosaurus.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: After the Brachiosaurus herd puts up sufficient resistance, the Saurophaganax pack that attempts to hunt them decide in dismay to leave them alone and patiently drink from the nearby water. A pair of Ornitholestes likewise give up trying to defend their kill when it becomes clear that a large pack of Stokesosaurus that wish to steal said kill have the clear advantage against them in size and numbers.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: Gets utilized more than once over the course of this mission. Compared to some examples, these instances get carried out without the usual drawbacks.
- Lightning Bruiser: The Allosaurus prove to be this, managing to relatively easily keep pace with a stampeding herd of sauropods while also successfully dealing multiple swift bites in a row to their chosen targets. The Saurophaganax also prove to be this by virtue of how fast they prove able to move in their efforts at hunting the Brachiosaurus herd.
- The Load: Leon quickly solidifies himself as this in Jack's eyes after he accidentally stumbles at an inconvenient time while working with Jack to keep the Ceratosaurus, Diplosaurus, and Amphicotylus distracted and ends up having to be saved by Jack.
- Loud of War: Airhorns prove to be a handy tool to use to attract the attention of carnivores and subsequently getting them angry enough to attempt to charge or lunge at the time travelers...only to end up going through the portal instead for their trouble.
- Malicious Misnaming: Played with. With the low opinion of Leon Jack soon appears to show signs of having, it's entirely possible that his chosen nickname for Leon (Dolittle) could prove a case of this.
- Meaningful Look: Leon gets subjected to two of these simultaneously while he's passing a copy of the animal dossier he created for the mission to Nikolai and Colette, one of them a look of curiosity from Jack and the other a subtle look of intrigue from Yolanda.
- Mighty Roar: Averted. The Allosaurus, Saurophaganax, and Ceratosaurus all hiss and snarl instead of roar. The Stokesosaurus and Marshosaurus similarly forgo roaring in favor of growling and snarling instead.
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: The Ceratosaurus pack that tries to take the lone apatosaurus in quick sand as prey have to contend with a float of Diplosaurus and Amphicotylus. Several species of small terrestrial crocodilians encountered by the Denhams in a denuded Jurassic forest also prove a bit of an annoyance in getting through the portal as well.
- Prehistoric Monster: Averted, despite the Ceratosaurus, Allosaurus, and Saurophaganax seemingly appearing quite nasty, and even they get treated more like ordinary carnivorous animals then like exaggeratedly violent movie monsters.
- Properly Paranoid: Khatin proves not entirely wrong to ask about the possibility of the team encountering undiscovered species when the team ends up indeed encountering and bringing back at least two undiscovered species of pterosaur, plus a few undiscovered species of other small prehistoric animals.
- Quick Sand Sucks: A lone male Apatosaurus is found stuck in quicksand by the rescue team after already getting grievously wounded via a bite to his back from a Saurophaganax, before then ending up also at risk of getting eaten by a pack of Ceratosaurus and a combined float of Diplosaurus and Amphicotylus. Thankfully, he is saved. There is also an adult Apatosaurus that gets found in quicksand later; only this one is already long dead and being feasted upon by two flocks of scavenging pterosaurs.
- Raptor Attack: Averted with the Ornitholestes.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Theodore and all the park heads of staff prove themselves this to varying capacities. Drew himself likewise proves this in his own right for the rescue team.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: While not technically evil, the appropriate color scheme is present amongst some of the carnivores.
- The Ornitholestes are covered in black and tan feathers everywhere except their heads and necks, which are bald with scaly brick-red skin.
- Played with in regards to the Allosaurus. They are covered in dark reddish brown scales and have solid red stripes along their backs and tails. And while the 'dark feathers' they have along their backs, arms, and in rings around the bases of their necks don't explicitly have their exact color confirmed, it is entirely possible that said feathers could very well be black. The Saurophaganax likewise have the exact same color scheme as the Allosaurus, only much darker in tone.
- Roar Before Beating: The ceratosaurus pack make their presence known by snarling before they start making their way towards the trapped Arlo.
- Shout-Out:
- The scene where a pack of Allosaurus ambush a herd of sauropods is a homage to a scene in King Kong (2005) where a pack of Venatosaurus ambush a herd of Brontosaurus.
- The scene where the lone Apatosaurus in quicksand is about to be hunted by a pack of Ceratosaurus can also be interpreted as a minor nod to a somewhat similar scene from the Rite of Spring segment in Disney's Fantasia.
- Ship Tease: A subtle example occurs between Leon and Yolanda (who previously served as each other's love interests in Prehistoric Earth). Leon briefly directs a glance Yolanda's way out of the corner of his eye directly before a staff meeting, whereas Yolanda herself directs a subtle look of intrigue his way when he's passing a copy of his 'animal dossier' for the mission towards Nikolai and Colette during that same staff meeting.
- Social Ornithopod: The camptosaurus are shown to both travel in a herd of their own kind and serve as lookouts in a symbiotic relationship with the stegosaurus. The dryosaurus and nanosaurus are likewise shown to travel together in a combined herd.
- Snakes Are Sinister: Averted with the diablophis.
- Stealthy Colossus: In contrast to the herbivores described under Bad Vibrations, the allosaurus fragilis and saurophaganax packs both manage, despite their massive size, to avoid getting detected by their planned prey (or by the rescue team for that matter) until they are practically one or two feet away from the edge of the foliage surrounding said prey.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Unlike in Prehistoric Earth, where this was barely (if at all) touched upon, it is quite clear as early as the very first mission that, since Jack and Alice don't know Drew, Leon, and Adrian nearly as well as they know each other, and vice versa, the team proves understandably rusty in working together when they first start work in rescuing animals for the park.
- This Is Gonna Suck: When Leon asks Jack what the two of them are going to do once they've been tasked with taking care of the ceratosaurus, amphicotylus, and diplosaurus and Jack himself has managed to think up a plan, Jack's response is to sigh and say "Something stupid."
- Tough Armored Dinosaur: One of the very first animals rescued is a herd of stegosaurus, with a small herd of the more seldom known gargoyleosaurus and mymoorapelta. The stegosaurus in particular are described as looking very tough and formidable, and even end up compared to rhinos.
- Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: The ornitholestes are described as having yellow eyes, and they are carnivores.
