Extinction (itself worthy of being considered tear worthy from a certain point of view) may not have to be forever at Prehistoric Park, but that doesn't mean that sadness itself will be rendered extinct over the course of the park's efforts.
For appropriate moments in the spin-off Prehistoric Park: Extras, see the following link:
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Novum Initium
- When Arlo is first introduced in Novum Initium, it seems almost as if the young apatosaurus is in the midst of undergoing a huge string of Cosmic Plaything levels of rotten luck. When the team first finds him, he is stuck up to his knees in quicksand. And as if that weren't bad enough, he'd already gone through a whole different unpleasant experience as evidenced by a gigantic bite mark on his back that already shows signs of infection and is hinted to have been inflicted at least several days prior to his current situation. The fact that he's alone and at a very young age for his species further adds to the sadness by hinting that he potentially got separated from his herd either the day he got bitten or sometime before then. And as if his infected wound weren't enough, it also soon proves clear that this wound, plus what is implied to have been a potential large amount of time without sufficient food, water, or rest, has left him to weak to put up more than some very weak struggles in his efforts at getting out of the quicksand. And things only go From Bad to Worse when both a pack of ceratosaurus and a combined float of diplosaurus and amphicotylus arrive on the scene with the intention of killing and eating him while he's helpless to defend himself. With all this bad luck, it's both understandable that he bellows towards the sky in agony after the arrival of the predators and all the more heartwarming when the universe finally grants him a lucky break by allowing the rescue team to be present to save him and bring him to the safety of Prehistoric Park.
All Creatures Great and Small
- While not given an overwhelming amount of focus anywhere in the chapter apart from the scene featuring her, Cass's situation with her older sister will no doubt allow readers who have a bullying elder sibling just like her to have the chance at feeling a twinge of sympathy for her.
- Leon's backstory shows that, as was only hinted subtly in Prehistoric Earth, his life wasn't entirely pleasant prior to meeting and befriending Adrian and Drew. Before he got assigned to work with them in 8th grade biology, he had largely very little, if any, friends outside his immediate family, was teased by a large number of other kids in middle school due to his odd quirks and eccentricities (with an Alpha Bitch named Fiona Winters and her Jerk Jock boyfriend Billy Summers being especially prone to taking part in said teasing), and also felt constant confusion and inability to understand why he was so different from the other kids due to having not yet even been diagnosed with autism at the time the teasing was going on. And even after he managed to finally make his first two real friends outside his immediate family and get a proper diagnosis, life was still relatively difficult for him, as Drew's fellow members of the 'popular group' only tolerated his and Adrian's presence while considering them 'hanger ons'. And after graduation from college, plus a brief gig together at a pet store, Leon ended up arguably drawing the short end of the stick when the trio ended up temporarily splitting up to find their own separate paths to follow. For while Drew had relatively little trouble finding yet another success in a long line, and Adrian was able to find his calling as a bird handler and falconer, Leon himself ended up going from job to job through a mixture of incompatible coworkers, inconvenient distances, or just overall being a bad fit. Really, can one blame him for hoping that Prehistoric Park would be where he finally gets it right career-wise?
- As if that weren't enough, it appears that, as a direct result of his single unpleasant screw-up in the previous mission, Leon's already starting to be viewed as The Load during the earlier chapters of this story the way he was during the earlier chapters of Prehistoric Earth. And while not made explicit in the narrative for this chapter, judging by how Drew very noticeably largely has Leon stick to the sidelines while attending the rescue, Drew himself may very well also believe this to be the case to some extent or other. And considering Leon's Undying Loyalty to Drew, this possibility must no doubt be quite hurtful for him to consider.
- To make matters worse? Even his Undying Loyalty isn't enough to prevent a small part of Leon from also somewhat resenting Drew for always being the person he himself is negatively compared to. And considering the general opinion that Alice, Jack, and Adrian reveal themselves to have about Drew in later chapters, the fact that even Leon, Drew's arguably most loyal and supportive friend, isn't completely incapable of harboring negative thoughts and feelings about Drew himself, is enough to really make one wonder just how good of a friend Drew truly is to Leon and the other members of the team.
New Blood
- In a way, the fate of the Ancient Mariner before it was repurposed for work as the official Prehistoric Park rescue ship. It had originally started out as a trusty cargo boat for Novum to use to transport the company's goods when the company was starting out. Unfortunately, she ended up on the opposite end of Technology Marches On when better forms of transport became available and subsequently started getting used by the company instead of her and the other cargo boats. And what's worse, the boat that eventually became the Ancient Mariner ended up one of the only former Novum cargo boats that remained in Novum's possession instead of getting either sold off to another company or sent on a one way trip to the scrapyard. It is deliberately left to the imagination the state of disrepair the boat must have been in from years of disuse before Theodore found it wasting away in the Novum shipyard and decided it would be perfect for use at Prehistoric Park, or how many people may or may not have had to either transfer to elsewhere in the company or find a completely new place of employment entirely after it was initially retired (not to mention after the loss of so many of the other ships).
Red in Tooth and Claw
- Leon's status as The Load, and the possibility of even Drew himself considering Leon as much to an extent, is only further solidified at the very beginning of the episode when Drew makes it clear that he considers Leon's talents to be capable of being put to better use back at the park instead of on the mission. To add insult to injury, the target this time is smilodon, something that, as pointed out by both Leon and Adrian, would be something that Leon would consider a dream come true to personally be present to rescue. And while it's entirely likely that Drew considers this a case of Cruel to Be Kind, it's likewise likely that Leon views this as a Kick the Dog moment and is thinking "Et tu Drew?". Jack's smug chuckling and 'three guesses why' comment similarly only add salt to the wound.
- A lot of Leon's experiences at the park this chapter show just how bad of an impression he's ended up giving to most of the other staff members of the park as a result of his single unfortunate screw up back in Novum Initium. Just because of this one moment of situational clumsiness, and by complete accident at that, the large majority of the staff back at the park consider him The Load that was only hired due to cronyism on Drew's part. And what's worse, Drew himself seems to somewhat share this opinion to the point that he not only allowed Leon very limited direct involvement in the mission in All Creatures Great and Small, but also had him not get involved in helping deal with the escaped compies in New Blood and excluded him from the mission in this very 'episode'. And all this, combined with Jack's dismissive remarks to him when he tries to extend an olive branch to help out in working with the ornitholestes, makes it seem as if Leon wants nothing more than to improve his standing, only to largely be constantly denied the chance to even try.
- The experiences the smilodon go through in this chapter give off a heavy feeling of How the Mighty Have Fallen. For instead of being portrayed as an apex predator of the area the way some media might lead one to expect, they are instead portrayed as being increasingly out-competed by the larger and stronger local arctotherium, having to also occasionally contend with the local phorusrhacos, and being forced at times to desperately make futile attempts at going after prey that they plain and simply aren't built to be capable of easily hunting. All capped off in quite sobering fashion by the sight of both a single exhausted and starving female trying (and failing) desperately to catch a single running stag, followed by her and her pride (plus two accompanying wingegyps cartellei) lying around their lair exhausted, weak, and clearly starving.
- Similarly, while not to the point of having their Adaptational Wimp status from the original Prehistoric Park series, the phorusrhacos, already surviving a decent amount of years past their officially recorded extinction date at this point, are likewise finding themselves gradually out competed. For even though the very first encountered pair of these birds manage to successfully prevent a larger pack of theriodictis from stealing their kill, the second pair encountered ends up having such bad luck that they both become desperate enough to attempt a cruelly one sided hunt against a group of glyptodon and end up failing to pull off a theft of a kill from a pair of equally ravenous bachelor smilodon brothers. After seeing this pair in particular twice undergo rotten luck in getting food, it's quite a relief when this pair is successfully lured through the portal by Alice to the park, where they will no doubt have very low likelihood of ever going hungry again.
- In between their rescue of the smilodon brothers and the larger pride, the gang even takes note of just how desperate several of the local carnivores are acting, with Drew even pointing out that it's likely a sign of the dry season and later upcoming ice age to come. Immediately after Drew says this, the gang spends a couple seconds in complete silence as they process the sobering information on how, within another few years or so, the coming ice age will result in a vicious mass extinction for a large number of the local animals that they're currently working to rescue, as well as a harsh reminder that, for all the animals that do get rescued this mission, many more will have to be left behind to die.
- Arlo's attempt at integration with the larger apatosaurus herd occurs. Unfortunately, despite high hopes from everyone involved, and Gertie even having Bron stand down just long enough for Arlo to at least plead his case first, the young lone apatosaurus ultimately does not get accepted into the herd, much to Linda's despair.
- Amongst the cowering and frightened animals surrounded by the raging fire in the episode's climax are two arctotherium cubs that are explicitly heard cowering and whimpering underneath their mother as she desperately tries to shield them. The sight and sound of this is enough to noticeably get Alice to immediately turn to Drew and ask him if he has an idea in mind on how to save them.
Oozing From the Pit
- Eshe the American Cheetah is first introduced in a very bad way by virtue of her being seen limping laboriously along the grassy savanna with a vicious scratch wound on her side before eventually collapsing. And as if her luck wasn't rotten enough, a pair of teratornis come descending down with clear intent to finish her off and eat her, even going so far as to prolong the moment in which they deal the final killing blow. Thankfully, Alice is in the area and able to scare the two vultures away and through the portal while they're still stalling in time to save the poor cheetah.
- A MASSIVE number of animals (some of which are obvious youngsters) are seen struggling and screaming in pain and fear upon the surface of the infamous La Brea Tar Pits. And while all of the ones seen struggling on the immediate surface are successfully rescued, many more animals were no doubt already long dead beneath the surface if not fairly recently submerged while still alive.
- The rescue team manage to bear witness to the funeral of the famed La Brea Tar Pit woman, and even manage to notice her sad looking young daughter amongst the audience formed by her tribe. The sadness is thankfully somewhat mitigated in regard to the daughter by virtue of her father still being around to take care of her though.
Return of the King
- When Cirrus the quetzalcoatlus is seen for the first time, he's lying on the ground, heavily wounded and beaten, panting and warbling in pain. The sight of such a mighty creature so weak and helpless is understandably enough to spur Drew and Adrian into action, especially since it is obvious that he will die if they don't get him proper medical care within the very near future at that specific point in the story.
- Over the course of their major blowout argument after the rescue of the pectinodon, Jack ends up managing to make it all too clear that, even with the broadcasting device at his disposal, Leon still has a long way to go to shake off his reputation as The Load. Capped off in quite sobering fashion by the following line from Jack that noticeably leaves Leon unable to properly think up a response before Alice forcibly brings the argument to an end:Jack: Might I ask exactly what made Drew recommend you? All you are is a walking textbook with a gizmo. Besides that, what do you have?
- The sight of the T. rex family (with two of the members still being juveniles) being entirely terrified and afraid of the apocalypse that starts unfolding around them, only able to bellow and hiss in fear, confusion, and rage in the time it takes for the rescue team to summon the portal and get them to come through. Really goes to show that, in the face of The End of the World as We Know It, even such a mighty beast as the Tyrannosaurus rex has something that it can be completely helpless against.
- Despite the success of the plan, the fact that Drew seemed to have no second thoughts at all about so swiftly deciding to have Leon serve as live bait for the escaped torvosaurus without even giving him proper fair warning about as much being the plan does not come with very pleasant implications regarding the nature of their friendship or how Drew overall feels about Leon or any of his other friends and teammates. For that matter, just imagine what would have happened if the plan had failed and Leon had ended up killed by the beast. All that considered, it once again truly has to be wondered if Drew is truly as good of a friend to Leon and the rest as Leon likes to think he is, let alone truly deserving of Leon's Undying Loyalty.
Alien Empire
- Nikolai and Jack's conversation at the end of this chapter contains a degree of this by virtue of just what they end up saying. For starters, Nikolai proves that, underneath his gruff, stoic, and seemingly rather paranoid exterior, he's actually a Nice Guy in his own right who genuinely feels unhappy about how, in his eyes, very few people seem to like him all that much, even going so far as to reminisce how he used to always take part in capturing spiders and insects as a child (and have fun doing so) and reveal how he also really enjoys listening to a large variety of music. And as for Jack himself, he proceeds to reveal right at the very end of the meeting as he's starting to leave to take care of another task that, people don't actually necessarily like him so much as just laugh at his jokes, and that there's a big difference between these two matters, hinting that, even with Aaron, Maria, Carmen, and Hugo as his friends from before and after getting hired to work at Prehistoric Park, he still had a largely friendless background beforehand the way his counterpart did in Prehistoric Earth.
- Not too long after Eshe is successfully accepted by Duma into the larger coalition of American cheetah, Yolanda states that it's a huge relief that this integration attempt for Eshe was successful after the similar attempt for Arlo failed. As much as Arlo has managed to find happiness living alongside the brachiosaurus, having Shorty as his friend, and possibly in his training to serve as a part-time makeshift medical tow-truck, it is clear that his rejection of membership amongst the larger herd of his own kind potentially still weighs heavily on the minds of the vets and other staff at the park.
South of Heaven
- A very subtle one can be found in the narration when the meganeuropsis make their appearance. Specifically, it is explicitly stated in the narration how their species is explicitly one the last of the griffinflies still in existence at this point in time. Considering how the species (with the exception of the group that gets rescued) is doomed to go extinct by the end of their kind's home era, plus the fact that this mission unfolds immediately after a mission in which the gang got to see a species of griffinfly at a time in which the order was in its prime, it's a very sobering reminder of how extinction can befall even the most seemingly successful of creatures.
- Not too long after the lightning strike triggered avalanche begins, all the animals that happen to be right at the bottom of the very hill in which the avalanche is occurring are seen desperately trying to escape. But as this happens, it is made clear that, due to just how close they all are to the avalanche even before it starts getting closer and closer towards them and simply not being fast enough to outrun it at such close range, they would have all been doomed to get Buried Alive if it hadn't been for the well timed intervention of the rescue team.
Devils of the Deep
- Despite once again being allowed to rejoin active rescue team duties after recovering from his ankle bite in Alien Empire, and all the progress he'd managed to make in his attempts at improving himself over the course of that mission, Return of the King, and Oozing From the Pit, Leon's status as The Load appears to have once again been reinforced in Drew's eyes as a direct result of the ankle bite. And as a result, not only does Drew initially plan to have Leon just stay on the sidelines like in All Creatures Great and Small and have to be convinced into letting him play an active role in the rescues, but he also chooses to not let him go anywhere over the course of the active rescue work without being accompanied and watched over by himself or Jack. With just how hard he'd been working to prove himself, just what he'd managed to accomplish, and how much Drew had seemingly been starting to trust him and have faith in his ability to work as an effective member of the team, the fact that he now seemingly once again seemingly shares Jack's opinion on is something that Leon feels privately devastated over.
- Leon's entire situation is really placed under a depressing light over the course of his time in this mission, and especially over the course of his and Jack's clashes and arguments. For so many missions now he's been trying his damnedest to improve himself and move on from his less than impressive first impression he left as a result of his unfortunate stumble in the Jurassic during Novum Initium. Yet despite how hard he's been genuinely trying, Jack still seemingly refuses to give him credit for what he has managed to accomplish since the time of that stumble or how hard he's been trying to improve himself, have No Sympathy for him not yet having very much (if any) natural skill, meanspiritedly downplays one of his greatest personal triumphs from the day of the most recent prior mission, and even makes several relatively meanspirited jokes at his expense. And worse, as described above, Drew (one of Leon's own best friends) seems to share Jack's opinion and actually laughs out loud at one of the mean spirited jokes. And all this, combined with how it is not entirely all that different from the torment he'd undergone back in middle school before he befriended Drew and Adrian, is it really all that surprising that he eventually reaches the point of angrily lashing out at Jack in retaliation against this seemingly bullying behavior?
- In a way, Jack's own situation in this chapter also qualifies in its own way. For unknown to Leon, Jack himself is actually fairly similar to him in certain areas. Much like Leon, Jack had a largely Friendless Background with only his immediate family available for companionship, was looked down upon by multiple other students at his school (though in Jack's case, his tormentors were nerds and other booksmart students, and the reasons they looked down on him were him being Book Dumb and not as skilled in academics as them). And just as much as Jack may unwittingly remind Leon of the jocks and other popular students who teased and tormented him back in middle school, Leon may very well be equally guilty of unwittingly reminding Jack of all the nerds who'd similarly looked down on him back during his own days in school. And furthermore, in light of how, as previously established elsewhere in the story, Jack has such low self esteem and faith in himself and his skill that he tends to immediately latch onto literally any positive statement towards or about him made by a figure of authority and do everything in his power to continuously 'validate' said statements and prove that he's not worthless, both his boasting about his natural talent and putting Leon down for being hired out of cronyism are likewise placed under a more depressing light. For thanks to his low faith in himself and his self worth, it is entirely possibly that his boasting about his natural skill and talent are a front to try to keep himself convinced that he's not worthless. And with how desperate he is to validate Drew's prior indicated positive opinion on him and befriend him, it is likewise all too likely that he is afraid that Leon's already being Drew's friend from before working at the park could very well leave Leon with an unfair advantage over him and that Leon himself being eventually chosen as Drew's second in command would be both an implicit rejection of friendship from Drew and a sign of Drew not considering him a valuable and useful member of the team.
- At the very end of the episode, just like at the end of Life in Transition back in Prehistoric Earth, Jack and Leon are placed under suspension from active duty on the rescue team. For just like near the end of that episode in that other fanfic, Leon and Jack manage, over the course of one last especially ill-timed squabble, to very nearly cause Drew to get killed (or at the very least lose an arm) as a result of them being too busy arguing when they were supposed to be keeping watch over the radar and starboard camera and ending up not paying enough attention to immediately pull him up to safety the instant the dunkleosteus first showed up on the radar and camera. And now, as a direct result of their letting their personal enmity get in the way of what was really important, both of them have now let Drew down and caused him to lose enough of his faith in them both to pull rank and have them suspended until they can prove themselves worth bringing back into the fold. And with how easily they could have ended up getting fired instead, it's all too clear just how dangerously close they both got to having some of their respective worst fears come true. And unless they manage to successfully prove themselves worth rehiring back to active duty on the rescue team and capable of working together without causing unnecessary risk to themselves and others, they could very well still be at risk of getting fired and having those fears come true!
- While more subtle than the rest, there is also the fact that, as is revealed by Adrian over the course of his chat with Alice while he's trying to train the teratornis pair into lessening their natural aggression, Drew has proceeded, despite seemingly becoming aware to at least a slight extent of Leon and Jack's less than ideal working relationship over the course of Return of the King, STILL once again refused to listen to or accept Adrian's concerns about him allowing the two to actively work together without someone around to supervise or rein them in. And even though Adrian considers Leon to be more of a friend to Drew than he himself is, he is still nonetheless somewhat a friend to Drew and has also been shown to care very much in his own way for Leon's wellbeing. So simply put, the fact that Drew won't even listen to or accept any statements about possible negative situations and elements from his own close friends anymore than he seemingly will from any of the other staff members that he isn't closely affiliated with is yet more fuel with which to paint an unpleasant picture of how much Drew truly values his friends and the advice of those who truly have his best interests at heart.
- And in another subtle example, as Leon points out over the course of his and Jack's final clash before the end of the mission, Jack apparently still hasn't even thanked him yet for his participation in Yolanda's rescue from the crassigyrinus back in the events of South of Heaven. As was established in several previous chapters, Yolanda was already Jack's friend before she properly met and befriended Leon. And yet Jack seemingly doesn't consider this fact and how he effectively has Leon to thank (from a certain point of view) for her still being alive and having safely gotten out of a situation that could have gotten her maimed or killed to be sufficient reason to put aside his pride and thank his rival for as much. And considering how much Jack values his friendships after how much of a Friendless Background he was heavily implied to have had before he met Carmen, Maria, Hugo, and Aaron, the fact that he's seemingly (even in unintentionally) acting as if he's taking Yolanda for granted is actually quite saddening in and of itself.
Building Bridges
- A very subtle example. While Jack and Leon are experiencing 'lull periods' over the course of their work in handling the titanichthys alongside Yolanda, Leon makes it all the more clear over the course of an effort at apologizing to Jack for blowing up at him just how much Jack and Drew's seeming efforts at pushing him out of the rescue work back in Devils of the Deep badly affected him and just how much he's since come to realize that Jack did have some valid criticisms against him.
- Jack himself similarly subtly provides reason to feel sorry for him via implicit hints in his dialogue. The effort at apologizing mentioned right above this point? This is actually Leon's second effort. In his first effort, Jack kindly tells him to try not to beat himself up over his mistakes as well as to never let people see when they get to him. And in between all this, Jack himself apologizes for only making things worse back in Devils of the Deep by deliberately trying to get a rise out of him and accepting that its just one of many personal failings of his. This line of dialogue is enough to once again show to readers just how low of a self esteem Jack has. It's almost enough to make one want to give the poor guy a hug.
- Much like in the original Prehistoric Park series, Terrence and Matilda's sibling rivalry escalates into outright antagonism complete with the two physically coming to blows. When they are seen together in this chapter, they are both circling around and snarling at each other while covered in wounds after having just recently finished a round of fighting. Terrence in particular is much more visibly wounded than Matilda as his head and neck are riddled with open cuts and other wounds while his sister has only a few scars on her face. Much like back in the original series, it is saddening to see this pair of siblings descend so greatly into such antagonism after being first introduced as a relatively happy sibling duo. And even worse, unlike in the original series, this time they have both parents alive and present at the park with them, and said parents are even at that very moment trying uselessly to get the two to stop fighting. Even with both Rexy and Tyrannor around to try to discipline their offspring, Terrence and Matilda still have ended up triggered into aggressively attacking each other over the course of their puberty, and it's all the sadder for it. All topped off with the two siblings eventually turning around and walking away from each other in separate directions while still snarling and growling irritably in each other's directions; a clear visual metaphor of just how badly their current state of puberty has damaged their formerly close sibling bond.
- In another subtle example, the situation with the titanichthys. It has been an entire week since they were rescued, yet it is revealed in this chapter that the park staff have been having trouble figuring out exactly what to feed them. For unlike most of the other animals which are fairly easy to determine a proper modern source of food to give to them without too much difficulty, the titanichthys' only confirmed food they liked to eat from back in their home time period was a species of anomalocariid that now can't be fed to them by virtue of the supply available also being amongst the park's intended display roster and entirely extinct outside of the park. However, this makes it all the more fortunate when Jack, Leon, and Yolanda are able to successfully discover an alternate food source for the mighty Devonian period filter feeders in the form of shrimp.
