“Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous” Season 4 was released on Netflix on Dec. 3, but I didn’t notice it till last week. That’s evidence that we’re amid TV’s latest golden age, not evidence that I don’t care about “Camp Cretaceous.” The animated series gets increasingly great each season, and increasingly more likely it will link up with “Jurassic World: Dominion” (June 10).
Site … C?
Season 3 went the gothic horror route with the Scorpius rex and thunderstorms. But now that the timeline has moved beyond “Fallen Kingdom,” creator Zack Stentz and his team don’t try to outdo themselves with hybrid inventions.
(SPOILERS FOLLOW.)
Granted, Season 4 has that on a smaller scale with adorable sinoceratops/spinosaurus hybrids. It’s arguably a case of science topping nature: With the spine on their back, it seems harder for a predator’s jaws to sweep down and take out a chunk.
“Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous” Season 4 (2021)
Netflix, 11 episodes
Creator: Zack Stentz
Stars: Paul-Mikél Williams, Kausar Mohammed, Jenna Ortega
Season 4 tackles two exciting new missions – lore expansion and character growth — and mostly achieves both. First, comparisons to “Lost” become unavoidable as our gang of six teens escapes Isla Nublar but crashes the yacht on another island. It’s not Site B (Isla Sorna), so now we have “Site C,” I suppose.
The “Jurassic Park” saga’s sci-fi quotient had been contained to cloning and hybridizing dinosaurs up to this point. But now we get Mantah Corp.’s biodomes. Within each of these climates, the good scientist Mae (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) and the evil scientist Kash (Haley Joel Osment) study their dino charges, using robots, drones and control chips.
On paper, it sounds like this leap in technology is too much, but I bought it on screen because now we can see thrilling chases in more environments. Also, while “CC” has featured adults in the past, I’ve forgotten all of them except Dr. Wu. But Mae and Kash are wonderfully colorful.
Adults step in
Kash is everything you want in a cartoon villain – equal parts sociopathic and ridiculous as he uses his computers to do things like force a T-rex and a kentrosaurus to fight. Meanwhile, Mae’s love of dinosaurs finally gives Darius (Paul-Mikél Williams) someone to connect to.
In fact, everyone comes around to loving dinos this season, and the writers and animators successfully manipulate us into that feeling too. Notably, the dinos have names. The kentro is Pierce, the serato-spinos are Angel and Rebel, and a young brontosaurus is Firecracker. Even the two T-rexes get named Big Eatie and Little Eatie.
When Kash says “stop” to Firecracker, the young dino is forced to do so thanks to the chip in its brain. The unnaturalness of the action, plus Darius’ horrified look, makes me agree: This crosses an ethical line.
That’s not to say there aren’t “villain” dinosaurs; Season 4 makes great callbacks to some standouts we hadn’t seen in a while. But generally we’re in full-on “Save the Dinos” mode, and I didn’t mind it.
It’s not heavy handed, because we see the other side of the argument. Yaz (Kausar Mohammed) particularly wants to go home and leave saving the dinos to someone else. All the kids, but especially Yaz, have a level of shell shock.
They’ve escaped Nublar and their adrenaline is fading. The problem is the threat remains, although at least they get some breathers now, as they can stay in Mantah Corp.’s HQ carved out of a cave system.
Character growth
It’s not easy to give complex emotions to cartoons, and I admit it’s awkward early in Season 4 as the animators try to do too much with facial expressions sans dialog. But I admire the ambition and ultimately found it cute to see Kenji (Ryan Potter) and Brooklynn (Jenna Ortega) simultaneously realize they like each other.
This means Kenji and Brooklynn have met and fallen for each other in a time period in which they’ve been wearing the same clothes the whole time. The Mantah Corp. HQ would obviously have cleaning facilities, but the still-dirt-spattered kids don’t take advantage of this. I can’t be the only viewer thinking those kids probably don’t smell much better than a T-rex’s muzzle.
If it’s a binary choice, I’m fine with the animators focusing on dinosaur chases amid rocky canyons, swamps and ice floes, in addition to the standard jungle. But the kids’ perpetual dirty appearance is the elephant in the room.
I’m surprised “Camp Cretaceous” went the romance route, but more surprised that Mantah Corp. (for some reason pronounced “Mantacore,” like the evil “Dark Angel” organization) is such a big player now. It’s to the point that “Dominion” has to tie Manta Corp. into the increasingly global corporatization of dinosaurs.
I don’t know if I’m more excited for that or for “Camp Cretaceous” Season 5. The latter currently has no scheduled release date. But at some point it’ll pop up on our Netflix queues like a spinosaurus sticking its jaws into a crevice.