The Time Portal is a bubble-like doorway through time and space that Nigel Marven uses to save prehistoric creatures from extinction.
Attributes[]
There are two versions of the Time Portal that Prehistoric Park uses for time travel.
A larger stationary version of the Time Portal, nicknamed by some fans the "Time Gate", that acts both a launching point to open a portal through time and space and returning point for those who return to the present.
A smaller portable version, the so-called Time Portal Sticks, which can be deployed and active with a remote. When active the Time Portal Sticks creates a time portal that contacted to the "Time Gate" in the present.
Properties[]
The Time Portal is transparent and expelled a bright light when open. It is concave-circular in shape and the core of the Portal ripples like water whenever anything passed through it. Occasionally, a blurry image of the other side was also visible. Humans, animals and objects could travel through the time portal simply by passing through one side to the other; however, gases and debris could not enter (PP: T-Rex Returns, PP: Dinobirds). While the 'home' side of the Time Portal was fixed to the observation pen complex in Prehistoric Park in the 21st Century, the exact location in time and space that the Portal leads to can be changed, with the least known amount of time being 10,000 years ago and the greatest amount of time being 300 million years (PP: A Mammoth Undertaking, PP: The Bug House). It was unknown if the Time Portal could be calibrated to open to the future.
Time Portal Gate[]
The Time Portal "Gate" is located by the observation pen. It uses two portal sticks that are much larger than the ones Nigel uses on his expeditions.
Time Portal Sticks[]
The Time Portal itself was activated by placing two silver sticks in the ground, approximately 4 metres apart, and priming both of them by twisting the shaft upwards and counter-clockwise. Once the sticks were primed, several blue lights at the tip of the stick would turn on and the Portal can then be opened by using a remote control (which presumably could change the destination time and location).
Altering history[]
Any adventure Nigel had into the past, and any creatures he removed from their time periods, did not have any apparent alterations/ramifications on the present. This would indicate that the Time Portal did not have any paradoxical effects on the timeline, meaning anything Nigel did or took from the past, had already happened. This form of time travel is referred to as a "causal loop."
Time and locations travelled to and travellers[]
Episode: | From: | To: | Travellers |
---|---|---|---|
T-Rex Returns | Prehistoric Park, 21st Century |
Montana, North America, Cretaceous (65 million years ago) |
Nigel's crew Nigel Marven One Jeep |
Cretaceous | Prehistoric Park | One Triceratops Nigel Marven | |
Prehistoric Park | Cretaceous | Nigel Marven | |
Cretaceous | Prehistoric Park | Thirteen Ornithomimus | |
Cretaceous | Prehistoric Park | Nigel Marven Two young Tyrannosaurus rex | |
A Mammoth Undertaking |
Prehistoric Park | Siberia, Asia, Pleistocene (10,000 years ago) |
Nigel Marven Several Skidoos Nigel's crew |
Pleistocene | Prehistoric Park | Nigel Marven One Woolly Mammoth | |
Prehistoric Park | Pleistocene (150,000 years ago) |
Nigel Marven One Skidoo | |
Pleistocene | Prehistoric Park | Nigel Marven One bag of grass samples One Elasmotherium | |
Dinobirds | Prehistoric Park | China, Asia, Cretaceous (120-110 million years ago) |
Nigel Marven Nigel's crew |
Cretaceous | Prehistoric Park | Nigel Marven Nigel's crew | |
Prehistoric Park | Cretaceous | Nigel Marven Nigel's crew One Net-gun One CO2 detector | |
Cretaceous | Prehistoric Park | Nigel Marven Nigel's crew Four Microraptor Nine Titanosaurs | |
Saving the Sabretooth |
Prehistoric Park | South America, Pleistocene (1 million years ago) |
Nigel Marven One Jeep |
Pleistocene | Prehistoric Park | Nigel Marven One Jeep Chunk of Toxodon meat One Phorusrhacos | |
Prehistoric Park | South America, Pleistocene (10,000 years ago) |
Nigel Marven Saba Douglas-Hamilton One Jeep | |
Pleistocene | Prehistoric Park | Nigel Marven Saba Douglas-Hamilton One Jeep Two Smilodon | |
The Bug House | Prehistoric Park | Scotland, United Kingdom, Carboniferous (300 million years ago) |
Nigel Marven Nigel's crew One Jeep |
Carboniferous | Prehistoric Park | Nigel Marven Nigel's crew One Jeep One Arthropleura One Meganeura One Pulmonoscorpius | |
Supercroc | Prehistoric Park | Texas, North America, Cretaceous (75 million years ago) |
Nigel Marven One Jeep One Ultralight Nigel's crew |
Cretaceous | Prehistoric Park | Nigel Marven One Troodon (unintentional) One Jeep One Deinosuchus |
Critical Response[]
As arguably the most important plot device in the series, the Time Portal has been scrutinized by critics and viewers. Common Sense Media stated that "the time-travel angle results in a slew of unanswered questions for those with a logical bent." The YouTuber HoopsAndDinoMan offered a dissenting view, stating that "the makers of the show know that time traveling is just a plot device and not the focus of the series, which I thought was a smart move."
Trivia[]
- The time-travelling Anomalies in the si-fi drama TV show, Primeval, were similar in appearance and sound to the Time Portal.
- Both Prehistoric Park and Primeval were produced by Framestore and Impossible Pictures.
- The Time Portal was originally supposed to be hooked up to a large machine, but the idea was scrapped before production.