Of ADF's many works in the area of licenced fiction I have a particular fondness for his two novels set in James Gurney's "Dinotopia" universe - "Dinotopia Lost" and "The Hand Of Dinotopia".

Although I never really caught on to the whole dinosaur craze that swept the land in the early 90s, I became besotted with Gurney's "Dinotopia" picture books as a youngster, and in my teens I discovered ADF's "Dinotopia" books - when a friend reccomended them to me after I'd casually mentioned in conversation how much I liked Gurney's books.

Late last year, when I saw Gurney's latest "Dinotopia" book, "Journey To Chandara", in my local bookstore I felt overwhelmed by a pang of nostalgia - so I bought "Journey To Chandara", dug out my old copies of Gurney and ADF's other "Dinotopia" books and read through the whole series chronologically.

I was astonished at how well they held up, even now that I am in my early twenties. I was still moved by the sense of optimism, hope and wonder that is inherent in Gurney's stories, that he managed to generate without resorting to easy sentimentality (and of course the incredible detail in his paintings - the more you see them, the more you see IN THEM). Also, I admired the inventive way in which ADF was able to expand upon concepts only hinted at in Gurney's stories, without upsetting the delicate balance of Gurney's universe... and the way in which ADF credibly generated dramatic conflict within the context of stories set in a utopian society.

What ADF achieved with his "Dinotopia" books seemed all the more incredible once I finally got around to seeing the "Dinotopia" TV series, and saw how other writers got it so completely wrong.

Gurney was credited as an executive producer on the TV show, but I've got to wonder how much creative input he really had, because I find it incredible that he would want "Dinotopia" to turn out as shockingly bad as it did.

I wasn't adverse to the idea of doing an original story set in the "Dinotopia" universe rather than a direct adaptation of the books... and I can understand why they would want to do that... although the books by Gurney and ADF do have dramatic conflict, it's quite subtle and mostly internalised, with the characters biggest battles being with their own self-doubt and insecurities... and that's harder to convey in the mainly audio/visual medium of television (though certainly NOT IMPOSSIBLE, with a bit of EFFORT, it could be done)

So yeah, I didn't object to the concept in principle, I'm no stuffy literary purist... but ultimately the original story they came up with was ABSOLUTE CRAP.

That being the case, I couldn't help but think they would've been better off just sticking to the adventures of Will & Arthur Denison as written by The Gurney Man and ADF. It might've taken more effort, but I think it would've been worth it... and certainly I thought they could afford to stick to the stories of Will & Arthur Denison as writ by Gurney & ADF, given the budget that Hallmark were prepared to piss against a wall with what they had.

Sorry to rant, and I'm not sure ADF would agree with my sentiments, but that's just how I feel about the series... a few times I have suggested to people that they should read Gurney and ADF's "Dinotopia" books and they've said they were put off reading them because the TV series sucked so much. That's the saddest thing of all, and that's the main reason I hate the TV show so much.

Now that that's said...

I'd be curious to know how this project came about. Did Gurney approach ADF with the idea of a "Dinotopia" novel, or was it the other way around? To what extent was Gurney involved in the creative process? Was he involved in a consultancy capacity and did he lay down certain ground rules from the outset? Or did he just give ADF totally free reign? Was it originally planned for there to be two books, or did the second one just come about cause they had such fun with the first one?

How does ADF feel about the "Dinotopia" novels looking back on things with hindsight? What does ADF think of the "Dinotopia" TV series? Has ADF read "Journey To Chandara" and what does he think of it?

So many questions...