Perrysaurolophus

A CONCEPT

Like they’re actually the same character. They’re both degenerate playboys who need to have restraining orders filed against them, they’re both sharks, have a bluish color scheme, break into song, and they even kind of sound the same.

There are so many similarities it almost looks intentional than a coincidence. It would be crazy if for some reason Troy really did inspire Chaz (I don’t really think so but it would be hella funny and honestly it’s gonna be my hc lol).

So here’s my crack theory bc they really are the same person: Troy, who after getting netted at the end of the movie totally got turned into shark fin soup (the only shark I would ever want that to happen to), goes to hell and his demon form is Chaz.

Which really just goes to show how long the Mesozoic was. 186 million years with species coming and going all throughout, and more than enough time for the climate to vary wildly, not to mention the movement of the continents! The Mesozoic wasn't uniform at all, because 186 million years is insanely long! Which makes Veloci's plan all the funnier because like. dude what are you trying to return to??? "the age of the dinosaurs" is too vague that's like fifty different worlds to go back to!

But it also kind of makes Veloci's plan more interesting?? Because it makes you wonder if he's only trying to return to the Mesozoic he knew, to the very very late Cretaceous he grew up in (which uh. from what we know high volcanic activity already had things on the decline LMAO). So like. Is veloci clinging to a single memory of the past that he can't have and doesn't understand might not be compatible with other aspects of the Mesozoic (since he tried to bring back a plant from the Triassic, even though that species wouldn't have been around in end of the Cretaceous)? Or is he looking to create a new era that mixes in all kinds of dinosaur species from all throughout the Mesozoic (absolute chaos)? Does he intend to keep the technology that's been developed, does he want to keep modern medical sciences, or does he fully intend to return the world to the rule of nature, where injuries that could be treated now become death sentences untreated?

How much has Veloci thought his whole idea through, and how much of it is him throwing a centuries-long tantrum?

AND! The 66 million years after the KT extinction event! Was Veloci trying to go back that whole time? Or is the desire to return something more recent? A LOT happened in those 65 million years, both to the climate and the new species that emerged, lived, and died out. Were Veloci and Moynihan trapped in that cave the entire time? Did they ever gain the ability to shapeshift into other species? Did they travel? Did they stay in place? Did they see the world change, again and again, did they witness the extinction events of the Cenozoic? Or did Veloci see how species come and go and evolve and still decide to try and go back?

Quickly picking up from where I left off, the next major moment of this episode screwing Max over is when the Squad gets to the Arctic and Max assigns them to areas of the island to de-ooze. But before I dive into that mess, I just want to briefly touch back on the basketball game part as I went back to the episode again just to make sure I wasn’t actually talking out of my ass, and I am happy to inform you that I wasn’t! But there were some things I would like to add to that 1st part so let me do that real quick and then I’ll move on.

So I wanted to add more direct quotes from the scene to really reign in how much Max is not a control freak:

“Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about! Nice win everybody!” EVERYBODY.

“What’s wrong? We just won the game!” WE.

“But Coach, I had the ball. I made the baskets. We won the game, right?” WE.

“I hear you Coach… But we won the game, right?” WE.

Again, Max is not displaying that “control freak” mindset. Yes, it’s true that he took over the game, but it was unintentional, not like how the episode is trying to tell it as. Because the major boo-boo of the episode is that the narrative it’s trying to convey is conflicting with the actual way Max is behaving; he’s all happy and hyper and not putting his team down and claiming he won it for them, acknowledging it as a TEAM win continuously, while Caruso is over here saying “YOU won the game!” and the Coach is lecturing Max on how basketball is a team sport (which he obviously knows) and telling him how to properly control the game as the point guard, like mildly regulating it, rather than his “oNe mAn aRmY mEnTaLiTy” they keep telling me he has when his attitude and dialogue say otherwise. And like I said in the previous post, there is no problem with showing this sort of issue. I’m not mad Max is being given a flaw; I’m mad the flaw is being represented incorrectly. They say one thing but Max himself says differently. It’s a contradiction. And a very annoying one at that.

Anyway, returning to the de-oozing scene, Max assigns everyone to an area to clear up, but Max gives himself the most land to de-ooze, Fiona pointing it out. Put a pin in that for right now.

The scene transitions to Max de-oozing. As he’s doing this, we see an overhead icicle melting, and a drip of water (containing a gross ass virus) falls and lands on Max’s hand, and INSTANTANEOUSLY he feels the effects, wiping at his forehead as he’s “working up a sweat” and generally just not feeling good. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF INFORMATION FROM THE EPISODE. It literally changes everything abt this episode and the way you view it going forward and retroactively.

Continuing on, Max starts going around giving tips to his friends on how to better de-ooze. Now what makes this part so striking is that this is the first moment of Max actually being a bit of a control freak. Still unintentionally, but he is actively thinking abt it more than just “being in the zone,” so I think it counts as semi-controlling. But notice how his “controlling nature” actually starts to manifest after he gets infected with the virus? Yeah. Very interesting detail. They finish, and I wanted to say that despite this episode being abysmal in storytelling, it actually does a bit of a good job with symbolism, as Max is shown standing on a rock above the others talking abt how good of a job they did (and again, he says “good job TEAM.” Still not viewing less of them), symbolizing how he’s thinking more highly of himself (even if that’s not true). So that was actually kinda cool even if the narrative surrounding it sucks. And I want to briefly note Max’s energy, as he’s being really hyper again, reestablishing that adrenaline rush he got earlier when playing basketball, but now it’s being directed toward his work ethic. Keep that in mind. Now the Squad is back at the Dino-Hydrofoil (aka the boat they regularly use incase someone didn’t know what that thing was called). Max is hustling like crazy putting boxes in the boat (what are the boxes for? Idk. Are the chillers and spillers in them? Idk). The team is really getting annoyed with him now and Rodger tells him to chill out. Caruso asks if Max thinks they can’t do anything themselves, and Max says he wasn’t thinking that and he was just doing it and having fun. But then Fiona opens her big mouth and asks him if he was sure he wasn’t operating under a “if you want things done you have to do it yourself” mentality, and Max starts second guessing himself. We know this bc he’s stammering and trying to work out if this assessment was right or not. And NO, this is not happening bc Max just got called out on his “negative behavior” like the episode wants you to believe. He’s SECOND GUESSING HIMSELF bc of what Fiona said. It’s clear in the show with all their moments of being paired up and their interactions with the rest of the Squad that they have a leader/second in command dynamic, so Max probably thinks very highly of her opinions. So like we saw, when Caruso is scolding Max, he’s not fazed at all, easily saying “no that’s not true” in response. But when Fiona did it, suddenly he’s unsure and scrambling to answer, now thinking “oh crap, maybe I really did do that,” EVEN THOUGH HE LITERALLY SAID HE DIDNT THINK THAT SO WE KNOW THIS ISNT ACTUALLY TRUE! So then Max starts to justify his actions, drawing attention to how fast and efficiently they finished the task just now with him taking charge, and points out the times the others were “flaky” during a mission. This is the episode’s attempt to corner Max in his perceived “wrongful ideology”; his “outing” moment. But yet again, taking the evidence we have gathered of what Max is actually thinking, it’s easy to deduce that what’s really happening is Max trying to rationalize his thoughts as his mind is being racked by a fever and the confliction of Fiona’s words against what he actually thought. After this, the guys start to berate Max as he’s LEANING ON THE BOAT WITH HIS HEAD SLANTED DOWN AND EYES CLOSED LIKE OBVIOUSLY SOMETHING’S WRONG WILL YOU GUYS PLS GET YOUR HEADS OUT YOUR ASSES AND ASK HIM IF HES OK?!?! *deep breath* Sorry. Moving on 😁.

Now let’s return to those two points I said to remember before we conclude this part, as they will explain the actual why of Max’s actions. He gave himself the most land to cover, not bc he thought the team couldn’t handle it (and he only starts to think this way after he contracts the virus and the onset fever messes with his brain as no one really thinks straight when they’re sick, and the introduction of Fiona’s opinion which he holds in high regard retroactively alters his thought process), but initially he does this exactly how he explained it to Caruso: “I was having fun,” or in other words, “I have fun doing things like this.” That adrenaline high he’s riding afterward solidifies this (and it might also be a little influenced by the virus; I think he’s starting to get a wee bit delirious). He’s giving himself more to do bc he’s a nice person and he just genuinely enjoys hard work and wanted to give the others less to do, NOT bc he thinks less of them, but is probably thinking “why burden them when I already really like this kind of work?” That’s the truth of his decision before he gets a disease and is subsequently bombarded by his ungrateful teammates (one who he really respects but is also speaking out against him so he’s inclined to actually consider her words, but it causes him to get confused as it obviously conflicts with his actual views, and his subconscious recognizes this, therefore he attempts to justify himself to try and rectify this conundrum, creating a sort of cognitive dissonance). And this follows through into his disorderly packing away of the random boxes (again, I think the virus induced fever is already starting to make him a little nutso; this little shit is not a slacker!). And can we just take a sec to talk abt how the Squad has no right to be complaining rn? Like, THEY ARE JUST STANDING THERE WATCHING MAX LOAD THE BOXES BY HIMSELF. WHAT ARE YOU DOING??? JUST HELP HIM IF YOU WANT TO BE USEFUL SO BAD. YOU’RE JUST STANDING THERE! This would be a different story of course if they did try to help and he told them off, but come on, you know that didn’t happen one bit. He’s obviously not being mean in the slightest. And even if he did tell them he didn’t need help, it would be coming from a place of “don’t trouble yourself, I got this!” bc, say it with me now: he’s nice and likes to work. And I promise this all makes sense. Like if you watch the scene with this stuff in mind, it fits perfectly with his actual dialogue and body language vs what the rest of the characters are saying abt him and that knowledge truly makes this episode so depressing and a great disservice to Max’s character—and thus why I’m writing all this at all. Bc I have big feelings and care way too much abt an obscure as hell show and a character I actually really liked and I believed got done dirty big time, and I have to rant abt it.

In summary, Max is an incredibly caring guy who likes to do the hard work so others don’t have to, not bc he thinks them incapable, but bc he doesn’t want anyone to be burdened. But he falls ill with a virus that instantly has an effect on his mind and causes him to become more incessant with his helpful attitude, turning it into a delusional obsession, and instead of asking if he’s ok, his friends yell at him and call him a “control freak,” when he was never that ever up until this point, and was only brought abt by a virus he has no control over (ironically. And maybe that’s poetic too? Idk. Let’s not give Dino Squad too much credit, cause let’s be real, that was probably just a coincidence). Oh joy.

But that’s a wrap on this one folks! Join me soon for Pt. 3! (yeah. It’s still not over, and it only gets worse from here. Prepare yourselves). Until next time! Adios!

And here’s the actual scene if you want to follow along with it while reading to better understand what I’m talking abt when explaining stuff:

Rodger: Working on it

Fiona: Then work faster!

Rodger: Do you really think yelling is gonna help?

Fiona: No. I think hitting is gonna help *cracks knuckles*