Adventure of a Lifetime

"Adventure of a Lifetime" is the first episode of the first season of Paleoart, and is thus the season and show premiere.

Synopsis
A down-on-his-luck artist gets some mysterious visitors that could help him realize his dream of writing a book.

Plot
Nathaniel comes home late one evening after going shopping at a mall. At the dinner table, he chats with his daughter, Brooke, trying to encourage her to work on her manga series, the latest in a series of twenty-three that have apparently been stuck at the cover. At exactly 7:00, he mentions how long he has been waiting to write his own project, after which he suddenly takes off.

Later, in his bedroom, Nathaniel recieves a message from his friend on his computer about the last two creatures for the book. This prompts him to start writing. He breezes through the intro, but suddenly stops at the illustrated part, because no one knows what color the creature he's drawing is. Due to the late hour, he just falls asleep.

However, he is almost immediately woken up by Dana, a talking, living non-avian dinosaur. She explains her origin: she was cloned from a dinosaur tail trapped in amber by a group of secret government scientists. She was subjected to "intelligence tests" that actually determined her fitness as a weapon. In revenge, she killed all the scientists in creative ways, and escaped into the world.

Nathaniel asks Dana, also an artist due to having an artistic human's blood, for help with his book. She mentions how no one can be sure of dinosaurs' true appearance unless they can be observed in their natural habitat. This inspires Nathaniel to visit the dinosaurs with the time machine in his basement.

Against Nathaniel's original wishes, Dana creates a crew, using amber to bring his computer mouse and tablet pen to life as the magical Mousey and Pen. The new crewmates demonstrate their powers: Mousey controlling and transforming into different types of technology, and Pen drawing a soccer ball to life - also activating a security system when Nathaniel isn't convinced. Eventually, he is won over, even transforming into Artist, a superhero. He then leads his new friends on a trip back in time.

Major characters

 * Nathaniel Antonio/Artist (introduction)
 * Dana (introduction)
 * Mousey (introduction)
 * Pen (introduction)

Minor characters

 * Brooke (introduction)
 * Scientists (introduction/flashback)
 * Will
 * Kate
 * Irene
 * Pepper
 * Gabriele (introduction/flasback)
 * Pharmacist (introduction/flashback)
 * Janitor (introduction/flashback)
 * Marietta (introduction/flashback)
 * Cashier (introduction/flashback)
 * Civilians

Holocene

 * United States
 * California
 * Peach Valley
 * Nathaniel's mansion
 * Mall
 * Front Gate Diner

Trivia

 * The scene with the clocks was partly inspired by the cuckoo clock scene in the 1940 film Pinocchio.
 * Dana's test involving colors and numbers is a real life test devised for Alex, a parrot trained to use language intelligently.
 * The name of Dana's trainers, Irene and Pepper, are also a reference to Alex's trainer, Irene Pepperberg.
 * When Nathaniel attempts to fist-bump Dana, he says "Pound it!" This is a reference to Miraculous Ladybug.
 * The arrow traps in Nathaniel's room are a reference to Minecraft.