...a spectacular collection that instantly transforms home theaters into a virtual living museum.
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Ever since world-renowned biologist Sir Richard Owen coined the term "Dinosauria" in 1842, our fascination with long-extinct creatures has been increasing at a steady pace over the years. It's a safe bet to say that the dinosaur craze reached an all-time high in 1993 when Michael Crichton's best-selling novel, "Jurassic Park," was adapted into a screenplay for the blockbuster film by Steven Spielberg. In fact, the topic and state-of-the-art CGI technology used in the breakthrough film inspired filmmaker Tim Haines to develop one of the BBC's most successful documentaries.
"Walking with Dinosaurs" magnificently re-creates entire lost worlds, but instead of using the cloning angle as in "Jurassic Park," the series observes dinosaurs in their natural habitats. In the style of a wildlife program with a dramatic narrative provided by Kenneth Branagh, we get to see what they may have looked like, how they may have lived, and even how they may have died out. It doesn't stop there, either, as Haines' crew even consulted with the research and advisement of over four hundred paleontologists for the sake of accuracy. To me, that alone shows just how much heart went into this production.
Haines' team also had to travel the globe to find locations in our time that would be suitable for certain periods of the past. The scenery is obviously hand picked because each backdrop is breathtakingly gorgeous. It's packed with lush green fern forests, mountainous sunrises, and even the deserts in times of severe drought are eye-catching.
Although "Walking with Dinosaurs" generally received highly favorable reviews around the world, a few "creationists" criticized the series for the way it presented certain theories as fact. After going through the entire collection, though, I really have no clue why anyone would make such ridiculous claims. While it's true that dinosaurs are long gone, they did exist and the proof is in the pudding. The entire run of the "Walking with..." documentaries uses fossil evidence and scientific guesswork as a template to reconstruct possible outcomes, and the filmmakers even admit themselves that there might be mistakes. That's how it goes with science. It's a continuous learning process and new things are discovered on a daily basis. I'd be concerned if the show had a group of young female Stegosaurs playing hopscotch in a playground, but it doesn't. The truth is, fossils tell a lot and one of the only true mysteries of dinosaurs is their color, so that had to be imagined using common sense of what we know of creatures that exist today.
"Prehistoric Earth" gathers the entire groundbreaking "Walking with..." series in a spectacular collection that instantly transforms home theaters into a virtual living museum.
"Before the Dinosaurs: Walking with Monsters"
The first documentary of this masterful set is actually the most recent, produced in 2005 as a sort of prequel to "Walking with Dinosaurs." However, "Walking with Monsters" travels back even further, to a time long before the dinosaurs roamed the planet.
"Walking with Monsters" weighs in with a production cost of £3,000,000, taking three years to put together the three half-hour episodes. I could tell immediately that a lot of money went into producing this series, and after a few years of advancement in computer-generated effects, I have to say that the animation is even a slight improvement over the original "Walking with Dinosaurs." The movements are more natural and fluidic, and I could even make out the tiny scales of the Petrolacosaurus. Simply put, the details and texture are outstanding.
Program one (29:01) opens with a brief explanation of the theory of how our planet and moon were formed 4.4 billion years ago when a planet-like mass known as Theia collided with an early form of Earth. It then takes a leap to the Cambrian period of the Paleozoic where viewers can witness Brontoscorpio, a metre long sea scorpion with gills as well as primitive lung function key for the evolution of land-dwellers, and other creatures like Cephalaspis, one of the earliest fish with a complex brain. In the Devonian, some of these fish further evolve teeth and limbs giving birth to early amphibians like Hynerpeton, a meter and a half long giant salamander with developed lung sacs not much different from ours.
In program two (28:59), the show jumps ahead to 300 million years ago, where much of the Earth is covered in swamps and giant insects rule the planet. This episode touches on some of these creepy crawlies such as the Mesothelae spider meeting an untimely death when lightning strikes it in its burrow during a thunderstorm, and Arthropleura, an ancient millipede the length of a car. It also features Petrolacosaurus, a reptile pioneer with one of the first complex hearts, giving way to the first giant reptiles like the herbivore Edaphosaurus.
The final program (28:56) flashes forward to the late Permian 250 million years ago, after all of the continents drifted into one giant land mass called Pangaea. The drying climate and loss of atmospheric oxygen put an end to the age of giant insects, and "mammal-like" reptiles like the Scutosaurus and the burrowing Diictodon enter the picture. It was Euparkeria, a small insect-hunting lizard with hips adapted for walking upright, though, that some scientists believe served as the initial blueprint for the dinosaurs.
"Walking with Dinosaurs"
Next, the second disc of "Prehistoric Earth" delivers the original "Walking with Dinosaurs" in all of its glory.
I've already mentioned earlier in my review the style of the program and the beautiful scenes, but I just can't stress enough what kind of detail went into this show. One of my favorite clips was when a pair of Tyrannosaurus chicks scamper up to a snake to check it out, and it even shows the snake's perspective as it detects their heat signatures just like in the movie "Predator." Blood sometimes splatters onto the lens and every once in awhile the cameras might get a nudge from the creatures on screen, too. I know that this isn't really a huge deal, but it's still a nice touch that just enhances the sense of realism.
"Walking with Dinosaurs" is composed of six half-hour episodes:
1) "New Blood" (29:15). The dawn of the dinosaurs came around 220 million years ago in the late Triassic period. This episode has a central focus on the Coelophysis, one of the earliest known dinosaurs to exist. The Coelophysis tries to survive the intense heat and drying climate as it searches for waterholes and hunts the small burrowing Cynodonts as well as the Placerias - the biggest mammal-like reptile of the time.
2) "Time of the Titans" (29:01). The second episode takes place an estimated 152 million years ago in the late Jurassic era, and primarily follows the lifecycle of the Diplodocus. The massive dinosaurs lay and bury their soccer ball-sized eggs at the edge of the forest so the hatchlings can use the trees for safety as they grow. Throughout their early years, the young Diplodocus stick together to face dangers such as the swinging spiked tail of a Stegosaurus and the voracious appetite of the carnivorous Allosaurus. When mature, they seek out a herd of their own kind to find a mate and complete the circle of life.
3) "Cruel Sea" (28:51). Also in the late Jurassic, this episode shifts the point of view from the land to the treacherous seas. Ophthalmosaurus, a dolphin-like reptile with large round eyes, is shown giving birth to live young tail-first in order to prevent drowning. The pups use the cover of coral as a refuge from larger predators such as sharks and the enormous snaggletoothed jaws of the Liopleurodon.
4) "Giant of the Skies" (29:14). Soaring back to 127 million years ago, the fourth episode studies the largest pterosaur of the time, Ornithocheirus. Using it's twelve-metre wingspan as it glides over herds of Iguanodons being stalked by vicious Utahraptors, Ornithocheirus provides a bird's eye view of the landscape during it's epic 14,000 km journey to it's mating grounds.
5) "Spirits of the Ice Forest" (29:12). By the mid-Cretaceous, dinosaurs covered every part of the globe, which includes the South Pole. During this era, the Antarctic is the only place on Earth with a lush seasonal forest with cold winters. It's home to a clan of nesting Leaellynasauras, and migrating herds of herbivore Muttaburrasaurus travel south to feed on the plant life during the spring and summer months.
6) "Death of a Dynasty" (29:11). In the late Cretaceous period 65 million years ago, the final episode concentrates on the life of the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex. Wildlife is suffering from poisonous gases unleashed by volcanic eruptions, and a Tyrannosaurus struggles searching for food while defending her eggs from marsupial scavengers like the Didelphodon. This foreshadows the rise of mammals, after sixty-five percent of life on the planet is wiped out when a massive comet strikes Earth.
"Allosaurus"
While the Allosaurus has cameos in the "Walking with Dinosaurs" episodes "Time of the Titans" and "Spirits of the Ice Forest," a televised special was put into production inspired by the discovery of one of the most complete sets of adolescent Allosaurus remains ever discovered. The show first takes viewers on a trip to the University of Wyoming to meet the skeletal fossils of "Big Al," and using forensic evidence taken directly from his bones, the filmmakers are able to piece together a plausible account of Big Al's life story.
"Allosaurus" is primarily done in the same style as the rest of the series with the exception of the brief scenes from the University. This special is much more thorough since it concentrates heavily on the Allosaurus, although other dinosaurs like the Brachiosaurus and Stegosaurus wander into the range of the cameras as well. What I liked most about it, though, was the logical explanations regarding the injuries found on the fossils. Of course, nobody knows for certain what truly happened to Big Al, but the presented theories make sense.
"Walking with Prehistoric Beasts"
The sequel to "Walking with Dinosaurs" released in 2001 and takes place in the third geological age, the Cenozoic, millions of years after the giant meteor strike caused the extinction of most of the dinosaurs. It mainly concentrates on the birds and mammals of the past, including favorites like the sabre-tooth cats and Woolly Mammoths.
While "Walking with Prehistoric Beasts" ranks in the same range as the others for scientific educational content, I thought that this program suffered a bit in the visual department. Some of the movements of the computer-generated creatures seemed off, especially the apes known as Australopithecus. To be fair, I'm sure it's a much more difficult task to try and animate hairy mammals using digital technology, but the finished product just isn't on the same level as "Walking with Dinosaurs." Another thing was that this time the filmmakers decided to throw in the odd "Matrix"-style effect, which some people might find cool, but for me I thought it was a little over-the-top.
All six episodes of "Walking with Prehistoric Beasts" are included:
1) "New Dawn" (29:02). A new reign on our planet begins, 16 million years after the extinction of the dinosaurs. Enter the world of the Leptictidium, a small shrew-like mammal, as it forages for food on the forest floor and builds nests to raise their young. The first episode also features the amphibious mammalian Ambulocetus, a four-limbed early ancestor of the whale, and a giant carnivorous flightless bird called the Gastornis.
2) "Whale Killer" (28:39). An ocean famine occurs 36 million years ago as the polar ice caps freeze over spiraling the world's climate into chaos. A massive early whale called the Basilosaurus becomes pregnant, and the mother-to-be has no choice but to leave the open ocean and move into the shallower mangrove swamps to search for food in order to stay alive.
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