Walking with Dinosaurs was a six-part television series produced by BBC and aired first in the UK in 1999. The series intended to show the life and times of these fascinating reptiles right from their earliest beginnings in the mid - Triassic, right up to their Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary cataclysmic demise at the end of the Cretaceous, 66 million years ago (Although, in the series, the extinction was said to be 65 million years ago). produced by director Tim Haines, the series used advanced CGI and animatronic technology, and is now renowned as being one of the best prehistoric documentaries made to date.
Episodes[]
New Blood
The first episode, set in the Arizona of the late Triassic, tells of a time when the dinosaur group had yet to gain a sure footing in the Mesozoic ecosystem. the episode highlights the lives of a group of Coelophysis, a reasonably well known early Theropod, which is presented as being a relatively adaptable and flexible creature, opportunistic hunter, and occasional cannibal (this assumption is now known to be false, with recent scientific study revealing that what had appeared to be the bones of a younger specimen within that of an adult, were in fact two separate skeletons that had perished on top of each other, and been compressed into one). The episode then details the decline of the Archosaurs such as the Placerias, who are gradually being ousted from the Triassic ecosystem by such large grazers as the Prosauropod Plateosaurus. following the demise of an adult Postosuchus - then the top of the food chain - through attack by a rival as well as various clips detailing the life of a pair of Cycodonts and their desperate bid to raise a family, the episode concludes with the return of the rains, whilst a group of migrating Plateosaurus return to the plain, bringing 'new blood' to the starved landscape.
Featured Prehistoric Animals
- Coelophysis ("hollow form") - one of the first dinosaurs; a quick, light built hunter.
- Placerias ("broad body")- a 1 ton herbivore armed with short tusks.
- Cynodont a small mammal-like reptile.
- Postosuchus (crocodile from post") - the largest 'predator of the Triassic, an ancient archosaur and close relative of the dinosaurs.
- Peteinosaurus ("winged lizard") - an early pterosaur.
- Plateosaurus ("flat lizard") - the biggest dinosaur in the Triassic, and the shape of things to come.
Time of the Titans
The second episode jumps forward to the Late - Jurassic period, when dinosaurs have well and truly taken over. It is set in Colorado, which, back then, was filled with giant conifers and, in a time without grass, fern prairies. The central creature is the sauropod Diplodocus, a long-necked herbivore. The episode follows a female throughout her life, from her mother laying eggs at the forest edge. She hatches, escapes an Ornitholestes, and follows her siblings into the forest. She grows quickly, encountering Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Brachiosaurus, before finding an adult herd.
Featured Prehistoric Animals
- Diplodocus ("double beam") - a 115 ft long sauropod that hatched from eggs the size of a grapefruit.
- Ornitholestes ("bird robber") - an egg thief related to the reptiles that would evolve into birds.
- Othnielia ("named after Othniel Charlies Marsh") - a 7 ft long ornithischian
- Stegosaurus ("roof lizard") - a 29.5 ft long herbivore with back plates that served as armor and 4 tail spikes (thagomizers) the size of baseball bats.
- Allosaurus ("other lizard") - a 27 ft long, carnivorous theropod, called the "Lions of the Jurassic".
- Anurognathus ("tailless jaw") - a small pterosaur that is shown to feed off insects that rest on the bodies of Diplodocus.
- Dryosaurus ("oak lizard")
- Brachiosaurus ("arm lizard") - Gigantic sauropod reaching 43 ft tall, and 70 ft long, and sharing the plains with Diplodocus.
Cruel Sea
Still in the Jurassic (Oxfordshire), we see the oceans of prehistory and a group of young Ophthalmosaurus having to face sharks, the largest predator of all time and a blast from mother nature.
Featured Prehistoric Animals
- Ophthalmosaurus ("eye lizard")-a dolphin-like sea reptile.
- Liopleurodon ("smooth-sided tooth")-a predatory sea reptile that weighed 150 tons and reached 82 feet long.
- Rhamphorhynchus ("beak snout")-a small pterosaur that fed on fish, eggs and insects.
- Eustreptospondylus ("well-curved vertebra")-one of the few, true dinosaurs to inhabit the European islands.
- Cryptoclidus ("hidden collar-bone")-an agile sea reptile with four flippers.
- Hybodus('humped tooth)-an ancient shark surviving from the Paleozoic
- Mesolimus
Giant of the Skies
In the early Cretaceous period, Ornithocheirus rules the skies and one male attempts to return to the place where he was born to mate. He's got a long way to go. He doesn't mate and dies.
Featured Prehistoric Animals
- Ornithocheirus ("bird hand")-a pterosaur with a 40 ft wingspan.
- Iguanodon ("iguana tooth")-a large herbivore armed with two thumb spikes and was among the first to chew their food.
- Unknown Pterosaur-a pterosaur that gets its fish stolen by the Ornithocheirus.
- Utahraptor ("thief from Utah")-a 20 ft long dromaeosaur that weighed half a ton.
- Polacanthus ("many spines")-an armored traveling companion of Iguanodon.
- Tapejara ("old being")-a Brazilian pterosaur.
- Plesiopleurodon ("near-sided tooth")
- Iberomesornis
- Gastonia
- Caulkicephalus
Spirits of the Ice Forest
In the middle of the Cretaceous, Antarctica was filled with lush forests that included no night summers and pitch black winters, but what evolved to live there?
Featured Prehistoric Animals
- Leaellynasaura (named after the daughter of the scientists who discovered the species)-a herbivore the size of a small turkey that's able to survive the harshest winters.
- Koolasuchus ("crocodile of Kool")-a hibernating amphibian that attacks like a crocodile.
- Australovenator ("Southern Hunter")-a smaller version of it's Jurassic cousin.
- Muttaburrasaurus ("lizard from Muttaburra")-a 4 ton herbivore with a trumpet-like nose.
- Steropodon-a egg laying mammal that ate eggs.
Death of a Dynasty
As the end of the dinosaurs nears, the king of the terrible lizards goes down in style.
Featured Prehistoric Animals
- Tyrannosaurus Rex ("tyrant lizard king")-a theropod that reached 43 feet long, 14 feet tall and weighed 7-10 tons.
- Torosaurus ("perforated lizard")-the big skulled cousin of Triceratops.
- Didelphodon-an egg-stealing marsupial.
- Dromaeosaurus ("running lizard")-a dromeosaur the size of a wolf.
- Anatotitan ("duck titan")-a 5 ton duck-billed dinosaur.
- Ankylosaurus ("fused lizard")-a massive armored dinosaur.
- Quetzalcoatlus
- Triceratops ("three-horned face") a relative of Torosaurus.
- Deinosuchus ("Terrible Crocodile")
- Thescelosaurus ("marvelous lizard")
- Dinilysia ("terrible ilysia")
- Thoracosaurus (''Thoraco Lizard'')
- Purgatorius
- Nanotyrannus ("Dwarf Tyrant")
Specials[]
After the success of the success of the series, BBC produced 4 specials. The first was called "The Ballad of Big Al" which showed the life of an Allosaurus named Al. The other 3 made up "Chased by Dinosaurs" which starred Nigel Marven.
The Ballad of Big Al Shows the 6 year life of an Allosaurus named Al in a world of danger. main animals:
- Allosaurus ("other lizard")-a 28 ft long theropod
- Diplodocus ("double beam")-a 117 ft long sauropod
- Ornitholestes ("bird robber")-an egg thief.
- Stegosaurus ("roofed lizard")-a 30 ft stegosaurid.
- Dryosaurus ("oak lizard")-an ornithopod that reached 14 feet long
- Othnielia("named after Othniel Charlies Marsh")-a 6.6 feet long ornithischian
- Apatosaurus ("deceptive lizard")-a 75 ft sauropod.
- Brachiosaurus ("arm lizard")-Tallest dinosaur in the environment.
Chased By Dinosaurs shows Nigel Marven traveling throughout several periods of time seeing dinosaurs not shown in Walking with Dinosaurs.
The Giant Claw-In the first part, Nigel travels to Mongolia, 75 million years ago to find "The Giant Claw" dinosaur. Main animals:
- Therizinosaurus ("scythe lizard")-a large herbivore with huge claws.
- Saurolophus ("lizard crest")-a large hadrosaur.
- Protoceratops ("first horned face")-an early member of the horned dinosaurs.
- Velociraptor ("speedy thief")-a predator who was fast, smart and hunted in groups.
- Tarbosaurus ("alarming lizard")-a 30 ft long relative of Tyrannosaurus.
Land of Giants-In the second part, Nigel foes to Argentina 125 million years ago to find one of the largest dinosaurs ever. Main animals:
- Argentinosaurus ("lizard from Argentina")-a 190 ton sauropod.
- Macrogryphosaurus ("big griffin lizard")-a large herbivore armed with thumb spikes that could chew.
- Giganotosaurus ("giant southern lizard")-a theropod that beat T.rex in length.
- Ornithocheirus ("bird hand")-a huge pterosaur.
- Pteranodon
- Sarcosuchus ("Flesh Crocodile")-a giant 40 foot Crocodile.
Sea Monsters-Nigel travels to seven different destinations to find the 7 deadliest seas of all time. Go to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Monsters for more information.
Walking with dinosaurs - the live experience[]
Following the success of the walking with series, an independent theatre and animatronics group , with full endorsement on the part of the BBC, has now created a live show, which is at this moment completing its US tour, and is set to arrive in the United Kingdom in late June 2009. the show, which includes eleven species of fully automated dinosaurs, has been met with great approval in both Australia and the USA, with even Tim Haines, the director of the original TV documentary, jumping the bandwagon and offering his full endorsement, despite original skepticism.
Trivia[]
- The sequence of the Ophthalmosaurus jumping out of the water & diving back in was a footage of a Bottlenose Dolphin taken from the 1984 BBC Documentary “The Living Planet” with David Attenborough.
- The scene where the Tuatara emerges from the burrow hunting for a Weta was stock footage from the 1987 PBS NATURE Program “Land of the Kiwi”. The same footage was also seen on the 1994 EYEWITNESS episode “Reptile”.