Dinosaur!

Dinosaur! is an American television documentary about dinosaurs hosted by Christopher Reeve. It premiered on CBS on November 5, 1985. It should be noted that the special effects for this documentary were done by Phil Tippett, who also included clips of his short film Prehistoric Beast into this special.

Premise[]

The documentary joins Reeve's narration with special effects scenes which reconstruct dinosaurs and their era, along with interviews with some of the most famous paleontologists at the time of the documentary shooting, including Jack Horner, Robert Bakker, Phil Currie, and Dale Russell.

After a short introductory sequence and subsequent opening credits the show starts with a pair of Edmontosaurus (identified as Hadrosaurs AKA duckbills) meeting and mating. The female eventually creates a nest and lays a clutch of eggs, which are subsequently raided and eaten by an invading Struthiomimus, which leaves one egg behind after being chased away by the angry mother. The Struthiomimus heads into the forest to feed on the egg which it stole, but is then ambushed and killed by a pair of Deinonychus. The remaining egg eventually hatches and grows into a juvenile. While the family is out feeding, the juvenile wanders off to explore and is attacked by a Tyrannosaurus, alerting the parents. The father watches the offspring while the mother battles the Tyrannosaurus and knocks it over with her tail. The family is given a chance to escape while the predator struggles to get up and walks away, thwarted for now.

A herd of sauropods (identified as Brontosaurus) feeds on the treetops, using their long necks to reach into the treetops. Next, a herd of Monoclonius feeds on the far edge of the forest, and one member wanders off in search of flowers. Eventually, night falls and it tries to find the herd, but only winds up wandering deeper into the forest. It soon comes upon the remains of a recently killed hadrosaur and becomes wary. The Tyrannosaurus ambushes and bites the Monoclonius in the back, but the Monoclonius breaks free and, with its single horn, stabs the Tyrannosaurus in the shin, which angers the predator. The Monoclonius is eventually cornered and gives out one final cry before it is possibly killed.

That night, all seems calm. Suddenly, a huge meteorite crashes into Earth and kills the dinosaurs. After a long time, a small mammal is seen climbing out of the remains of a hadrosaur, signaling the start of the age of mammals.