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A Blast From The Past
A Blast From The Past
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Walking with Dinosaurs

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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 facinating reptiles right from their earliest beginnings in the mid - Triassic, right up to their 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 most accurate 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 seperate 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 gradualy 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 - 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 130 ft long sauropod that hatched from eggs the size of a grapefruit.
  • Ornitholestes ("bird robber") - an egg theif related to the reptiles that would evolve into birds.
  • Stegosaurus ("roof lizard") - a 40 ft long herbivore with back plates that served as armor and 4 tail spikes (thagomizers) the size of baseball bats.
  • Allosaurus ("other lizard") - a 42 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.
  • Brachiosaurus ("arm lizard") - Gigantic sauropod reaching 50 ft tall, and 100 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

  • Liopleurodon ("smooth-sided tooth")-a predatory sea reptile that weighed 150 tons and reached 82 feet long.
  • Cryptoclidus ("hidden collar-bone")-an agile sea reptile with four flippers.
  • Hybodus('humped tooth)-an ancient shark surviving from the Paleozoic

Giant of the Skies

In the early Cretaceous period, Ornithocheirus rules the skies and one male attemps 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

Spirits of the Ice Forest

In the middle of the Cretaceous, Antartica was filled with lush forests that included no night summers and pitch black winters, but what evolved to live there?

Featured Prehistoric Animals

  • Leallynasaura (named after the daughter of the scientists who discovered the species)-a herbivore the size of a small turtkey 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 witha 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

  • Anatotitan ("duck titan")-a 5 ton duck-billed dinosaur.

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

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

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

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 independant 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 atomated 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 skepicism.

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