When Dinosaurs Roamed America (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)Five years ago, I probably would have given When Dinosaurs Roamed America a rave review. It is a good dinosaur special, well done overall and with interesting effects. But in the post-Walking with Dinosaurs era, it's a bit of a letdown. The animation is not as good, nor is the writing as sharp.


One other note: John Goodman is really not up the level of either Kenneth Branaugh (British version of Walking with Dinosaurs as well as the DVD version) or Avery Brooks (the version of Walking With Dinosaurs shown on the Discovery Channel). The latter two treat it as a serious nature special. Goodman's narration makes it sound like he's narrating a children's TV special, not a nature special.

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Take a journey back to prehistoric America when mighty dinosaurs ruled the continent.From New York to New Mexico, these powerful animals lived, hunted and died in the very place you call home. Watch millions of years of violent evolution unfold before your eyes. By combining state-of-the-art computer animation with beautiful live-action landscapes, you’ll witness these fearsome creatures roar to life. Faster, stronger and fiercer than ever, these dinosaurs are based on the most recent and scientifically accurate research ever assembled. Faithfully recreated, these dinosaurs move, look and sound like you’ve gone back in time. You’ll meet the never-before-seen Zuniceratops, a uniquely North American creature that was first of its kind to have horns over its eyes. You’ll also visit all your favorites including the T-Rex, Triceratops, Stegosaurus and the ferocious Raptor, with a startling new appearance that’ ll surprise you. You won’t see more authentic and terrifying dinosaurs anywhere...except buried in your own backyard.

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Before the Dinosaurs: Walking With Monsters (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)Nobody should confuse this with a course of paleontology. Nobody should even confuse this with a broad survey of the subject. Instead, it is a magnificent flight of imagination based upon some real science but which does not let the science take precedence over the wonder. It is wonderful
This is a series of three programs. Each deals with prehistoric life before the advent of the dinosaurs.
In the first program, we are treated to one theory of the formation of our planet and introduced to the Cambrian seas. There are not dinosaurs here. Fish barely even exist. That does not stop the cycle of predation in a world of gigantic marine scorpions and the proto-fish prey. We see the colonization of the land by the first plants and encounter the first amphibians, learning a little bit about the evolutionary pressures that drove their emergence. The program ends with the first true reptiles and the hard shelled egg.
The second episode takes place more on land. Gigantic arthropods contest with gigantic amphibians and the odd reptile here and there. We see the first strains of reptile that will eventually give rise to the mammals. Life is still a contest of the predator and the prey.
The third episode advances the story through the lives of some early, pre-dinosaur reptiles. The motif of eat and be eaten is still the rule of the day. The episode ends with the apprearance of true dinosaurs, where the series first began.
There is a lot of speculation in this work. Some of it is well reasoned and logical. Some of it is much less so. Only a few species are looked at with any degree of detail. The great Devonian age of the fishes is bypassed in a short sentence. That does not stop the wonder of it all. It is fascinating seeing the fossils come to life even with the speculations.
The DVD also includes a "making of" segment which covers all three of the series. It too is worth watching.
This will never replace real coursework and has all of the depth of the old, "Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom" but neither was ever intended to teach zoology. Both were meant to kindle a sense of wonder. Both accomplish that end.


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BEFORE THE DINOSAURS:WALKING WITH MON - DVD Movie

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The Complete Walking with... Collection (2000) Review

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(More customer reviews)"The Complete Walking with... Collection", is a compilation of "Walking with Dinosaurs", "Allosaurus - A Walking with Dinosaurs Special", and "Walking with Prehistoric Beasts". All the discs in this fold-out cardboard case are exactly the same as the original individual DVD releases.
No one has gone into much detail about the DVD itself, so I'll do so here..."Walking with Dinosaurs"
Walking with Dinosaurs Program Description:
The Journey begins 220 million years ago with a trip back in time to the reign of the dinosaurs!
Using the latest scientific findings, Walking with Dinosaurs examines the 155-million-year history of these great creatures, from the aggressive Coelophysis, the first animal to hunt in a pack, to Tyrannosaurus Rex, the most terrifying carnivore on the planet. Feel the ground tremble as dueling Triceratops (that's a mistake, they're actually called Torosaurus in the program) lock horns, and soar with Ornithocheirus, who could travel over 300 miles on a single flap of his powerful wings.
Program Titles:
1. NEW BLOOD
2. TIME OF THE TITANS
3. CRUEL SEA
4. GIANT OF THE SKIES
5. SPIRITS OF THE ICE FOREST
6. DEATH OF A DYNASTY
Extras:
- 29 minutes of behind-the-scenes picture-in-picture footage
- 50 minute "making of" documentary
- Promotional trailersThis is an excellent program, and definitely my personal favorite of the three. Everything is incredibly realistic, to the CGI models, animatronics, locations, and even the story-lines. I must have watched it at least 10 times by now. (and I'm only talking about this DVD collection; I must have watched this series 50 times on our VHS recording)
The features are very good, and filled with plenty of jokes with the dinosaurs not doing what they're supposed to and the like. It's really neat to see them on location filming nothing or creating the animatronics and what-not. All the other features are excellent too."Allosaurus - A Walking with Dinosaurs Special"
Allosaurus - A Walking with Dinosaurs Special and Big Al Uncovered Program Descriptions:
In 1991, the most complete allosaurus skeleton ever found was discovered in Wyoming and fondly nicknamed "Big Al". Through careful excavation and restoration, scientists have pieced together a detailed biography of this one dinosaur. Using the same computer graphics and animatronics techniques that amazed viewers all over the world in "Walking with Dinosaurs", this program vividly recreates the 15 years from Al's birth to his untimely demise.
In Big Al Uncovered, Al haunts modern-day museums and dig sites as scientists explain how they picked up clues and traced the evidence of one dinosaur's life story.
Extras:
- Picture-in-picture sequence with over 40 storyboards
- Photo gallery
- CD-ROM sampler of screensavers, video clips, wallpaper and moreJust as good as "Walking with Dinosaurs" and very interesting to see more of Allosaurus from the second program from "Dinosaurs".
Big Al Uncovered was also very interesting and, again quite amusing. The rest of the features were also very good. "Walking with Prehistoric Beasts"
Walking with Prehistoric Beasts Program Description:
When the dinosaurs disappeared from the Earth, they did not leave an empty planet behind them. A succession of extraordinary creatures came and went over the following millennia. The award-winning team behind "Walking with Dinosaurs" and "Allosaurus" invites you to take a trip to this amazing new world. Here, flightless birds as tall as a man kill with a single snap of their powerful beaks, early ancestors of man struggle for power and territory as they try to defend themselves from the famous saber-toothed tiger. And even the saber-tooth cannot take on the Glyptodon - the massive two-ton armadillo that is the most heavily armored mammal ever.
It's an extraordinary trip through history and evolution that begins with the end of the dinosaurs and ends with the rise of even more mysterious creatures... the first humans.
Program Titles:
1. NEW DAWN
2. WHALE KILLER
3. LAND OF GIANTS
4. NEXT OF KIN
5. SABRE TOOTH
6. MAMMOTH JOURNEY
Extras:
- Two 50 minute behind-the-scenes featurettes
- Interviews with the creators
- Fact files
- Photo gallery
- StoryboardsI felt, although this was almost as good as the first two, it was a little off its mark. Some camera shots could not really be filmed realistically, (like a Basilosaurus engulfing the camera with its mouth, effectively eating the cameraman) which took a little away from the realism, but this didn't happen very often. And, I personally could have lived without the slow-motion scenes. I also thought they focused a little too much on the hunting aspect, but again they didn't overdo it. Still a great program, and really neat to see some prehistoric mammals which are often overlooked.
The features are also quite good, and the interviews with the creators were very interesting.The video transfer for all three are perfect as well as the sound, and all the features are very interesting and pretty funny too.
All in all, this collection is top-notch and quality entertainment, highly recommended!

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Finally all three programs from the Emmy Award- winning Walking With...series -- Walking with Dinosaurs, Allosaurus: A Walking with Dinosaurs Specialand Walking with Prehistoric Beasts-- are available for the first time as a collector's set on DVD and VHS. The epic begins with a journey back 65 million years ago to a virtual lost world which has been recreated with spectacular digital effects and animatronics. The series continues as we follow the life and death struggles of 'Big Al,' the most complete allosaurus skeleton ever found. And finally, we explore our planet after the reign of the dinosaur and the succession of extraordinary creatures that came and went over the following millennia. The end of the dinosaur was only the beginning!

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Prehistoric Park (2006) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a fabulous, entertaining little series. My sons LOVE them- its kind of Walking With Dinosaurs meets the Crocodile Hunter. Nigel is wonderful, the dinosaurs are well-done, and the pace keeps right on movin'. Put this with Chased By Dinosaurs, and you have a ton of fun. I hope he does more seasons of this! We want to know what happens next, and what animals Nigel will bring back next, at Prehistoric Park!

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Join zoologist and wildlife expert Nigel Marven as he travels back in time to capture the most amazing creatures ever to exist. Step into the hostile climates of the Cretaceous, Pleistocene and Paleozoic time periods, learn what killed these incredible creatures as Marven brings them back to the most incredible zoo never to exist, Prehistoric Park.

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