Dinosaurier - Im Reich der Giganten

Great "documentary" of how scientist's believed dinosaurs behaved, captured with some of the most spectacular CGI since "Jurassic Park". Done completely seriously, like a prehistoric episode of "Nation Geographic". Grabs your attention from the first frame and never lets go. My favorite part was when the Diplodocus fights off the Allosauros.

10 stars. This is what science is all about.

If you haven't seen this yet, you really should, on DVD. I can't believe how much I enjoyed it! It is amazingly realistic and believable. True, much of it is speculated, and I would have liked to have known more about what was speculative and what were proven facts (there aren't many of them), but it handles everything quite well with a "Cruel Mother Nature" theme. It will remind you of the nature programs that you've seen on Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel, only the animals here are Dinosaurs. They act natural; they eat, kill, mate, play, and fight for survival. You will actually find yourself rooting for some of them and against others.

For the most part, the effects are excellent. At times they will look a little too much like CGI's, but then you will see them in a different angle that makes them look more realistic. In some cases, you will actually be convinced that you've seen a dinosaur. My favorites were the Coelophysis, the raptors, the diplodocus, the iguanadons, the allosaurus and the arctic bipeds. I was most disappointed with the T-Rex, however, which looked a little too computer generated at times.

In any case, you should definitely see this production. It is educational, well made, and very entertaining. For what it is, its an A!

This BBC produced series (6 Hrs worth) won many emmy awards and is an absolute must for any dinosaur aficionado. The series is approached as if it were a modern day nature film. The dinosaur effects put most movies to shame. I cannot recommend it enough.

I can't recall how often I watched this as a child. On rewatch last year (over a decade later) I still remembered about 90 percent of it - even the narration!

Childhood memories aside, this "documentary" still looks amazing thanks to the practical effects and models in closer shots.

You can't watch this documentary as aired on the Discovery channel (narrated wonderfully, though, by Avery Brooks). Apparently, they thought us American audiences couldn't handle, say, the cynodonts devouring their own young, or a mother T-rex regurgitating freshly killed meat for its young. How presumptive of Discovery.

On the other hand, the documentary is flawlessly done. You really get the impression of "being there", and you don't just get dinosaurs. You get the cynodontia (mammal-like reptiles), the dung beetles, the postosuchus, the terrifying liplurodon (which makes the T-rex look like an iguana by comparison), the sneaking didelphodon, and early birds.

The UK 6 episode version puts everything into perspective. Ending with a shot of the African jungle, and now we can see how similiar the world then was to the world today.

There are no iguanadons or sauropods in herds, but elephants and zebras. There are no tyrannosaurs or utahraptors, but lions and tigers.

Notably, the documentary wisely stays aware from the question of, say, whether the sauropods were warm- or coldblooded, or the new concept of gigantotherms (the sheer size of the body creates its own heat).

Congratulation, BBC.