A Walking with Dinosaurs Special

I applaud the producers' efforts in this production. I'm a fan of the whole "walking with..." series in general -- I own nearly all of them on DVD! Yes, I did buy this because it was a spin-off and was therefore skeptical at first. After all, sequels are rarely good and certainly not the same standard as the other productions in the series. Like all those who have reviewed this on Amazon I was quite surprised...

Unlike the earlier productions, this show features Nigel Marvin. Basically he goes back in time and visits...well the animals of his or the producers' choosing....in other words, the more interesting animals! In the first show, we get Argentinasaurus and Giganotasaurus, not to mention Sarcosuchus. The second features Tarbosaurus and Therizinsaurus, and the third part presents a series of seven "sea monsters" of prehistory. All this of course is hardly in keeping with WWD or WWB, both of which uses detailed narratives and delves deeper into each subject. Instead of a prehistoric wildlife show, we get a prehistoric safari!

At first, this might sound contrived and unrealistic, but you come to realize that the idea was to truly recreate the "walking with dinosaurs" experience. A lot of us are fascinated by prehistoric life and the real way to appreciate the sheer scale and magnificence of these animals is to walk with them, literally! This was the appeal of Jurassic Park, both the idea and the film; but movies naturally sacrifice detail or accuracy for drama and action. For example, we actually get to see the correct 3ft Velociraptor and the Protoceratops in this! Chased by Dinosaurs is about as accurate as the series (accuracy typical of BBC documentaries), yet presents man and dinosaur interacting on screen. What's more, the CGI and SFX are of very good standard, comparable to all other such productions.

My interest in this series was the cast...heh...Nigel was a great actor ;-) but I really meant the animals! Argentinasaurus and Giganotasaurus were the two giant dinosaurs discovered not long ago, still holding the titles of biggest plant-eater and meat-eater respectively. I didn't really know about Therizinsaurus, but I assumed it was not unlike Deinocheirus (terrible hand) which has long been the anomaly of paleontology. Sarcosuchus was the "supercroc", the brief appearance of which was one of the best parts of the show. Others like Megalodon, Dunkleosteus, Leedsichthys and Archelon are other highlights, the greats and bigs, familiar to casual readers and followers of paleontology, not to mention shark and turtle lovers....

One can imagine Hollywood producing big budget movies featuring prehistoric animals in the future, utilizing either the time-travel or living fossil story lines -- a number of them already exist. However, my preference for this subject has always been with the scientific documentaries. Fortunately, as the technology becomes cheaper and available we will no longer have to rely on movies for realistic recreations of the prehistoric world….

The sixth entry in the 'Walking with', series and in some ways it is the best. Zoologist Nigel Marvin goes crocodile hunter in three different programs of prehistoric scale. From following the migration of the South American giant Argentinasaurus (the largest known dinosaur), to humping miles of Mongolian desert in search of the mysterious 30" clawed Therizionsaurus. Then, onto diving in the seven deadliest prehistoric seas, with creatures ranging from the 3 meter fish-eating reptile Nothosaurus, to the 15 meter, whale-eating shark Megalodon. Whoever says that man is the greatest species on the planet, has a lot to learn, perhaps this will clue you in. Fun, freaky and highly educational, this is something anyone can enjoy.

This is a terrific show! - a mix of natural history, sci-fi and drama. Nigel has bags of charisma and really helps the show to both educate and entertain, all at the same time.

Overall it's original, exciting and a testimony to all involved (hence the well deserved Emmy). I hope that the team assembles for a modern version!

SPOILERS

Tim Haines and Jasper James, creators of Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with Beasts team up yet again to deliver more prehistoric action. Up until now, all "Walking with" programmes were shot with no people except the narrator. But now a there's a presenter in there interacting with and reacting to the dinosaurs. In these three adventures, animal-enthusiast Nigel Marven travels back to several different points in prehistory. In "The Giant Claw" Nigel visits Late Cretacous Mongolia to find a therizinosaurus, a dinosaur with a claw over two-feet long! In "Land of Giants", he visits South America in the Early Cretacous to watch the biggest meat-eating dinosaur bring down the biggest plant-eating dinosaur! And in the "Sea Monsters" trilogy, Nigel visits seven prehistoric seas, each one deadlier than the last. Along the way he has a lot of memorable - and terrifying! - experiences: running through a nesting-site, waving a red flag like a matador; flying with a flock of pteranodons or riding on the back of a giant archelon turtle. He also meets a collection of nasty and bizarre creatures such as scorpions the size of dogs, dinosaurs with feathers, giganotosaurs ( predatory dinosaurs larger than T-rex ) and megalodon a shark that makes the modern great-white look like a goldfish! The creators put a lot of hard work into this, but the person who worked the hardest was Nigel. He needed to have us believe that he was actually there among dinosaurs. He can certainly put on a frightened face when someone else looks upon him as lunch and a convincing grin when he sees something astounding. He has been up close in personal with nature today so he certainly knows what he's doing. The BBC has come a long way since Walking with Dinosaurs and I hope a lot of people know and appreciate that.

After three ground-breaking programmes that utterly redefined television documentary making, along came this mess of a show. Clearly the objective was to build upon the populist daring of the likes of the late Steve Irwin. Only one problem though: Irwin had charisma, this guy has none. And I mean none. Even the mosquitoes steal some scenes.

But, I hear you saying, haven't the dinosaurs got even better? Sadly no. If anything they're actually reduced to a walk on role in long shot or "chasing" the host. I estimate 70% of screen time has Nigel mumbling something either uninteresting or unfunny or warning us about what could happen when the dinosaurs do turn up. Trying to "scare" us in other words. He doesn't need to try. This show IS scary, but for the wrong reasons. It's contrived and boring and an embarrassment to all involved. Don't even bother trying YOUTUBE. Save your money and download limit.