Nel mondo dei dinosauri

We bought the DVD of "Walking with Dinosaurs" and have been nearly ecstatic over the things that are done so very well on it.

Many DVDs today offer the bare minimum ... the feature itself, and maybe one other language (which doesn't help the viewer at all, but makes it easier for the company to see the DVD in multiple markets).

Not so in the case of WWD. There are so many wonderful extras and well-thought-out vignettes that watching even the *navigation menu* is interesting. The intros to each chapter in "The Making Of" DVD are laugh-out-loud funny. The quality of the sound and video is terrific. And of course the story and content ... what more could a dinosaur lover ask for?

I did watch most of the version broadcast on TDC (narrated by Avery Brooks) then watched about half of the DVD (narrated by Kenneth Branaugh). As near as I can tell, the broadcast version slipped in a number of mostly American slang terms in the narration (i.e. in a section about T. Rex mating, Branugh says "the female is tiring of the male's attention" and Brooks says, "The honeymoon is over")and cut out some of the closer-in puppet work. I prefer the Branugh version simply because it is more complete.

Overall, a great value and wonderful production. many kudos to the BBC and the crew that made this gem.

This documentary is absolutely fantastic. I was really astonished that you can make with so less money such amazing fx. Especially the scenes of the birth of the Diplodocus babies or the sad story of the big flying dinosaur were wonderful and breathtaking. Well the only flaw was: It was to short!!

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!

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.

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.