Planet Dinosaur

Have always been fascinated by dinosaurs, whether reading about them or seeing documentaries and films on them. Love documentaries, especially those of the national treasure that is David Attenborough, and admire to love a lot of the late John Hurt's filmography. So my expectations for 'Planet Dinosaur' were quite big and that's an understatement.

Expectations that were actually mostly lived up to, a good thing for me having seen my fair share of wastes of potential recently. 'Planet Dinosaur' is not one of the best documentaries personally seen (far from it), and there are better ones on the subject of dinosaurs. It is also not as ground-breaking as 'Walking with Dinosaurs', as far as dinosaur documentaries go, still a big achievement to this day. Standing on its own without comparing it to anything, 'Planet Dinosaur' was very interesting and mostly very well done.

'Planet Dinosaur' isn't perfect. The dinosaur effects are stiff, hasty-looking and lack finesse too often, though there are some grand ones. At times, it gets a bit repetitive, especially in the last two episodes agreed.

It sometimes is on the biased side, rather than a multi-dimensional picture of the dinosaurs they can be described in a certain way and viewpoint and one is not offered another.

However, when it comes to how it's written, 'Planet Dinosaur' does just as good a job entertaining and teaching, it's all very sincerely done and it never feels like a sermon. There are things here that are common sense and knowledge but one is taught a huge deal as well.

John Hurt's (RIP) narration delivery is similarly spot-on, very sensitively delivered and very dignified in a distinctively John Hurt way. Bias aside, the narration is comprehensive and sincere, with a good balance of things known to me and things new to me (really like it when documentaries do that), as well as compelling.

Visually, 'Planet Dinosaur' may lack the awe-inspiring, almost cinematic quality one anticipates. With that being said, it is beautifully shot, shot in a fluid and non-static way. The sceneries and landscapes can be beautiful but also they can be at other times they can be rendered a bit flatly, would have been better with the real settings.

Every episode is appropriately scored, never intrusive or too low-key. There is fun, tension and pathos throughout and the dinosaurs, prey and predator, are like characters that one cares for in the same way they do a human. The fossil evidence, very well researched and grounded rather than speculative, and the science, which in no way sounds like gibberish or like it was made up as they went along (a lot of homework was done in this regard) are also notable assets.

Overall, very good though with flaws that stop it from being great. 8/10 Bethany Cox

The best thing about Planet Dinosaur is not the CGI, the narration or the story (not that there is much of the latter). No, the best thing about the show is that it describes the fossil evidence for almost everything it, er, shows. From a bone broken by a stegosaur to a bed of eggs, when you see it on screen, you can be sure it's backed up by science and will be explained soon after, if it hasn't already been, with few exceptions.

The rest of the show leaves something to be desired. Yes, the animals are quite detailed. However, the animation is of somewhat poor quality, despite the fact that a lot of effort has clearly been put into it. In particular, there is no sense of weight to the dinosaurs: when two carnivores collide, it feels as if two small stones banged into each other, rather than two towering animals intent on hurting one another. Given that every episode features multiple struggles between predator and prey or predator and predator, this is a problem. At many points they feel disconnected from even the ground itself. In addition to the lack of weight, their movements in general are either too jerky or too smooth, almost never at the right point in the spectrum.

Planet Dinosaur repeats things a lot, especially in the last two episodes, where I think most of the salient facts were covered thrice over. The writing, too, is not quite up to scratch. The constant search for synonyms for 'monster' is a major offender. In many cases, the gravity of the narration seems very forced: it just doesn't gel with the image.

This series is overall a major step in the right direction. Introducing the general public-myself included-to the discoveries that we base our knowledge of dinosaurs upon in such an interesting fashion is to be commended. I just expected more, and I hope we will get it in the future.

I've just finished watching the first episode of "Planet Dinosaur" with my 5 year old (a special late treat). He's a big fan of "Walking with Dinosaurs" and despite umpteen repeated viewings, WE still enjoy it (WWD). I wondered what we'd make of the new offering.

We loved it! The BBC have obviously decided that "Smartening Up" is the way to go. It's informative, entertaining, surprising and... a big problem. My boy is full of a million questions (as am I) and won't go to sleep. It's been a very long time since I've thought "Oooh, I can't wait for the next one"

A rebuttal for those of a similar sniffiness: I noticed a swift response to this broadcast 'elsewhere' saying that the CGI wasn't up to much. All I can say to that simpleton is "If you require flawless reality, turn off your telly"

I can't believe people bother so much about the CGI of a documentary. If the CGI detail matters so much then you're missing the point of a documentary. If you're more concerned with CGI then go watch Avatar.

I feel the best way to describe this documentary is to think of Walking with Dinosaurs where they cut in at points to explain how they know/have come to believe what they just stated/showed. For instance they show Spinosaurus preying on large swordfish like animals. They freeze the animation to discuss and show fossil remains and other findings as to how they know Spinosaurus indeed hunted these animals. It all makes for a documentary where you feel you're not being shoveled theory as fact...or straight up BS as fact, both of which are common place in documentaries these days. This style of documentary is a breathe of fresh air in that respect. My only criticism is each episode is only half an hour in length, but that's not enough to mark it down as it still displays more fact than most documentaries where the episodes go for the usual hour. Hopefully they plan on making a second series.

I've heard many people complain about this show's use of cold and drab imagery and brutal sequences.

Prehistoric life was not sunshine and rainbows, with these enormous animals capable of crushing a car within their jaws being portrayed as just that.

There are moments of general life and motherhood, but hunting, death, disease, famine and bleak existence does fully embody what these magnificent animals had to go through. If you complain about the cgi, whilst in the same sentence say that WWD has better cgi, then you have no idea about what cgi needs to look like.

The only complaint I have about the show is that it was only 6 episodes long.