Walking with Beasts

Lacking cable, I was unable to see "Walking with Prehistoric Beasts" when it premiered last December on the Discovery Channel. Therefore, I had to wait impatiently until February 2002 to purchase the DVD set. My anxious wait was not in vain. "Prehistoric Beasts" is awe-inspiring, provocative, informative, and ambitious, very nearly the equal of its precedessor "Walking with Dinosaurs". The scientific knowledge, care, production, and preparation the BBC crew expended on this program was well invested and deeply appreciated, at least by this paleontology buff. I've watched the "episode" DVD and "making of" DVD at least three times already. I will never get tired of it.

Why a shade below "Dinosaurs"? Well, dinosaurs have a unique marquee appeal all their own - they are truly exotic, mysterious, and alien. While the creatures featured in "Beasts" were all special and impressive - from the forest ants and hopping Leptictidium to the titanic Indricotherium - they're still just a tad too familiar. Nonetheless, I enjoyed all six episodes for their professionalism, information, and naturalism (except for some self-conscious camera work, as for example when the indricothere calf knocks over a camera and a mammoth sprays mud on another one - which I actually found amusing). The CGI and animatronic work was phenomenal for the most part, especially in the mammoth sequences - they seemed just like living hairy elephants. Only some of the renditions - like the Smilodon kittens and a couple of the Australopithecines- seemed just a tad artificial. But that is definitely a minor quibble. Also, digitizing out the mating Australopithecines was a bit distracting. As with the mating stegosaurs in "When Dinosaurs Roamed America", they should have just cut away before the deed was consummated.

My favorite episodes were the "indricothere" and "woolly mammoth" ones, because I am a sucker for giant mammals (megafauna). It's a shame these creatures aren't still with us. Some, like the megatherium, doedicurus, and mammoth, were alive only a few thousand years ago!

To those who did not enjoy the "Walking.." series because it is based on speculation and conjecture, I say, suspend your disbelief and savor the daring and original attempts to re-create a lost world based on the most up-to-date information. It is so well-rendered that if it didn't actually occur that way eons ago, it should have!

Again, kudos to the BBC for both "Walking.." series and their accompanying books (which I also own). I recommend they continue this paleontological quest; they are many more prehistoric beasts to feature!

Out of 10, I would rate "Walking with Prehistoric Beasts" a 9.5!

Tim Haines made a real misstep in this sequel to Walking With Dinosaurs, in that he made the doc too much of a story, and not enough of a documentary. The smilodon segment, especially, seemed contrived, with the two "brothers" and a lone warrior smilodon named "Half-Tooth." They also take too many great pains to have the animals reacting to the camera.

On the other hand, the evolution of man is nicely done - and I strong recommend the Discovery Channel documentary Neanderthal as a companion piece.

Speaking of Discovery, once again they make a hash of the documentary, editing out the rougher scenes, and intercutting the Making Of... into it as well. Stockard Channing sounds robotic as the narrator as well.

I strongly suggest getting the DVD, which retains all the BBC UK stuff intact.

This series is truly awe-inspiring, besides being entertaining and educational to boot. The CGI graphics are so good that the creatures look completely real. And to the nay-sayer below who complains that `no human ever saw these creatures … blah blah … how do we know … blah blah … its like saying Thomas The Tank Engine is the real story of the British railway … blah blah' I say this: First if all, palaeontologists can tell a whole lot from fossils – everything from an animal's size and gait, right down to what it ate. Secondly, some of these animals (mammoths, sabre-tooth cats, woolly rhinos, giant elks) WERE seen by human eyes, and indeed cave paintings have proved to be another valuable source of information about these creatures. And thirdly, some of these creatures are so closely related to modern animals that it is possible to draw fairly sensible conclusions about what their social habits must have been like just by observing their modern relatives. Of course there's inevitably going to be an element of conjecture and speculation in a production like this, but at least it is educated, sensible and logical conjecture, and it's probably not far off the truth in most cases. My minor quibbles are pretty much the same as those already aired by other reviewers: I found it incredibly naff giving the sabre-tooth cats names - `Half Tooth' and `The Brothers'. Why not just call them Brian, Clive and Trevor instead? That would have been no more or no less silly. And some fascinating and truly bizarre prehistoric animals were completely overlooked or mentioned just briefly (the ancient horses being one example). But these are minor quibbles about an otherwise superb effort by the BBC. It gets 9 out of 10 from me.

Even has some humans in it, but none resembling Raquel Welch, nor the phony language.

It's a live-action documentary in six parts, ranging from the meteor that extirpated the dinosaurs up to the Ice Ages. The Cenozoic Era, largely overlooked, but most important in shaping today's fauna (including us!)--much more relevant than The Big Show that was the dinosaur period.

The most interesting sequences are on the giant animals of South America, the development of whales, and the battles for control of land between the survivors of the apocalypse at the end of the Cretaceous period (parts 5, 2, and 1, if I remember correctly).

This was produced by the BBC, following its big success with Walking with Dinosaurs. It's got the same mix of imagined local filmed drama, a la Wild Kingdom, with some basic paleontological exposition. The live action stuff is mostly realistic and there seems to have been considerable research on the backdrop. Each part is based on the fossil records of a particular location. I doubt this sequel was such a big hit, but for the reasons I've suggested above (and the general unfamiliarity of what you'll see), probably more valuable and educational.

In terms of the age of our planet and in relation to 'Walking with Dinosaurs' set in Earth's distant past, 'Walking With Prehistoric Beasts' happened only last week so to speak. The series starts off with one of the first Mammals then finishing with Humans and the Giant Mammoths, with carnivorous Wolf like animals who's nearest modern day relative are Sheep! this is one big freak show from start to finish.

'Walking With Prehistoric Beasts' tells the story of how Mammals have come to dominate this planet we call home, with each part a different story about an individual, family or group and how they survive and cope in the harsh new Post-Dino world

If you enjoyed 'Walking with Dinosaurs' (it's predecessor) you're love this, the narration, models, FX & CGI have all improved greatly, with some of the `Beasts' in parts even interacting with the camera that is suppose to be filming them.

Great viewing for young and old