Thoughts on dinosaur revolution

[Goldensamuel]

So as many of you may know dinosaur revolution was a TV series that got somewhat bad reviews because the show was ''cutesy'' i liked dino revolution because it wasn't your normal documentary it gave the dinosaurs personality, and that's why i liked it. But whats your opinion? i would love to know! 

[tyrantqueen]

I loved it, mostly for the designs and stories. I have it on DVD and it's one of my favourite documentaries, next to WWD.

The Tyrannosaurus designs (Jack, Stumpy and Tinkerbelle) are the best ones I've ever seen, in my opinion. The death mask is badass. I love how colourful the dinosaurs were, like the Cryolophosaurus, Eoraptor, Torvosaurus to name a few.

I would have loved to seen a second season There would have been so much story telling potential.

Noone can deny this is a gorgeous design



Some of the liberties they took with the storytelling were a little silly, yes. But there will always be speculation involved, unless we figure out how to invent a time machine.

[Goldensamuel]

I loved it, mostly for the designs and stories. I have it on DVD and it's one of my favourite documentaries, next to WWD.

The Tyrannosaurus designs (Jack, Stumpy and Tinkerbelle) are the best ones I've ever seen, in my opinion. The death mask is badass. I love how colourful the dinosaurs were, like the Cryolophosaurus, Eoraptor, Torvosaurus to name a few.

I would have loved to seen a second season There would have been so much story telling potential.

Agreed, i loved the tyrannosaurus design as well. and the fight between stumpy and jack was pretty awesome! 

[scallenger]

I am a big fan of this show, which can be displayed on a lot of posts I made on the other thread on this show. In the end I prefer the "Dinotasia" version, since it is a bit closer to it's original vision, despite more cuts to the stories (with only one unforgivable cut: shortening the Allosaur story... however, this gets basically redeemed on the DVD/BLU-RAY since the full story is included as a bonus feature). It's nice to have the televised mini-series, too, for the additional sequences and the paleontologist "talking heads" to hear the science behind some the stories. But to me that version is just far too disjointed and hard to watch. I can never "get lost" in it, like I can in Walking With Dinosaurs (still the best dinosaur documentary ever, despite being dated now and taking liberties). All the stories were interrupted to the point where I couldn't care about what was happening, and even on disc, it just feels like I'm watching something that endlessly cuts to commercial breaks.

And, I'm sorry, but I'd take the kookiness of the wonderful Werner Herzog any day over the painfully optimistic-sounding tone of the narrator on the televised version. People criticize Herzog's accent and the words he says not adding any scientific value (and being sometimes a bit colorful), but people forget this wasnt meant to really be a science documentary. It's a series of stories, and it's fitting for the narration that ties them together to be very story-teller like as well. The narrator on the televised version felt more like someone who just liked to toss around science facts that would get discussed by the talking heads later on anyway, or state the obvious of what is happening on screen... the latter being especially annoying to hear in any documentary.

Besides, the complete Allosaur story alone is a sort of mini-masterpiece of cinematic dinosaur storytelling without words. Being able to watch it apart from the rest of the film is almost a reward in itself if you just want to show someone the best sequence. Then if they are curious show them the rest. I do admit that the only thing I truly don't like on the Dinotasia version is the opening at the museum, since it is clear by the quality of the CGI that it was from a production with an even smaller budget.

The music in both versions though are by the same composer, Mark Leggett, and it's wonderful stuff! Although I do wish that theme from the televised version appeared in Dinotasia, too. It kicked ass!

[tyrantqueen]

And, I'm sorry, but I'd take the kookiness of the wonderful Werner Herzog any day over the painfully optimistic-sounding tone of the narrator on the televised version. People criticize Herzog's accent and the words he says not adding any scientific value (and being sometimes a bit colorful), but people forget this wasnt meant to really be a science documentary. It's a series of stories, and it's fitting for the narration that ties them together to be very story-teller like as well. The narrator on the televised version felt more like someone who just liked to toss around science facts that would get discussed by the talking heads later on anyway, or state the obvious of what is happening on screen... the latter being especially annoying to hear in any documentary.

The American narrator for Dinosaur Revolution was horrible to listen to, but then again he was given a pretty dumb script to work with. I'll never forget such gems as....

"But, the fight isn't over....until it's over"

*yuck*

[scallenger]

LOL oh god, yes.

My favorite was:

"Lesson learned. Red means 'stop'."

I wanted to punch the writers right there.

[Gwangi]

Aside from the cut stories I also preferred  "Dinotasia" over "Dinosaur Revolution". The narration in DR was just too much and I will admit, I found some of the stories too Disney-like. That said the designs for the animals were wonderful and I totally agree with TQ that the Tyrannosaurs were the best I've ever seen recreated for a documentary or movie.

[Balaur]

I prefered Dinotasia over Dinosaur Revolution too, especialy with the Allosaurus story. The lack of narration just made me feel like I was actually with the dinosaurs, creating the best 31 minutes of all time (second of course behind Walking with Dinosaurs). The designs in yhe show wherw also tje best I've ever seen, the diversity of colour schemes on the dinosaurs was fantastic. By far I habe to agree wtih tyrantqueen and Gwangi, those Tyrannosaurus are the best designs I know of, which is tied with the iridescent blue Gorgosaurus in the upcoming Walking with Dinosaurs movie as the best series/movie tyrannosaur of all time. But the skull design on the Tyrannosaurus is just epic! I don't care that it was scaley it's just too awesome!

[SBell]

I like the imagery. However, I cannot ever watch Dinotasia ever again (two evers--I really mean it).

Werner Herzog's intro narrations may have been the worst thing ever done to a dino documentary.

Again, though, the images and models were very nice.

[Hermes888]

I like the imagery. However, I cannot ever watch Dinotasia ever again (two evers--I really mean it).

Werner Herzog's intro narrations may have been the worst thing ever done to a dino documentary.

Again, though, the images and models were very nice.

I completely agree. Werner Herzog destroyed any chance of me taking the film seriously, and there's a high chance I'll never watch it again. I can honestly say I hate his narration, it went off on completely meaningless tangents that could have been played on top of any other one of his documentaries. Much like how I felt about the program Cave of Forgotten Dreams, the imagery was great, but I was seriously thinking about putting the program on mute.

What I really want is all of the animation Dinosaur Revolution played out, but then they would cut out the narrator completely. Just the pure dinosaur footage with no one talking over it.

[scallenger]

While I can't say the same for Cave Of Forgotten Dreams (which I actually really liked), I can say that Dinotasia is NOT a documentary. And that's coming right from the mouths of it's creators. It's a series of vignettes, if you will. A series of stories. In my opinion, Herzog's dialogue, although I admit can be a bit cheesy at times, fits just fine. I think people keep getting confused as to what this was really supposed to be.

[SBell]

I like the imagery. However, I cannot ever watch Dinotasia ever again (two evers--I really mean it).

Werner Herzog's intro narrations may have been the worst thing ever done to a dino documentary.

Again, though, the images and models were very nice.

I completely agree. Werner Herzog destroyed any chance of me taking the film seriously, and there's a high chance I'll never watch it again. I can honestly say I hate his narration, it went off on completely meaningless tangents that could have been played on top of any other one of his documentaries. Much like how I felt about the program Cave of Forgotten Dreams, the imagery was great, but I was seriously thinking about putting the program on mute.

What I really want is all of the animation Dinosaur Revolution played out, but then they would cut out the narrator completely. Just the pure dinosaur footage with no one talking over it.

The one thing the narrator is necessary for--telling the viewer what the different dinosaurs are, and when and where they are.

[Hermes888]

I like the imagery. However, I cannot ever watch Dinotasia ever again (two evers--I really mean it).

Werner Herzog's intro narrations may have been the worst thing ever done to a dino documentary.

Again, though, the images and models were very nice.

I completely agree. Werner Herzog destroyed any chance of me taking the film seriously, and there's a high chance I'll never watch it again. I can honestly say I hate his narration, it went off on completely meaningless tangents that could have been played on top of any other one of his documentaries. Much like how I felt about the program Cave of Forgotten Dreams, the imagery was great, but I was seriously thinking about putting the program on mute.

What I really want is all of the animation Dinosaur Revolution played out, but then they would cut out the narrator completely. Just the pure dinosaur footage with no one talking over it.

The one thing the narrator is necessary for--telling the viewer what the different dinosaurs are, and when and where they are.

Herzog doesn't even do that, I can't think of a single time he actually identifies anything.

Even if scallenger is right, and it's NOT supposed to be a documentary, it would have been better without narration at all. They can tell a story through imagery quite well, and his commentary adds nothing. Dinotasia would have been a lot better without him.

[SBell]

I like the imagery. However, I cannot ever watch Dinotasia ever again (two evers--I really mean it).

Werner Herzog's intro narrations may have been the worst thing ever done to a dino documentary.

Again, though, the images and models were very nice.

I completely agree. Werner Herzog destroyed any chance of me taking the film seriously, and there's a high chance I'll never watch it again. I can honestly say I hate his narration, it went off on completely meaningless tangents that could have been played on top of any other one of his documentaries. Much like how I felt about the program Cave of Forgotten Dreams, the imagery was great, but I was seriously thinking about putting the program on mute.

What I really want is all of the animation Dinosaur Revolution played out, but then they would cut out the narrator completely. Just the pure dinosaur footage with no one talking over it.

The one thing the narrator is necessary for--telling the viewer what the different dinosaurs are, and when and where they are.

Herzog doesn't even do that, I can't think of a single time he actually identifies anything.

Even if scallenger is right, and it's NOT supposed to be a documentary, it would have been better without narration at all. They can tell a story through imagery quite well, and his commentary adds nothing. Dinotasia would have been a lot better without him.

Agreed. I am thinking that subtitles would work just as well.

And I should mention that it's not just me--my 9-year old and 5-year old both can't stand the film either. They love the DR version, and overall love documentaries, in particular the BBC ones. But halfway through Dinotasia, my son was asking why it made no sense and they didn't tell us anything useful.

[Hermes888]

Herzog doesn't even do that, I can't think of a single time he actually identifies anything.

Even if scallenger is right, and it's NOT supposed to be a documentary, it would have been better without narration at all. They can tell a story through imagery quite well, and his commentary adds nothing. Dinotasia would have been a lot better without him.

Agreed. I am thinking that subtitles would work just as well.

And I should mention that it's not just me--my 9-year old and 5-year old both can't stand the film either. They love the DR version, and overall love documentaries, in particular the BBC ones. But halfway through Dinotasia, my son was asking why it made no sense and they didn't tell us anything useful.

That's a really good point. At each scene, they always would say when and where it took place (IE: 85 Million Years Ago, Mongolia). However, they never identify the dinosaurs, which could easily be solved if they had shown a dinosaurs' full profile with their name underneath. That way you would at least know what the dinosaurs are, even if there was no narrator to talk.
Scallenger is arguing that this isn't actually a documentary, and just a series of vignettes. Even then, Herzog's narration is unnecessary and completely unfitting. Take this scene, for example:
http://youtu.be/tRo24cigcEE
His opening quotes are as follows:

Eden does not exist here. Although coincidence has no soul, it can provide a kind of mercy.

You could stick that anywhere in the program, or even in other documentaries. It has very little relevance to the scene at hand, and when I saw it I was only annoyed by the narration. The program would have been much more enjoyable without it at all. Silence really is golden.

(One question here - what's up with the Terminator moon at 3:40?)

[tyrantqueen]

Eden does not exist here. Although coincidence has no soul, it can provide a kind of mercy.

....Wut.

What does that even mean? Talk about pretentious dialogue.

[sepp]

I really enjoyed watching Dinosaur revolution, of course for the models and rendering, but it did also remind me a lot of Bakker's storytelling in Raptor Red. Maybe that's why I liked it so much as a whole, and the storytelling or lighthearted narrating didn't bother me? That was my favourite book growing up.

[scallenger]

I agree that it would have been better just completely silent without any dialogue anywhere (which I also think was the original intent all along). Perhaps they had no have some kind of dialogue somewhere (just inbetween the stories in this case) due to the producers/distributors wanting it more commercial. I believe if it also weren't for Herzog putting his foot into the Dinotasia version (and perhaps money, too, I'd imagine) that version wouldn't even be around.

[Hermes888]

Eden does not exist here. Although coincidence has no soul, it can provide a kind of mercy.

....Wut.

What does that even mean? Talk about pretentious dialogue.

The film is filled with pretentious dialogue that is completely irrelevant to the dinosaurs at hand.

I agree that it would have been better just completely silent without any dialogue anywhere (which I also think was the original intent all along). Perhaps they had no have some kind of dialogue somewhere (just inbetween the stories in this case) due to the producers/distributors wanting it more commercial. I believe if it also weren't for Herzog putting his foot into the Dinotasia version (and perhaps money, too, I'd imagine) that version wouldn't even be around.

So what exactly happened, did Herzog approach the filmmakers or was it the other way around?
They had a whole scene without dialogue (a long one at that), why couldn't they have included all the cut footage and the rest of the footage without dialogue too? The cut footage isn't even on the Dinotasia DVD.

[Cloud the Dinosaur King]

One question, would Woodstock be a male or a female. The colors on its neck make me think it's a male, unless it's a matriarchal herd like in elephants.