Walking With Dinosaurs 2025

[dragon53]

[Over9K]

Man this is really difficult to watch, like an aging actor, that recently had plastic surgery, and doesn't know they look creepy and weird yet.

The lighting on the dinosaurs is really bad... the dinosaurs aren't "in" the environment, they're "on" the environment.

Parts of this look like deleted scenes from a Jurassic World movie... "The Spinosaurus is on the golf course!!!" The environments are all ridiculously clean, like I literally think they had AI go over the background plates and "tidy up".

The result is sanitary, lifeless and flat, like some of the old Discovery Channel schlock docs.

[andrewsaurus rex]

i am recording episodes 1 and 2 as i write this.  Don't have time now so i'll watch them later.

For anyone that is planning to view them on PBS, they are on tonight, tuesday and wednesday at 8pm and 9pm ET, at least in my time zone.  All six episodes being aired in the next 3 evenings....commercial free of course.

[HD-man]

"Triceratops vs T. Rex: A Fight for Survival | Walking with Dinosaurs | Full Episode":

[andrewsaurus rex]

just finished watching the CLover episode.  It was good.  Not great, not as good as i expected, but good.

The visual effects didn't look as leading edge as i expected them to be.  And the coloration on the Dinos were all the same and a bit muddy.  While the dino designs were updated to current knowledge they otherwise really didn't look a lot different, quality wise, then in the first WWD series.  I guess JP effects have spoiled me.  Worth the watch but not as 'wow' as i was expecting.

[andrewsaurus rex]

Here's a Google AI review summation of the 'Orphan' episode that i'm posting for two reasons. First it pretty much nails the way i felt about it and second, it's surprisingly insightful for AI;  eerily so in fact.  Sometimes i find AI responses to be laughable and way off the mark but other times...

AI Overview

The "Orphan" episode of Walking with Dinosaurs (2025) is a mixed bag, with some reviewers praising its scientific accuracy and storytelling, while others find the CGI subpar and the narrative clichéd. The episode focuses on a baby Triceratops, nicknamed "Clover," who survives after being separated from her herd.
Positive aspects often highlighted include:
Scientific accuracy:
The series is praised for grounding its narratives in the latest scientific research, even if some speculation is involved.
Character development:
Viewers connect with the orphaned Triceratops, rooting for her survival against the odds.
Educational value:
The series aims to present dinosaurs as real animals, not just monsters, and explores their behaviors and social structures.
New discoveries:
The episode features findings from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences dig site, including a small crocodyliform and Triceratops fossils.
Criticisms often center on:
CGI quality:
Some reviewers found the CGI to be a step down from the original series, particularly in certain scenes.
Narration and script:
The narration is criticized for being simplistic and failing to clearly distinguish between scientific fact and speculation. The script is also described as clichéd.
Modern reboot tone:
The series' attempt to modernize itself is seen by some as detrimental to its overall quality.
Dreadful narration:
The narration is described as simplistic and lacking in scientific insight.
Walking with Dinosaurs (TV Mini Series 1999) - IMDb
Overall, the "Orphan" episode seems to evoke strong opinions, with some finding it a worthy successor to the original series and others feeling it falls short of expectations, particularly in its visual presentation and narrative execution.

[Dynomikegojira]

Yeah Clover's story I've heard is the weakest of the bunch. I thought is was really good but it lacks the scale of the original series and the biodiversity could've been better but overall good start I just wish there paced out the dinosaur and modern segments better I mean When Dinosaurs Roamed America and Dinosaur Planet did it perfectly.

[TheCambrianCrusader]

Just watched the first episode and I feel like every criticism I have with it would be solved if it just wasn't called WWD...
Overall I liked it, I liked the dino designs and the story was cute enough. But yeah the cgi while not bad isn't doing many favors in a post Prehistoric Planet world. More importantly than that tho it just doesn't really capture the spirit of the original. Honestly I think Planet Dinosaur would've made for a more fitting WWD2. They really should've called this something else. I know going forwards I'm just going to think of it as something else, as I think I'd enjoy it more that ways. I do have to stress I think its a perfectly fine doc it just doesn't live up to WWD or Prehistoric Planet

[Joliezac]

Looks like it was just released on PBS for US viewers. It's late here so I'll start it tomorrow, are there only 4 episodes?

[Dynomikegojira]

Looks like it was just released on PBS for US viewers. It's late here so I'll start it tomorrow, are there only 4 episodes?

For right now yeah but the last 2 episodes will be on there tonight.

[andrewsaurus rex]

i pointed out a few posts above but it is worth repeating:  PBS is airing 2 episodes per night of WWD.   The final two episodes are on tonight.  There are 6 in total.   

[Joliezac]

Got it thank you!

[Crackington]

Just watched the first episode and I feel like every criticism I have with it would be solved if it just wasn't called WWD...
Overall I liked it, I liked the dino designs and the story was cute enough. But yeah the cgi while not bad isn't doing many favors in a post Prehistoric Planet world. More importantly than that tho it just doesn't really capture the spirit of the original. Honestly I think Planet Dinosaur would've made for a more fitting WWD2. They really should've called this something else. I know going forwards I'm just going to think of it as something else, as I think I'd enjoy it more that ways. I do have to stress I think its a perfectly fine doc it just doesn't live up to WWD or Prehistoric Planet

I think that's a fair assessment. A decent doc series overall and worth watching- but not groundbreaking.

[suspsy]

Just watched the first episode. Meh. Interspersing the narrative with a fossil dig really was an asinine idea, one which totally demolishes the nature documentary feel that the original WWD had. The animation is unspectacular and so is the narration. Whoever that was, he's no Branagh.

Prehistoric Planet easily beats the tobacco juice out of this.

[andrewsaurus rex]

Just watched the Spinosaurus episode.  I thought it was better than the first one.  It was an interesting choice to make Spino, normally portrayed as a villain, the caring father.  BUT to portray it as a skillful underwater hunter is somewhat out of vogue, with decent evidence supporting that it was not.  I could forgive the show for portraying Spino this way if this episode was created several years ago.  But for a 2025 series, it should be portraying more current theories.

I too don't like the live action fossil dig segments, which break up the flow of the story and, i feel, add nothing substantively.  I think they're just there as filler to save money on cgi.

[Joliezac]

Just watched the first episode. Nothing all the special but honestly a bit better than I thought it would be based on other reviews. Its by no means Prehistoric Planet but I don't think it was trying to be. I wish the fossil bits weren't as frequent, I hope the rest of the show isn't like that. Much more excited for the spino episode, I'll probably watch it tomorrow!

[andrewsaurus rex]

i just discovered another error with the WWD Spinosaurus episode.  The Carcharodontosaurus shouldn't be a Carcharodontosaurus.  It was reclassified this year (2025) as Tameryraptor, a large carcharodontosaur with a Ceratosaurus-like horn on its snout.  However, i can forgive WWD for this one. 

The unnamed titanosaur would probably be Paralititan, the largest known titanosaur from the region at that time.  Scant remains, but there is a 1.69m humerus. 

[DinoToyForum]

Just watched the Spinosaurus episode.  I thought it was better than the first one.  It was an interesting choice to make Spino, normally portrayed as a villain, the caring father. BUT to portray it as a skillful underwater hunter is somewhat out of vogue, with decent evidence supporting that it was not.  I could forgive the show for portraying Spino this way if this episode was created several years ago.  But for a 2025 series, it should be portraying more current theories.

I too don't like the live action fossil dig segments, which break up the flow of the story and, i feel, add nothing substantively.  I think they're just there as filler to save money on cgi.

Quick, someone call Universal! 

[Duna]

I watched the first episode yesterday and I found it very difficult to finish. I wasn't engaged with the story at all, it was interrupted so many times by the paleontologists' story that I just wanted the rex to eat the galloping triceratops and finish once and for all.
The CGI is so so bad in some scripts that it just look like the animals were photoshopped on it like cut-paste, no shadows, no blending colours, NOT A BIT of dirt on them (man, they are very large creatures, they can't be so pristine, bright and clean). Don't they take sand or earth baths? The edmontosaurus were the worst in this aspect.

This all (or most of it) could be understood if:
- They hadn't dare to call that Walking With Dinosaurs.
- They hadn't intercalate real shots with CGI dinosaurs every few minutes
- The paleontologists didn't sound like CSI series with them explaining to each other things that are absolute obvious to each other so public can understand (it looks ridiculous).
- I don't mind the bad CGI because there are lots of old dinosaur docs with that quality of CGI or videogames. Yes, Prehistoric Planet is hundreds of miles away in this aspect. But no, the CGI is not to blame in this series.
- I can't understand unrealistic plots like a deaf floating pterosaur not noticing 8 tonne tyrannosaurus behind it.

[Dynomikegojira]

i just discovered another error with the WWD Spinosaurus episode.  The Carcharodontosaurus shouldn't be a Carcharodontosaurus.  It was reclassified this year (2025) as Tameryraptor, a large carcharodontosaur with a Ceratosaurus-like horn on its snout.  However, i can forgive WWD for this one. 

The unnamed titanosaur would probably be Paralititan, the largest known titanosaur from the region at that time.  Scant remains, but there is a 1.69m humerus. 

Doesn't the Spinosaurus episode take place in Morocco only the Egyptians remains got reclassified as Tameryraptor