Dinosaur 13

[Gwangi]

Anyone else hear about this yet? Just showed up on my FaceBook page.

http://www.dinosaur13movie.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZywsT8Sy-c

[E.D.G.E. (PainterRex)]

This sounds pretty neat! I have never heard of this movie beforehand. Thanks for bridging it to my attention!

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

It's about SUE isn't it ?

[Gwangi]

It's about SUE isn't it ?

Yes it is. So really is is less about actual dinosaurs and paleontology and more about politics and court room drama. I still hope to watch it someday.

[HD-man]

Anyone else hear about this yet? Just showed up on my FaceBook page.

Switek reviewed it ( http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/01/21/dinosaur-13-and-the-ghost-of-tyrannosaurus-sue/ ).

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

It's about SUE isn't it ?

Yes it is. So really is is less about actual dinosaurs and paleontology and more about politics and court room drama. I still hope to watch it someday.

The book Tyrannosaurus SUE had a bit of that but it was actually a good read. Lot's of info in one place about this famous fossil.

[Gwangi]

Thanks for the review. I was afraid this movie would be one-sided and on the side of the BHI at that. No surprise there. I have the book "Tyrannosaurus Sue" but haven't read it yet. Does it do a good job at telling the whole story or is it biased as well?

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Thanks for the review. I was afraid this movie would be one-sided and on the side of the BHI at that. No surprise there. I have the book "Tyrannosaurus Sue" but haven't read it yet. Does it do a good job at telling the whole story or is it biased as well?

I can't recall a specific bias..I kinda felt for each side..besides the govt. involvement in it. But that might be just me.

[HD-man]

Thanks for the review.

Anytime.

BTW, have either you or Blade-of-the-Moon read Larson/Donnan's Rex Appeal ( http://www.amazon.com/Rex-Appeal-Amazing-Dinosaur-Changed/dp/1931229384/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406673638&sr=1-4 )? If so, how does it compare to Fiffer's Tyrannosaurus Sue?

[Gwangi]

Haven't read it, was not even aware of it until today.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Same here bud.

[Everything_Dinosaur]

Met up with Pete Larson and Phil Manning (Manchester University) a few weeks ago. Film premiered at Sundance Festival and is due to be released in selected cinemas on August 15th (USA).  It is an excellent documentary, one that tells the real story of "Tyrannosaurus Sue".  Not sure about global cinema release, but a DVD will be available, so we were told.

[Everything_Dinosaur]

List of UK cinema screenings for Dinosaur 13 is here: Dinosaur 13 in the UK

[Minnesota Jones]

Movie is now at select theaters as well as on-demand for some cable ops.  I met Pete Larson back in 2003 (my wife and I were on a road trip out to California and stopped at the Black Hills Institute on the way).  Great museum and great guy.  I bought the book Rex Appeal and waited around for him to sign it.  He was busy, but when he saw us he apologized for making us wait and invited us out "back" behind the place to see what they were working on.  It was a T. rex replica of Stan that's now in the Indianapolis Children's museum, along with a Gorgosaurus for them too.  Here I was, just a dinosaur nut in an Indiana Jones fedora from out of town, and we got a private tour by HIM himself thru their labs and out back.  All he had to do was sign my book and instead treated us like royalty.  I'll never forget that visit, or him.  Truly a wonderful person and I get sick to my stomach everytime I think of what the government did to him and the Black Hills Institute.

[tyrantqueen]

Truly a wonderful person and I get sick to my stomach everytime I think of what the government did to him and the Black Hills Institute.

Was that the whole "Sue" debacle?

[Minnesota Jones]

Was that the whole "Sue" debacle?

Part of it.

In a nutshell... super summarizing here....

- they find Sue
- they pay Maurice Williams $5K (all they could do) for the rights to the dinosaur
- they dig it out
- 2 years later, the government says they took it illegally
- Maurice Williams then say the $5k was JUST to dig it out, but not to own it ?!?
- The Sioux tribe sues for it too
- Huge lawsuit - biggest trial in S. Dakota history
- Pete Larson loses Sue - Maurice Williams get it and sells it for $7.6 million (before commission) and gets all of that tax free - doesn't even pay the Black Hills institute their $5k back...
- Pete Larson goes to JAIL - for a couple unrelated customs violations (not declaring money orders).  His jail time was for something not related to Sue at all.  A lot of people think this was the government trying to make an example of him.  Most people don't go to jail for not declaring money orders (a simple mistake), let alone for a two year sentence...
- Pete Larson and the BHI get a black eye for this, lose Sue, lose the $5K, the government looks mean, and Maurice Williams gets a boatload of "tax free" money.

People usually don't realize the BHI doesn't make them rich, selling fossils and such.  They make enough money doing what they love to live on (digging dinosaurs and fossils) without answering to anyone but themselves (not a museum or a university) but the BHI are not millionaires by any means.

Ironic, the same government that went after them actually purchased a copy of Stan the T. rex that's on display in the Smithsonian.  Go figure... 

[Minnesota Jones]

A lot of people make the BHI and Pete Larson out to be bad guys trying to make a quick buck selling off dinosaurs.  That's not the case at all.  They do what they do because they love it.  They're not dinosaur "head hunters" looking for quick sells.  Sue was going to be the centerpiece of their museum along with Stan the T. rex and help get Hill City on the map.  It was never going to be sold off.  They also take excellent field notes, work with accredited (sp?) paleontologists like Phil Currie, Phil Manning, and Robert Bakker.  The only thing Pete Larson does not have is a full PhD in Paleontology and is self employed instead of working for someone else (again, like a university or some museum out East).

Oh, Rex Appeal is a great book.  It flips between T. rex science and the whole Sue debacle.  Tyrannosaurus Sue also covers the legal side of the court battle well too.  But Rex Appeal again covers both T. rex in general as well.  Easy to read and had lots of great stuff in it.  I highly recommend reading Rex Appeal.  Once you start it, it's hard to put it down.

[Brontozaurus]

I saw this at the Sydney Film Festival and it was really good! It does kind of take the side of the BHI but considering how shady everyone else was in this affair I can't blame it, the BHI is easily the most sympathetic faction.

[Meso-Cenozoic]

I just saw that this was now on On Demand on our Verizon Fios. I definitely want to check it out! The $8 HD rental price is a little higher for a new release than there normal $6 fee. I thought documentaries were usually cheaper. Oh well, I definitely want to catch it sometime.

[docronnie]

I was looking for this topic  to post on, but I was unable to find it. 

To the admins: Kindly delete the one I opened.

Would also like to hear the other side of the story in the future.  But Sue is an amazing and beautiful fossil and controversy made it more popular.