'Dinosaur Britain' two-part series on ITV

[leidy]

Part 1 at 9pm on Monday  31st August 2015.
Part 2 at 8pm on Tuesday 1st September


http://www.mavericktv.co.uk/production/dinosaur-britain/

http://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep1week36/dinosaur-britain

The world loves dinosaurs – the very word conjures up fascination and intrigue among millions. Yet few people realise that over 100 different species once roamed what is now Britain.

From giant sauropods the length of two double decker buses, to raptors made famous in Jurassic Park and even Britain's own tyrannosaur, Britain boasts one of the best dinosaur records anywhere in the world.

Now, this two-part primetime family series will bring dinosaurs to life through spectacular CGI as they roam modern day Britain. Dinosaur Britain will reveal how they hunted, what they ate and how they died through the evidence revealed from their bones. The series will appeal to everyone who has been captivated by the story of dinosaurs but never knew they were so close to home.

Should be interesting.  I think the last time ITV had a dinosaur show was March of the Dinosaurs a few years back, they also had Prehistoric Park before that.

The sauropod in the first link looks a lot like one of the models Jellyfish Pictures produced for BBC's Planet Dinosaur.  Hopefully the dinosaur footage isn't recycled.

[Yutyrannus]

Looks great! I've been hoping for a new dinosaur documentary for a long time.

[Gwangi]

The sauropod in the first link looks a lot like one of the models Jellyfish Pictures produced for BBC's Planet Dinosaur.  Hopefully the dinosaur footage isn't recycled.

Even if some of it is recycled they surely couldn't use much of it due to the lack of British genera in "Planet Dinosaur". Thanks for sharing, hopefully I can find it easily enough here in the U.S.

[Roselaar]

Sounds good! Any images available yet?

[leidy]

Sounds good! Any images available yet?

Just the two on the links so far.

The sauropod in the first link looks a lot like one of the models Jellyfish Pictures produced for BBC's Planet Dinosaur.  Hopefully the dinosaur footage isn't recycled.

Even if some of it is recycled they surely couldn't use much of it due to the lack of British genera in "Planet Dinosaur". Thanks for sharing, hopefully I can find it easily enough here in the U.S.

I've seen shows generically substitute images of one species for something superficially similar.

Even Walking with Dinosaurs had Iguanodons everywhere.  A lot of shows have been very non-specific and just refer to animals as 'titanosaurs'. And apparently one ankylosaur is much the same as the next, and none of them are worth remembering by name. 

Although, from the sounds of the description, they do intend to show dinosaurs like Baryonyx and Scelidosaurus in this show.  I'd guess they approached Jellyfish Pictures for the CGI, and the Planet Dinosaur image was just provided initially to get across the general idea. 

[Gwangi]

I've seen shows generically substitute images of one species for something superficially similar.

Even Walking with Dinosaurs had Iguanodons everywhere.  A lot of shows have been very non-specific and just refer to animals as 'titanosaurs'. And apparently one ankylosaur is much the same as the next, and none of them are worth remembering by name. 

Although, from the sounds of the description, they do intend to show dinosaurs like Baryonyx and Scelidosaurus in this show. I'd guess they approached Jellyfish Pictures for the CGI, and the Planet Dinosaur image was just provided initially to get across the general idea.

Yes, I know that it happens but Britain has some unique dinosaurs that I don't think would be easily substituted for anything else. You mentioned Baryonyx and Scelidosaurus yourself. Also consider Dacentrurus, Eotyrannus, Cetiosaurus, Polacanthus etc. If they're producing a two part documentary solely about British dinosaurs I think you can rest assured that they'll have to produce new models specifically for the show.

[stargatedalek]

After March of the Dinosaurs which did fairly well accuracy wise (in terms of visuals, behavior perhaps a tad stretched at times) I have high expectations for this. It won't be hard to beat Planet Dinosaur in terms of accuracy *cringes in memory*.

As great as another documentary tie-in line would be, I wouldn't hold my breathe.

[Gwangi]

After March of the Dinosaurs which did fairly well accuracy wise (in terms of visuals, behavior perhaps a tad stretched at times) I have high expectations for this. It won't be hard to beat Planet Dinosaur in terms of accuracy *cringes in memory*.

As great as another documentary tie-in line would be, I wouldn't hold my breathe.

I don't think anyone suggested that toys would be produced along with the documentary. My comment referring to making new models was referring to CGI models, literally for the show. Not physical models or toys.

[stargatedalek]

Aah, I get you now!

It's probably pretty usual to reuse models for things like early advertising and proof of concept, so hopefully you're right.

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

A lot of BBC dinosaur docs don't seem to use the actual footage or models in their merchandising

The model on the cover is commonly used on the internet. IIRC it costs 20 bucks and is compatible with free software.
As for the series itself, I just hope it comes to the US.

[leidy]

Well, part one aired last night, part two starts in just under an hour.

Unfortunately I was unable to view it.

The Gloucestershire Echo seems to be the only place to have reviewed it so far.  They were not kind.

TV review: Dinosaur Britain on ITV, a big, dumb Jurassic Farce

There's a now a clip on the ITV website which gives a sense of what they're going for with this.  In which Megalosaurus goes on the rampage at the Oxford museum.
http://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep1week36/dinosaur-britain

[Ceresiosaurus]

The CGI looks really bad and I don't really like dino docus that aren't like actual animal docus, but portray them as beasts of prey.

[MaastrichtianGuy]

so what do you think about the series? was it good or bad

[Everything_Dinosaur]

We know quite a lot about the background to Dinosaur Britain, and we know Dean Lomax the young palaeontologist very well.  The programme certainly has some faults, but the idea behind the two 2-hour long documentaries was to target a family audience and get across the message that dinosaurs did once roam the British Isles and that dinosaur fossils are found in the UK.  Personally, I think the programme achieved its objective.  One of the quibbles we had was the number of times the size of prehistoric animals was given in feet, not a very modern approach.  There were certainly some anomalies and a little bit of "poetic licence" such as the dromaeosaurids roaming Stonehenge when all the material associated with the genus comes from the Isle of Purbeck and Cetiosaurs in Scotland, that's a new one on us, but putting aside these points, we suspect that it will help to enthuse and encourage more people to go out looking for fossils and that can't be a bad thing.

Here is our review of part 1 published yesterday: Dinosaur Britain Part 1 Reviewed

This article also contains a link to Siri Scientific Press to obtain Dean's book "Dinosaurs of the British Isles", if you quote the phrase DINOBRITAIN at checkout you will receive a 10% discount of the price of the book.  The book is a definite "must have".  This offer is only on for one week - hope this helps.

[Gwangi]

We know quite a lot about the background to Dinosaur Britain, and we know Dean Lomax the young palaeontologist very well.  The programme certainly has some faults, but the idea behind the two 2-hour long documentaries was to target a family audience and get across the message that dinosaurs did once roam the British Isles and that dinosaur fossils are found in the UK.  Personally, I think the programme achieved its objective.  One of the quibbles we had was the number of times the size of prehistoric animals was given in feet, not a very modern approach.  There were certainly some anomalies and a little bit of "poetic licence" such as the dromaeosaurids roaming Stonehenge when all the material associated with the genus comes from the Isle of Purbeck and Cetiosaurs in Scotland, that's a new one on us, but putting aside these points, we suspect that it will help to enthuse and encourage more people to go out looking for fossils and that can't be a bad thing.

Here is our review of part 1 published yesterday: Dinosaur Britain Part 1 Reviewed

This article also contains a link to Siri Scientific Press to obtain Dean's book "Dinosaurs of the British Isles", if you quote the phrase DINOBRITAIN at checkout you will receive a 10% discount of the price of the book.  The book is a definite "must have".  This offer is only on for one week - hope this helps.

I wouldn't say it's not modern, just maybe not regionally appropriate.

[Crackington]

Saw both episodes and quite enjoyed them, especially the interviews with the palaeontologists, including Darren Naish. Good to see some lesser known species and some up to date finds being shown. I think the dinos wandering around modern Britain gimmick will grate on a few folk, but I found the Megalosaurus chasing the Oxford cyclist very amusing, especially when he tried to lock up his bike with the dino still breathing down his neck!

One gripe was that episode 2 wasted a good 5 minutes of time showing clips from episode 1 - Phil Space must have been editing. 

[Halichoeres]

We know quite a lot about the background to Dinosaur Britain, and we know Dean Lomax the young palaeontologist very well.  The programme certainly has some faults, but the idea behind the two 2-hour long documentaries was to target a family audience and get across the message that dinosaurs did once roam the British Isles and that dinosaur fossils are found in the UK.  Personally, I think the programme achieved its objective.  One of the quibbles we had was the number of times the size of prehistoric animals was given in feet, not a very modern approach.  There were certainly some anomalies and a little bit of "poetic licence" such as the dromaeosaurids roaming Stonehenge when all the material associated with the genus comes from the Isle of Purbeck and Cetiosaurs in Scotland, that's a new one on us, but putting aside these points, we suspect that it will help to enthuse and encourage more people to go out looking for fossils and that can't be a bad thing.

Here is our review of part 1 published yesterday: Dinosaur Britain Part 1 Reviewed

This article also contains a link to Siri Scientific Press to obtain Dean's book "Dinosaurs of the British Isles", if you quote the phrase DINOBRITAIN at checkout you will receive a 10% discount of the price of the book.  The book is a definite "must have".  This offer is only on for one week - hope this helps.

I wouldn't say it's not modern, just maybe not regionally appropriate.

I dunno, given that we're the only country left using it*, I think it's fair to call the imperial system 'not very modern.' Remember in the 70s when the US tried to go metric, but then as soon as Reagan got elected he stopped all efforts at metrication? Metric is in basically universal use among scientists, and no doubt we'll eventually get dragged kicking and screaming into the....19th century.

*Okay, us, Burma, and Liberia.

[leidy]

We know quite a lot about the background to Dinosaur Britain, and we know Dean Lomax the young palaeontologist very well.  The programme certainly has some faults, but the idea behind the two 2-hour long documentaries was to target a family audience and get across the message that dinosaurs did once roam the British Isles and that dinosaur fossils are found in the UK.  Personally, I think the programme achieved its objective.  One of the quibbles we had was the number of times the size of prehistoric animals was given in feet, not a very modern approach.  There were certainly some anomalies and a little bit of "poetic licence" such as the dromaeosaurids roaming Stonehenge when all the material associated with the genus comes from the Isle of Purbeck and Cetiosaurs in Scotland, that's a new one on us, but putting aside these points, we suspect that it will help to enthuse and encourage more people to go out looking for fossils and that can't be a bad thing.

Here is our review of part 1 published yesterday: Dinosaur Britain Part 1 Reviewed

This article also contains a link to Siri Scientific Press to obtain Dean's book "Dinosaurs of the British Isles", if you quote the phrase DINOBRITAIN at checkout you will receive a 10% discount of the price of the book.  The book is a definite "must have".  This offer is only on for one week - hope this helps.

I wouldn't say it's not modern, just maybe not regionally appropriate.

I dunno, given that we're the only country left using it*, I think it's fair to call the imperial system 'not very modern.' Remember in the 70s when the US tried to go metric, but then as soon as Reagan got elected he stopped all efforts at metrication? Metric is in basically universal use among scientists, and no doubt we'll eventually get dragged kicking and screaming into the....19th century.

A huge waste when you consider all the money spent raising awareness about it.  There's some interesting films from the period on youtube getting the public ready for the transition that still hasn't happened.  And when you consider the Mars orbiter that NASA lost because someone was still using imperial measurements, the waste continues.  I still think it'll happen, not in the immediate future, but probably in our lifetime.

Popular science programs aimed at a younger audience should certainly be using metric measurements.  It's unscientific not to.

I remember talking to a woman who maintained that decimalisation of the currency should never have happened.  She could never get used to it.  "they should've waited till all the old people died".

I still haven't been able to watch Dinosaur Britain.

[tyrantqueen]

I'm perfectly happy with metric or imperial. I learnt metric at school, but my parents are quite old-fashioned (born in the early fifties) and still they use imperial.

[Sim]

I'd only planned to watch the first episode of Dinosaur Britain tonight, but I enjoyed it so much I watched the second episode too!

I think there was a lot of good information in this 2-episode documentary which was delivered in an interesting and fun way that even people who aren't that interested in prehistoric life can understand.  It's great to have a documentary on Britain's dinosaurs too!

I liked the CGI prehistoric animals!  I'm relieved none of them were recycled from previous programs as an image from a publicity article seemed to suggest.  It was entertaining seeing the prehistoric animals interact with modern-day Britain!  Most of the prehistoric animal scenes were set in the present, which I found was a change from other prehistoric documentaries and helped show their capabilities in ways that could be observed if they were alive today.  I wouldn't like it if most or all prehistoric documentaries focused on the animals being in modern settings, but this isn't the case so it was a nice change.  There were a few scenes that were set in prehistoric times too.

I think Dinosaur Britain is a well done, informative and entertaining documentary!  I really enjoyed it!  If anyone hasn't seen it yet, I recommend it!  (It's on YouTube.)  Thanks leidy for telling us about it!

Now I'm a bit sad they didn't make a toy line based on the animals in the documentary.  It would've been great!  I'll be surprised if Papo doesn't disappoint me with their Baryonyx...  Oh, and I would've much preferred if Dinosaur Britain used metric rather than imperial measurements.


SOME DINOSAUR BRITAIN SPOILERS BELOW




The Baryonyx part was great!  It was funny seeing it trying to get that fish on display in the Natural History Museum!  The Megalosaurus part was very entertaining!  Ha ha!  The Nuthetes part was good too.  The part with Neovenator and Mantellisaurus, which also had Darren Naish, was also very good!  "What was Neovenator like?"  "So Neovenator would've been an awesome, giant, scary carnivore basically."  Hehe!  I wasn't expecting that!  I enjoyed all the parts with prehistoric animals and the other parts of the documentary too.