'When Dinosaurs Ruled' documentary series

[utd7]

Hi everyone I was just wondering whether any of you guys have seen the now classic and slightly outdated documentary series 'When Dinosaurs Ruled' narrated by Jeff Goldblum?

I think it is rather an excellent series which takes a global view on dinosaur discoveries so each episode is on a different continent. I remember watching it when I was younger but here in Europe it was called 'Jurassica' and was narrated by Susan Rae.

[Ceresiosaurus]

I liked it too! In my native Spain it was called "Cuando los dinosaurios rugían/caminaban/dominaban la tierra" (IIRC, they went for the three quite different titles)

[SpartanSquat]

I liked it too! In my native Spain it was called "Cuando los dinosaurios rugían/caminaban/dominaban la tierra" (IIRC, they went for the three quite different titles)

Good to see another spanish member! In reality the program was: Cuando reinaba el dinosaurios. I have all the documentaries recorded in VHS and DVD in english.

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

I used to see this on the Science channel; it aired in the morning on random days. The CG wasn't the best I've seen but it was interesting to have had Jeff Goldblum narrating.

[Ceresiosaurus]

I liked it too! In my native Spain it was called "Cuando los dinosaurios rugían/caminaban/dominaban la tierra" (IIRC, they went for the three quite different titles)

Good to see another spanish member! In reality the program was: Cuando reinaba el dinosaurios. I have all the documentaries recorded in VHS and DVD in english.

I have the VHS somewhere around the house. Anyway, if I remember correctly, they changed. For example, the one on Africa, called "El verdadero parque jurásico" had a different title. I'm too old now ( ) to remember it, tho. I used to see and record it when I was like 5 or so.

It was aired in the discovery channel, wasn't it?

[utd7]

CG sometimes looks laughable and some areas of the documentary are outdated now. But it has a certain touch of nostalgia and was in awe of it when I was younger and still love watching it today.

What I like is that there are some unusual and not very well known dinosaurs featured like Zupaysaurus, Neovenator, Alxasaurus, Majungasaurus and so many others. I think it is overlooked because Walking with Dinosaurs came out at the same time and had breathtaking CGI and was so critically acclaimed.

[Ceresiosaurus]

CG sometimes looks laughable and some areas of the documentary are outdated now. But it has a certain touch of nostalgia and was in awe of it when I was younger and still love watching it today.

What I like is that there are some unusual and not very well known dinosaurs featured like Zupaysaurus, Neovenator, Alxasaurus, Majungasaurus and so many others. I think it is overlooked because Walking with Dinosaurs came out at the same time and had breathtaking CGI and was so critically acclaimed.

Didn't they showed the majungatholus/majungasaurus mistake common in the 90s?

[utd7]

Didn't they showed the majungatholus/majungasaurus mistake common in the 90s?

Yeah, they did one of the outdated elements of the series. Another one was the Megaraptor one where it was sill thought to be a Dromaeosaurid, though it was still relativley newly discovered so we might let that one slide.

Also the illustrations of the dinosaurs were really nice like this one: http://cdn.static.ovimg.com/episode/1647581.jpg

[Ceresiosaurus]

Oh, man, a spanish dinosaur! I had always thought we had none until I watched the chapter on Europe 

It's funny, because IIRC, we are among the european countries with more dinosaurs, yet we are always neglected in children (and not so children) books.

[utd7]

Oh, man, a spanish dinosaur! I had always thought we had none until I watched the chapter on Europe

Yeah, I chose Pelecanimimus just for you and the one on Europe was great in fact all of them were great. Anyway I just wanted to prove that it was an underrated dinosaur documentary series and it should be given more credit and it shows some great paleontologists speaking like Paul Sereno, Phil Currie, Bob Bakker and so many others.

[Ceresiosaurus]

Oh, man, a spanish dinosaur! I had always thought we had none until I watched the chapter on Europe

Yeah, I chose Pelecanimimus just for you and the one on Europe was great in fact all of them were great. Anyway I just wanted to prove that it was an underrated dinosaur documentary series and it should be given more credit and it shows some great paleontologists speaking like Paul Sereno, Phil Currie, Bob Bakker and so many others.

Yeah, I agree with you.

One time we went to my grandmother's house for a weekend, I brought my recorded VHS full of When dinosaurs ruled. I'd say it was my favourite documentary ever.

Yeah, I remember Paul Sereno talking about his expedition to Morocco, trying to rediscover the lost pieces from Munich.

I also remember Bob Baker doing a really cheesy scene with a bad CGI T-rex 

Can it be bought in amazon? Mmmh

[utd7]

Yeah they can, there was a DVD set with the whole set.

That scene you are mentioning was actually with a paleontologist called Keith Rigby and it was cheesy yeah.

[SpartanSquat]

I liked it too! In my native Spain it was called "Cuando los dinosaurios rugían/caminaban/dominaban la tierra" (IIRC, they went for the three quite different titles)

Good to see another spanish member! In reality the program was: Cuando reinaba el dinosaurios. I have all the documentaries recorded in VHS and DVD in english.

I have the VHS somewhere around the house. Anyway, if I remember correctly, they changed. For example, the one on Africa, called "El verdadero parque jurásico" had a different title. I'm too old now ( ) to remember it, tho. I used to see and record it when I was like 5 or so.

It was aired in the discovery channel, wasn't it?

Yep, it was aired in Discovery Channel in the beginning of 2000s, I think 2001. Well I have recorded and I saw that was the North America episode.

[Ceresiosaurus]

I also recall now "Paleomundo". God, I loved both documentaries! They weren't all that graphical and they relied on pics and paintings, but I loved them because they had a scientific feeling for my young me.

I believe I still have those VHs around the house. I wish I could buy the DVDs or smth...

[Gwangi]

I just got done watching the African episode in this series on Youtube. It appears this is a TLC production, from back when they actually aired quality programming. It also explains why it seems so similar to the TLC series "Paleo-World". The CGI was indeed pretty bad, especially because they used a CGI Tyrannosaurus for EVERY theropod in the show save for Spinosaurus. There is a scene with a T. rex and baby T. rex used as stand-ins for a Carcharodontosaurus and Deltadromeus. Overall though, not bad for the time. I loved the older documentaries where they went out into the field with the paleontologists and looked at bones and discussed the history of various discoveries. A lot of obscure genera too. I'll see if I can find other episodes.

[HD-man]

Hi everyone I was just wondering whether any of you guys have seen the now classic and slightly outdated documentary series 'When Dinosaurs Ruled' narrated by Jeff Goldblum?

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBz70p1l9dEEKIISZvzFvTDlyo4Qp-AP6

[utd7]

Yes it is basically a spin off of 'Paleoworld' which is a fantastic series but that seems to be even more dated but I still love it too.

For some reason the episode of Asia was not narrated by Jeff Goldblum which I cannot understand why.

[Gwangi]

Hi everyone I was just wondering whether any of you guys have seen the now classic and slightly outdated documentary series 'When Dinosaurs Ruled' narrated by Jeff Goldblum?

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBz70p1l9dEEKIISZvzFvTDlyo4Qp-AP6

Thanks for the link, unfortunately only two of the programs on it worked. I did just manage to watch the North American episode though. Gosh that CGI is just the worst! And I love that Tyrannosaurus means "terrible lizard". lol

The great thing about PaleoWorld was in part all the paintings and drawings they showed. "When Dinosaurs Ruled" relies too much on the awful CGI and shaky cams.

[SpartanSquat]

At least as a documentary is much better than many documentaries from History, New Discovery Channel programs.

[utd7]

At least as a documentary is much better than many documentaries from History, New Discovery Channel programs.

You could not be more right my friend. I miss when Discovery was the true Discovery and even Animal Planet has taken a huge dip in program quality. I really liked BBC's Planet Dinosaur though which was wall presented and had some great dinosaur species and the CGI was great too.