Walking With Dinosaurs

[PumperKrickel]

deleted

[MaastrichtianGuy]

Walking with Dinosaurs Pilot

Scaphognathus

Cetiosaurus


early looks of the Eustreptospondylus and Liopleurodon

[Flaffy]

Feels so weird seeing a WWD liopleurodon without the iconic black and white colours scheme

[ITdactyl]

So, necroposting a bit..

But...
WWD is turning 20 next month.  Bring out the old VHS (heh!).  Show your merch.  Someone take that ornithocheirus out of the vault and parade it for the masses to see.

It's now older than some members of the forum.  I can't even believe I was already 18 when it first came out - I felt like a 6 year old while watching.

I hope the BBC (or any other big studio) would have another [edit] serious go at this and take another dino project with all the new knowledge of the last 20 years.

[Syndicate Bias]

I'm still one year older then WWD 

I loved it growing up. I still have it and still watch it from time to time.

I forget when the Big Al Episode released but that one too was good even though it wasn't part of WWD's original episodes...that and I forget the name was it Chased by Dinosaurs? With Nigel Marvin (Marven i think) I loved seeing the Giganotosaurus from that as well.

Just checked up top it was Land of Giants and Marven but too lazy to edit 

[ITdactyl]

 

Glad to find I'm not the only one who enjoyed the Nigel Marven spin-offs.

[Patrx]

It's just wild to me that in twenty years, no prehistory doc has made a real effort to copy WWD's brilliant format. There's no explanation, no framing device, just "here are some extinct animals living their lives".

[Ravonium]

It's just wild to me that in twenty years, no prehistory doc has made a real effort to copy WWD's brilliant format. There's no explanation, no framing device, just "here are some extinct animals living their lives".

I'd argue that this right here is amongst the top 5 greatest paleontology related mysteries in modern times.

Anyway, happy birthday WWD. I guess I should probably celebrate it by watching the Big Al special for the first time 

[stargatedalek]

It's just wild to me that in twenty years, no prehistory doc has made a real effort to copy WWD's brilliant format. There's no explanation, no framing device, just "here are some extinct animals living their lives".

Dinosaur Planet definitely tried, though they broke the illusion with the "and here's why" sections.

[Bokisaurus]

Wow, has it bee that long already?
I love the entire WW and spin off series, I own all in DVD and I often watch then when I'm home sick, still very impressed by the show even today.
Yeah, I wish someone would make a brand new show in the same documentary style.

[Halichoeres]

Somehow I've never seen this show. I know that's pretty unforgivable, but it's true.

[ITdactyl]

Somehow I've never seen this show. I know that's pretty unforgivable, but it's true.

Maybe give it a go... and then share your opinion.

I know some of the designs and concepts are a bit outdated, but as the others have mentioned, the program style has not been successfully imitated by any other show producer.

[Halichoeres]

I didn't mean to offer an opinion! I don't feel any particular way about it, I just have never happened to see it. I looked for it on Netflix once, but it wasn't there and I'm lazy enough that I didn't look any further.

[Patrx]

It's just wild to me that in twenty years, no prehistory doc has made a real effort to copy WWD's brilliant format. There's no explanation, no framing device, just "here are some extinct animals living their lives".

Dinosaur Planet definitely tried, though they broke the illusion with the "and here's why" sections.

I did like Dinosaur Planet, even if it was a bit sillier.
But thinking back on it does remind me of Planet Dinosaur, and another element of WWD '99 that I think is an important ingredient to the formula–photographic background plates. Planet Dinosaur was also pretty good overall, but the full-CGI environments make the whole thing look like an animated sequence rather than nature photography. I appreciate that correct-looking prehistoric environments are difficult/expensive to find and photograph, if they can be found at all, but the money and tech to make immersive CGI environments is just not in the hands of TV networks at the moment. Plus, having a full-3D environment often leads to weird, disconnected camera movement, which can be seen in Planet Dinosaur.

[DinoToyForum]

I didn't mean to offer an opinion! I don't feel any particular way about it, I just have never happened to see it. I looked for it on Netflix once, but it wasn't there and I'm lazy enough that I didn't look any further.

It's on Netflix in the UK. So, you could watch it if you have a way to access Netflix via a UK IP address. Maybe that's dodgy, though.

[stargatedalek]

It was removed and re-added at some point on Canadian Netflix. They had the trilogy then removed all of them then re-added only Dinosaurs and Monsters.

[Syndicate Bias]

It's just wild to me that in twenty years, no prehistory doc has made a real effort to copy WWD's brilliant format. There's no explanation, no framing device, just "here are some extinct animals living their lives".

Dinosaur Planet definitely tried, though they broke the illusion with the "and here's why" sections.

Still...Dinosaur Planet was a good run at least imo it was better than Planet Dinosaur which was okay but it seemed a lil bit too animated for me.

Also gotta mention When Dinosaurs roamed North America

[ITdactyl]

@Halichoeres , did my last message come off too demanding?  Sorry, didn't mean to dare you to give an opinion.

I also liked the style of "When Dinosaurs Roamed America" - I prefer their CG animal design over WWD, especially the theropods.

@Brocc21  if there's a new WWD, whether they keep the old faunal cast and just update the science OR they go for a new selection of critters, as long as it's a 30 minute episode with uninterrupted* slice-of-prehistoric-life style of story telling, I'm all for it.

*no sudden interruptions from talking heads, technical specifications or skeletal overlays

[Halichoeres]

@ITdactyl  I must have just misread your post, then, entirely my fault

I didn't mean to offer an opinion! I don't feel any particular way about it, I just have never happened to see it. I looked for it on Netflix once, but it wasn't there and I'm lazy enough that I didn't look any further.

It's on Netflix in the UK. So, you could watch it if you have a way to access Netflix via a UK IP address. Maybe that's dodgy, though.

I have done that to watch shows that are available in Colombia, but not the States. I'm not above that in the slightest. I just need to find myself a UK IP address.

[Faelrin]

Honestly I can't believe it's been that long ago now (then again JP did just turn 25 last year). I remember watching it when it first aired on TV here in the states, when I was still a child. While Jurassic Park was the first time I've seen dinosaurs look like real creatures (and well was convinced they were for many years), this was probably the first really educational thing I've watched on prehistoric creatures, and like with JP (and eventually Disney's Dinosaur) it really helped influence and shape my interest in the prehistoric, and in turn what creatures I ended up liking (and still do to this day), such as the Postosuchus, and the "magical" (and oversized) Liopleurodon. I also remember reading the companion book that came out on it as well.

There was also the Ballad of Big Al special that I loved watching too. My parents picked it up from Blockbuster for me the one day and I would watch it over and over again, enough that Allosaurus ended up becoming one of my favorite dinosaurs then (and a particular interesting thing I liked learning was from the making of special was that the specimen it was based on was also discovered the same year I was born). Heck it also got me into watching Gwangi back then too (which was certainly also because of my dad and his love of that film). I also have fond memories of playing the Ballad of Big Al game way back in the day that was based on it (huh come to think of it, it was kind of similar to Saurian in that you started off as a hatchling, and explored and tried to survive and grow).

A few years back I was finally able to give Walking with Monsters a watch when it was on Netflix which introduced me to now one of my favorite Paleozoic creatures, the Anomalocaris, as well as Inostrancevia, etc, aside from making me more appreciative and interested in Paleozoic life in general. I also learned of Hynerpeton, a tetrapod which was found in the state I now reside (Pennsylvania), that I probably wouldn't have heard of otherwise unless through chance. I also gave Walking with Prehistoric Beasts a watch too then (though I had read the companion book on it years earlier while still in school, since I missed the original airing of the show), and was pretty amazed at the diversity and strange forms that early mammals took, that we no longer have (such as entelodonts, or early horses and whales of course).

I should also mention I absolutely love the soundtrack to this series, and quite like the iconic JP theme, the Time of the Titans theme really helps emphasize the wonder that these magnificent long ago creatures hold, while the music from the Giant of the Skies probably captures how heartbreaking and cruel nature can be at times, as well the permanency of death and extinction (edit: shoot, while writing that I ended up reminding myself of the Kauai 'O'o song, that I only learned of, and heard recently, that certainly can bring one to an existential crisis after listening to it, even more so with the proper context). Both the Prehistoric Beasts theme and the music from the salt lake battle from Ballad of Big Al are pretty enjoyable to listen too as well. Probably some other themes used as well that I liked.