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Walking With Dinosaurs makes that distant world as real and natural as images from today's Serengeti. Tracing the 160 million year history of dinosaurs, from their first appearance to their abrupt demise, this series marks a watershed in television imagery.
A combination of classic ... Read review
Walking with Dinosaurs, which must have surprised even its makers by reaching the viewing ... more
figures usually reserved for royal weddings, was the undoubted television event of 1999. (The companion book and soundtrack album became bestsellers, too.) Extend...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Walking with Dinosaurs, which must have surprised even its makers by reaching the viewing ... more
figures usually reserved for royal weddings, was the undoubted television event of 1999. (The companion book and soundtrack album became bestsellers, too.) Extend...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
From 220 million years ago until just 65 million years ago dinosaurs walked and ruled the ... more
earth. Now is your chance to witness their history from their first appearance to extinction. The BBC's ground-breaking television series 'Walking With Dinosau...
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Imagine you could witness a prehistoric sunset - imagine you are watching insectivorous ... more
pterosaurs chase moths in the moist evening air and bull Triceratops lock horns over a young female. This is no longer a dream. 'Walking With Dinosaurs' makes that ...
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The Ballad of Big Almanages the tricky feat of making the viewer feel concern--even ... more
sympathy--for a 10m-long, razor-fanged carnivorous predator, an Allosaurus from 145,000,000 years ago. That it does so without resorting to Disney tactics makes its achievement all the more admirable--despite the title, these creatures thankfully don't even speak, let alone sing. In fact,Big Alscores precisely because it takes a resolutely low-key, restrained and intelligent approach to a subject that can all too often end up being sentimentalised.The programme contains two separate half-hour segments originally transmitted asWalking With Dinosaurs"specials" The first is a biopic of Big Al, the allosaurus whose remarkably complete skeleton, found in Wyoming in 1991, allowed scientists to piece together an accurate picture of the creature's life. We follow Al from his hatching out of an egg, then at regular stages through his development into an almost fully grown adult. Almost being the operative word since, since after suffering a series of injuries Al becomes too ill to hunt and suffers an arbitrary, unspectacular demise (all the more believable and touching for it) in late adolescence.The second programme is a "making of" documentary, showing how scientists analysed Al's bones and came up with a plausible series of adventures for him. It's easy to forget that these recreations can only be educated supposition--the camerawork and narration (by Kenneth Branagh) exactly mimic actual wildlife documentaries about living species, while the computer-generated depiction of the dinosaurs is never less than utterly convincing. We're in danger of taking this kind of dazzling FX work for granted, butBig Alfreshens it up by putting it at the service of a well-structured, very specific narrative.The programme doesn't hold back on realities of the Jurassic period's harsh, kill-or-be-killed ecosystem, but while it carries an official warning about "mild wildlife horror",Big Alsensibly never dwells on the gory stuff. The most graphic section is also, strangely, the most alluring, as a hungry pack of Allosaurs patiently stalk a herd of colossal Diplodocus across a dry salt lake. The images of these enormous creatures trotting and lumbering along against a stark white background have a surreal, dreamy beauty--the spell abruptly broken when an ailing Diplodocus collapses, exhausted, and the ravenous Allosaurs quickly move in for their bloody feast. --Neil Young
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The Ballad of Big Almanages the tricky feat of making the viewer feel concern--even ... more
sympathy--for a 10m-long, razor-fanged carnivorous predator, an Allosaurus from 145,000,000 years ago. That it does so without resorting to Disney tactics makes its achievement all the more admirable--despite the title, these creatures thankfully don't even speak, let alone sing. In fact,Big Alscores precisely because it takes a resolutely low-key, restrained and intelligent approach to a subject that can all too often end up being sentimentalised.The programme contains two separate half-hour segments originally transmitted asWalking With Dinosaurs"specials" The first is a biopic of Big Al, the allosaurus whose remarkably complete skeleton, found in Wyoming in 1991, allowed scientists to piece together an accurate picture of the creature's life. We follow Al from his hatching out of an egg, then at regular stages through his development into an almost fully grown adult. Almost being the operative word since, since after suffering a series of injuries Al becomes too ill to hunt and suffers an arbitrary, unspectacular demise (all the more believable and touching for it) in late adolescence.The second programme is a "making of" documentary, showing how scientists analysed Al's bones and came up with a plausible series of adventures for him. It's easy to forget that these recreations can only be educated supposition--the camerawork and narration (by Kenneth Branagh) exactly mimic actual wildlife documentaries about living species, while the computer-generated depiction of the dinosaurs is never less than utterly convincing. We're in danger of taking this kind of dazzling FX work for granted, butBig Alfreshens it up by putting it at the service of a well-structured, very specific narrative.The programme doesn't hold back on realities of the Jurassic period's harsh, kill-or-be-killed ecosystem, but while it carries an official warning about "mild wildlife horror",Big Alsensibly never dwells on the gory stuff. The most graphic section is also, strangely, the most alluring, as a hungry pack of Allosaurs patiently stalk a herd of colossal Diplodocus across a dry salt lake. The images of these enormous creatures trotting and lumbering along against a stark white background have a surreal, dreamy beauty--the spell abruptly broken when an ailing Diplodocus collapses, exhausted, and the ravenous Allosaurs quickly move in for their bloody feast. --Neil Young
Postage & Packaging:£1.21 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Superb Graphic completely complementing the superb BBC Documentary Style Disadvantages: May too violent for the more sensitive and small children
...dream.
Walking With Dinosaurs makes that distant world as real and natural as images from today's Serengeti. Tracing the 160 million year history of dinosaurs, from their first appearance to their abrupt demise, this series marks a watershed in television imagery.
A combination of classic natural history techniques, leading edge computer technology and animatronics, and the latest scientific findings recreate the sights ... ...brings to life the mystery and excitement of the age when the reptiles roamed our planet"
=================
The series was originally broadcast in 1999 and consisted of six 30 minute episodes, covering 160 million years from the genesis of dinosaurs to their eventual extinction and the advent of mammals. This is a two disk set and includes extra "making of" footage taking the running time to almost four ... more
Despite my rant about the BBC License fee, the Beeb does manage to produce some corking programs, both educational and fictional. Since Jurassic Park in 1993 computer generated imaging has come on in leaps and bounds, helped by the huge increases in computer processing power. This DVD falls firmly into the "edutainment" category, being fairly educational and entertaining at the same time. I think they wanted David Attenborough to narrate this , but he declined, so they drafted in Kenneth Brannagh, who does a passable Attenborough imitation.
The back of the DVD contains the following blurb:
================================="Imagine you could witness a prehistoric sunset - imagine you are watching insectivorous pterosaurs chase moths in the moist evening air and bull triceratops lock horns over a female. This is no longer a dream.
Walking With Dinosaurs makes that distant world as real and natural as images from today's Serengeti. Tracing the 160 million year history of dinosaurs, from their first appearance to their abrupt demise, this series marks a watershed in television imagery.
A combination of classic natural history techniques, leading edge computer technology and animatronics, and the latest scientific findings recreate the sights and sounds of an endlessly fascinating era. Walking With Dinosaurs brings to life the mystery and excitement of the age when the reptiles roamed our planet"
===========The series was originally broadcast in 1999 and consisted of six 30 minute episodes, covering 160 million years from the genesis of dinosaurs to their eventual extinction and the advent of mammals. This is a two disk set and includes extra "making of" footage taking the running time to almost four hours. As you watch the DVDs you can select a little picture in picture cameos that explain how sequences were shot, all very interesting.
The cinematography is stunning, and you have to remember that these are computer generated images, not real creatures. The landscapes, are stunning and you believe that what you are seeing really exists (or existed). Some of the scenes contain graphic violence as the carnivores tear apart their prey , or graphic er , "je ne sais quoi", as dinosaurs take a sizeable poo or wee.
There are plenty of cute small creatures, but often they meet their ends at the hands (or rather teeth filled jaws) of the more vicious creatures. Most children will love it but it may be advisable for an adult to vet it before letting smaller children watch this. The original series was broadcast at 8:30 on Monday night and repeated the following Sunday tea time, so the Beeb didn't deem it too violent , and I don't think there were too many complaints.
Because , by it's nature, it is episodic, it's great to just dip into a single episode when you feel like it, so you can have the birth of the dinosaurs one day, sea dwelling ones next, the day in the life of the T Rex the next and so on, you don't need to watch it in one sitting, and it is a disc you will watch again and again.
It is a fantastic reference disc, but again , you have to remember that this is someone's idea of what actually happened. The series did come in for some criticism because some experts disagreed with how situations were portrayed, but who is to say who is right.?
The two disc set retails at around 25 GBP but with a little searching you can get it cheaper.
As I have said this is a great example of the sort of thing that the BBC does really well, and producing more of this sort of thing would generate a huge amount of income. If you have a DVD player this should be a essential purchase for you collection
Walking With Dinosaurs" is the kind of documentary that digital and other high tech methods of animation were made for! Granted, Spielberg used some similar methods to good effect in his dino-films "Jurassic Park" and "Lost World," but "Walking With Dinosaurs" is the current apex of animation technology for exctinct animals, and used for education, too!
I sat in awe as I watched these six wonderful segments on the natural history of dinosaurs produced ... ...on marine reptiles -- a group that receives relatively little press, since they're not dinos, and since they don't interact with most peoples' favorites, like T. rex, Allosaurus, or Stegosaurus, etc. Never had I seen recreations of dinosaurs that were as life-like and convincing (except for the occasional animatronic effect) as the ones in this video. Watching these segments about different time periods, places, and groups of dinosaurs I was once ...
ros145 12.08.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Walking With Dinosaurs (DVD)
Advantages: Great Family entertainment Disadvantages: May be too gory for younger audience
This is an interesting melding of education and entertainment - a documentary about dinosaurs made as if it were a David Attenborough programme. There is inevitably a great deal of speculation which ends up masquerading as fact, but if you take it with a pinch of salt, this still manages to be engrossing and informative at the same time. The programme stands or falls on its animation, and it is often amazingly
good. The underwater "footage" is particularly ... ...I found particularly unconvincing, though this may have something to do with their familiarity from Jurassic Park. The few mammals that make an appearance tend to look more like cuddly toys than living creatures, since the computers seem to have struggled to represent fur as opposed to scaly skin. But, for all the nitpicking that can be done, this is still a remarkable achievement, not least for its ability to span a huge age group in its audience. ...
glwgardner 09.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Walking With Dinosaurs (DVD)
Advantages: Great learning experience for all ages.With lasting appeal. Disadvantages: Im 19 from london and I parted with my cash to buy this DVD.
Making learning about the past a great experience. They have the indepth knowledge to be able to to enlighten older audiences and the captivating action and special effects to give children an amazing impression of nature. The DVD is brililant. The runing time is 230 mins and htis is spread over lots of chapters . In each chapter you can jump to 6 locations during the shoot and if this is good enough the special feature includes extra footage of ... ...final product show. The special effects just amke the whole documentary come to life - you can get more real than that. It was fun and well the only downsie that I could see was the unfortuanly clumsy interface and having to sit thru a 3 min introduction until you can start to see the series.
Althgouh clumsy is all I mean - the menu screen is amazing as it is alight with the dinosaurs throughout the show performing games around the camera. ...
hamsterchaos 05.08.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Walking With Dinosaurs (DVD)
Advantages: educational, adventerous Disadvantages: a little violent for small children
...how people portray them.
Walking With Dinosaurs shows how dinosaurs really lived back then. It shows how they would act and defend themselves. It is very educational and filled with interesting facts for kids and adults of all ages. It really expands our minds and our knowledge. We can walk with those dinosaurs as they hunt, lay eggs, bring up their young, how they feed, defensive manuevers and strategies, and much more. This is an adventerous series ... ...It just brings the animals to life.
It is wonderfully narrated and very accurate. It really portrays the life of the dinosaurs. It shows the dangers, the triumphs, and the defeats. I really appreciated this. The directors portrayed these well and really captured their movements and features. Do you want to find out great facts about the dinosaurs? Do you want to know what kind of dinosaurs there were? Have you ever wondered what it would be like ...
reader101 27.04.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Walking With Dinosaurs (DVD)
This is the BBC's best documentary to date, not only is it highly informative and educational but it also features some of the best computer animations seen around. They have produced this as thought they built a time machine and took a film crew back to the time when the dinosaurs were the kings of the earth. Tim Haines, the producer of the series spent year researching and talking to hundreds of experts to ensure that the material that is presented ... ...was really like with the dinosaurs. The series is broken down into six programs, each dealing with a different era during the dinosaur's time on earth, starting with the introduction to the planet and ending with their extinction after a comet collided with earth. Each one is 30 minutes in length and all are of exactly the same high standards making it the most successful documentary the BBC has ever produced. The ratings the show achieved last year ...
Antony_Murray 04.08.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Walking With Dinosaurs (DVD)
Exclusive Behind The Scenes Picture in Picture Sequences, Directors Commentary, Additional Graphics, Animated Menu
Sound
Dolby Digital Stereo
Dubbing Sound
Dolby Digital Stereo English
DVD Description
Learn all about the dinosaurs and how they ate, fought, mated, and more. High-tech animatronics and computer graphics are used to bring the world of the dinosaurs to life, in this popular documentary series. Includes six episodes featuring the most up-to-date discoveries, narrated by Kenneth Branagh. Made in association with The Discovery Channel.
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