Walking with Dinosaurs 

Documentary-style series about the era of the dinosaurs, mixing real locations and CGI.

Stars:

Kenneth Branagh, Avery Brooks, André Dussollier

Won 3 Primetime Emmys. Another 11 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Kenneth Branagh	...	Narrator 7 episodes, 1999

Storyline

Using the latest technology the amazing lost world of the Cretaceous, Triassic and Jurassic periods of Earth's history, when the dinosaurs reigned supreme, is brought stunningly back to life. The series provides insights into how these mammoth creatures appeared, how they survived for millions of years and probes the mysteries of their sudden disappearance leaving only a fossil record to show they had ever existed!

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Plot Keywords:

dinosaur | triassic | jurassic | cretaceous | howie scream | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Animation | History

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Official Sites:

BBC [UK] Discovery Channel

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 April 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Akolouthontas tous deinosavrous

Filming Locations:

Bahamas

Box Office

Budget:

£6,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

BBC Natural History Unit (NHU), Impossible Pictures, Discovery Channel

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min (6 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Stereo Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to BBC, the series "is the first major example of global brand marketing in the factual area". Though ostensibly an educational program, it was important to promote it as a commercial product and create a line of ancillary merchandise, such as toys, books or CDs to guarantee high profits. Selling the endeavor to licensing partners was difficult, as they had consistently kept referring back to Jurassic Park and didn't initially understand how the series differed from it.

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Goofs

Every pterosaur (flying reptile) in the series folds its wings incorrectly -- sideways. The bone structure only allowed these animals to turn their hands outwards to the sides, rather than frontwards, and this allowed them to neatly fold back their long, wing-supporting fingers, but not to the side.

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Alternate Versions

The original UK version, shown on BBC, and the US version, shown on Discovery Channel, differ in various aspects:

• Kenneth Branagh does the narration for the UK version, Avery Brooks for the US version
• UK version is presented in 6 episodes à 30 minutes, US version is shown as a 3-hour special
• US version is cut for gore

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Connections

Spin-off Walking with Dinosaurs: Prehistoric Planet (2014)

User Reviews

Mind blowing

The concept behind this series is so brilliant, you wonder why nobody thought of it before. Do a dinosaur documentary, but do it in the style of, say, "Mutual of Omaha's Wild America" or something.

The result is astonishing.

The thing is, you end up not marveling at the special effects but at the fact that *you do not notice the effects*. You'd swear the filmakers really did go to the future Petrified Forest to get their footage. It's unreal.

Simply put, this is what "Disney's Dinosaur" had mad delusions of being.

There were, granted, a few scenes that had me going "I... don't... know..." (most notably the mother sauropod laying her eggs with an ovipositor that'd shame the "Aliens" queen and then leaving them there), and the music tends to be *very* hyperdramatic. All complaints aside, this is true movie magic. And who can complain about that?

Note to teachers: In case you're thinking of showing this to the kids, I'd give this a PG-13. It isn't any more violent than your average animal documentary, but there's quite a bit of -gasp!- saurian sex.