Dinosaur Planet – A Retrospective Review

[Infinity Blade]

One of our former members has also taken a liking to reading my reviews on this forum. I no longer always feel so constrained to review documentaries on their anniversaries, so I have taken the liberty of reviewing another Discovery Channel banger, Dinosaur Planet.

Dinosaur Planet aired in 2003. Like When Dinosaurs Roamed America, it capitalized on the success of Walking with Dinosaurs, and proved to be a memorable documentary in its own right. So without further ado, it's time to review it!



Directory:

- White Tip's Journey->
- Little Das' Hunt->
- Alpha's Egg->
- Pod's Travels->
- Overall verdict->

[Infinity Blade]

White Tip’s Journey

• Every episode of Dinosaur Planet starts with this intro detailing the main character’s conflict. This episode is about a lone female Velociraptor named White Tip.
  
  Right off the bat, I want to clarify Velociraptor was not 100 lbs like Christian Slater (cool narrator btw) says here. It was more like 15 kg (33 lbs). Much higher estimates exist for other specimens (for example, Greg Paul in his Princeton Field Guide puts it at 25 kg), but none in the 100 lb range.
• Also, the show’s logo is Earth with the top half overlaid by the back of a Stegosaurus. Ironically, Stegosaurus never appears in this show. In fact, this series takes place entirely within the Cretaceous. I’m grateful for what we got, but depending on how you look at it, it’s either a shame the writers chose not to look at the Jurassic or Triassic, or that they didn’t do more episodes that cover those periods.
• Although the story takes place 80 million years ago, Velociraptor is known more around 75-71 million years ago. Mongolia as the setting is spot-on, though.
• This is, in my opinion, the best depiction of Velociraptor in popular culture media, and certainly in paleo media. And yes, the fact that it’s extensively feathered and looks relatively close to what a real Velociraptor looked like has a lot to do with that (it could use actual wing feathers on the forelimbs and seems to have inaccurate pronated hands, but that’s about it). It’s feathery, not very big, and just…a realistic animal, really (given how raptors are usually portrayed in pop culture, this is a surprisingly big ask). But at the same time, it’s still given the respect it deserves as a predator. It’s even called “pound for pound one of the most terrifying predators” in the intro. The show doesn’t care that the Velociraptor has a feathery coat. It does care that it’s swift, agile, and has teeth and claws.
• The titular White Tip is on her own after her original pack was killed four days earlier by a rival pack. I don’t believe there’s any direct evidence that Velociraptor itself lived in packs, although there is some evidence of gregariousness in dromaeosaurids as a whole.
  
  She eventually comes across a pair of playing Prenocephale. These pachycephalosaurs make weird bellowing noises, the origins of which I am not sure of. I can’t tell if they’re taken straight from some modern animal or if they were just artificially synthesized. When they’re not making these bellowing noises, however, they can be heard making tiger growls. A bit weird now that I think about it, but I’m not complaining.
• Speaking of other kinda-strange animal sfx decisions, White Tip makes some cougar noises after she’s headbutted by a Prenocephale (in case you’re wondering, she leaves them alone after two others get in the fray). Again, not a complaint.
• One other thing about the Prenocephale: they’re not quite in the right time period. Prenocephale was found in the Nemegt Formation, which dates to the Maastrichtian. The Djadochta Formation that this episode is clearly based on dates to the Campanian, meaning Prenocephale would actually have lived a bit after the other dinosaurs seen in this episode.
• Velociraptor is portrayed struggling as a solitary hunter, which I don’t think is fair. Apart from the fact that we don’t even have direct evidence that Velociraptor itself hunted in packs, Velociraptor could always hunt small prey, even if large prey provided a serious physical challenge. In fact, judging from its skull morphology that’s probably what it was primarily hunting anyway (and lo and behold, White Tip is shown going after a lizard at one point).
• White Tip then stumbles upon a breeding cohort of Oviraptor. This is not only my favorite depiction of Oviraptor in any media, but they’re also my favorite dinosaurs in this episode.
  
  Their feathery coats are aesthetically pleasing and at the same time make them look more “built” than if they were naked (compare Dinosaur Planet’s Oviraptor-> to the Oviraptor from Disney's Dinosaur->). But don’t let their feathers fool you. These things are depicted as tough rivals to Velociraptor and fierce predators in their own right. And with their powerful bites, oviraptorids could very well have taken small prey as a supplement to an admittedly mostly herbivorous diet (Meade & Ma, 2022). Lastly, their honks/bellows (whatever you want to call them) can be loud and do a good job at making them intimidating. Who knew slowed-down goose honks combined with a walrus bellow would sound so good? Well, whoever thought that idea up, obviously.
  
  We see an agonistic encounter between two males for a female, which is composed of wing displays in the form of a “come at me” pose (the wings are better than the Velociraptor’s, but could still use feathers stemming from the third digit) and honking vocalizations. This is a good way to show a fight between two dinosaurs without there being bloodshed. Make no mistake, I love seeing intense physical fights between prehistoric animals more than the next guy, but there are more levels of agonistic behavior than just that. Not everything has to be a death battle, or even a serious fight, and not everything in real life is or was.
  
  When one of the males loses, he notices White Tip and takes his rage out on her, who promptly flees. Christian Bale tells us Oviraptor are twice the size of Velociraptor. Depending on which exact weight estimates you believe, this could indeed be the case. One study estimates O. philoceratops at 33-40 kg (Werner & Griebeler, 2013). The contemporary Citipati, which many specimens formerly referred to Oviraptor now belong to, was definitely much bigger, at 75 kg (Paul, 2016).
• Speaking of Citipati, we need to briefly talk about the situation between it and Oviraptor.
  
  Although Oviraptor is a valid genus, there actually aren’t that many specimens that are referable to it. A lot of specimens initially referred to Oviraptor were subsequently moved to the genus Citipati. This includes the famous “egg thief” specimen (link->). TVTropes suggests that it’s safer to think of these oviraptorids as Citipati, since it’s known from much more specimens that were formerly referred to Oviraptor. Therefore, a lot of what we imagine when we think of Oviraptor actually comes from Citipati. Whether or not you agree with said suggestion is up to you.
• I noticed that White Tip sometimes makes audible vocalizations without her mouth even being open. That’s oddly unintentionally accurate.
• White Tip tumbles into a Protoceratops mating pair’s nest, and the (supposedly one-eyed, never really apparent, though) male ends up chasing her more than it needs to (Slater even says he chases her “well out of his territory”). The Protoceratops, interestingly, does not gallop. Instead its running gait is a quick trot that looks almost comical. But Protoceratops is more than small enough that if it were depicted galloping, I would have no problem with it.
  
  They also make noises that I recognize from elephants or other large mammals. Which is kind of weird to be honest. If you’re going to make any ceratopsian make those noises in a documentary, choose a Triceratops.
• White Tip actually ends up getting chased into another bull (boar? What should we call a male Protoceratops?) Protoceratops’ territory. While this could easily have turned into even more of an “oh crap” moment for White Tip than it already was, the bull turns his attention to the other Protoceratops that was chasing White Tip, who hides behind some logs and dried foliage for a show.
• “Protoceratops are about the size of sheep, and just as docile”.
  
  Are you sure about that? These ones seem like a bunch of assholes.
• Although the intruding one-eyed bull (who isn’t actually one-eyed, this is just an informed flaw) chooses to walk away, the resident bull Protoceratops actually charges and headbutts his rival. Even when it looks like the intruder is about to fight back, he just turns away and gets rammed in the shoulder again. The resident bull rams the intruder repeatedly until the latter limps away and slumps to the ground, visibly bleeding from its mouth. See? These Protoceratops are just brutal.
  
  It also got me wondering how hard a Protoceratops could headbutt another animal. Both species have something of a small nasal bump/horn (although, in P. hellenikorhinus, there are two small nasal horns side-by-side that are better developed than the bump in P. andrewsi), and I wouldn’t be surprised if it could be used for some degree of headbutting/shoving function. How much stress could the skull take?
  
  Regardless, we know for a fact that Protoceratops used its mouth as a weapon. With muscular jaws and a sharp hooked beak, this thing would have been able to inflict nasty injuries with that too. I’m surprised DP doesn’t depict Protoceratops biting each other.
• Anyway, the bull is weakened enough for White Tip to kill and finally get a much-needed meal.
• One of Dinosaur Planet’s unique aspects are brief cutaway segments featuring paleontologist Scott Sampson explaining some things we see in the show. Here, he explains how bird-like Velociraptor and its kin were, and how different the real one was from its Jurassic Park counterpart. Something people even to this day will probably recoil in horror from.
  
  Because this is a Discovery Channel show, these segments will actually recycle footage from other Discovery Channel paleo documentaries, including When Dinosaurs Roamed America.
• A not-so-random pack of Velociraptor finds a pair of Oviraptor feasting on Protoceratops eggs. DP definitely knows that the whole “Oviraptor was an egg thief” thing is incorrect, but at the same time, is it really implausible to think Oviraptor might have been opportunistic and eaten other dinosaur eggs at times?
• The pack avoids a fight with the Oviraptor (seriously, I just love how they’re portrayed as badasses), but the raptors find a fresh blood trail…leading straight to White Tip’s Protoceratops carcass (turns out that Protoceratops left quite an extensive blood trail). Because it’s 4 on 1, White Tip yields dips on the carcass to the pack, but this presents her with an opportunity to join a new pack. Because if you can’t beat them, join them.
• Slater stresses how important the timing is for White Tip to make a move on the pack. Surely enough, one of the two males, Blue Brow, is receptive to her. However, this disturbs the hierarchy of the pack and the other male (and the actual leader of the pack), Broken Hand, body slams White Tip into the ground and fights Blue Brow.
  
  Before I continue, let me just say that I like how the animators went out of their way to make the two distinguishable. Not only does Broken Hand have, well, a broken hand, but he also has scars on his face that Blue Brow lacks. And the blue color on his neck feathers is more faded and less extensive than Blue Brow’s. Broken Hand is obviously the older, more grizzled male of the two. The females are pretty much indistinguishable, though, including White Tip.
• Blue Brow wins the fight and Broken Hand leaves. This part confuses me: why does Broken Hand have to leave? Velociraptor packs in this universe are not like lion prides. It’s clearly established that there can be more than one adult male Velociraptor in a pack in the DP-verse, given how Blue Brow was already an established member even before his victory. So why can’t Broken Hand just stay in the pack, but as Blue Brow’s subordinate now?
  
  A more consistent way to write this would be more akin to what we see in the Australopithecus tribe in Walking with Beasts. The dominant male for most of the relevant episode, Grey, loses to a younger adult male named Hercules in their rematch. Despite this, Grey continues to be a member of the group, just now as a subordinate to Hercules.
• Another aside: Dinosaur Planet will often play music in the background that reflects the geographic region the episode takes place in. In this episode, you will hear “exotic” Eastern music or something. It’s a neat addition, although I don’t know which exact country it’s actually supposed to come from.
• Anyway, White Tip is now a member of the pack, but must prove herself a competent predator to truly establish herself. The pack targets a herd of Protoceratops; two of the females distract them while Blue Brow and White Tip steal eggs from them. This is an interesting opportunistic behavior they depicted here.
• 3 months later, White Tip lays eggs sired by Blue Brow. She foregoes hunting to guard her clutch, leaving the other three pack members to hunt for a Shuvuuia (which Slater pronounces as “Shoo-vee-uh”; Scott Sampson later provides the correct pronunciation, “Shoo-voo-ee-uh”). Unfortunately, the Shuvuuia spots them before Blue Brow initiates the attack, and it’s easily able to stay many, many steps ahead of the Velociraptor. Appropriate: alvarezsaurids were specialized cursorial theropods with very long lower legs for their size and shock-absorbing arctometatarsalian feet. Velociraptor, despite being a small, lithe animal, actually had relatively short lower legs for its size (Persons & Currie, 2016). The trade off is that while it was not a particularly cursorial theropod for its size (although, this does not mean it was slow), it had relatively stocky legs for restraining struggling prey (and it would have been more of a sprinter than marathon runner too).
• The Shuvuuia stops for a moment, then continues running. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look where it’s going, because an Oviraptor comes out of nowhere to kill it. rip
• When Scott Sampson talks to the viewer about Oviraptor, he has what looks like the skull of Anzu, a caenagnathid, with him for demonstration. I know its remains were found long before it was actually given its present genus name; maybe that included the skull?
• White Tip turns her back on her clutch for one moment on a Deltatheridium (a fierce little carnivore and interesting thing of interest in its own right), and Broken Hand eats a few of her eggs under her nose (luckily, three eggs hatch, and White Tip is now a mother). I forgot that Broken Hand has any other significance in this episode other than getting kicked out and dying on his own. Fittingly, he does one more thing to cause problems for the main character…
• …before he dies. Yeah, he gets bullied by a herd of Prenocephale, getting headbutted twice onscreen. Broken Hand is either killed by the pachycephalosaurs or dies of his wounds, and his corpse is seen by the pack later.
• Things go kind of well for White Tip after she brings home an Oviraptor hatchling for her chicks, and rain falls. According to the narration, the downpour hasn’t been this copious for a whole century. Seeing the dinosaurs relaxing under the rain is quite nice to see after all the brutal action and death we’ve been seeing throughout the episode.
• The pack goes out hunting again, only this time after adult Protoceratops. Throughout this entire episode, Velociraptor have usually been going after prey that pose little, if any physical threat. This includes a lizard, a mammal (Deltatheridium), a heavily injured Protoceratops, a Shuvuuia, Protoceratops eggs, and Oviraptor chicks. Whenever they did go after dangerous prey, they didn’t fare so well, particularly alone (i.e. White Tip, and later Broken Hand, against multiple Prenocephale). But this time? It’s adult, healthy Protoceratops, and the Velociraptor are indeed a force to be reckoned with. Overall, I’m quite content with how Dinosaur Planet portrays Velociraptor’s opportunism and choice of prey. It’s not gutting rhino-sized dinosaurs all the time, but it’s not incapable of hunting prey larger than itself either (although, its reliance on a pack to competently hunt detracts from it).
• It’s also interesting to note how the Velociraptor attack the Protoceratops. First, they leap onto their backs, which sounds pretty typical for how raptors are portrayed. But then they use all four limbs (clawed forelimbs and hindlimbs) to hold on, while they bite away using their mouths. Yes, surprisingly, Dinosaur Planet avoids the “slashing sickle claw” trope. It’s not inconceivable a Velociraptor would slash and rake with its claws, but Dinosaur Planet doesn’t really do that here. In fact, this is how I imagine a dromaeosaurid would attack a prey item that is larger than itself. Cool to see it was actually animated long before I even came to this conclusion.
• Blue Brow tumbles down some dunes with a bull Protoceratops he encountered before, with the rest of his pack (except White Tip) following. The Protoceratops bites down on his arm. The two struggle before finally, dunes saturated with water from the rain tumble down and bury everyone alive.
  
  If you’re a paleo-nerd, you know what this is…
• You can even see the sand moving from underneath after the dunes fall. The dinosaurs caught in it are struggling to get out but won’t due to the sheer mass of all the sand on them.
• Despite how the narrator frames it, White Tip is actually in an even worse position than she was at the beginning of the episode, at least in the short run. Yes, her chicks will grow up to become a formidable pack…if White Tip can keep them all alive, that is. But for now, only White Tip is able to hunt, meaning she is in the same situation as in the start of the episode except she now has more mouths to feed.
• So yeah, Blue Brow is one half of the Fighting Dinosaurs in this universe. In Dinosaur Planet, the fight is depicted in broad daylight. Because Velociraptor is thought to have been nocturnal, and Protoceratops cathemeral (based on studies of their sclerotic rings), it is also plausible that the fight could have occurred in twilight or low-conditions (Schmitz & Motani, 2011). I know of only one depiction that depicts the fight during night. To those who wish to do it in the future: don’t be afraid to depict them fighting in the dead of night.
  
  To add to Scott Sampson’s description of the fossil, one of the raptor’s foot claws is literally at the ceratopsian’s neck. Yeesh.

Final verdict:

This episode deserves praise for its depiction of Velociraptor, a famous yet often misunderstood dinosaur species. They are the best feathered dromaeosaurids in this series (the Pyroraptor in “Pod’s Travels” are significantly inferior). Their overall behavior, at least in terms of hunting and opportunism, is also reasonable, with both weak and strong prey being targeted. Some questionable narrative aspects involving the Velociraptor exist here and there (like why Broken Hand has to leave, and the framing of the end as a relatively happy one), but it’s an overall good job.

The other species deserve mention here too. The Oviraptor are just the best, full stop. They are probably the most menacing dinosaurs featured in this episode, despite their reputation as mere egg thieves. They also just go to show you that if you really came across a big dangerous animal, you’re not going to give two shits about the fact that it has feathers. The Protoceratops and Shuvuuia also look nice, and the latter’s inclusion is a pleasant surprise.

So overall, this episode is still a pretty solid watch.

[creature386]

OMG, YOU'RE DOING DINOSAUR PLANET NOW!

It's amazing that, even after all those years, I still remember what I felt watching this episode. Back when I was small, I was already vaguely aware of some paleo tropes. I was shocked by the sheer amount of badassery the Oviraptors here demonstrated, especially compared to the Velociraptors (who are normally depicted as unstoppable; this episode shows them as anything but). Likewise, I'm glad that this episode introduced me to feathered killing machines while I was still young. Because even then, I already had to deal with all those "feathers are lame!" sorts of people. I do think they somewhat downplayed the Velociraptors. As you said, they were likely more than capable solo predators. But that shouldn't detract from the beautiful storyline. White Tip (along with Pod or Littlefoot) was probably one of my favorite fictional characters, period, when I was about ten. (Can't wait to see you cover Pod's Travels...)

P.S.

Apr 24, 2022 7:31:46 GMT 5 Infinity Blade said:

In fact, this series takes place entirely within the Cretaceous. I’m grateful for what we got, but depending on how you look at it, it’s either a shame the writers chose not to look at the Jurassic or Triassic, or that they didn’t do more episodes that cover those periods.

In Germany, this doc is called "The Last Years of the Dinosaurs" which, given the time period covered, is probably very appropriate (although only one episode is even tangential to the extinction.

[Infinity Blade]

Apr 25, 2022 1:40:31 GMT 5 creature386 said:

Can't wait to see you cover Pod's Travels...

I think I have my work cut out for me when I review that one. Quite a lot of taxonomic stuff and identity problems to address, in addition to other types of inaccuracies. Same applies to a lesser extent with “Alpha’s Egg”.

[Infinity Blade]

Little Das’ Hunt

• Ahhh…yessss…my favorite episode.
• The episode begins with an amazing track that takes inspiration from Native American music. There is at least one other bit of music that partly does so in this episode, and I absolutely adore it.
• I think the Orodromeus looks okay for the most part? Its hands look pronated (which is a no-no), and maybe it could use a feathery coat like Kulindadromeus (which modern reconstructions give it). For some reason there seem to be teeth sticking out of its upper beak, but other than that it looks quite nice.
• Azhdarchids make an appearance in this episode, but boy are they done dirty. These azhdarchids are identified as Quetzalcoatlus. Slater is right that Quetzalcoatlus were the last of the pterosaurs (or rather, one of the many last), but Quetzalcoatlus doesn’t come until much later (~68-66 mya). There are two azhdarchids from the Two Medicine Formation, namely Montanazhdarcho and an unnamed giant form with an 8 meter wingspan (link->). Slater claims these “Quetzalcoatlus” to have 21 foot wingspans, which is about right for the unnamed giant form I mentioned. However, this is woefully inadequate for the real Quetzalcoatlus; its wingspan was 10-11 meters (33-36 feet) (Witton set al., 2010).
• And then there’s the “pterosaurs outcompeted by birds” thing…oh boy.
  
  There’s quite a lot I to say about this. First, Mesozoic birds and pterosaurs show evidence of occupying different morphospaces, suggesting that they occupied different niches. This renders competitive exclusion of pterosaurs by birds unlikely (Butler et al., 2009).
  
  Second, although most people’s idea of a late Maastrichtian pterosaur is an azhdarchid (myself included, admittedly), other families also persisted into this time period. Nyctosaurids and pteranodontids survived to the late Maastrichtian. Not only this, but late Maastrichtian pterosaurs actually show greater niche occupation than did pterosaurs in the Santonian to Campanian, outcompeting birds at larger body sizes (Longrich et al., 2018).
  
  Lastly, a recent study found that juveniles of large and giant pterosaur species increasingly occupied the niches of small pterosaur species (from the Triassic and Jurassic) during the Late Cretaceous. It was these juvenile pterosaurs, not birds, that were occupying these small bodied niches (Smith et al., 2021). So in conclusion, no, pterosaurs were not outcompeted by birds. They were doing just fine until that giant space rock hit.
• Although it’s excusable for the time, today we would also give these pterosaurs pycnofibers.
• The azhdarchids are also said to be preferential piscivores. They are now understood to be terrestrial predators of small prey…which could easily include something like Orodromeus.
• The soundtrack playing as the Orodromeus graze (I hope that’s not grass) and the sentry keeps watch evokes a majestic feel. In context, it’s very neat.
• Three troodontids stalk the herd in the trees. As is generally the case with the maniraptorans in this show, they certainly look okay, at least for the time. Any issues are pretty much the same as with the Velociraptor in the previous episode (e.g. needs full, proper wing feathers).
  
  The troodontid known from the Two Medicine Formation is actually currently unnamed, but it is simply called Troodon (now considered dubious; we would call it Stenonychosaurus now) here. For the time, this was acceptable.
• Although the troodontids are presented as formidable, intelligent, and stealthy hunters, this is not their day. The Orodromeus spot them and outrun them, while the troodontids eventually flee due to jets of superheat steam bursting from underground (even directly hitting and killing one). Oof.
• Maiasaura (Slater at first calls them “Maiasaurus”) is actually known from a slightly older (>76 Ma) stratigraphic unit (lithofacies 4) in the Two Medicine Formation than depicted here (75 Ma). At the time of this episode, they were most likely already extinct. Daspletosaurus and Einiosaurus, however, fit in this setting.
• I have to give credit to Dinosaur Planet for this: the hadrosaurs don’t have duck bills. Instead they have the upper beak edges point downwards like they would have in life. It’s a common mistake to depict them like flat duck beaks.
  
  Any complaints I might have are limited to the forelimbs. They look just a tad too skinny (though, maybe I’m wrong on that), and the hands look pronated.
• Two juveniles, Buck and Blaze (male and female, respectively), wander away from the herd. Meanwhile, the titular character, Little Das, is watching them.
  
  Although Little Das is a juvenile Daspletosaurus, he is just a scaled-down version of his larger sisters and mother. Of course, most paleo-nerds nowadays are familiar with the radically different morphology that juvenile tyrannosaurids had compared to the adults. Das should be overall more gracile, leggier, and have a more elongated, lower skull (see Fig. 1-> from Voris et al. (2019) to see what the skull of the only known juvenile Daspletosaurus looks like).
• Das roars like a lion (literally just a lion roar) before promptly attacking Buck and Blaze. He could have just charged at them with mouth agape without making a noise, but okay.
• The young, but fast running Das chases Buck and Blaze to his bigger but slower older sisters, who in turn chase them to their adult, but even slower mother.
  
  Now that I think about it, this is not that uncommon of a trope in paleo-media. Planet Dinosaur has juvenile Daspletosaurus chasing a Chasmosaurus with the bigger, slower adults following suit. When Dinosaurs Roamed America had two fast-running juvenile T. rex chase an Edmontosaurus to their adult mother. An obscure Science Channel documentary called Mammals vs Dinos showed the same thing (and surprisingly, it’s the only example here that actually shows the differences in build between adults and juveniles).
  
  Do I think it’s plausible? I don’t think juvenile tyrannosaurids would need to rely on their parents very much, given that they were superprecocial animals that could hunt by themselves and even seem to have occupied the medium-sized carnivore niche wherever they existed. So I don’t think juveniles and adults hunting together would be related to each other. However, I think it’s likely tyrannosaurid individuals could opportunistically band together for one particular hunting episode to maximize their chances of success (like how crocodiles and Komodo dragons do). Could that include unrelated adults and juveniles working together for the time being? I don’t know. I asked my followers on Twitter this very question, and the responses seem quite divided. In any case, I don’t think the family and hunting structure here is accurate. At the age he’s at, Little Das should be more than capable of hunting on his own, even if it’s different prey from what his mother would be eating.
• As Das’ mother approaches Buck and Blaze to bite one of them (the former), she shows she’s capable of a slow run. Not quite as fast as her two daughters, and certainly not as fast as Das, but still a run. Keep this in mind for later*.
• Dinosaur Planet has amazing giant theropod roars. They’re some of the coolest I’ve ever heard, full stop. Although they’re reused for giant tetanurans in general, it’s an awesome sound that conveys the majesty and ferociousness of these animals well (it’s basically an elephant trumpet mixed with a lion roar).
  
  Now, I know you’re probably thinking to yourself “but Infinity Blade, dinosaurs didn’t roar”. And true, perhaps these roars are a stretch. But as with many things in reality, there’s some nuance to be had here. Crocodilians can make sounds very similar to, if not flat out called, roars. What exactly makes a loud, deep cry from a crocodile not a roar, but a loud, deep cry from a mammal a roar? They don’t sound identical (no shit) and the exact way they produce vocalizations isn’t the same, but if it’s a loud, full, deep cry, it’s a roar to me.
• Scott Sampson debunks T. rex running at 45 mph. The 10 mph figure he cites is the lower end of the plausible speed range calculated by Hutchinson & Garcia (2002) (10-25 mph). While I don’t think T. rex could quite reach 25 mph anymore, 10 mph is obviously an underestimate. Komodo dragons can reportedly reach burst speeds of 12 mph, while immature elephants can amble at speeds of up to 15 mph (adults seem to be slower, closer to 12 mph). I wrote a whole post on how tyrannosaurids (and megatheropods in general) are far better adapted to speed than proboscideans, and how accurate speed figures for both support this (link->).
• ”The jury is still out [on theropod pack hunting].”
  
  Almost 20 years later he’s still right.
• Das closes in for the kill…except he’s a bit too excited about the chase and rams into his mother, forcing her to let go of Buck. I always wondered why the mother couldn’t have just killed Buck herself right then and there. It’s not like it would have been particularly challenging to kill a juvenile Maiasaura much smaller than herself.
• Buck now has an open wound from where Das’ mother bit him. For some reason, while he’s depicted with a limp for the rest of the episode, he’s running away at normal speed after he’s freed and runs to his herd.
• Immediately the next morning, you can hear an elk bugling in the distance.
  
  Do I realize that’s just meant to be a stock animal noise? Obviously. Is that gonna stop me from poking light-hearted fun at it? No.
  (Also I love elk bugles)
• As the tyrannosaurs spy on the Maiasaura herd, it’s easy to make out Buck and Blaze. In a way that’s another example of Dinosaur Planet making certain individuals easy to identify. Buck is going to be limping for the rest of the episode, and the juvenile beside him is obviously going to be Blaze.
• ”This time, no mistakes.”
  
  Little Das: Imma bout to ruin this man’s whole caree-, I mean, this hunt.
• I just noticed that there’s a shot where Das’ upper “lip” curls up when he growls. That’s a big no-no, since reptile external oral tissue is not muscular and immobile.
• When Little Das stumbles upon a herd of Einiosaurus, he roars some and makes them flee. It’s made clear that the Einiosaurus are not running from Das himself, but from any adults that may be nearby.
  
  Given what I said about juveniles doing their own thing and hunting for their own food, I think the Einiosaurus would realistically just ignore him. As I said above, Das could easily hunt for his own food without his family, and so he wouldn’t be inherently connected to any adults. And because Das would also be mostly going after smaller prey (thescelosaurids, ornithomimids, oviraptorosaurs, leptoceratopsids), the Einiosaurus have little reason to view his presence as a threat.
  
  Unless Das decides to pull off a Dueling Dinosaurs (if the young T. rex really was hunting the adult Triceratops it was found with, that would tell us juveniles would sometimes go after very large prey too).
• The Maiasaura herd catches sight of the running Einiosaurus. Pretty soon the hadrosaurs flee themselves. As it turns out, the rest of Das’ family was stalking the Maiasaura herd. The mother briefly bites Das’ snout, as if she were punishing him, which I feel is a bit anthropomorphic.
• The troodontids are said to not have the best sense of smell as the Orodromeus hide from them. A subsequent study looking at the olfactory bulbs of various theropods found that troodontids actually had an average sense of smell (Zelenitsky et al., 2009). Slater is right that it wouldn’t be tyrannosaur-level, but not bad either. I think it’s probable, likely even, that they would have found the Orodromeus hiding nearby.
• The rocky cliffs are said to be a nesting space for the azhdarchids. Later, it was found that pterosaur eggs were soft-shelled, and would therefore have needed to be buried in soil, sand, or some other humid environment (Ji et al., 2004; Unwin & Deeming, 2008). I don’t see a problem with pterosaurs resting on rocky cliffs, but these would not be suitable nesting grounds for them.
  
  In any case, jets of gas start spewing from the rocky cliffs, forcing the azhdarchids to fly away. Some of them even get hit by gas spewing from the ground and fall down.
• There’s a scene where the Einiosaurus and Maiasaura travel and feast together. At one point, this really beautiful mix of dramatic orchestral and Native American music plays in the background. It properly conveys the majesty and wonder of this herd of massive animals living off the land.
• Scott Sampson has four ceratopsid models in front of him for his next segment. He identifies one as a Triceratops, even though the elongated frill with large, ovular fenestrae it has is more reminiscent of Torosaurus (I don’t think the “Toroceratops” debate is this old, is it?).
• More importantly, he dismisses the idea that the horns of ceratopsids evolved for defense against predators with three arguments: 1) young ceratopsids only had rudimentary horns and frills, the time when they were most vulnerable; 2) each species had a unique setup of horns and frills, the opposite of an established ideal design for defense against predators; 3) many had horns poor for defense (Einiosaurus, for example) and some had frills that were too thin. Instead, Sampson advocates for the species recognition hypothesis as the primary driver of ceratopsid horn evolution, as well as intraspecific competition.
  
  While I think it’s true that horns in ceratopsids primarily evolved for some other purpose, I do very much take issue with the arguments Sampson puts forward here. First, it’s true that young ceratopsids had poorly developed horns and frills, but baby rhinos also have poorly developed horns, which are absolutely used as weapons against predators in adults. In fact, the same thing pretty much applies to any animal with horns, antlers, or tusks (e.g. bovids, elephants, cervids). There’s no reason for a baby animal to try to defend itself, horns or not.
  
  His second argument is true, there was no standardized design for anti-predator defense, and the same holds true for bovids (which are sometimes seen as analogous to ceratopsids with regards to their horns). However, multiple horn designs can be useful for defense. While most bovids run or hide as their primary means of defense and rarely fight back with their horns (Geist, 1966; Lundrigan, 1988; 1996), multiple different horn morphologies have been recorded being used as anti-predator weapons, on the relatively rare occasions they are used as such. Sable, roan, kudu, and buffalo have all been recorded goring lions (Schaller, 1972), even though they all have different horn shapes. Other bovids also occasionally use their horns for defense.
  
  Then there is his third argument: some ceratopsid horns seem to be poor weapons. While I agree some are better suited as weapons than others, I think Einiosaurus’ horn is too often written off as a shitty weapon (like here). In fact, it is possible this horn was a ramming weapon, roughly akin to the curved horns of caprine bovids (Hieronymus et al., 2009). In this light, the forward and downward curving horn of Einiosaurus makes more sense; it’s a transition between the rhinoceros-like stabbing horns of earlier centrosaurines (Styracosaurus and Stellasaurus) to the flat, thick bosses of later ones (Achelousaurus and Pachyrhinosaurus). And if these giant, stocky-legged beasts are willing to ram each other, it’s not a stretch to imagine them doing the same to predators.
  
  Sampson actually later admitted in a blog post that he (and other paleontologists) downplayed the role of anti-predator defense of ceratopsid horns in the past (see the comments section here->), although he still believes they functioned first and foremost in mate competition.
• Honestly, it’s a miracle Buck was able to survive so many predation attempts by the pack at this point, given how slow he is from his wound. From the looks of it, they had more than enough time to catch up to Buck and kill him after he gets out of the Einiosaurus defensive circle.
• As the sky turns dark and grey, the Daspletosaurus family continues to pursue Buck, who is fighting an uphill battle to keep up with his herd. One of the tyrannosaurs lets out another mighty, badass roar and they continue to somewhat menacingly march on…before they’re interrupted by a falling dead azhdarchid.
• Just as Buck reaches the herd and collapses, the volcano erupts in earnest.
  
  Dinosaurs in the highlands feel the brunt of the eruption first. Troodontids are crushed by falling chunks of lava (man, these troodontids just cannot catch a break), and it looks like the Orodromeus have already succumbed. And then comes the pyroclastic flow…
• >sees volcano as a threat
  >walks away
  
  *You remember what I said earlier about the speed of Das’ mother? This is what bugs me about Dinosaur Planet’s giant theropods. Most of the time, they’re just too damn slow. You could argue that they’re not always in situations where they need to run fast, but this Daspletosaurus is running from a f*cking pyroclastic flow. And she knows it’s a threat too. The mother has already shown she can run faster when she was attacking Buck and Blaze early in the episode, why is she just walking in itty bitty strides when she’s trying to run for her life from a god damn pyroclastic flow?!
• To rub salt in the wound (no pun intended…or was it?) for Buck, he is unable to flee from the pyroclastic flow as it approaches his herd. All of his herd mates try to flee without him.
  
  It’s okay Buck. They’re all going to die with you.
• And so are the tyrannosaurs. As the slowest member of the family, the other is predictably the first to go. We get a slow motion sequence of Das and his sisters running from the pyroclastic flow. Because they’re slower, the sisters die next. And then, inevitably, Das himself.
  
  Yep, this is the only episode of Dinosaur Planet where the titular protagonist has no real semblance of a happy ending. While none of them end up in a completely perfect situation, at least the other three have something going for them in the end. Das doesn’t even have his life. In order to not end the episode on such a sad note, they have to cut 7 million years in the future, long after the Elkhorn eruptions have ended (they seem to have erupted from 81-74 million years ago; link->).
• Maiasaura is claimed to have evolved into Edmontosaurus. My issue with this is that these two genera belong to different tribes within the saurolophine hadrosaurids. Maiasaura is a brachylophosaurinin, while Edmontosaurus is an edmontosaurinin. It doesn’t appear that one evolved into the other.
• Daspletosaurus is claimed to have evolved into Tyrannosaurus. This was an old idea, but years later it was called into question when it was proposed that Tyrannosaurus evolved from Asian ancestors that immigrated to North America (Brusatte & Carr, 2016). If true, this would mean Daspletosaurus could not have evolved into T. rex. Of course, maybe future studies might not support this.
• The track that plays when we see the Maastrichtian dinosaurs is great, especially when we’re introduced to T. rex. It gives you very majestic, satisfying vibes, helped by the fact that the dinosaurs we’ve seen beforehand have evolved into these larger, magnificent, and even iconic beasts (or at least, left the land to them).
  
  Just completely ignore the infinitely worse shitshow that happens 2 million years later.
• The episode closes with Scott Sampson's segment on the Elkhorn eruptions, and the findings we've uncovered. He compares it to Mount St. Helens' eruption in 1980, a complete Virgin compared to the Chad Elkhorn eruption.
• Lovely end credits theme.

Final verdict:

So, there are definitely some issues with the way tyrannosaurids are depicted. Although Das is capable of hunting and running, you still get the impression that he still relies on his mother. This is counter to what we now know about tyrannosaurid ontogeny and ecology; at that age he should be out hunting while his mother and sisters do their own thing. Likewise, at least Das should look different from his mother. Lots of things about the azhdarchids are wrong, and it’s probably a good thing they’re not the main focus of this episode.

Narratively, I think the episode is straightforward and simple, which I like. The Daspletosaurus family’s hunt for Maiasaura (particularly Buck) lasts the entire episode, and it’s very easy to keep tabs on things. Meanwhile, the build up of the volcano as a threat to the dinosaurs (until it finally erupts) was sufficient in my opinion. I’ll also give the episode points for being the only one to feature evolution, even if the evolutionary sequences shown may not hold water today.

One thing that you may find trivial that I find pretty great is the way Dinosaur Planet did its giant theropod episode. Which is to say, they went nearly the whole episode without having to feature the famous Tyrannosaurus rex. In promotional images, you could easily mistake Little Das for a T. rex, and you would be forgiven for doing so. Instead, he’s a Daspletosaurus, an earlier relative of T. rex (this was, in fact, where I first heard of Daspletosaurus). They’re able to make a whole story centered on the kind of giant, ferocious, carnivorous theropod we’ve loved for over a century as the main character, but use a much less popular species. T. rex only makes its brief appearance at the very end as its (alleged) descendant, but that brief appearance does an excellent job at acknowledging and invoking its fame.

So overall, some things definitely did not age well, but still a great story that shines the spotlight on a less popular relative of the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex.

[creature386]

May 1, 2022 3:55:30 GMT 5 Infinity Blade said:

• Azhdarchids make an appearance in this episode, but boy are they done dirty. These azhdarchids are identified as Quetzalcoatlus. Slater is right that Quetzalcoatlus were the last of the pterosaurs (or rather, one of the many last), but Quetzalcoatlus doesn’t come until much later (~68-66 mya). There are two azhdarchids from the Two Medicine Formation, namely Montanazhdarcho and an unnamed giant form with an 8 meter wingspan (link->). Slater claims these “Quetzalcoatlus” to have 21 foot wingspans, which is about right for the unnamed giant form I mentioned. However, this is woefully inadequate for the real Quetzalcoatlus; its wingspan was 10-11 meters (33-36 feet) (Witton set al., 2010).

Plus, Cryodrakon might at least come semi-close, although it might be one or two million years too old, if Wikipedia is to be trusted. But, yeah, there were some liberties taken with the wildlife placement here. Going by Horner's 2001 chart (link), Maiasaura, Orodromeus, and the troodontids must all have been misplaced. I'm glad I'm only learning this now that I'm looking back with reserved detachment. My younger self was incredibly emotionally attached to the storylines and wished they could have taken place IRL.

(It's interesting though that Gorgosaurus was never even mentioned, considering how popular its depiction as Daspletosaurus' rival is.)

May 1, 2022 3:55:30 GMT 5 Infinity Blade said:

• Scott Sampson debunks T. rex running at 45 mph. The 10 mph figure he cites is the lower end of the plausible speed range calculated by Hutchinson & Garcia (2002) (10-25 mph). While I don’t think T. rex could quite reach 25 mph anymore, 10 mph is obviously an underestimate. Komodo dragons can reportedly reach burst speeds of 12 mph, while immature elephants can amble at speeds of up to 15 mph (adults seem to be slower, closer to 12 mph). I wrote a whole post on how tyrannosaurids (and megatheropods in general) are far better adapted to speed than proboscideans, and how accurate speed figures for both support this (link->).

That, by contrast, even my younger self found implausible.

May 1, 2022 3:55:30 GMT 5 Infinity Blade said:

• Scott Sampson has four ceratopsid models in front of him for his next segment. He identifies one as a Triceratops, even though the elongated frill with large, ovular fenestrae it has is more reminiscent of Torosaurus (I don’t think the “Toroceratops” debate is this old, is it?).
• More importantly, he dismisses the idea that the horns of ceratopsids evolved for defense against predators with three arguments: 1) young ceratopsids only had rudimentary horns and frills, the time when they were most vulnerable; 2) each species had a unique setup of horns and frills, the opposite of an established ideal design for defense against predators; 3) many had horns poor for defense (Einiosaurus, for example) and some had frills that were too thin. Instead, Sampson advocates for the species recognition hypothesis as the primary driver of ceratopsid horn evolution, as well as intraspecific competition.

That, too.

(Same with the evolution sequences at the end. Even then, I had a vague idea it didn't work like that.)

• Das closes in for the kill…except he’s a bit too excited about the chase and rams into his mother, forcing her to let go of Buck. I always wondered why the mother couldn’t have just killed Buck herself right then and there. It’s not like it would have been particularly challenging to kill a juvenile Maiasaura much smaller than herself.

I don't know why, but when I was younger, I always assumed she held back so that her son could learn how to properly hunt. With the precociality he should have had, this is of course a dumb plot point, but it makes a little sense given his incompetence. (As an aside, "Das" always sounded funny to my German ears with how it's basically a common pronoun that translates to the neutral form of "the"; just a little aside, sorry. It's also funny how it's the only episode that's really related to the doc's German title The Last Years of the Dinosaurs. Every episode deals with disasters, but this is the only one that gives you extinction-level vibes.)

Anyway, many little remarks, but I liked this episode. It was funny. It also probably featured the most anthropomorphized dinosaurs in this documentary so far, with the rebellious teens Buck and Blaze, Das' almost cartoonish incompetence, and his harsh mother. Although, IIRC, Alpha's Egg also had some rather exaggerated dinosuar personalities in the form of characters like Dragonfly. But we'll get to that later.

[Infinity Blade]

May 1, 2022 20:18:09 GMT 5 creature386 said:

Plus, Cryodrakon might at least come semi-close, although it might be one or two million years too old, if Wikipedia is to be trusted.

Oh I missed that. Well, at least between it and the currently undescribed giant, there had to have been azhdarchids during this time, whatever they were.

May 1, 2022 20:18:09 GMT 5 creature386 said:

(It's interesting though that Gorgosaurus was never even mentioned, considering how popular its depiction as Daspletosaurus' rival is.)

I didn't find out until much later (like, when I got back into dinosaurs as a preteen) that Gorgosaurus and Daspletosaurus coexisted. Now that I think about it, no documentary has ever depicted the two together. Which is a shame, because then not only could you show competition between two giant theropods (who wouldn't love that?), but you could also highlight the differences in morphology between the two. And if you ever plan to have them get in a fight (let's face it, who wouldn't?), you could ask the question of speed vs power.

I understand they could only fit so many species in one episode, but maybe an extra one wouldn't have hurt much. Maybe introduce Gorgosaurus as a competitor to Daspletosaurus after the first failed hunt, and show how they're also after Buck. Hell, maybe the Gorgosaurus group could have their own equivalent to Little Das.

May 1, 2022 20:18:09 GMT 5 creature386 said:

As an aside, "Das" always sounded funny to my German ears with how it's basically a common pronoun that translates to the neutral form of "the"; just a little aside, sorry.

Oh I get that completely. Yeah, must have sounded really weird to German audiences at the time.

[Infinity Blade]

Alpha’s Egg

• First and foremost, although there used to be a couple species referred to Saltasaurus, these are now referred to the genus Neuquensaurus, which is found in the Anacleto Formation with Aucasaurus. Only one species of Saltasaurus is now recognized, and it lived 10 million years after this episode’s setting.
• According to Greg Paul, Neuquensaurus was 7.5 meters long and 1.8 tonnes. While still a big animal, it’s not much bigger than a bull hippo, and is smaller than your average bull white rhinoceros. No wonder they’re still targeted as adults in this episode.
• The very slow walk you always see from these sauropods is the fastest you’ll ever see them go as adults. Whether they’re on a casual stroll or they’re trying to get away from predators, they’re always this damn slow. I don’t understand why as elephants, with convergent graviportal leg morphology, can move at a much faster clip (up to 15 mph). And these are far from the biggest sauropods, so you can’t use “cuz they’re so big” as an excuse.
• Alpha is first seen in this episode as an adult. It will soon flash back several years in the past to when she started out as an egg. If you look carefully, you’ll see she moves a bit differently from the other saltasaurs. She looks like she’s limping…you’ll see why.
• Greg Paul estimated Aucasaurus at 5.5 meters long and 700 kg in weight (Paul, 2016). A subsequent study estimated Aucasaurus’ body length at 6.1 meters (Grillo & Delcourt, 2017). Wikipedia claims that this would make Aucasaurus 1.5 tons, comparable to Skorpiovenator. However, isometrically scaling from the dimensions Paul gives, Aucasaurus would be a little short of a full metric ton at 6.1 meters (~955 kg). Interestingly, Paul estimated Skorpiovenator at 7.5 meters long and 1.67 tonnes. If you isometrically scale that down to the 6.22 meters Grillo & Delcourt estimate for it, it comes out at ~953 kg, which is congruent with the ~955 kg I calculated for Aucasaurus. So I would put Aucasaurus at just under a metric ton.
  
  If you’re wondering why I’m telling you all these facts about the dinosaurs’ sizes when Slater says literally nothing about it, it’s because there’s going to be a fight between these two dinosaurs later on. Keep this in mind once I get around to analyzing it.
• Dragonfly, the male Aucasaurus, and his mate have their lunch interrupted by a pair of giant carcharodontosaurs that for some curious reason share their basic color schemes (for both species, one is orangish brown, the other is light purplish grey). Once again I get to hear the beautiful noises that are the giant theropod roars in this show, but there’s also the noises the abelisaurids make. It’s actually a rather tweaked version of the giant theropod roar, and also sounds neat.
• But now we definitely need to talk about these carcharodontosaurs. At the time the remains they were based on were not yet studied in detail, but they were thought to belong to carcharodontosaurian theropods. Because giant carcharodontosaurids were known to exist, including in South America once upon a time, this is probably why they chose to depict giant T. rex-sized carcharodontosaurs in this episode.
  
  But since then, these remains were finally described, and are now referred to as Aerosteon. Aerosteon was originally thought to be some sort of allosauroid, and later it was recognized as a megaraptoran. However, later analyses did not place megaraptorans within the allosaurs. While megaraptoran taxonomy is still f*cked and unclear, we know this for sure: Aerosteon would have looked nothing like Carcharodontosaurus. And it would have been nowhere near as big either. Here's-> a better idea of what they would have looked like (image by kingrexy).
• Also, carcharodontosaurs, and allosauroids as a whole, were long extinct at this point. There is no longer any support for them surviving past the early Late Cretaceous. Currently, the most recent known carcharodontosaurs is Ulughbegsaurus from Uzbekistan (~92 mya) (Tanaka et al., 2021). By the Campanian, megaraptorids and abelisaurids have already taken over as South America’s apex predators.
• I would like to say one positive thing about the carcharodontosaurs, and this pertains to them as characters. The carcharodontosaurs have this slightly menacing, certainly intimidating air to them. They’re big, and their movements as they slowly lumber closer to the Aucasaurus pair convey that very well. Couple that with their mighty roars and it’s clear that these theropods are the top-tier heavy-hitters you don’t mess with.
• So, one thing I want to say about the titanosaurs here is I love how absolutely thick they are. I don’t think most people realize just how wide and massive the ribcages of some titanosaurs were.
• Should I say something about the lack of the thumb claw on the titanosaurs’ front feet?
  
  Okay fine, I’ll do it. Most people will tell you that titanosaurs completely lost not only the thumb claw on their front feet, but also phalanges (finger bones). Basically, imagine if you had absolutely no fingers, and you bore your weight on your knuckles. However, there is evidence pointing to the presence of finger bones being present in titanosaurs. Some titanosaur remains show small, rudimentary phalanges preserved alongside the other hand bones (metacarpals), as well as the presence of articular surfaces (i.e. joints) present on the ends of the metacarpals (where the finger bones would then attach in life). Finally, one titanosaur, Diamantinasaurus, was literally found with manual phalanges, including the thumb claw. This suggests that titanosaurs did, in fact, have finger bones (including the thumb claw). It’s just that, as very small, light skeletal elements, they would have been easily eroded way after the articular cartilage rotted away (Poropat et al., 2015).
  
  But this isn’t very well-known information today, let alone in 2003. So this is excusable.
• After Alpha is shown laying her eggs, the scene flashes back several years prior to when Alpha herself was born in her own egg. She is almost eaten inside her egg by an Alvarezsaurus and a Notosuchus, the latter of which punctures her eggshell and allows her to hatch.
  
  Both Alvarezsaurus and Notosuchus are actually known from the Bajo de la Carpa Formation in Patagonia, which lies directly underneath the Anacleto Formation we find Neuquensaurus and Aucasaurus in. While I’m sure similar creatures must have existed in the younger Anacleto Formation (we just haven’t found their remains yet from this formation), it would appear that Alvarezsaurus and Notosuchus themselves belong to a somewhat earlier time period.
• This is something I forgot: Alpha gets her name from being the firstborn of her clutch. And who knows how many of her siblings got to live as long as she does?
• I know nothing about abelisaurid ontogeny. I know tyrannosaurids were superprecocial, but I don’t know if other non-avian theropods were too (and if any others were, which ones). So I don’t know how accurate it is that Dragonfly’s parents would care for him.
• Then comes the night. Thousands of baby titanosaurs amble their way to the forest.
  
  This is the best depiction of newborn hatchling dinosaurs I’ve seen. Most of these hatchlings will die. In fact, we see some of them get picked off by the many small predators that roam the forest. The cries of death we hear from some of the hatchlings don’t make it easier to watch (okay, it’s absolutely still watchable, but a bit of a tearjerker). The one thing going for these sauropodlets (to borrow a term from WWD) is their sheer safety in numbers. It also goes to show you what kinds of small predators would be targeting these hatchlings. Here, it’s alvarezsaurids and small notosuchians. A whole host of mammals, snakes, various pseudosuchians, and other dinosaurs, among others, would have loved to make a meal out of these newborn sauropods, and would have been the main predatory threat of dinosaur hatchlings in general.
• Alpha and the cohort she ends up with are confronted in the morning by a Notosuchus, but are saved by an adult sauropod. I’d say it’s a reward well deserved for making it through the night.
• But as we soon see, large abelisaurids are perceived as a threat by even adult Neuquensaurus. And because these abelisaurids aren’t above picking off hatchlings, protection from adult sauropods only goes so far as well.
  
  Interestingly, although Dragonfly and his sisters are cared for by their parents, it’s implied Dragonfly can still kill something even as a baby. His first encounter with Alpha is presented as a threat to the latter’s survival.
  
  Luckily, “Dragonfly’s attention span is pathetic”. He runs off to chase after a dragonfly. He gon’ regret this later in life.
• Sauropod trips and falls on its side off of high ground and breaks its leg. Pack of theropods proceeds to eat fallen sauropod.
  
  Now where have I seen this before…? (Hint: this is clickable)
• The next morning, Dragonfly wakes up and leaves home while his parents and sisters sleep. Apparently in this universe’s Aucasaurus packs, adult offspring stay subordinate to their parents as long as they’re still around. Dragonfly is now going to find a mate of his own. Something in my gut is telling me this sort of family structure is based on mammals, but I can’t be sure.
  
  In any case, I do want to say another positive here. One thing that I like about "Alpha’s Egg" is that Dragonfly’s growth and life is an important aspect of the episode as well. Not only does it firmly establish Dragonfly as Alpha’s lifelong rival (or until one of them dies, that is), but it also establishes that the “big bad predator” was once a small, endearing baby just like our herbivorous protagonist. Dragonfly may be the main antagonist of this episode, but I have just as much sympathy for him as I do for Alpha.
• Two males fight over Alpha for mating rights. After a brief bellowing match, followed by neck striking and shoulder shoving, one of them backs down and the other mates with Alpha.
  
  Interestingly, Slater tells us that these fights are “usually bloodless”, implying that occasionally they can become violent.
• As Alpha migrates back to the nesting site, she notices Dragonfly is trailing her herd. She is distracted and injures herself by stepping on a fallen log. This is apparently enough to seriously hamper her movement, which I don’t understand at all. But yeah, this is why Alpha’s limping in the very beginning of this episode.
• We get more with Dragonfly, which I like. Here, he finds a female in heat and does what his father had to do with his mother: present his colored gular sac. After a while, he is successful. See? More stuff that “animalizes” the antagonist predator.
• A pair of carcharodontosaurs (very likely the same pair from earlier) targets Alpha’s herd.
  
  I think it’s time for me to mention that there’s one thing I don’t like about the carcharodontosaurs, and it’s the same issue I have with the sauropods and adult Daspletosaurus. They’re. So. God damn. Slow!!!
  
  Seriously, all of the dinosaurs in this scene are so slow. What’s that? Two 40 foot long big-headed toothy behemoths are coming after you? Nah, just slowly walk (only one who gets a pass here is Alpha herself, considering she’s injured, although I still don’t think she should have been that crippled). What’s that? You want to catch your prey? Don’t bother ambushing them, or running at a decent clip to maximize your chances of catching them. Just slowly walk right up to them and casually bite one. Again, I get that these are big animals, but Neuquensaurus is FAAAAARRRRR from the biggest sauropod, while not even the biggest terrestrial theropods could possibly have been this slow while hunting prey. Literally no predation attempt goes like what’s depicted here.
• After outpacing an old female, Alpha survives the carcharodontosaur attack and makes it to the nesting grounds where she was born.
  
  Unfortunately, it rains so hard that the nesting site is flooded and all the eggs, including Alpha’s very first clutch, drown. We even get an inside view of one egg and see the embryo die. Oof.
• But that’s good news for paleontologists millions of years later, like Scott Sampson, as he prepares dinosaur eggs and explains to the viewer what happened to them.
  
  Yay…
• Later, Alpha is found alone and still injured. And then she fights Dragonfly and his mate.
  
  Before I get into my analysis of the fight that I promised earlier, I want to make a few notes about the fight.
  
  First, Alpha fights with her neck and her tail as bludgeoning weapons. One smack from her tail is enough to stun Dragonfly’s mate and stop her charge, while a second one knocks her off her feet and takes her out of the fight for a while. A blow from her head/neck to Dragonfly’s head is enough to stop his charge. Neither of these cause any obvious external damage. I have no problem with the tail being used as a weapon (in fact, I firmly believe any sauropod could and would do this), but Alpha seems to club Dragonfly with her skull, which I find doubtful. Although giraffes exhibit similar behavior towards each other, giraffe heads are specialized to be weapons, with a strong skull and bony ossicones. Sauropod skulls are relatively lightly built, and show no obvious adaptations for clubbing. The only thing they really have going for them is the fact that their brains are relatively tiny and that the actual brain doesn’t take up the entire space of the braincase (I think surrounding it would be fluid?), but that’s really not going to be enough. That said, I could see the neck itself, as opposed to the skull, possibly being used for clubbing (I’d imagine the nape is the best part to hit with, since the vulnerable throat isn’t there). There is evidence that some sauropods had necks that were specialized for combat (namely apatosaurines). I think it’s possible, though not proven, that sauropods in general could use the neck as a weapon, but only in certain clades did they become specialized weapons.
  
  Second, the Aucasaurus pair don’t attack Alpha in a coordinated manner. They don’t even attack her at once, they just attack her one at a time independently. For those who don’t believe in highly coordinated theropod group hunting, this fight is for you.
• Who do I think should win this fight?
  
  If what I said about sizes way back towards the beginning of this review is at all accurate, Neuquensaurus is bigger than Aucasaurus. And the sauropod could obviously still fight back with its extremely robust body, limbs, and tail, and is well protected by osteoderms. But while it’s close to being twice as heavy, it’s not quite there, and Neuquensaurus has unarmored body parts that could still be targeted. Given the extent of the size difference between the two, one Aucasaurus should still be capable of killing even an adult 1.8 tonne Neuquensaurus. The fact that there are two Aucasaurus here means they should be more than capable of killing Alpha, especially since she has a limp. They wouldn’t even need to coordinate a whole lot, just attacking her all at once would be overwhelming.
• But through dumb luck (as Christian Slater partly says), she collapses on Dragonfly’s head after he targets her shoulder. Her weight crushes his skull, while Alpha is left with an open wound on her shoulder. Alpha limps away, while Dragonfly’s mate roars in defeat as she does (which I find a bit anthropomorphic). Hopefully she popped out some babies and passed on her genes before Dragonfly died…but she probably didn’t.
• One thing I want to note here is that the holotype of Aucasaurus is often said to have been found broken. A lot of non-scholarly online sources say that this might have been the result of a fight, like in here (which would make Dragonfly the holotype of A. garridoi). I myself don’t know many details about this broken skull. For all I know, it could be taphonomic.
• Despite the fact that Alpha’s currently in an even worse position than she was when she got her first injury (which was framed as jeopardizing her survival), the episode ends on a positive note, with Slater explaining that the wounds will just heal over time.
  
  Okay…

Final verdict:

The greatest strength of this episode is it portrays the two basic reproductive strategies of sexual organisms, r- and K-selected organisms, and weaves them perfectly into a story. The saltasaurs are the definition of r-strategists in this episode (as they were in real life), while the abelisaurids are more K-strategists (I don’t know how accurate that is). As Slater mentions, you wouldn’t think the “big bad antagonistic predator” would come from a family that takes care of its young. Similarly, adult saltasaurs, the “good guys”, don’t provide much in the way of protection for hatchlings, except by virtue of their presence. The predator gauntlets that sauropod hatchlings had to face is also highlighted nicely, as is the continued predation pressure even when they become adults.

All the while, you get enough insight into Dragonfly’s life too. I honestly kind of feel bad for Dragonfly when he dies at the end, the fact that he’s the main antagonist notwithstanding. Like Alpha, he ultimately is, and is presented as, just another animal trying to make its way through life. Given the fight to the death at the end, though, you can’t have your cake and eat it. It’s either Alpha or Dragonfly, and if you went through this episode rooting for both (like me), it’s not going to be a perfectly happy ending for you. From a storytelling perspective, that’s great.

For the most part, the models look fine enough that any inaccuracies I point out are really just nitpicks. Ironically, though, only the Aucasaurus specifically fit in this exact time and place, as I pointed out above. If the saltasaurs are meant to be Saltasaurus itself, they are misplaced. Carcharodontosaurids were already extinct, and at least taking current evidence at face value, Alvarezsaurus and Notosuchus are a bit too early. However, creatures similar to Alvarezsaurus and Notosuchus could easily have been present in Patagonia 80 million years ago, and as long as you just call the saltasaurs Neuquensaurus, you’re good. The only things in this episode that had absolutely nothing akin to them around at this time are the carcharodontosaurids (they would need to be replaced by megaraptorids).

[creature386]

May 6, 2022 7:51:54 GMT 5 Infinity Blade said:

• First and foremost, although there used to be a couple species referred to Saltasaurus, these are now referred to the genus Neuquensaurus, which is found in the Anacleto Formation with Aucasaurus. Only one species of Saltasaurus is now recognized, and it lived 10 million years after this episode’s setting.
• According to Greg Paul, Neuquensaurus was 7.5 meters long and 1.8 tonnes. While still a big animal, it’s not much bigger than a bull hippo, and is smaller than your average bull white rhinoceros. No wonder they’re still targeted as adults in this episode.

What's interesting is that they refused to show any of the larger sauropods from that formation (didn't some of them reach 60 feet?). I find this interesting because as a kid, I found it weird that the apex predators of this ecosystem (the carcharodontosaurids) were so much larger than the "apex herbivores" (that we were shown). Like, you got 40-foot carcharodontosaurs in an ecosystem apparently dominated by dwarf sauropods. I'm aware that they only showed us a small slice of the ecosystem, but still; Saltasaurus here filled the same "big sauropod" role that the titanosaurs in Pod's Travels filled; only that the latter fit their archetype much better. I know that it's a nitpick, but it feeds into the point below:

May 6, 2022 7:51:54 GMT 5 Infinity Blade said:

• The very slow walk you always see from these sauropods is the fastest you’ll ever see them go as adults. Whether they’re on a casual stroll or they’re trying to get away from predators, they’re always this damn slow. I don’t understand why as elephants, with convergent graviportal leg morphology, can move at a much faster clip (up to 15 mph). And these are far from the biggest sauropods, so you can’t use “cuz they’re so big” as an excuse.

I'm getting the impression that the Saltasaurus here were written as if they were much larger than their stated (and known) size. They're still sometimes targeted as adults, but only in rather exceptional circumstances, they're portrayed as extremely slow, and Alpha being practically crippled after brushing her leg against a fallen logis portayed as "realistic" (which, to be fair, I even believed back as a child).

Not really supposed to be a critique, just an observation.

May 6, 2022 7:51:54 GMT 5 Infinity Blade said:

• But now we definitely need to talk about these carcharodontosaurs.

Funnily enough, it took me a really long time until I got that they referred to "carcharodontosaurs" as in members of the group rather than as in Carcharodontosaurus the genus. This confused me to no end (why not Giganotosaurus? at least the region is right.). It probably doesn't help that they had to give them Carcharodontosaurus' proportions as well, given how rare megatheropods must have been compared to non-megatheropods. I'm pretty sure that, even by the knowledge back then, the size had no other support than Rule of Cool.

May 6, 2022 7:51:54 GMT 5 Infinity Blade said:

• 
  If what I said about sizes way back towards the beginning of this review is at all accurate, Neuquensaurus is bigger than Aucasaurus. And the sauropod could obviously still fight back with its extremely robust body, limbs, and tail, and is well protected by osteoderms.

Were the osteoderms ever even really mentioned in the episode? At least in the final showdown, they weren't mentioned as giving Alpha an advantage. I was in fact surprised when I later learned that Saltasaurus/Neuquensaurus had osteoderms at all.

May 6, 2022 7:51:54 GMT 5 Infinity Blade said:

All the while, you get enough insight into Dragonfly’s life too. I honestly kind of feel bad for Dragonfly when he dies at the end, the fact that he’s the main antagonist notwithstanding.

Same here. The show got me so invested at him that, when I first watched this, I wished he hadn't passed up his chance to kill Alpha because the dragonfly distracted him. Nowadays, I'd have probably wanted rooted for them to team up against an even bigger antagonist (like the carcharodontosarus) like Woodstock and Broken Jaw did in Dinosaur Revolution. But, while Dinosaur Planet makes its dinosaurs a little antrhopomorphic, it doesn't go as far as DR did which I find good. Nature is cruel and it's not sanctified, even if some audience members may not like it.

This was a great episode. It was the first one of this documentary I ever watched and it gave me a good first impression. Now, there's only one episode left...

[Infinity Blade]

May 9, 2022 1:22:44 GMT 5 creature386 said:

Were the osteoderms ever even really mentioned in the episode?

Nope. Which is kind of surprising.

May 9, 2022 1:22:44 GMT 5 creature386 said:

Funnily enough, it took me a really long time until I got that they referred to "carcharodontosaurs" as in members of the group rather than as in Carcharodontosaurus the genus.

Same here. When I was rewatching this I felt sort of the same way with the saltasaurs. I couldn't tell if Slater was saying "saltasaurs" or Saltasaurus proper.

[Infinity Blade]

Pod’s Travels:

• Straight away, we need to address the time period. Although the episode is set 80 million years ago, Pyroraptor is known from a rock formation that dates to ~74-70 million years ago.
• Given the Velociraptor model from episode 1, I don’t know what happened with their Pyroraptor. It doesn’t even have wing feathers, it basically just has feather sleeves on its arms and legs. Skull material is unknown in Pyroraptor, but I don’t know why they made the decision to give it a boxier, deeper skull than in their Velociraptor model. Maybe to visually distinguish it from their Velociraptor. Like the show’s Velociraptor, the Pyroraptor also lack feathers on their face and tail fans.
• According to Wikipedia, the titanosaurs (which are just a reskin of the saltasaurs in “Alpha’s Egg”) are supposed to be Ampelosaurus. Ampelosaurus seems to be more of a late Maastrichtian animal, so I’m not entirely sure if it would have seen Pyroraptor in real life. However, titanosaurs are certainly known from the Argiles et Grès à Reptiles Formation (I think this is the longest rock formation name I’ve ever heard) that Pyroraptor was found in. At least two genera, Garrigatitan and Atsinganosaurus, are known. The latter is indeed estimated to have weighed up to 5 tonnes like Slater says (Díaz et al., 2018). They are seen chewing their food, though, which sauropods certainly didn’t do.
• The “Iguanodons” are really Rhabdodon. They did not have the thumb spike of Iguanodon and were fully bipedal, unlike what’s depicted here.
• ”These three ton grazers carry thirty times his body weight.”
  
  Assuming these rhabdodonts are 3,000 kg, that would make Pod 100 kg. Which is definitely way too high. The real Rhabdodon priscus, by the way, is estimated to have weighed some 250 kg (Paul, 2016).
• Pod has to call for backup against a pair of Tarascosaurus. Tarascosaurus is a dubious genus, as none of the features it has are uniquely abelisaurid-like (Allain & Suberbiola, 2003). However, as we would discover a decade later, there was indeed an abelisaurid inhabiting the same ecosystem Pyroraptor did: Arcovenator. Although size estimates for Arcovenator vary significantly, it looks like it would indeed have been big enough to be the apex predator of the ecosystem in any case. Even at 4.8 meters long, the most conservative size estimate (Grillo & Delcourt, 2016), it would have been much bigger than the contemporary Mistralazhdarcho, an azhdarchid with an estimated 5-6 meters wingspan as an adult (Vullo et al., 2018), and Allodaposuchus (estimated at 3 meters long).
• ”Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”
  ~Tarascosaurus
  
  Despite being southern Europe’s apex predators, the Tarascosaurus have a very pathetic showing when of them trips and cripples its leg during a brief quake. It is rendered immobile, and might have been killed by Pod et al. were it not for the stampede of Rhabdodon coming their way. The dinosaurs end up on a beach, where they stay until the night. That’s when a gigantic tsunami hits the island and sets the stage for the story. Although the scene is brief, the animators did a good job making the tsunami look terrifying with its ever increasing ridiculous height.
• Did I mention this episode uses a real life puppet? Yeah, they made a puppet of Pod and one of his surviving sisters for when they’re stranded on driftwood out at sea. The puppets stick out like a sore thumb with all the CGI models in this episode and look kind of cursed as a result.
• Unfortunately for Pod, a plesiosaur sneaks up below them and grabs Pod’s sister, dragging her underwater to her death.
  
  On the one hand, the plesiosaur raises its neck and head out of the water like the Loch Ness monster to attack. Plesiosaurs did not have this kind of neck flexibility. If anything, it would have just grabbed the Pyroraptor’s foot or tail as it was still submerged in the water.
  
  On the other hand, I do like seeing plesiosaurs as something other than a strict fish-eater all the time. People have had issues seeing a plesiosaur hunting and killing a stranded-at-sea land animal in this doc, but in all honestly, I don’t. Plesiosaurs were a very diverse group of marine reptiles that lived for hundreds of millions of years. In that time, they evolved to fill in a variety of niches and had many a different diet. This could include tetrapod prey. One specimen of Elasmosaurus platyurus had the vertebrae of a mosasaur (thought to be Clidastes) in its stomach. A specimen of Pantosaurus was discovered with the remains of an embryonic ichthyosaur in its stomach (link->). Depending on the morphology of the skull and teeth of the plesiosaur, an opportunistic snatching of a tiny dromaeosaurid is well within possibility.
• Also, what the hell is that noise it makes? Because I love it.
• I have no idea if there really was a 50 foot plesiosaur living in the seas in that area at the time.
• Oh god, when they have a close up on Pod’s eye you can see the extra, untrimmed rubber on the edges of his eyelids.
• This close up is immediately followed by a close up of a CGI Ichthyornis (which actually lived a bit earlier, at least according to Wikipedia). If they’re willing to do that, why the need for a puppet?
• The Allodaposuchus deadass make big cat roars. I just find that really funny.
• Anyway, they’re scared off when a groggy Pod stands back up on his two feet. Without even needing to do anything, his size also scares off three dwarf Pyroraptor.
• We hear an elk bugle on this dwarf island…
• The three dwarf Pyroraptor are seen taking down a dwarf Rhabdodon in the stereotypical pop culture raptor fashion. Slater tells us the size discrepancy between these animals is the same as that between their mainland counterparts, which doesn’t help matters.
• Pod encounters dwarf sauropods that Slater calls Magyarosaurus. Magyarosaurus did indeed live at around the same time as Pyroraptor, but both of these animals were living after 80 million years ago.
• The fight between the dwarf Rhabdodon is actually nice to see for the most part. They body/shoulder slam each other repeatedly, which I can buy (especially since it doesn’t have any specialized weapons). Tail slapping and kicking are also possible too (although they’re not seen doing that here). Only thing that isn’t plausible is the throat stabbing with a thumb spike since, like I said earlier, Rhabdodon didn’t have thumb spikes.
• One of the Rhabdodon is seriously injured and is left to die at the hands of some Allodaposuchus. But these crocs are forced to abandon the kill to Pod.
  
  In this confrontation, they actually make noises that are a combination of a big cat’s roar and a crocodile’s growl or hiss. It’s interesting to hear two of my favorite animal vocalizations next to each other.
• As Pod sleeps after eating his fill, the Allodaposuchus return. Some dwarf “Troodon” (same model as the ones from episode 2, only their face is more colorful and cooler-looking) show up too. These dwarf “Troodon” might be based on Elopteryx or Bradycneme. The latter’s classification is currently unclear (given how fragmentary it is), but in the most recent assessments it wasn’t even found to be a troodontid. Elopteryx is also fragmentary and its classification is also unclear.
• Sampson sounds like he’s saying “Maguireosaurus”.
• Some footage from what I presume is another Discovery Channel show shows some dwarf Channel Islands mammoths (based on the fact that he says “near Santa Barbara”). I always wondered what documentary this comes from, and I still have no idea.
  
  Anyway, these 1.3 tonne mammoths (they’re even smaller than Sampson says here) (Larramendi, 2016) are used as another example of island dwarfism for the dinosaurs here.
• One thing I appreciate here is that Dinosaur Planet goes out of its way to tell you what his cognitive capacity can and can’t do. Whole concepts are beyond his ability, but he’s able to realize that everything is indeed smaller where he now is. He’s even fooled by the echoes of his own cry.
• Which then catches the attention of the dwarf troodontids. At first Pod prepares for a fight, but they’re actually more submissive and follow him. He’s basically leader of their pack now. Given that there are very rare examples of different species of predator hunting together, Pod’s situation isn’t implausible for that very reason. Rather, the question is: would these different species of theropod need to form a hierarchical, permanent pack in order for group hunting to be plausible?
  
  Well, coyotes and badgers will occasionally hunt prairie dogs and ground squirrels together, and surely this has to be a case of the two predators banding together opportunistically. I have no problem with theropods forming temporary groups to hunt together, and it’s not impossible the Mesozoic had its share of coyote-badger relationship equivalents. If you don’t believe theropods formed permanent packs like modern mammalian carnivores do, then you might be more comfortable with this Pyroraptor-dwarf troodontid hunting squad being only temporary, rather than permanent with a hierarchy.
• Now for the end. Pod comes across a trio of dwarf abelisaurids feasting on a carcass. He challenges them for the corpse, seeing that they’re not any bigger than he is (these have got to be hella small abelisaurids). Only one of the abelisaurids bothers to stand up to Pod, but near instantly dies when the dromaeosaurid leaps and stabs its throat with his falciphoran claws (thanks to Andrea Cau and Daniel Madzia for coining that term) (Cau & Madzia, 2021). The other two abelisaurids flee and Pod establishes himself as the island’s new apex predator.
  
  How do we tell him about the giant azhdarchids? *cough* Hatzegopteryx *cough*
  
  (Also, these Tarascosaurus really be doing nothing but taking Ls)
• What’s interesting is that Slater tells us that size was the only thing going for the abelisaurids on Pod’s original home. I guess the idea here is that a dromaeosaurid, with its heavy armament, is “lb for lb” deadlier than a theropod like an abelisaurid.
• The last scene and dialogue is a bit poignant. Pod returns to the beach he washed up on and finds the log that he was carried out to sea on. Slater tells us the log still carries the scent of his old island (whatever that means; maybe his sister’s scent is still lingering on it, thereby being something from his old home?), which he will never see again. It’s a bit sad to the human audience, but I’d imagine Pod couldn’t be any happier in the situation he’s now in (as long as he avoids the giant pterosaurs).

Final verdict:

You know, I guess I can see why this is some people’s favorite episode. Its plot goes somewhat beyond the basic “survive and reproduce” plots of the other episodes. White Tip needs to find a pack and reproduce. Das needs to hunt and kill. Alpha needs to survive and reproduce. Now, Pod’s need to survive isn’t any different from that of the other protagonists, but the difference is that he needs to do it while getting his bearings straight over the alien situation he’s in. And sure, maybe to your human brain “everything is smaller” doesn’t sound that complex or that alien of a situation to you, but Pod is a dinosaur, so it’s not as immediately obvious to him.

The episode gets a plus for being one of the first pieces of dinosaur media to introduce us to insular dwarfism in non-avian dinosaurs. But there are also so many things that haven’t aged well (the time period, Pyroraptor’s feathering, naming of some of the animals, etc.), to the point where I actually had trouble figuring out what’s real and what’s not. Even now it’s difficult for me to conclusively say how much of what you see in this episode had at least a real-life equivalent. Dwarf abelisaurids only as big as Pyroraptor? Dwarf troodontids? Dwarf Pyroraptor?

So yeah, I guess the one episode where the scientific basis for it is kind of questionable, story is solid.

[creature386]

May 14, 2022 5:45:37 GMT 5 Infinity Blade said:

So yeah, I guess the one episode where the scientific basis for it is kind of questionable, story is solid.

Which, funnily enough, summarizes what I thought about the story when I was a kid. It was far and away my favorite episode. Pyraraptor became my favorite dinosaur for a long time and I even made myself an account named "(Pyroraptor10)" for the first dinosaur-related forum I ever joined (I was 10 at the time). Even now, I'm still glad to have Pyroraptor in the upcoming Jurassic World movie (even if said movie is probably going to be hot garbage, but YMMV).

Even so, I already noticed the scientific liberties taken when I was 10. I didn't know about Hatzegopteryx back then and I couldn't have known how badass it was and neither could the showrunners. So, the basic premise of Pod becoming his new island's top predator might have worked. But, still, the showrunners took far more liberties than in any other episode.

First, there's Pod's very name. It's short for Pyroraptor olympius dromaeus which is presented as his taxon's name here, even though I'm pretty sure they made up this subspecies (in fact, googling Pyroraptor olympius dromaeus only gives you DP-related results).

Second, like half the taxa here are made up, mismatched, or vaguely inferred. You already went over this, but I failed to identify or verify most of the taxa here when I tried to look them up on Wikipedia as a child.

Finally, I take issues with the raptors' hypercompetence. The Tarascosaurus are shown as basically T. rexes with their slow walk and inability to get up once they land on the ground. Yet we are supposed to believe that these clawed turkeys can threaten them as well as the iguanodons. This is especially jarring after the much more realistic competence of Velociraptors in White Tip's Journey. You probably know that I'm not a big fan of power-scaling, but DP fails at its power levels big time.

But in spite all of this, it was a wonderful episode. The scenes were just so cool that you forgave the inaccuracies, the highlighted so many taxa and concepts not often found in paleomedia (dino-island dwarfism) as you mentioned, and the "Fish out of Water" storyline is so unique (by paleodoc standards) and beautiful. Yeah, I'd say the episode holds up.

Looking forward to your final verdict!

[Infinity Blade]

Overall verdict:



Like When Dinosaurs Roamed America before it, Dinosaur Planet was an attempt to capitalize on the nature-style prehistoric documentary hype after Walking with Dinosaurs. But you know, it was actually a good one, and proved to be a good documentary in its own right. The nature doc format of WWD is there, but it's also coupled with some occasional but brief segments featuring Scott Sampson that explain the science of what the viewer just saw. Sometimes it's crucial: there's one in "Pod's Travels" where he explains the evidence for feathers in maniraptoran theropods.

As you can expect for a documentary made in 2003, some of the science here hasn't aged well. Whether it's something wrong with the models, the temporal placement of the animals, some behavior that is implausible, etc. Some decisions were just weird even for the time and (why the weird design direction for the Pyroraptor, especially considering their Velociraptor model?). At the same time, however, DP also continued WDRA's tradition of giving maniraptorans feathers. Given that this was a time when scaly raptors and the likes were still alive and well with hardly any question in the general public's mind, this decision was quite ahead of its time (even if feathered dinosaurs had been known since the 90s).

One thing I particularly like about Dinosaur Planet is that many of its storylines are executed so well even when the dinosaurs in question are/were not well known by the public. Of the four main protagonists, only White Tip's species was well known at the time. Daspletosaurus? What the heck is-- oh, it's basically a smaller T. rex. Oh, it evolved into T. rex (okay, probably not really)??!! Interesting. Saltasaurus? Nice, an armored sauropod. Pyroraptor? Never heard of it, but cool, a raptor. And they all have stories and conflicts that any real life animal could possibly find themselves in. Hunting, finding a mate, surviving as a vulnerable youngster, and finding themselves in foreign territory.

So overall, Dinosaur Planet is yet another great dinosaur documentary from the early period of nature-style prehistory programs. Be cautious and try not to take some of the information you find at face value, but nearly 20 years on it's still a banger.

[dinosauria101]

Out of the blue yesterday I made an observation on Discord about what could be done to keep Alpha's Egg accurate as shown - and I think it deserves a place in the retrospective review thread. However, as it is completely independent of the entertainment reviews for the episodes I will eventually write, I will comment it separately from them.

All that would be need to changed would be the location to Huincul, 95 million years ago (and I guess the speed of the animals, lol). That way the models as depicted could have lived all together:

-The Aucasaurus become Skorpiovenator.

-The saltasaurs become Choconsaurus, to account for the fact that they are smaller for sauropods.

-The carcharodontosaurs become Giganotosaurus roseae instead of royally f*cked up Aeroston.

-The Alvarezsaurus and Notosuchus become unspecified genera of their families, because while Wikipedia lists neither as present in Huincul it seems entirely reasonable to assume they were but simply undiscovered.

I guess an Argentinosaurus cameo would also be worthwhile: in a hypothetical updated and accurate Dinosaur Planet, it could be to the choconsaurs what the WWD Brachiosaurus is to the Diplodocus in Time of the Titans.
It's just not strictly necessary to maintain accuracy.

As much as I kick accuracy to the curb for entertainment in palaeodocumentaries, I find this a very interesting case because it's unique among inaccurate palaeodocumentaries as far as I'm aware. The other inaccurate documentaries don't seem to be correctable simply by changing the time.

Another particularly interesting thing is that you couldn't pick a better carcharodontosaur than G. roseae if you want to see them group hunting in a palaeodocumentary. And the 2 in Alpha's Egg do just that.