Walking with Monsters - A Retrospective Review
Aug 31, 2023 23:29:29 GMT 5
Life, creature386, and 2 more like this
Post by dinosauria101 on Aug 31, 2023 23:29:29 GMT 5
Note: This review is based 100% on the entertainment value of the program, I will not be dealing at all with scientific accuracy. Infinity Blade will be writing a review that addresses both.
I will also be including all reviews here instead of separate comments, since this program has been originally aired as an omnibus.
- Infinity Blade's review: theworldofanimals.proboards.com/post/64757
- Infinity Blade's final verdict: theworldofanimals.proboards.com/post/65302
All images in my comments are from the BBC. You can listen to the soundtracks the review mentions here (link).
Introduction:
We all know and love Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with Beasts, with major reviews existing for both either on this website or on YouTube. But Walking with Monsters is considerably less well-known and less discussed - almost no discussion of it exists on this website, for example, and I have literally never seen it discussed/reviewed on sites like Reddit either.
It is in fact the least viewed of the Walking with series by far - Wikipedia's figures (4.57m views) indicate just over half as many views as Walking with Beasts (8m) and just over one third as many as Walking with Dinosaurs (15m). Why all this is so I do not understand, and will attempt to amend that with my review of its entertainment, so if even one person who reads this becomes a Walking with Monsters fan, I will have succeeded!
Water Dwellers:
-To begin the program we are treated to a view of 4.4 billion-year-old-inhospitable Earth. That's what I call starting from the beginning!
-New math equation time: Earth+Theia=hospitable Earth. Even today I am still awed by that narration of 'even today, Theia lies right beneath our feet', it really puts stuff into perspective.
-To answer Branagh's question of who will inherit this blue planet, we get a montage of some of the most dramatic moments in the whole series as the final part of the intro. And in this montage is WWM's biggest narrative gem: "This series tells the extraordinary story of life before the dinosaurs, a time when strange and savage creatures fought a ruthless battle to rule the earth. Amongst them were our own earliest ancestors, whose survival would decide whether we humans would exist at all. As they evolved, these bizarre creatures created the blueprint not only for our bodies, but for everything living today. This is life's forgotten story. An epic war for our world. A war between monsters".
I personally view this as WWM's answer to WWB's famous and poignant ”One day, they’ll look back…on all this. We have since built museums to celebrate the past, and spent decades studying prehistoric lives. And if all this has taught us anything, it’s this: no species lasts forever”. with the views and zoom-out from the Oxford Museum of Natural History. Only difference is that it's in reverse: WWB's looks back on everything while WWM's conveys the scale on which everything began.
It's no less jarring either - the fact that we'd not be here reading and writing these reviews today if WWM's protagonists lost the evolutionary war for our world says just as much as WWB's reminder that everything in the Trilogy of Life is lost to Earth's past.
-This intro ends on the note of a Brontoscorpio stinging the screen and shattering it. I think this is another direct WWB analogy: at the end of the dynamic WWB intro we had a Smilodon claw the screen and roar which seems pretty much to me like the equivalent of what Brontoscorpio would do.
-Throughout this whole intro we get a very booming, primordial, heart-pounding soundtrack: it is one of my top 3 favorites in the whole series. These soundtracks in general are one of WWM's biggest strengths: if you look up primordial in the dictionary there should be a link to the YouTube OST for WWM.
-I always found the jot-notes on screen at the start of each episode telling us the time, geologic period, place, O2 content, and hazards a pleasant addition - like a field guide to a prehistoric safari. They tell us that we're starting our series 530 million years ago in the Cambrian, in what is today Chengjiang, China. O2 is 30% less than today and the hazards of the episode are the world's first super-predators.
-Some live-acted(?) jellyfish are the first animals we see aside form the intro, as an example of life already evolving for millions of years. The best part about these jellyfish is that they are a benchmark to show how good the Impossible Pictures CGI is despite likely being live-acted: they wouldn't look out of place any with this episode's CGI animals.
-"Now, however, in the coastal shallows below, evolution has stepped on the accelerator. Predators have taken their first bite".
With this we are introduced to the first hunt of the series: an Anomalocaris munching a trilobite that failed to burrow fast enough into the sand. It's also a testament to evolution stepping on the accelerator: Anomalocaris is Earth's first super-predator that we were warned about.
-Eye can see (double pun!) how the evolution of eyes has triggered such an arms race as Branagh said!
-"But in these crowded waters there's competition everywhere, and even the mighty Anomalocaris' defenses are constantly put to the test". I've always found that statement somewhat unnerving.
Immediately following it, we are treated to a just-as-unnerving Anomalocaris fight. Grabbing each other with their palps, making metallic crashing sounds, and splitting each other's armor, all with a soundtrack that's equal parts dynamic and spooky.
-I always felt somewhat taken aback and sorry for the loser of the fight, not only because of the Haikouichthys attack but because of how gory the injury looked.
-Speaking of Haikouichthys, an evolutionary giant the size of our thumbnail is pretty captivating. At least it was when I first watched the program: as Branagh says, this seemingly insignificant-at-first-glance-fish will give rise to all backboned animals from the dinosaur to the elephant to us.
And boy is that backbone shot well! WWM has more real-looking inside-the-animal shots than I could ask for.
-Now we move on to the second story arc of Water Dwellers, and it's kicked off with WWM's infamous evolution sequences. Having this together with those primordial AF soundtracks (to my ears this sequence's one signals much more to come, it is somewhat similar to the end soundtrack in WWD New Blood) is doing wonders for the immersion of the program.
This particular sequence gives us a Haikouichthys->Cephalaspis transition, and the size difference between the 2 is helpful to include: we're moving up from thumbnail-sized fish protagonists.
-Not to mention that the transitions are extremely smooth in terms of both color and outline while retaining that 100% real appearance of the CGI - this one especially so because it's fish on fish with outline differences not being very large. I believed this was real-time evolution for a much longer time than I knew it was not - which is just the sort of thing you want to think of a scene like this.
-"He may not look like you or I, but this odd fish is becoming the blueprint for our own bodies". A point that, as you'll find out, is driven well home in this arc.
-We are introduced to our protagonist individual Cephalaspis. She's said to be a peaceful grazer who sucks up algae through her jawless mouth, but she's also said to have developed a tough protected head, and thick scales.
Pleco/armored catfish vibes right there. Nice reminder of one of my 2 major hobbies (fishkeeping).
-Immediately after the intro, she gets chased away by a hungry Brontoscorpio, who performs that very screen sting in the intro and leaves us with a very realistic camera shatter.
We are now given the jot-notes for this arc against a background of the Brontoscorpio and three of its pals. The setting is 430 million years ago in Silurian southern Wales, O2 is 30% less than today like the previous arc, and the hazards are giant scorpions.
-"A hundred million years have passed, and the fight for survival has filled the Silurian seas with variety". Branagh is right that it has: as he says so, we are treated to a shot of the rocks and open sea with orthocones, Cephalaspis, Pterygotus, and Brontoscorpio all featured.
And adding to this variety is sponges and sea urchins. I appreciate how Branagh likewise points out their recognizability today: it goes similarly deep to the intro banger in terms of having you think about long-lasting animals.
-Now we've got some serious conflict. A hungry Brontoscorpio is after a whole school of Cephalaspis, and he only barely misses a straggler even when he's simply crawling - this would seem to foreshadow what happens later.*
Accompanying it is a very intimidating soundtrack that is just as intimidating as it is primordial, and rightly so: a meter scorpion with a lightbulb-sized stinger (that stinger being something I could not stop thinking about at the sight of a lightbulb when I first saw WWM) had better not be undersold.
-The Brontoscorpio chooses our female Cephalaspis as his target, and with her detection of this comes our first reinforcer of the arc's opening statement about Cephalaspis: we have inherited similar sensors to the ones on her snout that help her detect the Brontoscorpio, and it is thanks to her that we are sensitive to touch.
I could never help but touch my arm whenever I watched that part.
-Despite her detecting the Brontoscorpio, things take a bad turn for our Cephalaspis. She's not good at escaping enemies with speed thanks to her heavy head armor, and apparently will soon tire completely - despite frequent rests.
The soundtrack turns more intimidating, and we also see the Brontoscorpio crawl over the camera as if to back this up. Surely things are over for the poor fish now...right?
-Wrong! Thanks to those special pits, Cephalaspis is able to make a final and desperate swim from Brontoscorpio in another direction - she picked up some bad vibrations Brontoscorpio could not.
And here we get WWM's answer to the Eustreptospondylus and Liopleurodon scene in WWD's Cruel Sea. The maker of those bad vibrations, a hungry Pterygotus, comes out of the sand to make lunch out of Brontoscorpio.
-I don't know which of these 4 is the most intimidating: her being the biggest arthropod ever, her armor crackling, the booming soundtrack, or her great ease of turning Brontoscorpio from the predator into the prey - for her kids no less.
-To get away from the carnage, the Cephalaspis head inland, and a homey (by WWM standards at least) track is played. But then we are shown how inhospitable the actual land is: the air has 300x as much C02 as today together with its less O2, the air is hotter than the Sahara, and it's almost entirely barren rock.
The Cooksonia pioneers that can survive such an environment have always been aesthetically pleasing to me. I just really like their round yellow shoots and green stems together - and I guess it's a plus that it will lead to our tallest forests.
-Now we get back to the Cephalaspis, who are migrating to their spawning ground salmon-style.
Here we have the second reinforcer of the arc's opening statement: these fish use familiar landmarks to find their way, and are able to do so thanks to having one of the first complex brains (for which we get a glorious zoom-in too).
It's a big step up from memory-less Brontoscorpio.
Whenever I watch this part I always like to think about various items in my memory to give homage to my Cephalaspis heritage.
-But immediately after, we cut to several Brontoscorpio being the first to conquer the land: despite their lack of memory, features such as protective shells and oxygen-absorbing simple lungs (which come with a zoom-in) allow them to beat Cephalaspis in this respect.
It's almost as if the producers wanted to basically depict the scorpions jumping in and giving the middle finger to the implied Cephalaspis superiority in the narration, LOL.
-Back to the Cephalaspis, who have reached the end of their migration and must now cross a ridge of rock to get to the spawning pool. Despite their exhaustion, they manage, and with the first few fish beginning their spawning, we should have a happy ending for all...right?
...Wrong. The Brontoscorpio show up to take advantage of the weakened Cephalaspis on land, and with the more tragic soundtrack, I always found it impossible not to feel sorry for the fish - especially for one who helplessly flopped in its captor's claws while getting stung and stung.
*In fact it looks like this part is foreshadowed by the Brontoscorpio only just missing at the start of the arc.
-But then we are shown how only so many fish can be killed by the small number of Brontoscorpio showing up, which helps alleviate some of that sorrow.
And believe it or not, there's a Brontoscorpio we come to feel sorry for, too! Hungry as he is, there's no joining the feast because he has to molt, and by the time he molts+hardens his new skin, the Cephalaspis are gone.
Of course, the molting is breathtaking quality. Excellent splitting skin, soft body on the inside, etc, etc.
-Now we begin the third and final arc of Water Dwellers with the go-to evolution sequence and primordial soundtrack. This time it's Cephalaspis->Hynerpeton.
-"Evolution starts to give them weapons to fight back". Sure, but whether those weapons are actually going to be used to do so...you'll see.
-"Some develop tougher bones and muscles in their fins and shoulders, which become the first limbs. This is where our arms and legs began".
Captivating to think long legged and armed us started at stubby legged Hynerpeton! Especially with that soundtrack and evolution sequence.
-Arms, legs, and jaws aren't the only major things Cephalaspis gains from evolving into Hynerpeton. As you can see from the final part of the sequence, Hynerpeton is one heck of a lot bigger too.
-The jot-notes for this arc say we're in what is now Pennsylvania, with increased O2 (only 20% less than today, vs 30% in the other arcs), and the hazards being giant killer fish.
-Also, I just can't get enough of that waterfall and rocks backdrop. One of the most aesthetic settings in the WW series, hands down.
-These Hynerpeton are making plenty of noise with their loud vocalizations. I would presume this is quite fitting for a giant prehistoric amphibian.
-"Arthropod enemies still exist, but they've shrunk since their Brontoscorpio glory days". Cue the tiny scorpion being 100x more easily eaten by Hynerpeton than Brontoscorpio is by Pterygotus, LOL.
-We see forests of the tall trees that Cooksonia was to give rise to. Pleasing to see it's not just the animals that are shown evolving - and it is because they evolved that there is more O2 than before.
-The zoom-in of the Hynerpeton's lungs, and the fact that those lungs give rise to our own, is always something I've found breathtaking to watch/reflect on (LOL).
-"His skin is much thinner than ours, and it dries out in minutes, so he has to keep it wet. And water is a danger zone". DUN DUN DUUUUUNNNNNN!!!!
-Despite the danger of the water, I really dig those algae-covered logs as the backdrop. That's prime modern amphibian and fish habitat, so it's well-placed here.
-We see a Stethacanthus start hunting our Hynerpeton almost immediately after he enters the lake (as Branagh warned, primitive sharks are constantly on the hunt), the track turns foreboding, and the shark even looks kind of pissed off. It can't get any worse than this for the Hynerpeton...can it?
-Oh yes it can! We run straight into a very literal, and very heart-pounding, 'always a bigger fish' moment when a hungry Hyneria eats the Stethacanthus in one bite with a hefty blood trail, then carries on to pursuing the Hynerpeton.
This fish is definitely insatiable as Branagh says. That whole shark and she still wants seconds!
-She even moves a big log with her tail quite a bit - just by accidentally knocking it as she swims, not even deliberately knocking it with full strength. I'm not usually one to be afraid of fish, but...it looks like I have an exception to make.
-"The amphibian's limbs are his saving grace. For now".
Indeed. Emphasis on "for now".
-As the sun sets, it's mating time for our male Hynerpeton - something his future depends on. But it won't come easy: the females only want males that can defend their turf, they only mate within a short window of time, and that window of time is so short for our male that, as Branagh says, tonight could be his last chance.
-The night scene and backdrop with the drooping trees is tip-top: it's very clearly nighttime with a full moon but not so dark that the animals are only barely visible *cough*Prehistoric Planet T. rex and Edmontosaurus*cough*.
-In the dark, a rival male appears, and we get a booming, ritualized sound track to go with their strength-testing pushup contest (designed to avoid injury). It's not a contest the challenger is up to...but apparently it may have taken too long for our male to see off this challenger: Branagh warns he may be too late for love.
-"Hynerpeton seems to have missed his chance. The only attention he's attracting comes from the dark waters of the lake".
This can't possibly end well...
...but it does! The attention our male has attracted is none other than a female who's answered his call, and they begin to mate. Surely, now that our male has found a mate, they can all live happily ever...can they?
-Nope. In fact, because he's found a mate, he's putting himself at risk.
As Branagh says: "Amphibian eggs are soft, and their young have gills, not lungs, so they must be laid in water. Where amphibians are most vulnerable".
-The soundtrack picks up again, and lo and behold, water-bound danger in the form of the hungry Hyneria has found our male - and like a European catfish after a pigeon (or killer whale after a seal, as Branagh says), she thrusts herself into quite shallow water to try and get them.
-The male and his mate notice and get far enough up the beach to avoid the first lunge, but the male then gets cocky and allows Hyneria to fin-thrust far enough onto the beach to get him (hence my emphasis on the "for now" in Branagh's earlier statement about his limbs being a saving grace). He doesn't get to use the weapons he evolved to fight back, and all things considered this is definitely a jump-scare and tragic scene...
...but the ending isn't quite so tragic after all! We get an egg evolution sequence of our male's young that gives us a hardening of the eggshells and enough development of the young for them to live on land.
-In other words, we have ourselves the very first vertebrate landlubbers. The very first reptiles, in fact: Petrolacosaurus. And with the first land-lubbers comes the ending of Water Dwellers.
-However, the ending isn't exactly on a high note.
"But as they move inland, they'll face an ancient enemy. More deadly than ever before. The arthropods are back".
Cue a hungry Mesothelae attacking a petrolacosaur nest.
Reptile's Beginnings:
-The jot-notes tell us that we begin this episode 300 million years ago, in the Carboniferous period. We are in what is now Kansas, O2 is 40% greater than today, and the hazards are giant insects.
-I recognize the bald cypress swamp setting as being from the Southeast US - lo and behold, it is indeed, as they filmed this setting in Florida.
It's also something that goes very well with the monster sfx they chose as background noise.
-"Here, nothing is as it seems. The 50-meter giants towering above this waterworld may look like trees, but they're actually distant relatives of ferns".
Hella ominous first paragraph. And I stand somewhat corrected, it looks like it's not just bald cypress as the 'tree' we zoom in on is edited to be a fern relative - quite smoothly at that.
-But it doesn't hold a candle to the Mesothelae intro we get: she seriously rustles the ferns she moves through, giving the impression of there being a larger animal than her in those ferns.
-"This Mesothelae spider is the size of a human head. She'd be hunting cats if she were alive today".
Dead serious, the first time I heard this, I could not stop envisioning the spider on screen next to my head for scale. And neither could I stop envisioning it trailing the neighbor's tabby for lunch.
-She's a hella smart architect, though, to have a food-alert burrow. I've always found that to have an appreciable 'wow' factor.
-Her first victim approaches: the Petrolacosaurus which Water Dwellers alluded to. But before he's shown as a victim, we get a zoom-in on his scales and a connection back to why he is so successful on land vs his amphibian ancestors (said scales stop him drying out on land like they would).
-The approach and chase is slower than I remember, but it has some excellent fear music, first slow-paced and then speeding up to go with the chasing.
Then, once the Petrolacosaurus outruns his spider foe, we get a zoom-in on the reason he did so (his high endurance heart that we have inherited). Always been a fan of this scene for the value of my heart's Petrolacosaurus heritage.
-But just because he outran the Mesothelae doesn't mean he is safe: he ended up inside a log and she was actually able to get him and poison him by jumping into a hole he went under that unlike the end hole can actually fit her.
We get more of the fear music with this and with it this scene really pulls at the heartstrings: if that was the intention it worked magnificently.
-"Back in her lair, Mesothelae will inject her victim with digestive juices, to dissolve him from inside". This line was always rather creepy to me when I was younger, for rather obvious reasons.
But it ends up a moot point anyway. Another danger of the swamp, the water levels, wreak havoc on Mesothelae's burrow by rising and flooding it, causing her to evacuate.
Because she can't dig, she has to seek out a new hole, and while she does she is vulnerable to kill-stealing giant dragonflies - obviously Meganeura.
At the end of the day, she certainly doesn't end up getting to inject the Petrolacosaurus with digestive juices. And her situation is analogous to the petrolacosaur's I mentioned: just because she makes a kill doesn't mean she gets to eat it.
-I love how we get an introduction to Meganeura as being the eagle-sized queen of the Carboniferous skies that's normally invincible in her sky-high kingdom. Because today she most certainly isn't: a potentially explosion-causing storm is brewing and as Branagh says, the clock is ticking for the swamp.
Speaking of introductions to swamp predators, we get another: this time, some carnivorous unnamed amphibians that I think are Proterogyrinus. They have beastly growls and are even fierce enough to deter our Mesothelae from the water's edge.
-And speaking of our Mesothelae, she's having a tough time in her hunt for a new lair. Numerous other Mesothelae are unwilling to share, and just as she gets away from their annoyance she ends up right on the receiving end of that of Arthropleura, who rears up and snaps his jaws at her.
Together with the rearing scene, WWM has given me a healthy respect for Arthropleura with this statement. "He's a distant relative of modern millipedes, but as long as a car. He can rear up, tall enough to look you right in the eye. Although he's vegetarian, his strong jaws could still deliver a nasty bite".
-The soundtrack amps up to an upbeat/primordial cross, and we get views of him crawling over the camera and through the ferns as he forages. However, with the rising tide, he finds himself in the treacherous territory of hungry Proterogyrinus.
They end up getting into a serious Clash of the Titans, in which it would appear the Arthropleura's tactics are a combination of rearing to intimidate his foe, and hunkering down to demonstrate the strength of his armor. A seemingly reasonable choice of tactics...
...but not so at the end of the day: the Proterogyrinus seems to push him somewhat over when he nears a piece of wood sticking out of the ground, and he gets impaled on that, giving the amphibian a feast.
The close-up shots here I always found surreal - as in, more real than reality. Probably has to do with the dirt and debris on the Arthropleura, and dripping liquids from impalement, that the real thing would have.
-We get back to our Mesothelae, as a lightning storm is brewing. She finds a new burrow just in time to sit it out, from which a Petrolacosaurus flees.
-That night, the storm is much closer, and with so much lightning, the local Meganeura are forced to retreat into the forest for shelter. But they're not really much better off, as they become unexpected targets for hungry Proterogyrinus that can leap over half their body length out to catch the insects.
-In contrast, Mesothelae has fully settled into her new home with all triplines remade. Surely she should be able to hunker down and wait out the storm in peace, right?
Wrong.
-We get a shot of Mesothelae's neighborhood the next morning. It has been devastated by a lightning strike-induced fire, and the sole sign of life above ground is a lucky Petrolacosaurus who managed to outrun the flames, but is now headed straight into Mesothelae's lair...
...and gets to do to her what she would do to him if she was still alive. As her hole was at the center of the fire-causing lightning strike, she's been barbecued for the reptile to enjoy - which he does, starting with a leg/drumstick.
-To end this arc, we are told that the giant insects will be no more because of decreasing O2 levels and a drier climate, while the reptiles will thrive thanks to their waterproof skin. The evolution sequence is also the first discontinuity from the protagonist: as much as it may be Petrolacosaurus that is evolving and was evolved into, the protagonist in the arc was Mesothelae hands-down.
-Speaking of the evolution sequence, it's Petrolacosaurus->Edaphosaurus, and Branagh is most definitely right that the reptiles are making it big: at the end of the sequence, Edaphosaurus makes Petrolacosaurus look positively puny!
-The soundtrack for the Edaphosaurus herd we are introduced to is more upbeat instead of the primordial evolution sequence one, and I think that rather appropriate for starting on a new note about making it big and conquering the land.
-For this arc, the jot-notes tell us we are in what is now Bromacker, Germany in a 20% colder climate than today, with the hazards being extreme seasons.
-We get a general intro to the Edaphosaurus and their climate, with the factoid about their sails' thermoregulatory purpose thrown in and accompanied by another one of those top-tier zoom-ins.
And it's thanks to them that we have control over our body temperature today. More WWM heritage, yay!
-Also, those deep bellows suit these muscular heavyweights amazingly.
-"But Edaphosaurus aren't the only sailbacks. And now their biggest enemy is one of their own kind".
DUN DUN DUUUUUNNNNNN!!!!
-Cue the Dimetrodon introduction and the beginning of the second of my top 3 WWM soundtracks. I used to not remember this one much because it seemed way too short, but it starts much sooner than I thought, and now I remember it enough for it to be in the top 3.
-The Dimetrodon snaps at the camera, and we learn that although she is the biggest reptile on Earth, her pregnancy and resultant desire to avoid injury is having her go after smaller, softer prey than normal - a hapless baby Edaphosaurus we then zoom in on, which adds extra effect.
-Her hunt, which the most dramatic part of the soundtrack plays for, is more intelligently executed than one might think. She begins by a mock charge towards the Edaphosaurus to panic them, disperse the group and expose the vulnerable youngsters, while also being able to see through the predator distraction-intended eyespots the adult Edaphosaurus have on their sails.
-To add to the fear factor of the hunt, we get some views of running sailbacks smashing branches underfoot, and scared bleats (goat SFX?) from the baby Edaphosaurus our Dimetrodon is after.
-Once she catches and kills her target, we get a zoom-in of her two types of teeth that have led to our own (and look extra realistic with all the flesh and blood on them). Oh goody, I have Dimetrodon heritage to tell my dentist about!
Likewise, we get a zoom-in of blood dripping down the dead Edaphosaurus' sail. That reinforces Branagh's statement that it never stood a chance perfectly.
-This kill is absolutely crucial for our Dimetrodon's young: she needs to eat enough to last her for 7 months of guarding her eggs, especially considering she made a smaller kill. And considering all the effort she went through to get this kill, surely she's entitled to enjoy it, right?
Wrong. The smell of blood has attracted a trio of highly aggressive male Dimetrodon, and our female is so outmatched that Branagh says she knows better than to defend her kill. RIP.
-At the same time, though, the trio of males taking possession of the kill does lead to some interesting scenarios - it demonstrates the sheer size and voracity of these predators in ways that the female eating the kill couldn't. A male scarfs down an Edaphosaurus limb whole, there are enough in the group for Branagh to state there to be nothing left but bone when they finish, and the males make fearsome eating sounds.
Not to mention we learn about how Dimetrodon ate. It eats 90 percent of a carcass compared to the 70 percent of lions today, and dung is among the 10 percent of things it will not eat: intestines must be shaken out if they are to be eaten, covering the camera as they do so and adding an (icky) layer of realism.
-The female Dimetrodon has built a nesting mound, and we get to see her lay and cover her eggs while finding the temperature sweet spot for them - of this, we are even given thermal images.
To round it all off is a smoother soundtrack.
But the nesting scene is not all peaches and cream: an egg-thieving carnivorous amphibian is lurking nearby and waiting for any moment in which she might turn her back.
-We then watch the female tough out a bitterly cold winter and try to keep the eggs warm, with a more intense soundtrack and some views of the landscape's snowfall.
Eventually though, winter melts into spring, with an upbeat soundtrack. Some Edaphosaurus are feeding on tough conifers while trying to keep cool in the shade from the spring heat.
-But just because winter is over doesn't mean hardships for the Dimetrodon are. She has competition from another female over her nesting mound, and if she doesn't drive the other female away it's curtains for her young.
They end up getting in a brutal and spectacularly enduring fight over the mound that lasts throughout day and night, and never fails to amaze me by showcasing the endurance of Dimetrodon so well. Plus, the stakes are stupendously high: as Branagh puts it, "It's a battle neither can afford to lose".
-The next morning, our female is revealed to have been the victor, but it didn't come without a sacrifice. She is so badly injured that she can't defend her eggs or even herself for much longer, making the amphibian thief poised to seize his chance.
However, despite our Dimetrodon faring poorly, the Edaphosaurus thrive in the summer heat, with their young having grown up well.
-Time for our female to get lucky: as unable as she is to defend her nest, a hungry male Dimetrodon unintentionally did just that for her by eating the amphibian.
-Despite all the danger, the eggs are ready to hatch - but with their mother's instinct to protect them overruled by her need to find food, they are on their own.
A familiar danger of cannibalistic adult Dimetrodon awaits the babies, and with a very upbeat, foreboding soundtrack, they must run the gauntlet. But some are actually able to exploit the adult's distaste for dung: by rolling in it and repulsing the adults, they can get a head start to the safety of the trees!
-"One adult is driven on by hunger and desperation. The mother. She'll weed out weaker babies straight away, which helps the strong ones, and her species as a whole, survive".
And I thought the mother indricothere in WWB was giving her youngster some tough love!
-To end Reptile's Beginnings, we get an evolution sequence of Dimetrodon->gorgonopsid. The upgrades made for the reptiles to tighten their grip on land are straightened, lengthened legs, stronger backbones/muscles, an expanded skull for a larger brain, and bigger, sharper teeth.
Clash of Titans:
-At last, my favorite episode!
-This episode begins on a rather somber note: the war our ancestors have waged so long is no longer just about the battle between predator and prey. A planet-wide crisis is underway that will destroy most of the monster reptiles and wipe out 90 percent of life on Earth.
-The jot-notes tell us we are in the Permian period, 250 million years ago, in what is now Siberia. The climate is 60% hotter than today, and hazards are extreme heat/volcanic activity.
-Branagh tells us that all the world's continents have drifted together to make a giant landmass called Pangaea, and that their joining creates the largest desert ever - explaining the jot-note threat of extreme heat. It's an ideal habitat for tough-skinned reptiles, such as the turtle-ancestor Scutosaurus that we are introduced to.
However, despite his adaptations for his habitat, it's not his day. He's been left behind by his herd, tires, and gets chased and brought down by a hungry gorgonopsid - this episodes' protagonist. The kill itself is both gory and realistic, with a serious blood splatter on the sand dunes and both animals from the gorgonopsid's neck bite - I could barely watch it when I was younger.
-During the gorgonopsid's hunt, we hear one of my Top 3 WWM soundtracks once again: it is the same as the Dimetrodon hunt, and a deep, booming part at the end of the hunt that wasn't played for the Dimetrodon is played for the gorgonopsid.
-We are shown just how the gorgonopsid brought down the Scutosaurus: with the world's first saber teeth that mammalian predators will later use as well (HINT: WWB episode 5).
Amazingly, however, the Scutosaurus is not dead yet, and recoils/screeches in pain before either dying or passing out from his injuries. Being alive enough to feel the pain of the injuries is just so much more brutal than being killed on the spot.
-Branagh then explains, with a deep, primordial, and somewhat somber track, that volcanic activity is not only creating the hottest weather life on Earth has ever known but is also causing that hot weather to spread worldwide - even to Siberia.
Consequently, the animals are forced to gather around any remaining water hole, no matter how small it might be. Does this sound familiar from about 2 years ago creature386 ?
-Our female gorgonopsid finds her way to such a water hole in search of something to wash down the Scutosaurus, and as she makes her way there the air around her actually shimmers in the desert heat! Just one of countless examples showing how Impossible Pictures never fails at their 100% real CGI.
At the water hole we learn that she's Earth's top predator, a fact a trio of smaller gorgonopsids know all too well as evidenced by their fleeing in fear. To drive that point home, she scent marks a branch, and we also learn she can do this because she's more closely related to mammals than to lizards and crocodiles.
-But the water hole certainly isn't monopolized by fierce gorgonopsids, no siree! Right after the above, we get an intro to its most adorable residents: Diictodon.
They live in underground tunnels to protect them from the heat. which I always found to look very cozy and homey. And as with the gorgonopsid, we see how they're related to mammals: by hearing through lower jaw bones no reptile has, with a zoom-in.
-Despite their cute appearance and close proximity to one another, the pairs of Diictodon around the water hole are not a colony. They are surprisingly fierce and feisty with one another and will even wrestle each other for the vegetation they eat.
-However, despite their rivalry, they do reap a major benefit of living so close to each other. If anyone spots trouble, everyone will soon know.
And spot trouble they do: our female gorgonopsid has come to investigate.
What follows is easily the best-executed humor scene in any palaeodocumentary (I can hear creature386 tsk-tsking at their 2 year old review, LOL). The gorgonopsid snaps at the Diictodon from hole to hole, yet completely fails at catching them, and they seem to take advantage of this by rising and falling out of their holes Whack-A-Mole-style!
"But it's not always size that counts". Branagh is quite right: being the largest predator on Earth didn't help Mrs. Gorgonopsid any to win that round of Diictodon Whack-A-Mole - but thankfully, she learns her lesson and changes her tactic to lying in wait for larger prey.
-We then get a somber surprise introduction to another animal: a giant labyrinthodont amphibian who is so desperate she attacks a drinking gorgonopsid many times her size - and that's something our female takes notice of from the sidelines, keep this in mind for later.
Described as being a fugitive from when the desert was lush and green, she is the last of a line of labyrinthodonts that have lived in the water hole. And she is trapped as it slowly disappears.
-Even more somber, and with a foreboding soundtrack, we see cracked, dry earth in place of lushness and moisture, courtesy of there being no rain even when the wet season arrives. It is so severe, as Branagh puts it, "species are dying out at a rate that won't be matched until humans evolve in 250 million years time". Oof.
As a result of this failed wet season, the water hole is now reduced to a literal large puddle, which the local animals are variably affected by. The most adaptable Diictodon are digging deeper to escape the heat, but the weakening giant amphibian is now in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with our female gorgonopsid thanks to the shrinking waterhole.
-The soundtrack picks back up as we see a migrating Scutosaurus herd find the water hole, which may be the first water they've had in six months! And then comes a zoom-in of their stomachs+digestive stones, which - gross as I've often found it - actually appears to have real vegetation, stones, etc. My props to the producers for the extra step!
And with such a large herd, not only does our gorgonopsid keep her distance, but they are actually a bigger threat to the water hole's life than she is - within mere days they drink it dry and are forced to move on.
With this comes one of the most reflective moments in the series: as Branagh puts it against a somber soundtrack, "They represent the plight of all creatures on the continent of Pangaea. The global drought is now obliterating millions of years of evolution. Life everywhere is on the brink".
-Needless to say, thanks to the water hole being drunk dry, things are reaching a crisis point. Our female gorgonopsid is so hungry that she tries - and quite predictably fails - to dig out the Diictodon.
But then she ends up catching a lucky break and sniffing out the labyrinthodont in the dried-up remnants of the water hole, who attempted to sit out the drought by making a cocoon and going dormant. I always found the simple first rip in her cocoon to be very much a 'game over' moment for her: even if the gorgonopsid hadn't eaten her, she would have leaked out and dessicated from that rip.
-Sandstorm time! Scary, somber soundtracks pick up as the storm buries the waterhole completely and the animals are forced to hunker down.
-"The vast Pangaean deserts continue to spread, snuffing out entire ecosystems. Even the mighty gorgonopsid has at last succumbed. With no prey, even she cannot survive. Mummified in the sand, this monster will soon be nothing but dust".
This quote, the soundtrack, and the mummified gorgonopsid make this the biggest heart-wrencher moment in the series for me.
-Now Branagh tells us against the backdrop of a Scutosaurus skull that this extinction is even larger than the one that killed off the dinosaurs. But things get brighter from here: the Diictodon were able to sit out the sandstorm and can carry on doing so throughout the drought, particularly a lucky pair that has found some nutritious plant tubers.
-With the end of this arc comes the last protagonist evolution sequence, and also the start of the third of my top 3 soundtracks. This sequence is Diictodon->Lystrosaurus, and ends up very smooth due to the similar appearance of the animals - however, it is the first discontinuity in the evolution sequence: the evolving animal is not the one that evolved from the previous one.
Branagh's narration during the sequence sums up very well the premise of the final Clash of Titans arc. "From creatures like little Diictodon larger, stronger herbivores evolve. These tough forerunners of mammals may seem poised to seize control for good, but they are in fact set to play out their final scene".
-The final jot-notes tell us we have moved to the beginning of the Triassic, 248 million years ago. We are in what is now Antarctica, the climate is 40% hotter than today, and the hazards are ambush predators.
-"The dawn of the Triassic era, and the Earth has only just begun to show signs of recovery". This quote with a more upbeat part of the soundtrack is pleasing to hear after the mass extinction.
-The Lystrosaurus herds we see are so vast that not only do they make up more than half of all life on Earth, but their success will not be matched by any other species.
-"Deep within the forests though, a rival is evolving. A new type of animal, destined to change the face of life on Earth". Surely this must be some dangerous threat to the Lystrosaurus...right?
Wrong. It's just a tiny insect eater, Euparkeria, and as much of an advantage as he may have by being able to stand on 2 legs (which has a presumably live-acted zoom-in), he is no danger whatsoever to Lystrosaurus.
-"Giants such as Tyrannosaurus and Diplodocus can all trace their family tree back to this little insect-hunter in the Triassic forests".
We have ourselves the first of WWM's WWD vibes - and Euparkeria's dragonfly-hunting method of leaping and catching the dragonflies also gives vibes of the Proterogyrinus hunting the Meganeura in Reptile's Beginnings.
-The Lystrosaurus herd eats so much that they must regularly migrate to get enough to eat, and a birds-eye-view of the migrating herd shows very well its vastness.
At night, they must pass through a ravine, and in a single file which leaves them very vulnerable. We get a view of this in night vision, which is a nice touch.
But in such cramped conditions, it's hard for them to spot danger, and that danger takes full advantage. After a frightening falling rock comes a stalking therocephalian - however, it at first appears that it's not up to the challenge of hunting Lystrosaurus due to their strength, with a seemingly unsuccessful attack.
Key word: seemingly. No strength is needed for the therocephalian to make the kill, as it uses venom stronger than a black mamba's and the stricken, shaky Lystrosaurus is very clearly done for, which several therocephalians gather to join in on eating. This scene always hit me hard at first, because of the speed at which it was over for the Lystrosaurus and the lack of social bonds the herd had to help.
-I do however appreciate the few shots we get of the herd with their eyes shining in the dark. That's the cherry on top.
-With dawn comes my favorite scene in Clash of Titans - the river crossing. It's the biggest challenge for the Lystrosaurus yet: as Branagh says, its banks are literally lined with open jaws.
-The owner of those jaws are chasmatosaurs, the earliest known ancestors of crocodiles and alligators. I've always viewed these as the fiercest predators in WWM, thanks to Branagh's description: "Their strange overbite means once they get their teeth into a victim, there is no chance of escape".
Combine that with their visually intimidating models and huge numbers and it's a wonder the Euparkeria hunting amongst them is doing so at all!
-"As the sun rises, the chasmatosaurs are drawn towards the water. Some of them haven't eaten since the Lystrosaurus last passed this way a year ago. Now they sense it's time to feed again".
There are like 4 chasmatosaurs that lie motionless on the riverbank despite all the others getting into the water. I always wondered whether they starved and died since last year's feast.
-Finally the front of the immense Lystrosaurus herd reaches the river. They are scared to go in - Branagh speculates that due to their large-for-a-reptile-brain they may remember what happened last year - but the combination of more Lystrosaurus arriving from behind and the temptation of fresh grazing on the other bank eventually force the first one in.
This is also the part where the third of the top 3 soundtracks (it's actually called the river crossing track) picks back up from the start of the arc. And this is the most dynamic part.
-"More and more Lystrosaurus wearily strike out for the other side. But now the predators are homing in".
DUN DUN DUUUUUNNNNNN!!!!
-The first Lystrosaurus makes it to the other side, but its luck isn't exactly replicable across the board: we see a trio of underwater chasmatosaurs and even more with their heads above water, all getting ever closer.
And then, of course, they attack. There is a LOT of blood, and a struggling Lystrosaurus is completely unable to get out of the chasmatosaur's overbite, just as Branagh warned us about - as with the gorgonopsid/Scutosaurus hunt, this is not a scene for the faint of heart.
-Our last moments with the Lystrosaurus are bittersweet. Despite the number that have been killed (one of which we see as a not-fresh corpse), the herd still runs strong, but they are nearing the end of their glory days - as are all mammal-like reptiles.
-Now for the ending - and I'm sorry WWB, but WWM has you just beat here for the best WW series/palaeodocumentary ending.
We begin our ending with the Euparkeria, as he approaches a chasmatosaur with a kill and does not back down.
Indeed, as Branagh explains what is happening:
"Instead, it is creatures like Euparkeria that are about to usher in a new golden age. These specialists on two legs will provide a cornerstone for one of the greatest dynasties the world will ever see. Their descendents will become the dominant life form on Earth for more than 170 million years, and be known as the most notorious monsters of them all."
our Euparkeria in the final evolution sequence of the program evolves before the chasmatosaur's eyes into a WWD Allosaurus, with WWD music playing to boot. Then the viewer is thrust right into WWD's Time of the Titans, with the very last words of the program being "Welcome, to the age of dinosaurs".
As poignant, brilliant, and thought-provoking as WWB's "No species lasts forever" is, this edges it out because it's not the total end by any means: it thrusts you instead directly into the next awesome WW series on a very upbeat note! And for a documentary LAST in the line of production, nonetheless!
. I suspect most who don't like WWM watched WWD and WWB first (which Ian Johns' negative review kind of alludes to: he thinks WWM doesn't have the 'wow factor' of its predecessors).
