Tag Archives: Prehistoric Planet

Prehistoric Planet Episode 5: Forests – A Bit Lackluster for a Season Finale

by in Dinosaurs and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s been a little over 9 weeks since I posted anything about Prehistoric Planet. I was riding high on the #JurassicJune thermals and getting entirely too excited about Age of Reptiles Ancient Egyptians Issue 2.

Then August hit and writing went pretty much right out the window. Oh I tried to pull some fiction together for the first week of #Smaugust, but after failure there, I did not have the time or energy to try to pick up the pieces.

But I think I’ve managed to get a handle on things, just in time to realize that my free trial of Apple+ is nearly over. So I’m trying to finish any watching, writing and reviewing I might want to do before I have give up the fruit, or break open the piggy bank. At this point I’m honestly not sure what I’ll do but I am definitely considering subscribing. There are quite a few shows on here I’ve enjoyed (Shrinking, Severance, After Party, Ted Lasso, Silo, Pachinko and Slow Horses to name a few), but I’m loathe to sign up for ANOTHER streaming service. It will be a game time decision either way.

Anyway, changing the subject back to what we’re actually supposed to be talking about, Prehistoric Planet Episode 5: Forests.

We’ve reached the end of Season 1!

I’ll admit, I’m not really sure the logic behind story-telling during documentary series, but I did feel like this episode left a little to be desired when considering it was the finale of the first season. Forests was so unassuming that I didn’t even realize it was the last episode until Season 2 began to play.

That being said, we did get to see some cool dinosaurs. Triceratops immediately jumps to mind as, even though it was not the first dinosaur to be featured, it is perhaps one of the most famous we’ve seen yet on the show.

Depictions of this three-horned behemoth generally compare its behavior with that of a bull or even a rhinoceros, which is to say aggressive, territorial and quick to violence. There is perhaps some truth to this as many triceratops fossils have broken horns, and a fossil of a triceratops-like dinosaur (Protoceratops) was discovered locked in combat with a Velociraptor.

As such we might have expected to see an epic battle between triceratops and Tyrannosaurus Rex (who also lived in North America and has featured in episodes on Coasts, on Deserts, and Freshwater), as perhaps a nod to the 1925 film, The Lost World which features such a battle.

However, this is not what happens. The triceratops-scene we see is hardly violent at all, though still filled with tension. We watch as a baby trike tries to follow its mother into a dark cave in search of clay which will line its stomach and protect it from toxins in their food (something similar presents in Jurassic Park with the trike actually getting sick). The poor thing does not keep up with the herd and (slight spoiler) nearly perishes alone in the dark.

Despite the drama of the young triceratops’ plight, the situation is perhaps a bit hilarious as it depicts a fearsome (or perhaps majestic) creature, venturing into a dark cave and essentially, licking the walls.

I’m not sure a laugh was intended here but I did chuckle to see it, though maybe I just needed to release some tension after seeing the baby trike alone and afraid.

As we continue on, we see quite a few more dinosaurs, some returning (Edmontosaurus, and Therizinosaurus), and many many new (Max’s Blogosaurus has a complete list). However, it seems to me that the next star of the show is probably Hatzegopteryx?

The last image we see in the episode is of this giant Pterosaur flying off into the sunset, evoking big Jurassic Park vibes, but other than a poor Zalmoxes which gets almost casually eaten by the Hatzegopteryx, we mostly just watch it walk around the forest.

**Aside: Zalmoxes is named for Zalmoxis, a greek divinity? — slave? Philosopher? — who lived underground for three years and has some parallels to christ’s resurrection myth. You can bet I’m going to fall down this rabbit hole when I finally have time.

I may have slightly spoiled the opening of Season 2 for myself, but it seems that really the function of Hatzegopteryx in this last episode is to introduce us to a character which will feature prominently in the opening of Season 2. However, I wouldn’t say that’s terribly clear at the end of Forests.

Give the Episode a Watch?

Got. To.

Looking back on all the incredible moments we’ve seen in previous episodes in this series however, I’m a bit surprised they chose to end here with only one really big crowd pleaser (Triceratops).

I guess this is why I don’t write for documentaries. Anyway, lack of fanfare aside, I’m still as excited as ever to jump into the next season.

That’s all I have for now. What are y’all’s thoughts? Did you like this episode? Wishing for more pomp in a season finale? Let me know in the comments.

Until next week . . .

Prehistoric Planet does Fire and Ice in Episode 4 – Ice Worlds

by in Dinosaurs and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Following up on last week’s post about Prehistoric Planet Episode 3: Freshwater, we’re back again with a post about Episode 4: Ice Worlds.

I feel like this is the most astonishing episode yet, and not because of any interesting behavior or fact about an individual dinosaur (although there was one really cool thing which I’ll touch on later on), but namely because I think I’m still just not used to seeing dinosaurs in the snow.

This should not be all that shocking. Paleontologists such as John Ostrom, and Robert Bakker were talking about warm blooded dinosaurs as far back as the 1960s and 1970s (a movement known as the Dinosaur Renaissance) and the original Jurassic Park movie, brought agile, social, warm-blooded dinosaurs into the mainstream 30 years ago.

While we should be able to extrapolate from this knowledge that dinosaurs would have lived in colder climates, having the information needed to figure something out, and actually figuring it out are completely separate things.

As such, I feel like the predominant climate in which we associate dinosaurs is still that of a rainforest or tropical setting. Indeed I can only think of two examples which might have dampened the shock. Robert Bakker’s Raptor Red, written in 1995, contains a long section in which Red and her pack live (I think) in the foothills beneath a mountain, and seek warmth and shelter in a cave to get away from snow (something we kinda see Antarctopelta do in this episode . . . well seeking out a cave at least). And then the most recent Jurassic movie, Jurassic World: Dominion, features a Pyroraptor (meaning FIRE THIEF how cool is that?!), swimming in cold water beneath ice while hunting, and an Apatosaurus doing . . . something at a lumber mill (probably due for a rewatch).

This is . . . not a lot of examples. Granted, this is just my personal experience, but I’m assuming I’m not that far off from the average person, and maybe even a little more well versed considering I love dinosaurs and have posted about them on this blog (at the time of this writing) just over 20 times.

So that was the main take-away from this episode: Much snow, many dino. Wow.

The other part of this episode which I loved was seeing the Troodontid use a burning stick to smoke out prey, spreading an already burning forest fire (again FIRE THIEF!!). While this behavior seems unbelievable, “Firehawks” — fire-foraging birds which prey on animals fleeing the flames — exist today, in many locations from Africa to Texas.

I have not been able to get this idea out of my head since watching the episode. Could it show up in some of my fiction later on? I certainly hope so. Very cool.

Also, something I thought was really interesting about this particular dinosaur, it is apparently something of an amalgam of the different members of the family Troodontidae. I assume that this is because this section of the taxonomy seems to have multiple interpretations so it appears the show decided to remain as vague as possible.

As for the rest of the dinosaurs in this episode, many were familiar in shape, but not in specificity. Nanuqsaurus was not one I’d heard of, but it seems quite similar to T. Rex. Same for Dromaeosaurus which seems kind of Velociraptor-esque, and the aforementioned Antarctopelta was giving me Ankylosaur vibes.

We got to see two kinds of Hadrosaurs, and a distant relative of triceratops: Pachyrhinosaurus.

I’m sure I’ll be googling all of these dinosaurs in the months to come, including the very strange Ornithomimus and learning what else I can, but I was at least glad to make their acquaintance here in the snow.

If you haven’t yet, give this episode a watch, there is so much to explore here.

That’s all I have for now. Please let me know in the comments what you thought the coolest part of the episode was. Maybe write me a short story about a fire thief! hahah.

See you next time!

#PreshistoricPlanet Ep. 3: Freshwater – Weird new Dinos and (Still) Terrifying Favs

by in Dinosaurs and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Wow. I can’t believe it’s been a year and one day since my last post about Prehistoric Planet which reviewed Episode 2: Deserts. Please don’t take that as a sign that the rest of the series lacked substance, (I think I binged watched the remaining PP episodes in the span of like a day (and all of Ted Lasso the next day)) I’m just inconsistent in my time and motivation to write.

In the immortal words of Taylor Swift: “. . . Hi, I’m the problem, it’s me.”

Anyway, the return of #JurassicJune, and the release of Prehistoric Planet‘s second season has me back on the dino train (see last week’s review of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs) and I’m rewatching season one so I can start Season 2 with everything fresh in my mind.

Speaking of ‘fresh’ that is what Episode 3 is all about. Well Freshwater to be more precise but I didn’t have a better segue. Anywho . . .

Freshwater feels like an especially star studded episode. We saw some more Pterosaurs roosting in the cliffs, and then later, Quetzalcoatlus, named for the “feathered serpent” deity of Mesoamerican myth, Quetzalcoatl. We went to ancient North America to nom on (dead) Triceratops and have another run in with Tyrannosaurus Rex (which perhaps resulted in the 3 young T-Rexes we saw in Episode 1: Coasts).

Seeing all the wounds and injuries sustained by the T. Rexes really recalls something that stood out to me while reading The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs, which is that no T. Rex bones have been found from an adult older than 35 (the oldest, Trix, was around 30). These animals lived a very quick and hard life, which makes their size even more impressive. In order to get so big, T.Rex would have put on almost 5 lbs a day during its teen years . . . I would not want to be in charge of that kid’s wardrobe.

Two new dinosaurs (to me at least), were introduced: Masiakasaurus, and the incredibly weird looking Deinocheirus. These were perhaps some of the most interesting scenes for me in a I’m-about-to-fall- down-a-rabbit-hole-on-the-internet kind of way, but unfortunately as they’re new to me, I don’t have much to say about these two dinos here in my post except: I hope Beelzebufo gets his some day . . .

And then of course, a sure crowd pleaser no matter where they go, Velociraptor.

I loved how dramatic the Velociraptor hunting scene is. Despite looking wholly different — smaller and feathered — than the scaly reptiles we meet in Jurassic Park, I felt that the PP team still worked hard to present them as terrifying and intelligent in much the same way we remember from our childhood (and likely how they felt to any of their prehistoric prey).

While I’m realizing we saw velociraptor already once in Episode 2: Deserts, I think these fearsome creatures got much more screen time in this episode, and were shown in a much more compelling and unique scenario: hunting Pterosaurs on the edge of a cliff. Certainly, a scene to remember.

Finally, I noted the appearance of Elasmosaurs this episode, thinking they were the same rock-gobbling plesiosaurs from Episode 1, but it appears they are different (the sea reptiles in Coasts were Tuarangisaurus).

Anyway, give this episode a watch (or a re-watch if it’s been year). I’m consistently amazed at the level of detail, science, and imagination that goes into each one of these episodes. Every one teaches me something new and inspires me to keep learning. I can’t wait to watch (and learn) more in the next episode (Episode 4: Ice Worlds).

Anyway, that’s all I have for now. Who has watched this series? What was the most interesting dinosaur fact? Which dinosaurs are your favorite? Please leave your answers in the comments, I’m very excited to chat Dinosaurs for literally any reason at all.

Until next time . . .

#PreshistoricPlanet Ep. 2: Deserts – An Oasis of Dinosaur Fact and Wonder

by in Dinosaurs and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Looks like we’re moving right along with our second post for #JurassicJune (2022), this time it’s a review of the second episode of Prehistoric Planet, a new (ish) show on Apple+ which takes a documentary style look at our humble blue marble, and attempts to recreate what it would look like back in our ancient past during the Cretaceous period (between 145 – 66 million years ago).

Two (ish) weeks ago I gave my initial thoughts on episode 1 -“Coasts”, which were generally enthusiastic, and awed by what the show has been able to accomplish. I loved watching the little T. Rexes hunt baby turtles (although obvi I was sad for the baby turtles to die) and seeing the Pterosaurs take a leap of faith off the coastal cliffs caused my heart to soar (I’m thinking Ptero“soar” was an opportunity missed by science). I was a little confused by where we were in time, and I felt without that grounding, it was a little discombobulating but I deemed that a general audience would probably find it fine, and that I was only curious because I’m a huge dinosaur nerd.

In the end, I was looking forward to the next chapter, and even — since it was centered around desert climates — anticipating the possibility that I might get to see some of my favorite dinosaurs from Egypt, like Paralititan and Spinosaurus.

Unfortunately, those hopes were dashed pretty quickly, but I did get to watch some giant sauropods duke it out in a fight for supremacy over the affections of lady sauropods relaxing nearby. The sauropods in question were Dreadnoughtus Schrani (meaning “fears nothing”) discovered in Argentina by Kenneth Lacovara who long-time blog followers may recognize as the author of Why Dinosaurs Matter which I reviewed in 2021 for #DinosaurDay. As if the image of these massive beasts fighting weren’t striking enough, the added image of orange air sacks which went up the animal’s necks in columns, inflating and deflating as a kind of mating display was weird and amazing all at once. According to ‘Prehistoric Planet’: an unofficial scientific guide to ‘Deserts’, their use here was speculative, but even so, I found it both intriguing and fascinating to ponder.

Perhaps the next most interesting part for me was again about the Pterosaurs. I was struck by the massive tuning fork like crests showed in the last episode (it seemed like it would be a foil to flight but apparently it isn’t), but was more staggered to see that some of the males do not have them, and would essentially impersonate female pterosaurs to get close to them without alerting the dominant male. Then, if it was a match, they’d essentially sneak around behind the other male’s back. #PrehistoricSoapOpera

Finally, my last favorite bit was about the hadrosaurs. It was really strange to see them roaming the desert sands in search of an oasis, and to think they might have been adapted to hear the ocean’s waves over long distances, and use the stars in the sky to navigate. This is something I’d love to do some more of my own reading on, and really see how the scientists think it might have worked (and maybe it will find its way into a future Egypt and Dinosaur adventure!)

Anyway, I thought this was a great episode, and I’m really excited to watch the next one!

What were your thoughts? Anything strike you as being completely fascinating? Too unbelievable? Let me know in the comments.

Wow, thank you for reading all the way down through the post. I’m glad you enjoyed #PreshistoricPlanet Ep. 2: Deserts – An Oasis of Dinosaur Fact and Wonder. This may be a weird spot for an ad or newsletter signup, but as you may have guessed, this episode’s desert setting really spoke to me, and seemed a well of information I might be able to use in future iterations in my Ancient Egypt and Dinosaurs setting.

If such a setting sounds intriguing to you, I recommend you check out my short story Narmer and the God Beast. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

Prehistoric Planet: Initial Thoughts

by in Dinosaurs and tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

So I wasn’t really expecting to be writing a review right now. It’s Monday night (though this is probably posted Tuesday morning) and I’m hanging out with my fellow writers. We’re all chilling on Zoom typing quietly which, given the fact I don’t find that very weird anymore, is probably WHY it’s weird. But anyway, we’re supporting each other, and I’m supposed to be working on a short story for next quarter’s newsletter, or finishing a listicle for #WyrdAndWonder, or any of a hundred different writing projects I’ve been meaning to get done, but I’m not doing any of those things right now, because all I can think about is a little T-rex pouncing on baby turtles, or an even tinier pterosaur base jumping over the open ocean and hoping for the best.

All productivity is gone, as I can’t really think of anything else besides these delightful creatures which Apple Tv+ has managed to dig up out of the dirt, and bring to life in a way I feel has heretofore never happened in my memory.

I’m something of a dinosaur fan here on this blog, and will get pretty excited about even the dumbest depictions (I actually watched and enjoyed Velocipastor) of prehistoric life just to feel a little bit of that passion, awe and wonder (and a little fear) I felt as a kid.

But there’s no need to force it with Prehistoric Planet. Every image looks amazing, and each fact seemed more interesting and startling than the last.

I’m no paleontologist certainly, but I do enjoy reading about pre-history from time to time and I feel like I’m building up a bit of a knowledge-base about what the really ancient (obviously a technical term) world was supposedly like. But I’ll be the first to admit that it can sometimes be as difficult to dig into as actual rock.

I can understand Ceratopsians and Ceratopsids having a similar name, but what’s Ceratosaurus’ excuse? It sounds way too similar to be SO different.

Anyway, at least so far in the first episode (“Coasts”) we’re not dealing with this level of granularity which I believe would have made the show completely unwatchable. However, I wish we had a little more grounding. The opening is of a group of swimming T. Rexes — which was itself a strange image though maybe it shouldn’t have been — so I can assume we’re in the Cretaceous?

Where in time we were was essentially not explained at all, even though prehistoric geography was sprinkled in here and there. We go from recognizable continent names like North America, to lesser known names like Zealandia.

Also, the map of the Cretaceous is completely different than the map we know now. I think an opening shot of the umm . . . PREHISTORIC PLANET!! would have really helped to get us situated.

Anyway, these are probably nitpicks, and I think for a general audience, which is clearly who Apple is shooting for, I think the show is going to be more than incredible, which pretty much makes me really happy no matter what.

Anyway, those are my initial reactions to Prehistoric Planet: Episode 1 – Coasts. I’m really looking forward to the rest of this series. I don’t think I’ll cover each episode as it comes out as I just don’t have the bandwidth right now, but I wanted to gush a bit about this before it breezed on by. I’ll probably do a follow up at the end when I’ve finished watching but just know my general impression is that it’s awesome, and I’m sooo looking forward to episode 2 which is supposed to be about North African dinosaurs. I’m hoping that means we’ll see some of our friends from The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt including Paralititan, and Spinosaurus!

Let me know your thoughts in the comments! Looking forward to talking about this one!