Walking With Dinosaurs was the beginning of an era. There were dinosaur documentaries beforehand, but mostly just 1-hour TV specials with rough animation, stop motion or puppetry. Even if they had the science down for the time, the recreations were rough and the Dinosaurs never felt alive.
WWD was a daring production, more expensive per minute than any other documentary. Accuracy for the time blended with artistic competence so perfectly, nothing has matched it since. So many copycats have tried to emulate its success. Some came pretty close, like When Dinosaurs Roamed America, Prehistoric Planet, and even Dinosaur Planet, some okay like March of The Dinosaurs, and some embarrassingly failed like Tarbosaurus: The Mightiest Ever and (IMO) Dinosaur Revolution and Monsters Resurrected.
Let's break down those two components, shall we?
1. WWD came out in a time where dinosaurs were best known for being movie monsters like in King Kong (1933), or kids stuff like Land Before Time (1988). Jurassic Park (1993) treated its dinos respectfully for the time, but at the end of the day their role as movie monsters took center stage. WWD was a game changer in that it seriously tried portraying dinosaurs as living animals with animal behaviors. Not every interaction between dinos results in chaos. Sure they eat, but they must also sleep, migrate, form social bonds, build nests, etc. Take for example the shot of the Allosaurus laying in the shade, watching the diplodocus herd walk by. In any Hollywood movie. And even many documentaries, the vicious, bloodthirsty carnivore wouldn't be able to restrain itself from killing anything in sight. Instead it watches them walk by, like a lion watching zebras or wildebeest walk by, interested to see what they do, but still digesting their last meal and too busy sleeping 20 hours a day to do anything us humans would perceive as "cool" or "epic". Another example is these animals' hesitancy to fight. Look at the two Eustreptospondylus fighting over a dead turtle, and the "polar Allosaur" infiltrating the Muttaburrasaurus herd. They don't fight to the death like in the laughable "Jurassic Fight Club". Real animals only fight as a last resort. Fighting means risking injury. If you get injured, you can't hunt, therefore you can't eat, and therefore you'll die. One Eustreptospondylus simply intimates the other into backing down, and they carry on with their lives. The Allosaur and Muttaburrasaurus keep an uneasy distance. When it can't find any young, old, weak, or sick among the healthy Muttaburrasaurus, it gives up and backs off. The only "awesomebro" scene in the whole series is the Liopleurodon grabbing the dinosaur from the sea cliff, in water too shallow for it to fit. Subsequent dino docs made their subjects more anthropomorphic and monsterfied with each passing year, focusing on what will draw viewers and stimulate their short attention spans. WWD treats these creatures with not just the respect, but I dare say, reverence they deserve. I say reverence because dinosaurs hold a special place in pop culture. Literally every 6 year old on the planet loves dinosaurs. Most adults find dinosaurs cool too, even if they may not be willing to admit it. We owe them our respect because they were once alive. They breathed the same air and drank the same water we do. To portray them as bloodthirsty monsters, especially in a "documentary" setting, is insulting to me. I'm looking at you, Jurassic Fight Club and Monsters Resurrected. Thankfully shows like Prehistoric Planet and March of The Dinosaurs treat their subjects with respect, though I still think WWD is superior because of my second point:
2. Presentation. The filmmaking behind WWD sets it apart from other dino docs. Let's start with music. The score is phenomenal, remining me of motific and melodic pieces from John Williams and Howard Shore at points. Take for example the "Giant of The Skies" theme in the Ornithocheirus episode. It starts epic, almost intimidating. As the subject grows old and starts dying, the theme returns sounding dismal and melancholic. After a crossfade, the camera pans to reveal the animal's dead body, the theme returning but with a connotation of sadness rather than strength. The music alone makes this scene so powerful, I fight back tears every time I watch it. The opening theme is killer too, and who doesn't love the triumphant "Time of The Titans" theme? The filmmakers use a mix of CGI and puppetry to bring these animals to life. I'll admit the effects can be a bit wonky at times watching in high def, but they looked fine back when it aired on my tube TV, or on a low-res VHS. Prehistoric Planet may have had the most photorealistic CGI, and a decent score, but their music doesn't hold a candle to WWD, and the live action backgrounds in WWD really help ground the CGI models, even if they're not amazing by today's standards. So many other documentaries, such as March of The Dinosaurs, are let down by their ugly CGI backgrounds that break the immersion. Another thing I think WWD does better is storytelling. Prehistoric Planet is framed like Planet Earth, only showing a few minutes here and there to show as many animals as possible. I prefer WWD's episodic structure where we spend a whole episode with the same subjects, making the payoffs more satisfying. The camerawork is fairly conservative. No doubt a limitation of the time, but I think it works in the documentary's favor. It gives us time to let the atmosphere of each episode sink in, unlike the unholy handheld cinematography of Planet Dinosaur (not to be confused with Dinosaur Planet). I also especially like the extinction scene, as it shows a rare dino POV perspective of the asteroid strike.
No dino doc is perfect though. Of course info will become outdated as we discover new things, but there's certain things where they should've known better, even at the time. The Ornithocheirus and Liopleurodon are double the size they should be. Many dinos that should have prorated wrists are unpronated. None of the raptors are feathered. The T-Rex model looks wonky to me, like the dimensions are off, especially the tail. It looks lopsided with such a short tail balancing such a top heavy animal. But you know what? I consider these issues negligible in the grand scheme of things. So much is done so well, treating its subjects with the respect they deserve, and sporting great stories, awesome music, and great effects for the time and budget. The fact Walking With Dinosaurs went above and beyond with both its subjects and presentation means no other dino doc has surpassed it since, and probably won't for a long time.
10/10.
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