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Walking with Dinosaurs/Stock Dinosaurs: Difference between revisions
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** '''Apatosaurus aka Brontosaurus''': Averted initially. The sauropod which appears in "Time of the Titans" is the much longer relative ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Diplodocus]]'' (plus ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Brachiosaurus]]'' making a cameo); but then producers felt sorrow because of this choice, and added ''Apatosaurus'' in the ''Ballad of Big Al'' special. Despite this we can easily forgive them, since it is called ''Apatosaurus'' instead of ''Brontosaurus'' and has the correct head-shape and whip-like tail, at last...
** '''Triceratops:''' Similar to the example above. It makes only a very, very minor role in ''Death of a Dynasty'' (''only a corpse'' shows up at all); but later the producers did look back in ''[[Prehistoric Park]]'' and ta-da! Triceratops vs Tyrannosaur fight!
*** Its relative ''[[Prehistoric Life/Dinosaurs/Ceratopsids|Torosaurus]]'' appears instead of ''Triceratops'' in WWD because the former is [[Rule of Cool|cooler-looking]] due to its larger frill and longer horns. Ironically, it's now argued that ''Triceratops'' and ''Torosaurus'' were actually one and the same!
** '''Stegosaurus:''' Appears in both the episodes collocated in the Late Jurassic North America, but interestingly, it has only minor roles in both shows, and it's depicted as a rather [[Badass]] animal, contrary to the "predestined loser" [[Too Dumb to Live]] we see traditionally.
** '''Dromaeosaurids''': All three species which have contributed to create the pop-cultural image of the "Raptor" show up in some way. WWD features the gigantic ''Utahraptor''. It's reconstructed with the body and head shape of ''Deinonychus'' (the most historically important dromaeosaurid in paleontology, not to mention the ''real'' protagonist in the [[Jurassic Park]] series). Ironically, only ''Velociraptor'' is missing (justified, since it lived in Asia while the original WWD did not show Asian dinos).
*** However, it appears later in one of the two specials of ''Chased By Dinosaurs'' (''Giant Claw''). This program was allegedly made to show the huge-clawed ''[[Prehistoric Life/Dinosaurs/Birdlike Theropods|Therizinosaurus]]'', but some people [[Wild Mass Guessing|suspect]] the ''real'' goal just was to show [[Viewers are Morons|the animal whose name identifies the whole dromaeosaur group in pop-consciousness]].
** '''Pteranodon''': The iconic flying reptile is totally missing in WWD, because its habitat wasn't recreated in any episode; again, producers felt sad about that and later depicted ''Pteranodon'' in the other "Chased By Dinosaurs" special in a [[Misplaced Wildlife|totally misplaced way]], living in South instead of North America and [[Anachronism Stew|in the Middle instead of the Late Cretaceous]]<ref>Somewhat justified as, at the time, what was thought to be Pteranodon remains were found in South America; nowadays said bones are thought to belong to a close relative</ref>. They later will correct the mistake, showing the animal in the right place in ''Sea Monster''.
* '''Other stock dinosaurs:''' <ref>again, real or alleged dinosaurs</ref>
** '''Allosaurus:''' ''Allosaurus'' has only a minor role in Time of The Titans (although it appears, obviously, as the [[Big Bad]] of its habitat). But then it becomes the great protagonist of "Ballad of Big Al", a show appropriately dedicated to a specific ''Allosaurus''. For the first time visual medias have done justice [[Poor Man's Substitute|to its species]] at last; here it appears as a predator even more lethal than ''Tyrannosaurus'' despite being smaller, because of its capability to kill the largest sauropods (while ''T. rex'' only killed the relatively smaller hadrosaurs and ceratopsians, but only because sauropods were almost missing in its habitat, not because it was less powerful).
** '''Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus and the "Largest Sauropod"''': ''Diplodocus'' was chosen as the main sauropod both in ''Time of the Titans'' and ''Big Al'' because it was longer than ''Apatosaurus'' and thus [[Rule of Cool|more striking]]; the same thing about the classically "Woah he's the largest dino!" ''Brachiosaurus'', although this one makes only very brief cameos (it is actually modeled upon its African relative ''[[Prehistoric Life/Dinosaurs/Sauropods|Giraffatitan]]'', but this is justified since the latter was synonymized with ''Brachiosaurus'' only in 2009). Talking about the "modern" record-holding sauropods, the special "Land of Giants" was made just to show the one which was detaining the record in the year the episode was created (2001): ''Argentinosaurus''. However it did not become a true stock animal after that, unlike its predator ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Giganotosaurus]]'', probably because of the "sauropod confusion" in pop-culture.
** '''Ankylosaurus:''' Shows up in ''Death of a Dynasty'' as the classic "ultimate tank dinosaur" in the climactic battle against the mother T. rex and easily winning the fight. However, it appears as the rather sluggish, small-brained loner traditionally depicted in paleo-art; moreover, its look is a bit inaccurate, having an armour resembling more that of its relatives the [[Prehistoric Life/Dinosaurs/Ankylosaurs|nodosaurs]] and with some resemblance with its smaller cousin ''[[Prehistoric Life/Dinosaurs/Ankylosaurs|Euoplocephalus]]'' (the numerous ankylosaurian species tend to be confused a lot in pop-culture).
** '''Hadrosaurs:''' WWD portrays "Anatotitan" as the representative of the duck-billed dinosaur group, but has only a very small role (it serves mainly to give a prey to the hungry mother tyrannosaurid). It may seem an aversion, since the name "Anatotitan" was known only by scientists and dino-fans before that; but don't forget that "Anatotitan", as a synonym of ''Edmontosaurus'', is technically the hadrosaur which used to be identified as one of the two iconic pop-cultural hadrosaurs: ''Anatosaurus'' aka ''Trachodon''.The reason behind the choice of "Anatotitan" instead of the other iconic duckbill ''Parasaurolophus'' in the main WWD is not an aversion of the trope, but just scientific accuracy: the former did live alongside the "rex", unlike the latter which lived slighty earlier. However, we can see another non-stock duckbill in Late Cretaceous Asia (in the aforementioned "Giant Claw" episode): ''[[Prehistoric Life/Dinosaurs/Hadrosaurs|Saurolophus]]'' (the species Ducky from [[Land Before Time]] resembles the most, to make things clear); this choice is correct since ''Saurolophus'' is the most common Asian hadrosaur in fossil record.
** '''Iguanodon''': This is the main dinosaur portrayed in the Early Cretaceous episode of WWD (more precisely in the pterosaur-dedicated ''Giant of the Skies''); and then some sort of "Iguanodon" species appears as ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Giganotosaurus]]'' main prey in ''Chased by Dinosaurs'' (another example of [[Misplaced Wildlife]]: iguanodonts of that size are unknown in that habitat). Interesting that, few months after, Disney's movie ''[[Dinosaur]]'' (very successful at the time if the box-office is concerned) portrayed this dinosaur as the main character. [[Dueling Movies|Both shows]] have perhaps the merit to have done justice to one of the best-known and most important dinosaurs in paleontology (much like the aforementioned ''Allosaurus'' example).
** '''Triassic dinosaurs:''' WWD chose to show the two most well-known dinosaurs from that period, ''Coelophysis'' and ''Plateosaurus'': this has brought to another case of [[Misplaced Wildlife]], since the latter shows up in North America instead of Europe. However it might become justified; maybe ''Plateosaurus'' ''did'' live in North America as well, since all land masses were reuned in one single supercontinent in the Triassic, allowing dinos to wander freely in the world.
** '''Protoceratops''': This small, hornless Triceratops relative (the most scientifically-known Asian dinosaur) appears in the same episode in which ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Velociraptor]]'' and ''[[Prehistoric Life/Dinosaurs/Birdlike Theropods|Therizinosaurus]]'' are portrayed, and it isn't shown chasing an egg-robbing ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Oviraptor]]'' to defend its nest as most paleo-artists used to represent ''Protoceratops'' in the past. Walking With [[Did Not Do the Research|did the research]] again: there isn't any proof of this thing today.
** '''Sea Reptiles:''' WWD portrays Late Jurassic marine reptiles: an ichthyosaur, a plesiosaur, and ''Liopleurodon'' (this one became quite popular thanks to being described as the [[Up to Eleven|most fearsome killing machine of all times]]). The two stock Late Cretaceous sea reptiles, ''Elasmosaurus'' and ''Tylosaurus'' show up in ''Sea Monsters'' (the latter identified as "giant mosasaur"); the same programs showed again ''Liopleurodon'' in the Jurassic ocean.
*** One special note to marine reptiles from the original WWD: species that appear in ''Cruel Sea'' are called by their scientific names (''[[Prehistoric Life|Ophthalmosaurus]]'' and ''[[Prehistoric Life|Cryptocleidus]]'') instead of being called with the names of their groups (Ichthyosaurs and Plesiosaurs respectively). However, this may make watchers thinking the former are ''synonyms'' of the latter. Just as examples, let's translate the quotes ''"Ophthalmosaurus were the most ancient marine reptiles"'' as ''"Ichthyosaurs were the most ancient marine reptiles"'' and ''"the swimming style of Cryptocleidus will disappear after the Great Extinction of the dinosaurs"'' as ''"the swimming style of plesiosaurs..."'' and so on.
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