Walking with Dinosaurs: Difference between revisions

{{quote|"''Imagine you could travel back in time, to a time long before man.''"|Kenneth Branagh, the show's [[Narrator]].}}

* ''The Ballad of Big Al'' (2000), which tries to recreate the possible life of a [[Real Life]] ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Allosaurus]]'', named ''[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Big Al]]''.

See also its [[Walking with Dinosaurs/Rule of Cool|Rule of Cool]], [[Science Marches On/Walking With Dinosaurs|Science Marches On]] and [[Walking with Dinosaurs/Stock Dinosaurs|Stock Dinosaurs]] pages.

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* [[Anachronism Stew]]: Almost every animal had either gone extinct or not evolved by the time they're shown, mostly in Dinosaurs and Beasts.

* [[Author Vocabulary Calendar]]: The narrator describes quite a lot of things as "lethal."

* [[Stock Dinosaurs]]: Lots, but a few new additions and subversion as well. For every stock dinosaur used, there's one or more creatures that have never been heard of in mass media before--or, substitution for an appropriate relative. Again, see [[Walking with Dinosaurs/Stock Dinosaurs|here]] for a exhaustive list of examples.

* [[Adaptation Expansion]]: The accompanying book ''Walking with Dinosaurs: A Natural History'' contains a lot of additional information about geography of the world dinosaurs lived in, elaborates on some speculative concepts only briefly mentioned in the TV series, and introduces new ones. The book even introduced some creatures that weren't shown in the TV series.

* [[All There in the Manual]]: More than a few species not named in the TV show appear in the aforementioned book.

** A defensive variant is used by ''[[Feathered Fiend|Ibero]][[Prehistoric Life/Birds|mesornis]]'' on the old ''[[Prehistoric Life/Non Dinosaurian Reptiles|Ornithocheirus]]''.

* [[Art Evolution]]: Compare the new ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Allosaurus]]'' model to the old one from ''Time of the Titans''.

* [[Crossing the Desert|Crossing The Salt Plain]]

* [[Shown Their Work]]: The second part of the special, which deals with how we learned all this stuff about Al and ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Allosaurus]]'' in general.

* [[Ape Shall Never Kill Ape]]: Averted again, as an invading ''[[Stock Dinosaurs Non Dinosaurs|Smilodon]]'' kills another ''Smilodon'''s cubs, behaviour based on modern lions.

* [[Beware My Stinger Tail]]: ''Doedicurus''.

* [[Zerg Rush]]: Most gruesomly, [[Prehistoric Life/Other Extinct Creatures|giant ants]] against the ''[[Prehistoric Life/Birds|Gastornis]]'' chick.

* [[Feathered Fiend]]: ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|Velociraptor]]'', ''[[Prehistoric Life/- Birdlike Theropods|Mononykus]]'', and ''[[Prehistoric Life/- Birdlike Theropods|Therizinosaurus]]'', though in the program, only ''Mononykus'' is depicted with feathers.

* [[Giant Flyer]]: ''[[Stock Dinosaurs Non Dinosaurs|Pteranodon]]''.

* [[The Worf Effect]]: To ''[[Prehistoric Life/Large Theropods|Tarbosaurus]]'', and again, courtesy of another animal (''[[Useful Notes/Birdlike Theropods|Therizinosaurus]]'').

* [[Anachronism Stew]]: ''[[Stock Dinosaurs True Dinosaurs|T. rex]]'' appearing in a [[Cameo]] role 75 million years ago, whereas the oldest known ''rex'' dates from "only" about 68 million years ago. And it's clearly confirmed to be a real ''T. rex'' in the book, not one of its ancestors.<ref> ''[[Prehistoric Life/Large Theropods|Daspletosaurus]]'' would have been more appropriate.</ref>

* [[Death World]]: While nearly all the seas could counts, the Creataceous Western Interior Seaway, which is actually called ''Hell's Aquarium'' to signify its dangers, particularly stands out.

* [[The Stinger]]: {{spoiler|A pod of mosasaurs attacks the boat after the credits for the last episode.}}

* [[Frazetta Man]]: This being a well-researched scientific documentary, it's mostly avoided. But it doesn't stop the protohumans from looking terrifying.

* [[One-Scene Wonder]]: The ''[[Prehistoric Life/Mammals|Gigantopithecus]]''.

** '''The Survivors:''' ''Homo heidelbergensis'', Irish Elk

* [[Always a Bigger Fish]]: The huge eurypterid ''[[Prehistoric Life/Other Extinct Creatures|Pterygotus]]'' killing the alleged [[Big Bad]] of the episode, ''[[Prehistoric Life/Other Extinct Creatures|Brontoscorpio]]''.

** Literally with the huge fish ''[[Prehistoric Life/Other Extinct Creatures|Hyneria]]'' swallowing a [[Prehistoric Life/Other Extinct Creatures|prehistoric shark]] whole.