High Definition, Three Dimensional Dinosaur Programme from the BBC

As part of the BBC’s continued research into optimising their programme quality using high definition and 3-D technology, the UK based broadcaster has put together a new dinosaur documentary.  The fifty minute programme uses footage taken from the six-part BBC television series “Planet Dinosaur” that was first shown in the autumn of 2011.

To view the documentary, click the link below:

Link to the “Ultimate Killers” documentary: Ultimate Killers

Technicians at the BBC are using this programme to test how viewers perceive some of the new programme technology on various platforms, to read more about the BBC’s research: Testing television with dinosaurs

So to watch a documentary featuring the likes of Spinosaurus, Abelisaurids and the Allosaurids as well as learning about the latest Tyrannosaur research click the link above to the Ultimate Killers documentary.

“Ultimate Killers” Documentary to air in 3-D

Technicians at the BBC are preparing to test a number of 3-D viewing platforms by showing a dinosaur themed documentary entitled “Ultimate Killers”.  This hour long programme has been compiled using footage from the six-part BBC television series “Planet Dinosaur” that aired last autumn.  The broadcast will take place on Sunday the 19th of August with the programme starting at 5.35pm BST.

To view the original trailer for the BBC television series “Planet Dinosaur”: Planet Dinosaur Trailer

The programme being shown on Sunday evening is only going to be available in 3-D so the technicians at the BBC will be testing the “Watch in 2-D” applications on the Freeview and Freesat platforms.  Andy Quested, the Head of BBC’s 3-D and high definition projects is asking for feedback from viewers with regards to the “Watch in 2-D” option.

Dinosaurs – TV Programme Helps Out the BBC

Dinosaurs help out with BBC research

Picture Credit: Ebury Publishing

To read details of what Andy is asking for and how to provide feedback, visit the BBC’s Internet Blog: 3-D Dinosaur Programme Feedback Information

This documentary will also be available on the BBCiPlayer format.  A number of different encoded versions will be available for download depending on which platform the viewer is on.  Not all the devices used to show the programme will be able to accommodate the 3-D images, but the idea at this stage is to gauge people’s reactions to the different formats and platforms and gather opinions.

Specifically the BBC technicians need to obtain information about the platform used to view the programme, Freeview, via PC or via the iplayer function, as well as the approximate speed of your broadband connection and the make/model of your TV or set top box.

Sources close to Everything Dinosaur have been informed that  the BBC is currently working on a number of 3-D projects including a new, feature length adaptation of the “Walking with Dinosaurs” franchise that is due to be aired in 2013.

Suggest you log onto the BBC Internet Blog for more information.  Team members at Everything Dinosaur worked on a cast of characters for the original BBC television series and advised CGI staff on some of the dinosaurs featured as well as writing a review of the book that accompanied the television programmes.

Who would have though it – dinosaurs such as  Mapusaurus, Allosaurus, Daspletosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus helping the BBC with their research into 3-D technology.

Exciting Science Programme Tonight on BBC 4 (UK)

Tonight on terrestrial television, at 9pm (BBC 4) there is the first episode of a new science series that explores extinction events.  The first programme in this three-part series deals with the period in Earth’s history known as the Permian mass extinction, a time when over a million years or so, life on Earth suffered a series of cataclysms that resulted in an estimated 95% of life becoming extinct.  The Permian mass extinction took place approximately 250 million years ago, one of five major mass extinction events recorded in the known fossil record.

Palaeontologist Richard Fortey (long association with the Natural History Museum – London)  investigates why some of Earth’s species have survived for millions of years, and explores the characteristics that gave them the ability to endure events that led to the extinction of other creatures.  As Richard’s love of Trilobites is well-known, we can expect to hear about these amazing invertebrates as well as horseshoe crabs – Arthropods that have survived nearly unchanged for millions of years.

The second programme in the series is to be shown next week (31st January).  It deals with the events and consequences of perhaps the most famous mass extinction event of all – the mass extinction that occurred at the end of the Cretaceous.  This programme is to be called “Fugitive from the Fire”

“The Great Survivors” – Nothronychus, Hatzegopteryx, Magyarosaurus et al

And so the BBC’s computer generated dinosaur series comes to an end with a programme that illustrated Dinosaurian diversity and this Order’s ability to adapt to different environments and exploit niches in the food chain.

It is always a pleasure to see an intepretation of a Therizinosaur and the Nothronychus footage helped demonstrate the diversity of the Theropoda.  Such bizarre creatures, and perhaps rivalling the likes of Gigantoraptor in this series for the title of “most bizarre dinosaur”.

Bizarre Theropod - Nothronychus

The concept of Theropods brooding their young was introduced with the Oviraptorids, using reference material from the American Museum of Natural History/Mongolian Academy of Sciences discoveries from the Ukhaa Tolgod region of south-western Mongolia.  Tyrannosaurids got a mention again, it was pleasing to see so many different members of this family depicted in the series, although one or two of the comments about them, one in particular about them being the dominant predator in their environments in the Late Cretaceous we could take issue with.  However, this is only a minor quibble.

The highlight in the last episode was the sequence with the Azhdarchid Pterosaur Hatzegopteryx.  We liked the clever use of camera angles to give the impression of the sizes of the Titanosaur, the Dromaeosaur and the Pterosaur.  It was interesting to note the depiction of this super-sized Pterosaur as a terrestrial carnivore, snatching up small dinosaurs in the same way that Maribou Storks do in Africa (except of course it is frogs and lizards etc).

Our Illustration of Hatzegopteryx

All in all, an enjoyable series and one we shall see again repeated many times, or perhaps we will treat ourselves to the DVD.

To read Everything Dinosaur’s review of the book that accompanies this series: Planet Dinosaur Book Reviewed

Argentinosaurus, Mapusaurus, Sarcosuchus et al

And so the fifth instalment of the BBC television series “Planet Dinosaur” is reached.  This episode entitled “Giant Killers” introduced a number of new prehistoric animals such as the nest raider Skopiovenator, an Abelisaurid formally named and described just two years ago as well as some dinosaurs that are already very familiar to dinosaur fans.  One of those dinosaurs regarded as “familiar” would be Argentinosaurus (A. huinculensis), recognised as the largest dinosaur known to science, indeed the largest terrestrial animal of all time.  With an estimated length of thirty-five metres and a mass of seventy-five tonnes, the programme makers did their best to convey the sheer size of this Titanosaur, we liked the clever use of the small Ornithopods running alongside.  Interestingly, the footprint death traps that  proved so fatal to these are not from South America, but China.  The programme rather glossed over this point.  The treacherous trackways have been associated with the Sauropod Mamenchisaurus, although ichnologists would argue that it is difficult to assign a genus to a set of tracks unless a specimen representing the animal that made them is found fossilised at the trackway’s end.

The main thrust of the programme seemed to focus on the fossil evidence to suggest that large carnivores (Theropoda and a prehistoric crocodile) lived alongside large herbivores (Sauropoda).  The programme suggested that when the large herbivores became extinct, the large meat-eaters that depended on them soon died out as well.  This is an extension of the predator/prey relationship that was discussed in earlier programmes.

The time lapse imagery showing the scavenging of a Titanosaur carcase was for us, the highlight of this particular episode, although it was a pleasure to see Sarcosuchus (prehistoric crocodile) once again.  This eight tonne super-croc was first seen in episode one “”Lost World”.   The narration claimed that Sarcosuchus was the biggest crocodile.  From what the fossil record shows, it was certainly was the biggest in that part of the world during the Cretaceous, but other crocodiles such as Deinosuchus and the much later Purussaurus could lay claim to being the biggest crocodile of all time.

An Illustration of Sarcosuchus

Everything Dinosaur's scale drawing of Sarcosuchus

Picture Credit: Everything Dinosaur

The South American Theropod Mapusaurus (Mapusaurus roseae) was also introduced.  We suspect that for many young dinosaur fans, this is a new meat-eater for them.  The fossils of this dinosaur come from the Huincul Formation in the Rio Negro and Neuquen provinces of Argentina.  This carnivore was a contemporary of Giganotosaurus and may have been a pack hunter, an animal that weighed perhaps as much as six tonnes.

Still our favourite has to be Sarcosuchus, I guess we just have a soft spot for those big crocs.

A Huge Skull of Sarcosuchus

My what large jaws you have

A Review of Planet Dinosaur – Episode 4 “Fight for Life”

Having bemoaned the absence of any Triassic dinosaurs in this excellent television series, it was a pleasure to see the warm, shallow seas of the Jurassic featured in this episode of “Planet Dinosaur”.  The focus on this particular programme was the predator/prey relationship, a rich hunting ground for the production team given the amount of fossil evidence that can be interpreted to show such affinities.  The fossil record and the various pathologies of body fossils, coupled with an examination of the natural world today and predator/prey relationships provides plenty of material.  The marine predator featured was the huge Pliosaur “predator X”, with its rosette of 30 centimetre long teeth.  The prey was the Plesiosaur – Kimmerosaurus langhami, one of our favourite Plesiosaurs, anything named after the Kimmeridgian faunal stage is fine by us.  This part of the programmes showed these long-necked beasts, ploughing through soft mud in search of shell fish, worms and other food items.  The fossil evidence for this behaviour comes from a cliff face in Switzerland which has a number of long, weird grooves preserved in the rock, which was once sediment at the bottom of a shallow, tropical sea.  Scientists believe these grooves were dug out by Plesiosaurs as they swam along with their snouts in the sediment searching for food.  They could also have been created as these marine reptiles searched for stones to swallow to act as ballast and as gastroliths to help them grind up food.  We noted that Dr. Adam Smith (Plesiosaur expert) was named in the credits.

The terrestrial part of the programme took viewers to the Morrison Formation of the western United States.  It discussed the relationship between Allosaurus and two prey genera – Camptosaurus and Stegosaurus.  The programme postulated that Camptosaurs and Stegosaurs lived together for mutual benefit.  The Camptosaurs with their bipedal stance acting as look outs for the heavily armoured Stegosaurs.  Such relationships are seen in nature today, for example, in Africa our team members have observed Ostriches and Zebra feeding together.  The Zebras rely on the Ostrich with their heads held high and superb eyesight to spot danger.  Whether or not Camptosaurs and Stegosaurs actually sought out each other for mutual protection is a little speculative, but certainly feasible, if difficult to prove given the fossil record.  Allosaurus fragilis was the hunter, an interesting interpretation, especially the colouration and the crests above the eyes – they reminded us of sun-shades, these would have been useful especially if this predator was most active at dawn or dusk, with the sun low in the sky, just like many predators today. Surprisingly, Saurophaganax got a look in, S. maximus a very large Allosaurid which was first studied in the 1930s.  We thought that this Theropod had been re-classified as just a very big A. fragilis, but no, there it was in all its glory, bullying the Allosaurus out of its kill, its twelve metre-length making it about 15% bigger than the other Theropod.

Interestingly, Saurophaganax is not featured or even mentioned in the book that accompanies this BBC television series.

To read a brief article on Utah's Theropods: Articulated Theropod Fossil found (Morrison Formation)

Planet Dinosaur – The Last Killers (Late Cretaceous Theropods Mainly)

Half way through the BBC television series already, it does not seem more than five minutes since “dear old auntie Beeb” introduced us to their version of Spinosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus back in episode one.  These two dinosaurs were fierce carnivores and after a sojourn into the world of feathered dinosaurs, the majority of which would stand no more than a metre tall, we get right back to big Theropods, but this time with a focus on the very last few million years of the Cretaceous.

For all those enthusiastic dinosaur fans waiting to see Tyrannosaurs they were not to be kept waiting any longer.  However, it was not Tyrannosaurus rex that was the star attraction, other older members of the Tyrannosauridae were put into the spotlight – the likes of Daspletosaurus torosus allowing the evidence for the mobbing of herbivores (Chasmosaurus belli), reflecting what scientists have observed Komodo dragons doing, only scaled up to nine metre long Theropods.

It was a bad night for Ceratopsians all round with Centrosaurs getting caught up in a raging torrent and dying in their hundreds – a vivid explanation of bone bed formation.  The bizarre Abelisaurids, those dominant predators of the southern hemisphere were brought to life with a feature on the cannibalistic Majungasaurus (we still prefer the synonym Majungatholus).

An interesting programme that did its best to update viewers on how our understanding of the apex predators of the Dinosauria has moved on since “Walking with Dinosaurs”.

Episode Two of Planet Dinosaur – Feathered Dinosaurs

Some of the most important dinosaur discoveries over the last twenty years or so have come from the Liaoning Province of northeastern China and it is these exciting feathered dinosaur finds that dominate episode two of the BBC’s new dinosaur television series.  The programme featured a myriad of cursorial (some arboreal) dinosaurs that roamed around the lush forests of this part of the world during the Cretaceous.  Great to see a Microraptor gliding from tree to tree, using its plumed limbs to pursue its prey and to escape from potential predators.  Microraptor may be quite well known to the general public, but we doubt whether many viewers would have come across Epidexipteryx before.  This pigeon-sized dinosaur, with its bizarre appearance certainly showed viewers how diverse the dinosaur clade was.  In episode one, it was all about big Theropods, now in the second part of this six part series the production team want to show us just how unusual some dinosaurs were and Epidexipteryx was portrayed as an animal at home in the trees, using its long fingers, especially its extended second finger to dig out beetle grubs in the same way as the secretive Aye-Aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) does.

To read an article on the discovery of Epidexipteryx: Is it a Bird or a Plane? No it is Epidexipteryx!

Take the feathered hunter Sinornithosaurus, the narrator alluded to the controversial paper published in 2009 that proposed that this fast-running predator may have had a venomous bite.  It is always refreshing to see some of the latest ideas and discoveries brought to life, the fast paced direction helped animate these dinosaurs and give the impression of creatures that lived “life in the fast lane”.  The more recent research (2010) into the diurnal or nocturnal characteristics of certain dinosaurs got a mention.  This refers to the widely publicised study into the orbits (eye sockets) of Theropod dinosaurs: the point we made at the time, one that the CGI backdrop designers miss, is that these forests were probably dark with lots of thick undergrowth.  The study of the orbits of dinosaurs would need to consider the possibility of these animals hunting in low light levels.

Whether the feathers were for flight, display or insulation the programme provided an insight into our increasing knowledge of “feathered dragons”.  So pleasing to see “Big Bird) – Gigantoraptor (Gigantoraptor erlianensis)featured, certainly based on the fossil evidence this is likely to be the largest feathered animal known in the current fossil record.

To read an article on the discovery of this dinosaur: New Chinese Dinosaur – Gigantoraptor as Tall as a Giraffe

A Drawing of Gigantoraptor erlianensis

The largest feathered animal known to science

Picture Credit: Everything Dinosaur

Credit must be given to the programme makers for the imaginative way in which they have brought to the screen some of the recent feathered dinosaur discoveries.

Spinosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus Lead the Way in New BBC Television Series

Well, the first episode of the new BBC series “Planet Dinosaur” has hit the ground running with an insightful and informative trip to the Cretaceous of North Africa (Albian to Cenomanian faunal stage).  One of the objectives of this new six-part series was to bring viewers up to date with dinosaur discoveries that have been made in the years since “Walking with Dinosaurs” was first aired.  We were intrigued to see how the narration would work with the narrator, the distinguished actor John Hurt, providing a voice over to the CGI action as well as commentating on the parts of the programme that focused on the research.  The difficulty we envisaged was how the factual evidence from institutions such as the Chicago Field Museum would be blended with the story-telling.  The production team have managed to merge the dynamic CGI footage with the vertebrate palaeontology upon which the story-lines were based; effectively.

The two big stars were of the apex predators Carcharodontosaurus and the more colourfully decorated Spinosaurus (loved the flashy red patches on the snout and skull).  The thrust of the programme dealt with how these predators would have interacted.  A nice touch was the Spinosaurus catching the Pterosaur and we enjoyed the sequence with the Spinosaur fishing, behaving something like a fifteen metre-plus Grizzly.

A quick mention for the musical score (Ilan Eshkeri) which we did not find as intrusive as we feared.  However, one comment – “talk about red in tooth and claw”.  The action was somewhat visceral and whilst we accept the need for authenticity in such programmes we wondered whether all the predation and fighting would frighten younger viewers.

The Spinosaurus featured, was an elongate form, not the robust bruiser from the Jurassic Park trilogy.  We thought this interpretation favoured those Spinosaurus replicas that were made by Safari Ltd and Collecta with their recent introductions of Spinosaurus replicas into their model ranges.

To view the models available from Everything Dinosaur including Spinosaurus: Dinosaur Toys

The ferocious carnivore Sarcosuchus was an interesting addition, showing the diversity of Crocodyliforms in the Cretaceous fossil record.  This particular prehistoric predator has been recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the largest crocodile of all time.

Can’t wait for episode two – off to China to view the arboreal antics of feathered dinosaurs and their cursorial cousins – Theropods behaving like Aye-ayes (Daubentonia madagascariensis) anyone?

James Cameron to help on BBC 3D Dinosaur Project

Award winning film director James Cameron is to lend his expertise to the BBC in a project to bring the “Walking with Dinosaurs” franchise up to date with a 3D version of the six part series.  Oscar winner Cameron, whose portfolio of work includes Titanic and Avatar, will be bringing the Cameron/Pace Group's film expertise working alongside BBC Earth Films, Reliance Pictures and Evergreen Films to produce what is promised to be a spectacular dinosaur series, one of the most expensive projects the BBC has ever been involved in.

Neil Nightingale, Creative Director for BBC Earth Films commented:

“Cameron/Pace Group shares our vision of setting a new benchmark for immersive 3D film with Walking with Dinosaurs 3D.  It’s exciting to be joining forces with them to bring audiences a truly extraordinary experience.  We’ll be using the highest technical and creative standards in 3D photography to immerse our audience in the film, they will truly feel right in amongst the action, part of the astonishing prehistoric world of the dinosaurs.”

James Cameron, perhaps more familiar with working with Hollywood A-listers than Jurassic herbivores added:

“Walking with Dinosaurs 3D offers a fantastic opportunity to push our advances in 3D even further.  We’re inspired by the creative ambition behind the film and the opportunity to work on a feature that aims to bring audiences a real, visceral experience.”

The BBC press release whets reader's appetites by stating that the production combines world-class factual content with captivating storytelling that will take audiences on an unprecedented journey.   The story told is one of the greatest ever to have unfolded on Earth: a story of families born and families torn apart, of growing up, of rivalry and competition and the relentless struggle to survive.  Walking with Dinosaurs 3D is all the more jaw-dropping for being grounded in fact, it will be the closest audiences can get to exploring our world 70 million years ago.

Dinosaurs in 3D in 2013 (Release Date in Two Years Time)

Picture Credit: BBC Press Release

Team members at Everything Dinosaur are excited by the news, although they had been aware of the BBC's ambition to make a 3D project involving dinosaurs as a flagship event to showcase the technology.  The benchmark will have to be high, especially after the initial reaction to the CGI used in the forthcoming BBC documentary series “Planet Dinosaur” was lukewarm in some quarters.

The production will immerse audiences in the prehistoric age using photo-real backdrops and combining these with true-to-life animation from the Academy Award-winning animation house Animal Logic (“Happy Feet”) working with leading animation producer Jinko Gotoh (“9″, “Finding Nemo”).  The widely anticipated film is fully financed by Reliance Entertainment with worldwide rights being handled by its subsidiary IM Global.  Twentieth Century Fox holds US rights and has scheduled the film for a late 2013 release.

We will have to wait and see..

Everything Dinosaur would like to thank the BBC Press Service for their help with this article.