Walking with Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs - In the Realm of the Giants ( Original title: Walking with Dinosaurs ) is a documentary television series of the BBC in 1999 about dinosaurs and other reptiles ( dinosaurs ) of the Mesozoic era ( Mesozoic ). The several specials advanced six-part miniseries is the first part of a trilogy ( the original titles start with Walking with ... ) about extinct animals, followed by the heirs of the dinosaurs and the ancestors of the dinosaurs. The production was first broadcast on ITV. The first broadcast on German television took place on 11 November 1999 on ProSieben.

Action

Dinosaurs - In the Realm of the Giants is, on the basis of paleontological evidence, of life on the earth at the time of the Mesozoic era ( Mesozoic ), the one geological era in which the dinosaurs dominated life on the mainland. In six of the geological chronology of the following parts, some dinosaurs and their relatives ( plesiosaurs and pterosaurs ) are in Triassic (including Placerias, Coelophysis, Peteinosaurus and Plateosaurus ), law (including Diplodocus, Allosaurus, Stegosaurus and Liopleurodon ) and the Cretaceous (eg Ornithocheirus, Iguanodon, Leaellynasaura, Anatotitan, Torosaurus, Tyrannosaurus ) described.

The first part, entitled " Fresh Blood " is about the early days of the dinosaurs in the Triassic. In the episode " The Time of the Titans " is a Diplodocus herd and their social behavior at the center. In " A cruel sea," some sea creatures from the Upper Jurassic are shown. The last journey of a male of the pterosaur Ornithocheirus is traced in the episode " Under wings of the Titans". In " The spirits of primeval forests " the life of animals is described, which lived during the Cretaceous period on the Antarctic continent. The final part of " The downfall of the dynasty " is about the extreme volcanism at the end of the Cretaceous period and the impact on the example of dinosaur Tyrannosaurus and finally from the meteorite impact that made the dinosaurs extinct (except for the birds).

Specials

2001 and 2002 published two specials at Dinosaurs - In the Realm of the Giants.

Their 2001 release, The Story of Big Al ( original English title: The Ballad of Big Al ). In this special is the biography of an Allosaurus named Big Al says.

Another special was released in 2002 under the name In the Realm of the Giants. ( Original English Title: Chased by Dinosaurs ) makes the zoologist Nigel Marven a fictional journey into the Mesozoic to solve the riddle of the "giant claw " of Therizinosaurus and the "battle of the giants " witness between Giganotosaurus and Argentinosaurus in today's Argentina.

In 2006, Marven also appeared in the BBC documentary series produced by the monsters of the deep as a zoologist on time travel. Furthermore, one produced with it the series Prehistoric Park (2007).

Background information, production and quotas

At the start of filming there was for Tim Haines, to find the producers of the series, the difficulty a suitable location for the landscape shots, because the Mesozoic era there was no grass, which is used today almost worldwide. Therefore had to be resorted to areas such as New Zealand, the Bahamas, New Caledonia, Chile, California and Australia.

With the help of computer -generated imagery (CGI), the animals were animated only in close-ups was waived 3D animations, as their effect was not considered to be sufficiently realistic. In their place Animatronica were used. The production cost of 18 million U.S. dollars and is still one of the most expensive documentary series in television history.

The first broadcast on German television watched six million viewers. In the United States the premiere showed the best odds for the Discovery Channel in the station's history.

Of the six parts are shown in Germany for the most part two in a program, the duration of an episode is about 30 minutes. The series was released on VHS and DVD. With the participation of paleontologist Martin Sander as a scientific advisor a book was published to coincide series.

The live show

The films based on the live show "Walking With Dinosaurs " and " Dinosaurs - In the Realm of the Giants " has been performed in 2009 and 2010 in Berlin, Mannheim, Cologne, Hanover, Hamburg, Munich, Nuremberg and Vienna. Another tour makes a stop in early 2013 in Leipzig, Oberhausen, Frankfurt, Vienna, Stuttgart and Munich.