Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]






Shoot a firework rocket ~ Winners!
Make a forum zoo!

Welcome to The Round Table. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Extinct Animal Questions
Topic Started: Nov 26 2013, 10:24 PM (193,344 Views)
heliosphoros
Member Avatar


CyborgIguana
Nov 1 2015, 05:05 PM
How well did they do in terms of WWM and WWB, I wonder (obviously the modern pine trees seen in the Hynerpeton segment of WWM were all kinds of wrong, but aside from that).

The final three episodes of WWB were spot on, no questions asked.

For the first three, it's harder to say:

- Messel Pit has been interpreted as tropical, subtropical or warm temperate, and I doubt the southeast asian localities they used reflected its environment.

- Whale Killer takes place across several different regions. The North Africa segments probably are reasonably accurate. The asian ones probably are as well, if maybe a bit too dry. Frankly, they probably should have just sticked to North Africa; it's not like giant embrithopods and hyaenodonts weren't walking around back there or anything.

- As for the indricothere episode, well, this is the most recent study on Oligocene mongolian climates I can find:

http://www.nature.com/articles/srep07463
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
BossMan, Jake
Member Avatar
Son of God

@CyborgIguana I think they did a better job with WWB seeing as how these eras were slightly more like the modern time. As for WWM it's was good but the dinetrodon segment was way off. They lived in s swampy like habitat like in Louisiana or the Everglades. The hostile scrub was described at the time however and only recently did we find out that it's home was much wetter IIRC
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Rockypockypuff
Member Avatar
Is walkin' with a dead man.

This is maybe an odd question but... What was a dimetrodon exactly? I mean, were they reptiles or some kind of ancestor to mammals (which I've heard somewhere, can't remember where), or just mammal like reptiles?

I've seen them drawn with whiskers and fur so...
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
babehunter1324
No Avatar


They weren't reptiles at all, all animals that can be refered as reptiles are Sauropsids and Dimetrodon wasn't one, it was a Synapsid so it was in the same group as mammals and much more closely related to them than to any actual reptile or bird.

They were very primitive Synapsids tough so they were still quite far away from modern mammals.

Posted Image

Dimetrodon was a member of Sphenacodontidae.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
54godamora
Member Avatar


what was the position of the thagomizer on stegosaurus?
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
BossMan, Jake
Member Avatar
Son of God

This picture should give you an idea, keep in mind this is S.Stenops so other species may have been slightly different.
Posted Image
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
54godamora
Member Avatar


so vertical position then.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Paleosaurus
Member Avatar


CyborgIguana
Nov 1 2015, 05:05 PM
How well did they do in terms of WWM and WWB, I wonder (obviously the modern pine trees seen in the Hynerpeton segment of WWM were all kinds of wrong, but aside from that).
As said already the last three episodes were excellent other than treating phorusrhacids like pushovers in the Smilodon episode.

WWM is really hit or miss. Some things are pretty good (depiction of Lystrosaurus as mainly terrestrial rather than hippo-like) but others were unforgivable (Petrolacosaurus as the direct ancestor of Dimetrodon.)

That being said, the whole Walking With series is still among the best paleo documentaries ever made so long as you know what's true and what isn't. Presentation-wise I firmly believe that the nature documentary style is more entertaining than talking heads interspersed with CGI snippets like Clash of the Dinosaurs.
Edited by Paleosaurus, Nov 2 2015, 06:04 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
BossAggron
Member Avatar
Formerly Dilophoraptor

54godamora
Nov 2 2015, 12:44 PM
so vertical position then.
Stegosaurus tail spikes go outwards, or else they would have been useless.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
CyborgIguana
Member Avatar


Paleosaurus
Nov 2 2015, 06:02 PM
Clash of the Dinosaurs.
*Has brain aneurysm*
And yeah, I agree with pretty much the whole post. It's that kind of style that just makes the WW trilogy feel so real, even compared to otherwise more up-to-date and accurate paleo-docs like Dinosaur Revolution.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Incinerox
Member Avatar
Āeksiot Zaldrīzoti

Walking With Things simply did everything properly:

> The dinosaurs themselves were restored as if they were real animals, not just characters in a dinosaur setting (WWD Movie, Dinosaur Planet, Dinosaur Revolution).

> The format of each episode followed in the footsteps of a typical wildlife documentary, rather than constantly repeated footage of crude CGI dinosaurs, with crude CGI anatomical detailing, with quote mined paleontologists talking in between (Clash of the Dinosaurs, Jurassic Fight Club, Planet Dinosaur).

> Not only did they film on location, but the actual filming was done in such a way that they could have been used for modern animal documentaries, so you get more believable angles of the animals on screen rather than just going with whatever looks good (Dinosaur Revolution was filmed on location mostly, but it was very... storyboarded I supposed is the word I'd use).

> Adding onto that, they made sure not only to keep the scenes believable, but to let the footage do the talking, backed up with very understated yet reasonable quality narrating (instead of some overly dramatic, hyper-American WWE-tier narrator talking nonsense over EVERYTHING. Show the scenery to viewers, don't get someone to chew it) (JFC, Clash of the Dinosaurs were horrid when it came down to this).

> Adding on to THAT, Walking With didn't fall victim to over-sensationalism.
Edited by Incinerox, Nov 2 2015, 07:48 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Paleodude
Member Avatar
ex-Krampus

Incinerox
Nov 2 2015, 07:43 PM
Walking With Things simply did everything properly:

> The dinosaurs themselves were restored as if they were real animals, not just characters in a dinosaur setting (WWD Movie, Dinosaur Planet, Dinosaur Revolution).

> The format of each episode followed in the footsteps of a typical wildlife documentary, rather than constantly repeated footage of crude CGI dinosaurs, with crude CGI anatomical detailing, with quote mined paleontologists talking in between (Clash of the Dinosaurs, Jurassic Fight Club, Planet Dinosaur).

> Not only did they film on location, but the actual filming was done in such a way that they could have been used for modern animal documentaries, so you get more believable angles of the animals on screen rather than just going with whatever looks good (Dinosaur Revolution was filmed on location mostly, but it was very... storyboarded I supposed is the word I'd use).

> Adding onto that, they made sure not only to keep the scenes believable, but to let the footage do the talking, backed up with very understated yet reasonable quality narrating (instead of some overly dramatic, hyper-American WWE-tier narrator talking nonsense over EVERYTHING. Show the scenery to viewers, don't get someone to chew it) (JFC, Clash of the Dinosaurs were horrid when it came down to this).

> Adding on to THAT, Walking With didn't fall victim to over-sensationalism.
What I wouldn't give for another documentary like WWD, I would even settle for an indie film if it was the only way. Anyone know if there is anything like it in production or that already exist?
Edited by Paleodude, Nov 2 2015, 07:54 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
CyborgIguana
Member Avatar


I'd kind of like to see All Yesterdays made into a WWD-style miniseries, given that it had a similar concept of portraying dinosaurs as animals rather than monsters and not being afraid to speculate in the process.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Paleosaurus
Member Avatar


Paleodude
Nov 2 2015, 07:53 PM
Incinerox
Nov 2 2015, 07:43 PM
Walking With Things simply did everything properly:

> The dinosaurs themselves were restored as if they were real animals, not just characters in a dinosaur setting (WWD Movie, Dinosaur Planet, Dinosaur Revolution).

> The format of each episode followed in the footsteps of a typical wildlife documentary, rather than constantly repeated footage of crude CGI dinosaurs, with crude CGI anatomical detailing, with quote mined paleontologists talking in between (Clash of the Dinosaurs, Jurassic Fight Club, Planet Dinosaur).

> Not only did they film on location, but the actual filming was done in such a way that they could have been used for modern animal documentaries, so you get more believable angles of the animals on screen rather than just going with whatever looks good (Dinosaur Revolution was filmed on location mostly, but it was very... storyboarded I supposed is the word I'd use).

> Adding onto that, they made sure not only to keep the scenes believable, but to let the footage do the talking, backed up with very understated yet reasonable quality narrating (instead of some overly dramatic, hyper-American WWE-tier narrator talking nonsense over EVERYTHING. Show the scenery to viewers, don't get someone to chew it) (JFC, Clash of the Dinosaurs were horrid when it came down to this).

> Adding on to THAT, Walking With didn't fall victim to over-sensationalism.
What I wouldn't give for another documentary like WWD, I would even settle for an indie film if it was the only way. Anyone know if there is anything like it in production or that already exist?
I don't think so, unfortunately. When Dinosaurs Roamed America is the closest thing we have and even it feels more like a movie than a nature documentary due to the camerawork.

That being said, I'd love to try to get a documentary made at some point in my professional career. I'm planning to be a paleontologist that does a lot of public outreach and I've wanted to make a series that chronicles the story of life in a Walking With format if the funding would ever exist. Maybe kickstarter could help.

With that in mind, I'm in need of collaborators for the project including concept artists and scriptwriters. If anyone is interested in helping out send me a PM!
Edited by Paleosaurus, Nov 2 2015, 08:00 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
BossMan, Jake
Member Avatar
Son of God

Here's a question which I need answering. Did dimetrodon infact have exposed sail bones? I find that this idea actually makes a lot of sense but this "expert" is saying the idea is 100% false and is that dimetrodon did have a full sail and walked with its belly dragging on the ground.
Edited by BossMan, Jake, Nov 2 2015, 08:24 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
2 users reading this topic (2 Guests and 0 Anonymous)
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · Extinct Animals & Evolution · Next Topic »
Add Reply