Post by burrunjor on Feb 18, 2023 23:54:12 GMT
GO
I'm dividing them into two categories. Adventure and documentary.
Fave adventure shows.
1/ Primeval: The best premise for a Dinosaur show that can bring them into any environment you want, it has brilliant leading characters, top notch effects, and such an excellent variety of prehistoric creatures too. I actually credit Primeval with beginning my interest in the Permian era, which is my favourite period of prehistory after the age of the Dinosaurs. 10/10.
2/ Camp Cretaceous: Sammy is one of my favourite characters in anything as she is such a Ducky/Stacey Solomon type. Beyond her however I love this show, because it uses the Dinosaurs brilliantly, with enough cool monster fights, seems of genuine atomspheric horror, yet also always treats them as animals too. I also think they were able to get quite a lot out of a limited premise and whilst Sammy is my fave, all the characters were likable and developed well. 10/10
3/ Primal: I loved the imagination and creativity in it. Mixing Dinos with other monsters and fantasy can be hard, as they can end up vying for screen time, but this series pulled it off brilliantly and created a truly unique world, where witches, Dinosaurs, zombies, cavemen, and vikings can all co-exist. 10/10
4/ The Lost World: This 90s show was great fun, and it could be quite creative, adding a lot more overt fantasy elements to Conan Doyle's story, however unlike Primal I felt the Dinosaurs were kind of pushed to the side in favour of the fantasy a bit too much. Also the effects are very ropey, and the stories could be a bit silly too. Also I think that it lacked any real stand out leads. A lot of people compared it to Xena, and it is somewhat similar in terms of tone and stories, but it lacked a Lucy Lawless, Bruce Campbell, Renee O'Connor, Ted Raimi, Kevin Smith, Hudson Leick and Claire Stansfield to elevate it above just a campy show to greatness like Xena did. 7/10
5/ Terra Nova: This had a brilliant premise and should have got a longer run. It's only problem though was that it didn't focus on the Dinosaurs enough. They have a grand total of screen time for 6 mins! I also think it focuses on perhaps the wrong characters. Nathanial Taylor who was a compelling character, played by a brilliant actor, and Washington who was one of the most gorgeous women ever to exist LOL, should have been the main characters in my opinion. Still I enjoyed the series and definitely would have loved to have seen where they would have gone with the wasteland. 7/10
Docu
1/ The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs: My fave docu of all time. Not only is this one of the most accurate and informative, but Bill Oddie is an amazing host. Charming, likable, funny and a real passion for the subject matter. Also as a big T. rex fan this docu holds a special place in my heart as I think it helped restore the king's reputation which had taken a huge knock thanks to that asshole Jack Horner and Jurassic Park 3. 10/10
2/ Walking with series: Whilst they may be dated in a lot of ways, featherless raptors, female meat eating dinosaurs being larger than the males, Dinosaurs with hands facing the wrong ways etc, but still I think this docu helped introduce the general public to basic facts about Dinosaurs to a greater extent than any other piece of media, and I think that it is still one of the most entertaining, as it doesn't break up the story for talking heads and really takes you into the Dinosaurs world. 10/10
3/ Planet Dinosaur: Not quite as engaging as Walking with, and a bit dated in some respects, but it still has top notch cgi, is interesting and has probably the best narrator in the form of John Hurt. 7/10
4/ Dinosaur! Hosted by Christopher Reeve, again it's a bit dated, but it has some spectacular sequences like the Raptors hunting the Struthiomimus and the Tyrannosaur hunting the Monoclonious, Reeve is also a brilliant host. Much like Oddie his love for Dinosaurs shines through, aside from his obvious charisma, screen presence and likability. I also appreciate the way this docu talked about Dinosaurs in popular culture and looked at cryptids like the Mokele Mbembe. I developed a life long interest in cryptids thanks to this great docu. 7/10
I'm dividing them into two categories. Adventure and documentary.
Fave adventure shows.
1/ Primeval: The best premise for a Dinosaur show that can bring them into any environment you want, it has brilliant leading characters, top notch effects, and such an excellent variety of prehistoric creatures too. I actually credit Primeval with beginning my interest in the Permian era, which is my favourite period of prehistory after the age of the Dinosaurs. 10/10.
2/ Camp Cretaceous: Sammy is one of my favourite characters in anything as she is such a Ducky/Stacey Solomon type. Beyond her however I love this show, because it uses the Dinosaurs brilliantly, with enough cool monster fights, seems of genuine atomspheric horror, yet also always treats them as animals too. I also think they were able to get quite a lot out of a limited premise and whilst Sammy is my fave, all the characters were likable and developed well. 10/10
3/ Primal: I loved the imagination and creativity in it. Mixing Dinos with other monsters and fantasy can be hard, as they can end up vying for screen time, but this series pulled it off brilliantly and created a truly unique world, where witches, Dinosaurs, zombies, cavemen, and vikings can all co-exist. 10/10
4/ The Lost World: This 90s show was great fun, and it could be quite creative, adding a lot more overt fantasy elements to Conan Doyle's story, however unlike Primal I felt the Dinosaurs were kind of pushed to the side in favour of the fantasy a bit too much. Also the effects are very ropey, and the stories could be a bit silly too. Also I think that it lacked any real stand out leads. A lot of people compared it to Xena, and it is somewhat similar in terms of tone and stories, but it lacked a Lucy Lawless, Bruce Campbell, Renee O'Connor, Ted Raimi, Kevin Smith, Hudson Leick and Claire Stansfield to elevate it above just a campy show to greatness like Xena did. 7/10
5/ Terra Nova: This had a brilliant premise and should have got a longer run. It's only problem though was that it didn't focus on the Dinosaurs enough. They have a grand total of screen time for 6 mins! I also think it focuses on perhaps the wrong characters. Nathanial Taylor who was a compelling character, played by a brilliant actor, and Washington who was one of the most gorgeous women ever to exist LOL, should have been the main characters in my opinion. Still I enjoyed the series and definitely would have loved to have seen where they would have gone with the wasteland. 7/10
Docu
1/ The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs: My fave docu of all time. Not only is this one of the most accurate and informative, but Bill Oddie is an amazing host. Charming, likable, funny and a real passion for the subject matter. Also as a big T. rex fan this docu holds a special place in my heart as I think it helped restore the king's reputation which had taken a huge knock thanks to that asshole Jack Horner and Jurassic Park 3. 10/10
2/ Walking with series: Whilst they may be dated in a lot of ways, featherless raptors, female meat eating dinosaurs being larger than the males, Dinosaurs with hands facing the wrong ways etc, but still I think this docu helped introduce the general public to basic facts about Dinosaurs to a greater extent than any other piece of media, and I think that it is still one of the most entertaining, as it doesn't break up the story for talking heads and really takes you into the Dinosaurs world. 10/10
3/ Planet Dinosaur: Not quite as engaging as Walking with, and a bit dated in some respects, but it still has top notch cgi, is interesting and has probably the best narrator in the form of John Hurt. 7/10
4/ Dinosaur! Hosted by Christopher Reeve, again it's a bit dated, but it has some spectacular sequences like the Raptors hunting the Struthiomimus and the Tyrannosaur hunting the Monoclonious, Reeve is also a brilliant host. Much like Oddie his love for Dinosaurs shines through, aside from his obvious charisma, screen presence and likability. I also appreciate the way this docu talked about Dinosaurs in popular culture and looked at cryptids like the Mokele Mbembe. I developed a life long interest in cryptids thanks to this great docu. 7/10
