History Characters / PlanetOfDinosaurs

* ''Ankylosaurus'': This episode is almost-entirely ambiented in the Maastrichtian stage of the Cretaceous, 65 mya, except for the scene with the Supernova star, which is more generically said to be "in the Cretaceous" without specifying the exact time. Considering there's a ''Parasaurolophus'' there, it should be 80-70 mya. In general, most of the time-travel scenes of ''Planet Of Dinosaurs'' happen in the Cretaceous which is portrayed in every episode, and also averting TheCretaceousIsAlwaysDoomed, while the Jurassic period is always Late-Jurassic and is shown only in the 1st and 3rd episode -- and the Triassic only in the first half of the 1st episode. ''Ankylosaurus'' is shown here as one of the few still-living dinosaurs at the very end of the Mesozoic Era, together with ''Triceratops'', ''Tyrannosaurus'', hadrosaurs, ''Oviraptor'', and (wrongly) pterosaur ''Pteranodon''. It is presented as a slow-walking armored critter almost 10 m long and weighing about 10 tons: its body shape is more correct than other pop-portrayals, with the armor full of short spikes pointing not exclusively sidewards, four-"horned" head with osteoderms above it, and bilobed club-tail. It's also described as one of the most powerful dinosaurs -- easily able to defeat even a Tyrannosaur in a fight unless is overturned by its predator like a tortoise -- but nonetheless totally unable to defend itself againt the cataclysm that is going to happen: strikingly similar to what was said and shown in the last episode of ''Walking With Dinosaurs'' 6 years after, where the animal's overall shape is actually ''more incorrect'' (being devoid of true spikes in its armor and even with a wrongly-shaped head). The ankylosaur is also one of the creatures present in the moment of the fall of the asteroid, together with ''Triceratops'' and ''Pteranodon'' -- then ''Tyrannosaurus'' and ''Triceratops'' appear in the scene after the bolid-strike, but not ankylosaurs and pterosaurs anymore.

* ''Stegosaurus'': After a brief time-travel of 10 million years the human encounters two of these armored 1.5 tons dinosaurs in a more arid hilly Late Jurassic landscape, this time at daylight. One is shown sleeping (and even snoring like a human!), while the other is walking behind it in the background. The traveller says that ''Stegosaurus'' loves more arid places than ''Brontosaurus'', and that its dorsal plates are probably for thermoregulation and not for protection -- thermoregulation was the dominant theory of the time, and still believable today. The two hosts also talk about its proverbially small brain, "maybe the smallest of all dinosaurs", but also that this doesn't mean [[DumbDinos the stegosaurus was stupid]], and that with its "apricot-sized brain" it did well survive for a long time nonetheless. It is also said to possibly swallow stones to better-digest its plant-food like modern crocs, chickens and ostriches do. ''Stegosaurus'' is the first [[UsefulNotes/{{Dinosaurs}} ornithischian]] (bird-hipped dinosaur) met in the voyage; the former are all [[UsefulNotes/{{Dinosaurs}} saurischians]] (lizard-hipped dinosaurs). The three dinosaurs below are also Ornithischians.

* ''Quetzalcoatlus'': The biggest pterosaur of the program, and perhaps the central animal-character of the 3rd episode. It too initially soars apparently-peacefully alongside the glider (which is slightly smaller than itself) after the ''Pteranodon'' has gone away, but then goes behind the flying object and pursues it in a dramatic sequence with the human landing on a beach (and loosing the contact with the main host for a moment) and then fleeing toward the rocks nearby, successfully escaping it. Also toothless and with a small crest on the head, the human says this giant pterosaur is the biggest flying animal that ever lived -- with a wingspan of 15 m -- and that belongs to the same taxonomical family of the pteranodonts: to be more precise, however, ''Quetzalcoatlus'' is from a distinct but still related group of toothless pterosaurs, the Azdarchids, and today we know it was possibly outweighed by its recently-found close relative ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Hatzegopteryx]]''.

* ''Pteranodon''. In one of the most beautiful scenes of the program, the human-voyager is dressed like an aviator and hang-glides near a peaceful GiantFlyer (arguably male) ''Pteranodon'' before preparing the meeting with the "living fighter-bomber" (as Piero Angela nicknames the ''Quetzalcoatlus''). He explains that the function of the pteranodont's striking crest on its head is [[WildMassGuessing uncertain]], that has a sac under its beak like a pelican (and even looks like a pelican), that is 7 m wide, and that can fly for hundreds or thousands kilometers offshore thanks to its albatross-like flying-style. Before launching himself from a cliff with his aircraft the traveler talks in detail about hang-gliders and their flying capabilities. Other pteranodonts are seen in the 4th episode as among the victims of the meteorite. All of them are correctly toothless, a very rare sight in [[PteroSoarer non-documentary media]]. In this series pterosaurs in general fly both by flapping their wings and by soaring, like what the big modern flying birds usually do. Indeed, the programers affirmed they have based the pterosaurian way-of-flight upon pelicans and other big modern feathered flyers.

'''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Angela Alberto Angela]]''': The second host of the program, called "the naturalist" here. In RealLife he's a palaeontologist (born in 1962), a journalist, and Piero's son. In the main series he appears in real-world places, three for each episode, showing locations (expecially in the USA, but also in Mongolia, Mexico, Germany, Brazil, and Galapagos islands) linked somehow with Dinosaurs, Mesozoic, Evolution, Extinction etc., and is seen talking with the main host about dinosaurs or dinosaur-related items -- apparently live-broadcast but actually registrated before. Alberto also appears in the commentaries with the same role of the main programs.

'''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piero_Angela Piero Angela]]''': The main host of the series. Born in Italy in 1928, in RealLife was a journalist and writer expecially fond for scientific arguments of every kind. Since TheEighties he's been the creator and curator of the Italian franchise ''Quark''. Here he appears split in two "twin hosts" which talk to each other. One, the actual host of the program, remains all the time in a cave-shaped studio talking and explaining about the various topics. The main element of the studio is a TimeMachine used to make his alter-ego time-travelling across the three periods of the Mesozoic era (Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous) and meeting UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLife. There are also several fossil pieces and illustrations of dinosaurs in the "technologic cave" (as the host nicknames it), and several ornamental elements often in an old-fashioned style to give to the studio a more classical look. The contacts the main host makes with his time-travelling "twin" are always eight for each episode.

'''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piero_Angela Piero Angela]]''': The main host of the series. Born in Italy in 1928, in RealLife is a journalist and writer expecially fond for scientific arguments of every kind. Since TheEighties he's been the creator and curator of the Italian franchise ''Quark''. Here he appears split in two "twin hosts" which talk to each other. One, the actual host of the program, remains all the time in a cave-shaped studio talking and explaining about the various topics. The main element of the studio is a TimeMachine used to make his alter-ego time-travelling across the three periods of the Mesozoic era (Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous) and meeting UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLife. There are also several fossil pieces and illustrations of dinosaurs in the "technologic cave" (as the host nicknames it), and several ornamental elements often in an old-fashioned style to give to the studio a more classical look. The contacts the main host makes with his time-travelling "twin" are always eight for each episode.

* ''Quetzalcoatlus'': The biggest pterosaur of the program, and perhaps the central animal-character of the 3rd episode. It too initially soars apparently-peacefully alongside the glider (which is slightly smaller than itself) after the ''Pteranodon'' has gone away, but then goes behind the flying object and pursues it in a dramatic sequence with the human landing on a beach (and loosing the contact with the main host for a moment) and then fleeing toward the rocks nearby, successfully escaping it. Also toothless and with a small crest on the head, the human says this giant pterosaur is the biggest flying animal that ever lived -- with a wingspan of 15 m -- and that belongs to the same taxonomical family of the pteranodonts: to be more precise, however, ''Quetzalcoatlus'' is from a distinct but still related group of toothless pterosaurs, the Azdarchids, and today we know it was possibly outweighed by its recently-found close relative ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Hatzegopteryx]]''.

* ''Corythosaurus'': The first dinosaur encountered after the travel from Jurassic to the Cretaceous, 70 mya, and the first of the four kinds of hadrosaurs ("duck-billed dinosaurs") met in the time-trip. A [[SocialOrnithopod small herd]] of three individuals is shown near a river in a wooded landscape, with two of them partially submerged in water and one swimming "like a horse" as commented by the main host. They have slightly different-sized crests, so could be mixed females and males, but their gender is not revealed. The traveller gets the occasion to explain that, despite living often in watery environments like these ones, hadrosaurians were land animals and not aquatic at all -- a reference to the already outdated "swimming hadrosaur" theory at the time. Other corythosaurs appear in the 3rd episode near another river, as possible preys for the "croc" ''Deinosuchus'' (see later).

* ''Pterodactylus'': They appear as a sort of counterpart to the ''Rhamphorhynchus'', being toothed and the same size of them. Some are seen flying mixed with the ''Rhamphorhynchus''es in the same lagoon, and are distinguished from the latter mainly by their lack of visible tail. Nearby, the traveler is searching for pterosaur nests on a high pointed cliff, but finds anyone.

* ''Struthiomimus'': Some of these toothless birdlike theropods are shown running together in a brief video when the human is flying on his balloon in the 2nd part of the episode. Like the dromaeosaurs they too have eyes with round pupils, but like all bipedal dinosaurs here they are portrayed with too short tails, and with wrong backwards-pointing hands -- the latter is justified however, because this was the most common view among experts at the time about theropods. The other "ornithomiman" of the series is ''Deinocheirus'', whose huge forearms are shown and described in the 1st episode -- a painting even shows it like it's going to grasp Piero Angela with its hands! The host also describes one huge ''Therizinosaurus'' claw and the colossal forelimb of the today-invalid sauropod "Ultrasaurus", considered the biggest dinosaur ever in those years in competition with "Seismosaurus" and ''Supersaurus'', see UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursSaurischianDinosaurs -- ''Argentinosaurus'', ''Sauroposeidon'' and 'Maraapunisaurus'' ("Amphicoelias") were not still discovered or re-discovered yet by paleontologists.

* ''Struthiomimus'': Some of these toothless birdlike theropods are shown running together in a brief video when the human is flying on his balloon in the 2nd part of the episode. Like the dromaeosaurs they too have eyes with round pupils, but like all bipedal dinosaurs here they are portrayed with too short tails, and with wrong backwards-pointing hands -- the latter is justified however, because this was the most common view among experts at the time about theropods. The other "ornithomiman" of the series is ''Deinocheirus'', whose huge forearms are shown and described in the 1st episode -- a painting even shows it like it's going to grasp Piero Angela with its hands! The host also describes one huge ''Therizinosaurus'' claw and the colossal forelimb of the today-invalid sauropod "Ultrasaurus", considered the biggest dinosaur ever in those years in competition with "Seismosaurus" and ''Supersaurus'', see UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursSaurischianDinosaurs -- ''Argentinosaurus'', ''Sauroposeidon'' and ''Amphicoelias fragillimus'' were not still discovered or re-discovered yet by paleontologists.

'''Luis and Walter Alvarez''': A Nobel-Prized physician and his geologist son respectively. They are briefly mentioned in the 4th episode, where it's shown an old interview made in 1979 in which Piero Angela asks L. Alvarez about the Deep Impact theory. The two researchers had first proposed the asteroid/comet theory one year before (in 1978) as a possible explanation for the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous, from an unusually iridium-rich sedimentary formation from the K/T boundary they had found and studied in Central Italy, near the town of Gubbio.

* ''Allosaurus'': One lonely individual of this tyrannosaur relative makes a [[OneSceneWonder brief but striking]] apparition after the human had just left the ''Brontosaurus''es alone in the nocturnal scene above. First the carnivore announces itself with a MightyRoar, then arrives abruptly from behind the rocks nearby running fast on its two legs, and finally tempts to attack the human who's however already safe on his "raft" -- and the predator is unable to follow him. In this program the allosaur is shown with prominent "horns" above the eyes, looking a bit like the Carnotaurs of {{WesternAnimation/Dinosaur}}. This is also the only time that a big theropod different from ''TyrannosaurusRex'' appears in the mesozoic journey.

'''Sherlock Holmes:''' He's mentioned in the 2nd episode when the main host talks about dinosaur footprints, as the author of the following sentence: "There's no branch of investigating sciences so little-practiced, and yet so important, than the art of interpreting the footprints."

'''Charles Darwin:''' He and his theory of evolution are referenced once in the 1st episode, when Alberto is in the Galapagos Islands (where Darwin made many of his researches).

* ''Ankylosaurus'': This episode is almost-entirely ambiented in the Maastrichtian stage of the Cretaceous, 65 mya[[note]]Except for the scene with the Supernova star, which is more generically said to be "in the Cretaceous" without specifying the exact time. Considering there's a ''Parasaurolophus'' there, it should be 80-70 mya[[/note]]. In general, most of the time-travel scenes of ''Planet Of Dinosaurs'' happen in the Cretaceous which is portrayed in every episode (and also averting TheCretaceousIsAlwaysDoomed), while the Jurassic period is always Late-Jurassic and is shown only in the 1st and 3rd episode -- and the Triassic only in the first half of the 1st episode. ''Ankylosaurus'' is shown here as one of the few still-living dinosaurs at the very end of the Mesozoic Era, together with ''Triceratops'', ''Tyrannosaurus'', hadrosaurs, ''Oviraptor'', and (wrongly) pterosaur ''Pteranodon''. It is presented as a slow-walking armored critter almost 10 m long and weighing about 10 tons: its body shape is more correct than other pop-portrayals, with the armor full of short spikes pointing not exclusively sidewards, four-"horned" head with osteoderms above it, and bilobed club-tail. It's also described as one of the most powerful dinosaurs -- easily able to defeat even a Tyrannosaur in a fight unless is overturned by its predator like a tortoise -- but nonetheless totally unable to defend itself againt the cataclysm that is going to happen: strikingly similar to what was said and shown in the last episode of ''Walking With Dinosaurs'' 6 years after, where the animal's overall shape is actually ''more incorrect'' (being devoid of true spikes in its armor and even with a wrongly-shaped head). The ankylosaur is also one of the creatures present in the moment of the fall of the asteroid, together with ''Triceratops'' and ''Pteranodon'' -- then ''Tyrannosaurus'' and ''Triceratops'' appear in the scene after the bolid-strike, but not ankylosaurs and pterosaurs anymore.

* ''Coelophysis'': The first dinosaur met by the time-traveller in the whole journey. Only a brief glance of a running pack of five specimens of this small carnivore is shown when the human is flying on his balloon over a desertic/volcanic landscape. He says about them "they are about human-sized, a bit like big lizards running on two legs"; but then the main host explains that the comparison with lizards does not mean a real evolutive affinity with them. All portrayed dinosaurs are naked or scaly, but at the time non-bird dinosaurs were still believed non-feathered by most experts -- or at least, there were still no proofs about the presence of feathers on their bodies.

* ''Brontosaurus'': The biggest and perhaps the most prominent dinosaur met in the first episode, after the human has travelled from Triassic to Jurassic (150 mya). [[note]]At the time the official name of the animal was still ''Apatosaurus'', but Angela chose deliberately to call it with the more familiar name ("Brontosauro" in Italian language, plural "Brontosauri"). In 2015, it was scientifically demonstrated [[ScienceMarchesOn he was not wrong]]. Also note that Piero Angela in the 2nd episode of ''Planet of Dinosaurs'' (and in his eponymous book as well) reveals to us that the correct name for this animal was ''Apatosaurus''. [[/note]] The human is seen "navigating" in a river upon the same log of the previous scene, and a herd of three adult brontosaurs is seen drinking from the river and feeding on conifer trees of the riverbank. Then the human tents to approach one of them cautiously on foot, and gets almost hit by its tail. Here the "brontosaurs" actually resemble more other relatives like ''Diplodocus'' or ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursSaurischianDinosaurs Barosaurus]]'' in their overall shape: long slender neck, concave profile of the head, comparatively small body. They have also too short tails compared with real diplodocid sauropods. Compensating this, all the sauropods of the show have correctly clawed feet, and not elephant-nailed or hoofed as often seen in media. For some, the sounds the brontosaurs emit recall those of a man screaming within a metallic pipe. Another unnamed pterosaur (this time based on ''Pterodactylus'') is seen flying near one of the sauropods: it appears tiny compared to the latter, underlining these animals' enormous size ("I'm wondering how many elephants could stay liquified within a brontosaur, maybe 10", comments the main host). The whole scene is ambiented at night in a mountainous landscape with a large full-moon in the sky. The animals are [[GentleGiantSauropod very calm]], and don't walk at all but stay still in their place.

* ''Stegosaurus'': After a brief time-travel of 10 million years the human encounters two of these armored 1.5 tons dinosaurs in a more arid hilly Late Jurassic landscape, this time at daylight. One is shown sleeping (and even snoring like a human!), while the other is walking behind it in the background. The traveller says that ''Stegosaurus'' loves more arid places than ''Brontosaurus'', and that its dorsal plates are probably for thermoregulation and not for protection -- thermoregulation was the dominant theory of the time, and still believable today. The two hosts also talk about its proverbially small brain, "maybe the smallest of all dinosaurs", but also that this doesn't mean [[DumbDinos the stegosaurus was stupid]], and that with its "apricot-sized brain" it did well survive for a long time nonetheless. It is also said to possibly swallow stones to better-digest its plant-food like modern crocs and ostriches do. ''Stegosaurus'' is the first [[UsefulNotes/{{Dinosaurs}} ornithischian]] (bird-hipped dinosaur) met in the voyage; the former are all [[UsefulNotes/{{Dinosaurs}} saurischians]] (lizard-hipped dinosaurs). The three dinosaurs below are also Ornithischians.

* ''Edmontosaurus'': The "forth" kind of hadrosaur seen in the program, though widely recognize today as a the same animal of ''Anatosaurus''. It's seen in the same scene just after the pachycephalosaurs. When some of them are browsing conifers, a giant unnamed pterosaur flies near them. The "edmontosaurs" are colored blackish, probably to make them more distinguishable from the "anatosaurs" which are greenish. Interestingly, the ''Edmontosaurus'' and ''Anatosaurus'' depicted by John Sibbick in the Great Dinosaur Encyclopedia (1985) have a very similar coloration: this was a very popular dino-book in those years, and thus a possible font of inspiration for the programers.

* ''Brachiosaurus'': Some specimens of this gigantic brontosaur-relative are shortly portrayed in the same video above, described as "a sort of 12/15 m tall prehistoric giraffes, with a very small and funny head". The brachiosaur is probably ''Giraffatitan'' judging by the shape of its head, but at the time the latter was still classified as an African species of ''Brachiosaurus''. This sauropod is also the first of the 7 prehistoric reptiles seen in the opening of each episode -- the others are in sequence ''Triceratops'', ''Ankylosaurus'', ''Tyrannosaurus'', ''Stegosaurus'', ''Brontosaurus'', and ''Pteranodon''. Despite this, the brachiosaur has a less-relevant overall role in the series than ''"Brontosaurus"'', which is the token long-necked dinosaur here. ''Diplodocus'' and ''Camarasaurus'' (wrongly named "Camarosaurus"), other well-known sauropods, are briefly cited in the first episode as well as ''Brachiosaurus'' itself -- in the latter's case also in the correspondent 1st commentary, which shows a curious experiment regarding the possible blood circulation in its head. Another sauropod, ''Mamenchisaurus'', is briefly portrayed in the 3rd episode (see below).

* ''Struthiomimus'': Some of these toothless birdlike theropods are shown running together in a brief video when the human is flying on his balloon in the 2nd part of the episode. Like the dromaeosaurs they too have eyes with round pupils, but like all bipedal dinosaurs here they are portrayed with too short tails, and with wrong backwards-pointing hands -- the latter is justified however, because this was the most common view among experts at the time about theropods. The other "ornithomiman" of the series is ''Deinocheirus'', whose huge forearms are shown and described in the 1st episode -- a painting even shows it like it's going to grasp Piero Angela with its hands! The host also describes one huge ''Therizinosaurus'' claw and the colossal forelimb of the today-invalid sauropod "Ultrasaurus", considered the biggest dinosaur ever in those years in competition with "Seismosaurus", see UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursSaurischianDinosaurs.

* ''Ankylosaurus'': This episode is almost-entirely ambiented in the Maastrichtian stage of the Cretaceous, 65 mya[[note]]Except for the scene with the Supernova star, which is more generically said to be "in the Cretaceous" without specifying the exact time. Considering there's a ''Parasaurolophus'' there, it should be 80-70 mya[[/note]]. In general, most of the time-travel scenes of ''Planet Of Dinosaurs'' happen in the Cretaceous which is portrayed in every episode (and also averting TheCretaceousIsAlwaysDoomed), while the Jurassic period is always Late-Jurassic and is shown only in the 1st and 3rd episode -- and the Triassic only in the first half of the 1st episode. ''Ankylosaurus'' is shown here as one of the few still-living dinosaurs at the very end of the Mesozoic Era, together with ''Triceratops'', ''Tyrannosaurus'', hadrosaurs, ''Oviraptor'', and (wrongly) pterosaur ''Pteranodon''. It is presented as a slow-walking armored critter almost 10 m long and weighing about 10 tons: its body shape is more correct than other pop-portrayals, with the armor full of short spikes pointing not exclusively sidewards, four-"horned" head with osteoderms above it, and bilobed club-tail. It's also described as one of the most powerful dinosaurs -- easily able to defeat even a Tyrannosaur in a fight -- but nonetheless totally unable to defend itself againt the cataclysm that is going to happen: strikingly similar to what was said and shown in the last episode of ''Walking With Dinosaurs'' 6 years after, where the animal's overall shape is actually ''more incorrect'' (being devoid of true spikes in its armor and even with a wrongly-shaped head). The ankylosaur is also one of the creatures present in the moment of the fall of the asteroid, together with ''Triceratops'' and ''Pteranodon'' -- then ''Tyrannosaurus'' and ''Triceratops'' appear in the scene after the bolid-strike, but not ankylosaurs and pterosaurs anymore.