History WesternAnimation / TheBalladOfBigAl

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''The Ballad of Big Al'' (''Allosaurus: A Walking with Dinosaurs Special'' in America) is the 2000 spinoff special to the BBC documentary series ''Series/WalkingWithDinosaurs''. Taking place in the Jurassic plains of Wyoming 145 million years ago, the special follows the life a young ''Allosaurus'' named "Big Al". Considered to be one of the most complete ''Allosaurus'' fossils, Al's bones reveal many aspects of his life and the challenges he faced as one of the apex predators of the Jurassic.

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!Tropes present include:
* AffectionateNickname: "Big Al" was the name given to the complete allosaur skeleton that was found, partly because the paleontologists felt a little wistful Al lived fast and died young.
* ArtEvolution: Nearly every dinosaur's model and textures were given much more detail in the special, including ''Stegosaurus'' and ''Diplodocus''. And of course the ''Allosaurus'', being the stars of the show. Just compare the new ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Allosaurus]]'' model to the old one from ''Time of the Titans''.
* BalladOfX
* [[CrossingTheDesert Crossing The Salt Plain]]: This trope is used for the ''Diplodocus'' attack, as well as towards the end near Al's death.
* ADayInTheLimelight: ''The Ballad of Big Al'' serves as this for ''Allosaurus'', which originally only featured as an "antagonist" in "Time of the Titans".
* DeathOfAChild:
** One of Al's baby siblings is killed.
** Technically Al himself, who died as a maturing juvenile.
* HadToBeSharp: Allosaurs lived in an extremely harsh world, and getting to adulthood was not an easy task -- Al failed.
* MuckingInTheMud: In one scene two Allosaurus are lured into a mud trap by a Stegosaurus carcass and by the end of the day, both of them are dead and being eaten by tiny Pterosaurs. Al avoids the same fate because he learned to avoid carrion and the large carnivores it attracts.
* ShootTheShaggyDog: Big Al struggles to survive the harsh Jurassic world, often failing more hunts than succeeding and barely escaping death that have claimed other ''Allosaurus''. He manages to live long enough to reach sexual maturity, but his life is cut short when he suffers a fatal injury on his middle toe, preventing him from hunting during the worst part of the dry season. With no food or water to sustain himself, Big Al dies without reaching his full potential or passing on his genes to the next generation. The only bright spot in his brutal short life is that his skeleton will be well-preserved for paleotologists to get best idea of an ''Allosaurus'''s life, and becoming one of the most completed specimen on display.
* ShownTheirWork: The second part of the special, which deals with how we learned all this stuff about Al and ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Allosaurus]]'' in general.
* SpecialEffectsEvolution: When compared to the original series, the dinosaur models are more detailed, the puppets are more convincing, and most notably the shots are far more dynamic with a lot of camera movement, something the original series was keen to avoid. There's also a lot less use of composited bushes and shrubs to hide foot contacts.
* {{Spinoff}}: ''The Ballad of Big Al'' is a spinoff of ''Walking With Dinosaurs'', and ''Big Al'' itself came with a Making Of... documentary that took a look at the basis of the show and the science behind it.
* TemptingFate: Al's a horny teen, but the mature female he approaches is in a ''real'' bad mood, and he finds out quickly that female ''Allosaurus'' are more vicious than any other dino he'll ever come upon.
* TraumaCongaLine: Summarizes Big Al's later life. First, he winds up with broken ribs and a torn claw after an attempt to mate ended with the female violently rejecting him. Later, he breaks his right middle toe after a failed hunting attempt and it gets infected. Too weak to hunt, he slowly dies from starvation and dehydration.
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* SeldomSeenSpecies: ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Dryosaurus]]'', ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Ornitholestes]]'', ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Anurognathus]]'' and ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeHadrosaurPredecessors Othnielia]]''.

* ShootTheShaggyDog: Big Al struggles to survive the harsh Jurassic world, often failing more hunts than succeeding and barely escaping death that have claimed other ''Allosaurus''. He manages to live long enough to reach sexual maturity, but his life is cut short when he suffers a fatal injury on his middle toe, preventing him from hunting during the worst part of the dry season. With no food or water to sustain himself, Big Al dies without reaching his full potential or passing on his genes to the next generation. The only bright spot in his brutal short life is that his skeleton will be well-preserved for paleotologists to get best idea of an ''Allosaurus'''s life and becoming one of the most completed specimen on display.

* ShootTheShaggyDog: Big Al struggles to survive the harsh Jurassic world, often failing more hunts than succeeding and barely escaping death that have claimed other ''Allosaurus''. He manages to live long enough to reach sexual maturity and survives a brutal mauling from a female ''Allosaurus''. But his life is cut short when he suffers a fatal injury on his middle toe, preventing him from hunting during the worst part of the dry season. With no food or water to sustain himself, Big Al dies without reaching his full potential or passing on his genes to the next generation. The only bright spot in his brutal short life is that his skeleton will be well-preserved for paleotologists to get best idea of an ''Allosaurus'''s life and becoming one of the most completed specimen on display.

* ShootTheShaggyDog: Technically, [[spoiler:Big Al himself.]]

* HadToBeStrong: Allosaurs lived in an extremely harsh world, and getting to adulthood was not an easy task -- Al failed.

* TraumaCongaLine: Summarizes Big Al's later life. First, he winds up with broken ribs and a torn claw after an attempt to mate ended with the female violently rejecting him. Later, he breaks his middle toe after a failed hunting attempt and it gets infected. Too weak to hunt, he slowly dies from starvation and dehydration.

* MuckingInTheMud: In one scene two Allosaurus are lured into a mud trap by a Stegosaurus carcass and by the end of the day, both of them are dead and being eaten by tiny Pterosaurs.

* TemptingFate: Al's a horny teen, but the mature female he approaches is in a ''real'' bad mood, and he finds out quickly that female ''Allosaurus'' are more vicious than any dino he'll ever come upon.

* TraumaCongaLine: Summarizes Big Al's life.

* DeathOfAChild: One of Al's baby siblings is killed.

* SignatureScene: The attack on the ''Diplodocus'' in the salt lake, as well as the scene preceding it with the mud trap.

[[redirect:Series/WalkingWithDinosaurs]]