History YMMV / WalkingWithDinosaurs

* NoProblemWithLicensedGames: In contrast to the 3D film, the video game is much better received.

** ''Plesiopleurodon'' is only in frame for a few seconds, but impresses the dangers of the sea that the ''Ornithocheirus'' was flying over.
** ''Ankylosaurus''. Narrowly averted, as they have a small introduction early on.

** ''Plateosaurus''.
** ''Stegosaurus''.
** ''Plesiopleurodon''.

** ''Quetzalcoatlus''.
** ''Deinosuchus''.

** Alex the ''Alexornis'' from the same movie is a bizzare example of a ''Reverse'' Scrappy, being one of the only characters who isn't nigh-universally considered annoying and stupid. Being voiced by Creator/JohnLeguizamo certainly helped.

** Although the ''WWD'' movie got mostly negative and mixed reviews, the visuals have impressed mostly everyone, whether it's just the CGI or the 3D effects as well. The bulk of the critics single them (as well as Creator/JohnLeguizamo's "spirited way with words") out as the sole saving graces of the film.

* HilariousInHindsight:
** The "Cruel Sea" opening reminds people of the ending to ''Film/JurassicWorld''.
** In "Giant of the Skies", the tapejarids are depicted as having black bodies and red crests. In 2017, a tapejarid was discovered with preserved melanosomes (pigment cells). Guess what colors its body and crest were.

** The dromaeosaurid from "Death of a Dynasty" was seen as an example of AnachronismStew, as ''Dromaeosaurus'' (what the animal was called during production despite its flaws) was extinct by the K/Pg extinction. Skip ahead to 2015, and [[AccidentallyCorrectWriting a dromaeosaur just the right size to match with this creature was discovered in the exact formation the episode takes place in]] (''Dakotaraptor'').

* SoBadItsGood: Arguably the 2013 movie, with its inept childish dialogue, over-the-top cliché plot and gratuitous sexism. Others just see it as horrible, though.
* TheScrappy:
** Juniper, from the 2013 movie, is considered a bizarre ''Gender'' Scrappy for being a FlatCharacter and evident of the gratuitous sexism the movie shows.
** Alex the ''Alexornis'' from the same movie is a bizzare example of a ''Reverse'' Scrappy, being one of the only characters who isn't nigh-universally considered annoying and stupid. Being voiced by Creator/JohnLeguizamo certainly helped.
* {{Squick}}: Early on in the 2013 movie, a hatchling Patchi is defecated on by a larger dinosaur. This wouldn't be so bad if he hadn't received a ''gaping open wound'' in his frill less than a minute before.

** Although the ''WWD'' movie got mostly negative and mixed reviews, the visuals have impressed mostly everyone, whether it's just the CGI or the 3D effects as well. The bulk of the critics single them (as well as JohnLeguizamo's "spirited way with words") out as the sole saving graces of the film.

** Alex the ''Alexornis'' from the same movie is a bizzare example of a ''Reverse'' Scrappy, being one of the only characters who isn't nigh-universally considered annoying and stupid. Being voiced by JohnLeguizamo certainly helped.

** The dromaeosaurid from "Death of a Dynasty" was seen as an example of AnachronismStew, as ''Dromaeosaurus'' (what the animal was called during production despite its flaws) was extinct by the K/Pg extinction. Skip ahead to 2015, and [[AccidentallyAccurate a dromaeosaur just the right size to match with this creature was discovered in the exact formation the episode takes place in]] (''Dakotaraptor'').

** The arthropods in ''Monsters''. Whereas predators in other instalments are portrayed as {{Non Malicious Monster}}s who are only villains because we see things from the perspective of their prey (or aren't villains at all, in some cases), the narrator in ''Monsters'' paints the predators of human ancestors as though they're [[PrehistoricMonster vicious, evil, malevolent brutes who are waging some kind of "war on vertebrates".]] This is even though, like the "villains" of ''Dinosaurs'' and ''Beasts'', the arthropods are just regular animals doing what they have to do to survive.

** The ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeOtherExtinctCreatures Anomalocaris]]'' in The Cambrian, the first top predator ever.
** The ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeOtherExtinctCreatures Proterogyrinus]]'' in The Carboniferous remains top predator in a world ruled by creepy-crawlies.

** In ''Walking With Monsters''. For all its hunting prowess and deadliness, the famous crested mammal-ancestor ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Dimetrodon]]'' looks pretty damn goofy when it's running.
** The sensationalist narration making it seem like we are at war with other creatures is pretty cheesy.
** Justified in the fact that every land vertebrate at that time period ran more or less like that, and the 10-feet one was likely to outrun everything else. And its following evolutionary stage (the gorgonopsid) loses its "clumsiness" altogether and gallops after prey at high speeds, which it would have done in RealLife.

** The scene depicting the gradual Permian Extinction for ''Monsters''.

** ''Walking with Monsters'' suffers from some particularly bad-looking CGI composition. A lot of times, animals either clip into the scenery, their shadows rarely correspond to the irregularities or the color of the ground, and in some shots, they are cropped a little bit too far from the screen's edge ([[http://i53.tinypic.com/ofpuz4.png like this poor fish]]), so you can even see parts of the background "through" them.[[note]]Though this last one may depend on whether or not you watch it on DVD. At least one version of the ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' DVD also has some strange goings on at the edges of the screen.[[/note]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: In ''Walking with Monsters'', the evolution sequence from ''Cephalaspis'' to ''Hynerpeton'' (armored jawless fish to early tetrapod/early emphibian) skips a number of steps that would have made interesting sequences in their own right (jawed fish of all sorts, lobe finned fish, etc.).
** This means the villain of the third sequence, the giant ''Hyneria'', was actually part of our ancestry. Not all human ancestors were weak.

** The ''Diictodon'' in ''Monsters''. They sound adorable as well.

** The ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeBirds Gastornis]]'' from "New Dawn", [[ScienceMarchesOn though the real thing has turned out to be significantly less cool.]]
** The ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeMammals Hyaenodon]]'' from "Land of Giants" is one of the biggest land carnivores of its time and certainly one of the fiercest. Also the [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeMammals entelodonts]], who very much deserve their title "hogs from Hell".
** The ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeMammals Dinofelis]]'' from "Next of Kin" is basically a super sized leopard, with saber teeth, and more muscular body. Our ancestors learn who is the top predator of the savannah in a hard way.

** ''Titanomyrma''.
** The woolly rhinoceros.

** The ''Australopithecus'' banding together to save Blue from the ''Dinofelis'' for ''Beasts''.

** For another case of "apex predator with children vs. mass extinction", the ''Basilosaurus'' from WWB.
** The old ''Ornithocheirus''. He risked his life flying all the way to his old mating grounds, is driven away the minute he gets there, and dies of exhaustion without managing to mate at all.
** StoicWoobie: The mother ''Gastornis'' from the first episode of WWB, after she discovers that [[spoiler:her hatchling has been eaten by a swarm of ants]]. You can tell that she's not happy about it in the slightest, but her only response is to huff quietly and walk away, presumably to seek a new nesting sight.

* MoralEventHorizon: To some viewers, Scowler crosses this when he disowns Patchi and leaves him stuck in a ditch to be killed by predators for leading the herd away from a lake of thin ice that he himself led into (and never shows remorse or responsibility for it).

** Juniper, from the 2013 movie, is considered a bizarre Gender Scrappy for being a FlatCharacter and evident of the gratuitous sexism the movie shows.

** Hell, ''[[UpToEleven the whole damn 2013 movie could be counted as this,]]'' it's just we don't have a category for ''films.''

* AwesomeArt: Specifically, Awesome FanArt: [[ScienceMarchesOn since much of the series has become outdated, people on Deviant Art have begun making their own versions of the series that are more up to date than the original.

** The ''Cryptoclidus'' and baby ''Opthalmosaurus'' in "Cruel Sea". The former is basically a Jurassic seal (Although closer to a fully marine penguin in RealLife...still sounds cute) and the latter is essentially a Jurassic dolphin.

** And finally, the baby ''Tyrannosaurus'' from "Death of a Dynasty". Especially [[TheWoobie the runt of the litter]].

** The ''Diictodon'' in Monsters. They sound adorable as well.

* HellIsThatNoise: The dying screeches of the dominant ''Leaellynasaura'' as it's killed by the ''Allosaurus'' in episode 5. ''Holy shit''. It's arguably even worse by how abruptly it cuts off, followed by the plop of its mangled carcass falling to the ground.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: The series arguably was destined to a general public including both adults and children: however, for some people who watched it during childhood, several parts of the Walking With series are nothing but a long, endless sequence of NightmareFuel-related stuff. Arguably, talking about prehistory in a more reassuring way "will never be allowed" in TV. And the book "A Natural History" doesn't exactly better the situation, either.
** The feature-length WWD film shouldn't escape mention. While light-hearted and anthropomorphized compared to the original mini-series, a few moments still qualify as rather frightening. [[spoiler: The forest fire, and the death of Bulldust the Pachyrhinosaurus at the hands of the Gorgosaurus pack, both stand out. And the way Pachyrhinosaurus protagonist Patchi, having lost both love interest Juniper and the respect of his brother Scowler, just accepts his fate of being eaten alive by scavenging Troodons and azhdarchids is both downright terrifying and [[TearJerker depressing]]]].

* FreudWasRight: Because of its shape, the Late Permian lake has been nicknamed Penis Lake.

** The goose-like dinosaur ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Therizinosaurus]]'' with its [[WolverineClaws giant claws]] that it used to drive off a ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeLargeTheropods Tarbosaurus]]'', as well as being a [[VegetarianCarnivore herbivorous theropod]].

* MostAnnoyingSound: "[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Anatotitan]]"'s "roar" (it does sound like they're saying the word "roar").

* {{Narm}}: In ''Walking With Monsters''. For all its hunting prowess and deadliness, the famous crested mammal-ancestor ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Dimetrodon]]'' looks pretty damn goofy when it's running.

* OneSceneWonder: The ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeMammals Gigantopithecus]]''.

* MoralEventHorizon: For some viewers, Scowler crosses this when he disowns Patchi and leaves him stuck in a ditch to be killed by predators for leading the herd away from a lake of thin ice that he himself led into (and never shows remorse or responsibility for it).

* UncannyValley: The baby ''Pachyrhinosaurus'' in the movie have adult voices which, combined with the lack of lip-synching, sound disconnected to the characters.

* MoralEventHorizon: Some viewers believe Scowler crossed this when he disowns Patchi and leaves him stuck in a ditch to be killed by predators for leading the herd away from a lake of thin ice that he himself led into (and never shows remorse or responsibility for it).

* MoralEventHorizon: Some viewers believe Scowler crosses this when he disowns Patchi and leaves him stuck in a ditch to be killed by predators for leading the herd away from a lake of thin ice that he himself led into (and never shows remorse or responsibility for it).

* TheScrappy: Juniper, from the 2013 movie, is considered a bizarre Gender Scrappy for being a FlatCharacter and evident of the gratuitous sexism the movie shows.