History YMMV / WalkingWithDinosaurs

* CommonKnowledge: You’ll often hear people claim that the polar allosaur was based on the megaraptoran ''Australovenator'' before it was properly named and described. [[CriticalResearchFailure Except it wasn't]]. The latter was discovered in Queensland during the mid-2000s (long after the series aired), while the former was based on an ankle bone from southern Victoria. And while said ankle bone is morphologically similar to the corresponding bone in ''Australovenator'', meaning the “polar allosaur” was likely a megaraptoran itself, it's not ''Australovenator'', due to being around 20-15 million years older. The confusion stems from the fact that upon its initial description, ''Australovenator'' was believed to have lived 115-110 million years ago, around the same age as the "polar allosaur", so naturally, workers made the assumption that the two could be the same animals, and several BBC websites subsequently parroted the purported connection. However, a 2013 study determined that ''Australovenator'' was geologically younger, at around 95 million years old, making it highly unlikely that these two theropods are the same taxon. Just for comparison, the age difference is comparable to the gap between the last entelodonts and modern humans.

* CommonKnowledge: You’ll often hear people claim that the polar allosaur was based on the megaraptoran ''Australovenator'' before it was properly named and described. [[CriticalResearchFailure Except it wasn't]]. The latter was discovered in Queensland during the mid-2000s (long after the series aired), while the former was based on an ankle bone from southern Victoria. And while said ankle bone is morphologically similar to the corresponding bone in ''Australovenator'', meaning the “polar allosaur” was likely a megaraptoran itself, it's not ''Australovenator'' , on account of there being a 20 million year age gap between them. The confusion stems from the fact that upon its initial description in 2009, ''Australovenator'' was believed to have lived circa 115-110 mya, around the same age as ''polar allosaur'', so naturally, workers made the assumption that the two could be the same animals, and several BBC websites also parroted the purported connection. However, a 2013 study reevaluated ''Australovenator'''s age as 97-94 mya, making it highly unlikely that these two theropods are the same taxon. Just for comparison, the age gap between them is comparable to the gap between the last entelodonts and modern humans.

* CommonKnowledge: You’ll often hear people claim that the producers based the polar allosaur on the megaraptoran ''Australovenator'' before the latter was properly described.[[CriticalResearchFailure Except, they didn’t]]. The latter was discovered in the Winton Formation of Queensland during the mid-2000s (long after the series aired), while the former was based on ankle bone from Dinosaur Cove in southern Victoria. And while said ankle bone is indeed morphologically similar to the corresponding bone in ''Australovenator'', meaning the “polar allosaur” was likely a megaraptoran, it and ''Australovenator'' are not the same animal, on account of there being a 20 million year age gap between them. The confusion stems from the fact that upon its initial description in 2009, ''Australovenator'' was believed to have lived during the late Aptian or early Albian (circa 115-110 mya), so naturally, workers made the assumption that it and the "polar allosaurs" could be the same animals, and several BBC websites also parroted the purported connection. However, a 2013 study reevaluated the age of ''Australovenator'' and the Winton Formation as late Cenomanian (97-94 mya), making it highly unlikely that these two theropods are the same taxon. Just for comparison, the age gap between them is comparable to age gap between the last entelodont (''Daeodon'') and modern humans.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Lets see? Non-saurian Triassic wildlife being sluggish and ungainly primitives? Scaly coelurosaurs? ''Ornitholestes'' with a nose-crest? Whale-sized pliosaurs? Plesiosaurs crawling onto land? Stiff-necked diplodocids? [[MoreDeadlyThanTheMale Female T. rex ouclasing the boys]]? Badger-like ''Didelphodon''? ''Quetzalcoatlus'' looking nothing like ''Quetzalcoatlus''? Dinosaurs already teetering towards extinction before the meteor impact? Yes, there is no denying that this show is very much an embodiment of [[TheNineties late '90s]] paleontology.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: A subtle case as it is entirely due to ScienceMarchesOn, but the show is very much state of the art of dinosaurology in [[TheNineties the late '90s]]. This is specially true for "Death of a Dynasty", which is an indirect listing of [[PhlebotinumKilledTheDinosaurs various theories about the extinction of the dinosaurs]] culminating with the asteroid hit. The general feeling of the episode is that dinosaurs were doing bad and the asteroid either made it worse or put them out of their misery, which is smack down between pre-asteroid, pre-Dinosaur Renaissance attitudes ("Dinosaurs were outdated monstrosities doomed to extinction") and current ones ("Dinosaurs were doing alright and would still dominate today if it wasn't for the asteroid"). Another telling point is the bizarre depiction of ''Quetzalcoatlus'' as a marine skim feeder, which had just been proposed in 1996 and was debunked a decade later.

** The ''Postosuchus'' in “New Blood” is framed as a [[TheDreaded fierce and powerful apex predator]] who strikes fear into the hearts of early dinosaurs and other Triassic animals….[[WeaksauceWeakness except that she can only move at a snail’s pace]] (even before getting crippled), meaning the agile ''Coelophysis'' could easily hassle her and suffer no consequences, [[FridgeLogic and perhaps that’s the reason that the only interaction between them is during the former’s dying breath]]. That said, in real life, ''Postosuchus'' ''wasn’t'' a [[ScienceMarchesOn sluggish, lumbering hulk]].

** The ''Postosuchus'' “New Blood” is framed as a [[TheDreaded fierce and powerful apex predator]] who strikes fear into the hearts of early dinosaurs and other Triassic animals….[[WeaksauceWeakness except that she can only move at a snail’s pace]] (even before getting crippled), meaning the agile ''Coelophysis'' could easily hassle her and suffer no consequences, [[FridgeLogic and perhaps that’s the reason that the only interaction between them is during the former’s dying breath]]. That said, in real life, ''Postosuchus'' certainly ''wasn’t'' a [[ScienceMarchesOn sluggish, lumbering hulk]].

** The ''Postosuchus'' “New Blood” is framed as a [[TheDreaded fierce and powerful apex predator]] who strikes fear into the hearts of early dinosaurs and other Triassic animals….[[WeaksauceWeakness except that she can only move at a snail’s pace]] (even before getting crippled) , meaning the agile ''Coelophysis'' could easily hassle her and suffer no consequences, [[FridgeLogic and perhaps that’s the reason that the only interaction between them is during the former’s dying breath]]. That said, in real life, Postosuchus certainly wasn’t a [[ScienceMarchesOn sluggish, lumbering hulk]].

* {{Narm}}: The final fate of the tyrannosaurid family at the end of "Death of a Dynasty" rather comically clashes with the grimness of the scene. To elaborate: The mother died from her leg wound, with the surviving infants clustering around her body. Then the meteor shockwave hits. The babies get suck up by the wind and zoom away, followed by the mother's corpse being lazily dragged after them.

** ''Stegosaurus'' appears during the canyon scene, but his badass intimidation of the ''Allosaurus'' leaves an impression.

** Narrowly averted with ''Ankylosaurus'', as they have a small introduction early on.

** Even these shows weren't immune to this: the most common goofs are CG clipping errors (like when the mammoth's trunk "merges" with its tusk), wires from the animatronic models or parts of the people controlling them being visible, and shadow/reflection effects being messed up. Some are obvious (like the skin of the Opthalmosaurus puppet coming off in the birthing scene), others you only catch if you watch the clips frame-by-frame.

* SugarWiki/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.

* MoralEventHorizon: Scowler almost 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). By ''almost'' as in he redeems himself as he's getting mauled by Gorgon and Patchi rescues him.

* CatharsisFactor: Gorgon mauling Scowler to near-death after the latter reached his nastiest by leaving Patchi to die.

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

** Gorgon from the 3D film, partially for being one of the few named characters not to receive an annoying voiceover.
** Although for characters that ''do'' have a voiceover Alex has some popularity with the viewers, considering him to be less annoying than the others and he even does a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.
** The TerribleTrio of azhdarchids from the 3D movie, due to their slapstick and [[UglyCute strange adorableness]].

* AngstWhatAngst: The deaths of Patchi and Scowler's entire family in the 2013 movie. By the next morning, they're done mourning their father, and the loss of their mother and siblings is never even mentioned.
* BetterOnDVD: For those who disliked the childish dialogue in the 3D movie, at least. The Blu-ray release has the "Cretaceous Cut", which eliminates it completely.
* CriticalBacklash:
** From the general scientist/paleontologist community, but mostly from those to whom scientific accuracy is SeriousBusiness and any amount of speculation is intolerable. One such person infamously labeled the show's paleontology consultants "[[http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/Essays/WWD/default.html prostitutes]]" for "selling out" their knowledge to a fancy TV show.
** Pretty much every critic and their mothers are attacking the 3D movie. Few people are willing to contest them.
* DesignatedVillain: Of the 3D movie, Gorgon. He's treated as the main villain, and yet he's just a predator trying to survive and feed his pack. Probably justified, though, as the story is told from the point of view of his prey.

* FirstInstallmentWins: ''Beasts,'' and ''Monsters'' are also well-liked and are better in many ways, but ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' is the most iconic of series to the general public because, well, [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs it's the one with dinosaurs in it]]. This was acknowledged by the producers during development: they originally wanted to cover the era shown in ''Beasts'', but settled on ''Dinosaurs'' as they are incontestably more popular, and its success would help turn people's eyes to ''Beasts'' and the era of history it covered. This proved to be a benefit, as they underestimated the challenges of rendering fur in CGI.

* {{Narm}}:
** The final fate of the tyrannosaurid family at the end of "Death of a Dynasty" rather comically clashes with the grimness of the scene. To elaborate: The mother died from her leg wound, with the surviving infants clustering around her body. Then the meteor shockwave hits. The babies get suck up by the wind and zoom away, followed by the mother's corpse being lazily dragged after them.
** ALL of the dialogue in the 3D film.

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

* 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.
* SignatureScene:
** The ''Liopleurodon'' snatching up the ''Eustreptospondlyus'' is easily the most memorable moment of the original series, and immediately put the former species on the map.
** Patchi nearly allowing himself to be eaten in the 2013 film was seen as the most jarring and nightmarish in an otherwise unremarkable film.
* 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.
* SpecialEffectFailure: Even these shows weren't immune to this: the most common goofs are CG clipping errors (like when the mammoth's trunk "merges" with its tusk), wires from the animatronic models or parts of the people controlling them being visible, and shadow/reflection effects being messed up. Some are obvious (like the skin of the Opthalmosaurus puppet coming off in the birthing scene), others you only catch if you watch the clips frame-by-frame.
** The film has no lip synching, leading to speculation that it was supposed to be a serious documentary and was changed to a comedic film a la WesternAnimation/IceAge at the last minute. Cue outcry of TheyChangedItNowItSucks.

* {{Squick}}:
** In "Spirits of the Ice Forest", a herd of ''Muttaburrasaurus'' is tormented by flies, which bite them on [[EarAche the insides of their ears]]. The idea of an insect entering an orifice to feed is enough to make most viewers shudder in disgust.
** 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.
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Many a dinosaur fan and ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' fan have complained about the 2013 movie humanizing the animals too much.

** 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 out as the sole saving graces of the film.

** The Walking with Trilogy (''Dinosaurs'', ''Beasts'', and ''Monsters'') is the most well-known and beloved prehistoric documentaries ever made, and both the Creator/TheBBC and Creator/DiscoveryChannel try to repeat their success with other dinosaur documentaries but none of them come close to the popularity of the original trilogy.

** TyrannosaurusRex in the final episode. First, she loses her eggs after volcanic activity kills the embryos. Then, she seeks a new mate and then drives him away, but after laying twelve only three hatch. ''Then'', one of her babies dies, implicitly at the teeth of its own siblings. Then she is fatally injured by an ''Ankylosaurus'' [[MamaBear while trying to protect them]] and suffers a slow agonizing death shortly after. The only saving grace is that her death meant she didn't have to die in the mass extinction.

* EvenBetterSequel: ''Beasts'' and ''Monsters'' got even more acclaim and have aged significantly better than ''Dinosaurs''.

* DesignatedVillain: Of the 3D movie, Gorgon. He's treated as the main villain, and yet just a predator trying to survive and feed his pack. Probably justified, though, as the story is told from the point of view of his prey.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Believe it or not, the TV series' premise of a documentary was actually what Creator/StevenSpielberg and Creator/GeorgeLucas both originally wanted for ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime''. It was supposed to have no dialog save for the narrator documenting the young dinosaurs separated from their herds trying to survive together. But to make the film appealing to children, they abandoned this idea and got actors and actresses to do the voices instead.

** The film has no lip synching, leading to speculation that it was supposed to be a serious documentary and was changed to a comedic film a la WesternAnimation/IceAge at last minute. Cue outcry of TheyChangedItNowItSucks.

** Another persistent issue was Overscan. When the first series was made in 1999, [=HDTVs=] and other flatscreens weren't really a thing yet and many CRT [=TVs=] had overscan where you wouldn't see the full picture, so watching the show today brings out these quirks. Many compositions have dinosaurs either "pop" in suddenly at the edges or be visible through the slight black border of the background plate, and many shots slide the frame around to give the illusion of camera shake (to save on tracking the CG to a moving camera), but this often reveals the edges of the live-action picture.
** Yet another trick the show used was blue-screening plants to the bottom of the frame, which helps a lot in hiding foot contacts or having to composite around ground plants. This works better in some episodes than it does in others, but in Death of a Dynasty, the bare plains make it rather obvious when they're being used. As with overscan, this was much less obvious on blurrier CRT [=TVs=] when the show first aired.

* FirstInstallmentWins: ''Beasts,'' and ''Monsters'' are also well-liked, but ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' is the most iconic of series to the general public.
** Walking with trilogy (Dinosaurs, Beasts, and Monsters) is the most well-known and beloved prehistoric documentaries ever made, both the Creator/TheBBC and Creator/DiscoveryChannel try to repeat the success with other dinosaur documentaries but none of them coming close to the popularity of the original trilogy.

** Another persistent issue was Overscan. When the first series was made in 1999, [=HDTVs=] weren't really a thing yet and many CRT [=TVs=] had overscan where you wouldn't see the full picture, so watching the show today brings out these quirks. Many compositions have dinosaurs either "pop" in suddenly at the edges or be visible through the slight black border, and many shots slide around the frame to give the illusion of camera shake (to save on tracking the CG to a moving camera), but this often reveals the edges of the live-action picture.

** The huge theropod ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Giganotosaurus]]'' with its memorable predation upon the gigantic [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauropoda sauropod]] ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Argentinosaurus]]'' may be counted as another example. It's interesting both ''Giganotosaurus'' and ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Spinosaurus]]'' (the latter became stock after ''Film/JurassicParkIII'') achieved their popularity in the same year (2001).
** The goose-like dinosaur ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Therizinosaurus]]'' with its [[WolverineClaws giant claws]] that it uses to drive off a ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeLargeTheropods Tarbosaurus]]'', as well as being a unusual [[VegetarianCarnivore herbivorous theropod]].

** The gruelling fight between the pack of ''Giganotosaurus'' and ''Argentinosaurus'' from ''Chased by Dinosaurs''.

** The ''Argentinosaurus'' from ''Chased by Dinosaurs''. Their faces are taller, shorter and more forward facing than other sauropods, giving them a weird humanoid look. This is even more noticeable when looked from the front.