Line #5 Trivia/PlanetOfDinosaurs


1	* AccidentallyCorrectZoology: The first animatronic dinosaur shown indirectly in the show is a silhouette of a moving ''Brontosaurus'' in a video. At the time of the documentary it was scientifically accepted its real name was ''Apatosaurus'' and not "Brontosaurus" (which is the name almost-always used in the program), but in 2015 the name "Brontosaurus" returned valid again for a part of the scientific community.
2	* DuelingMovies: It might seem unbelievable, but in Italy this documentary was really in competition against ''Franchise/JurassicPark''! Piero Angela even cited the film ''J.P.'' in his first episode when talking about insects trapped in amber, mentioning the film's theory about cloning dinosaurs from mosquitos as "ridiculous". Also, in one interview, Angela proudly said that his docu has more than 15 kinds of dinosaur while the film only has seven. In truth, 19 kinds of non-avian dinosaurs are encountered during the time travel, plus many pterosaurs (4 of them identified) and 4 aquatic reptiles. In total, about 50 models of dinosaurs and non-dinosaurs were realized for the program.
3	* InMemoriam: In Italy a great number of relevant characters, from the current President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella to the then Prime Minister Mario Draghi, to RAI colleagues, to singers, have quoted Piero Angela's demise as "a great loss for Italy", and the [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAI RAI]] chose to change its programs the days after his death, happened in 13th August 2022. In 29th March 2023 it was proposed to dedicate a square to him in the city of Bologna -- the seventh largest Italian city, well-known for its ancient university. In 21st June 2023, the Italian high-school final exam for the 18-years-old Italian students had Piero Angela as one of the authors to choose (among the others) for their first examination, to achieve the so-called "Maturità" -- which allows the teenagers to potentially frequent the university after the high school.
4	* ScienceMarchesOn: More than a quarter of a century has passed since this documentary; thus, some portrayals and statements about extinct animals are not accurate anymore. According to modern knowledge ''Plateosaurus'' was not quadrupedal; "Ultrasaurus" is not valid; ''Anatosaurus'' may not be valid as well [[note]]''Edmontosaurus'' is also shown as a distinct animal from ''Anatosaurus'', but was arguably ''Edmontosaurus regalis'', while "Anatosaurus" should be ''Edmontosaurus annectens''. [[/note]]; ''Torosaurus'' was not the biggest-headed land animal; dromaeosaurids were probably not pack hunters and their foot-claws were used as hooks than slashing weapons; ''Mamenchisaurus'' did not look like ''Diplodocus''; ''Oviraptor''s were not egg-robbing specialists; plesiosaurs did not have serpentine necks; and several dinosaurs and pterosaurs had some form of feathers or similar structures. Also, in the 3rd episode dinosaurs and birds are described as possibly distinct lineages, and in the last episode the host incautiously says "dinosaurs went extinct without leaving descendants" - the referred descendants probably are the modern reptiles and not the birds. In the 1st one, however, birds are quoted as the most strict living relatives of dinosaurs (in traditional sense), followed by crocodilians (the other living Archosaurian lineage), snakes & lizards (the Lepidosaurians), and finally turtles & tortoises (the Chelonians). The imprecisions in the series are compensated by the fact that Piero Angela points out the uncertainty of scientific statements across the whole program, unlike most ''Walking With'' pieces.

Context Trivia / PlanetOfDinosaurs