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1!! The Series:
2* AluminiumChristmasTrees:
3** The series features quite a few controversial ([[ScienceMarchesOn and since debunked]]) ideas that were based on rather obscure and fragmentary evidence and certain theories that have largely been forgotten since 1999, and the 2000 tie-in book ''Walking with Dinosaurs the Evidence'' [[AllThereInTheManual explains some of it]]:
4*** The gigantic ''Liopleurodon'' was based on a very large vertebra (25 cm wide) and isolated teeth and jaw fragments from Oxford Clay, which David Martill (a major scientific consultant in the series and the main one for “Cruel Sea”) attributed to pliosaurs reaching 17-20 meters in length, giving it the nickname “Megapleurodon”, [[ScienceMarchesOn through improved understanding of pliosaurid anatomy has since debunked those estimates]] (the 25-meter giant in the episode is a hypothetical max-sized individual).
5*** ''Ornithocheirus'' (or rather ''Tropeognathus'') having a 12-meter wingspan was legitimately taken seriously by some workers back in the '90s, based on the preliminary description of a very large, partial specimen found in the Romualdo Formation of Brazil, which is what WWD also cited, and it has been cited in other paleontological media from the time (like 1999's ''Series/WhenDinosaursRuled''), but once the specimen got a proper description in 2013, its wingspan was downsized to a more likely 8.2-8.7 meters.
6*** The reason they put ''Utahraptor'' in Europe in “Giant of the Skies” was due to a contested theory at the time that Europe and North America shared the same dinosaur taxa during the Early Cretaceous, as the European ''Iguanodon'', ''Polacanthus'', and ''Hypsilophodon'' were also allegedly recorded from North America, but the American material has later been reclassified as distinct genera (''Dakotadon'', ''Hoplitosaurus'') or deemed ''nomen dubia'' due to the paucity of the remains.
7** Though not addressed in the book, there have actually been fossils from the Chinle Formation (the setting for “New Blood”) that have been attributed to cynodonts, though most of those are only isolated teeth, and one particular find, teeth and two ischia found in the ''Placerias'' Quarry, have specifically been likened to a ''Thrinaxodon''-like cynodont in a 1994 paper, though later studies deemed most of these fossils undiagnostic and potentially not even representing synapsids.
8** Despite being a common [[TheScrappy punching bag among critics]] for being an InNameOnly depiction of the animal, the ''Quetzalcoatlus'' in "Death of a Dynasty" (who is a tweaked version of the ''Ornithocheirus'' model) [[https://images.dinosaurpictures.org/Quetzalcoatlus3_5e82.jpg wasn't that far off compared to many artistic depictions of the animal]] [[https://images.dinosaurpictures.org/MM-quetzalcoatlus-illustration-BIG_319a.jpg during the '80s and '90s]] when we knew far, far less about azhdarchid anatomy. ''That said'', one thing that was definitely inaccurate even for its time was the short neck, as ''Quetzalcotlus'' has always been reconstructed with a long, stork-like neck (promotional images also show it with teeth, which was also a glaring error).
9* CommonKnowledge:
10** It's often claimed that the polar allosaur was based on the megaraptoran ''Australovenator'' before it was properly named and described. Except it wasn't. The latter was discovered in Queensland during the mid-2000s (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 thought to be much closer in age to the "polar allosaur", so workers made the assumption that the two could be the same animal, and several BBC websites subsequently parroted the purported connection. Just for comparison, the age difference between them is comparable to the time gap between the last entelodonts and modern humans.
11** When talking about the [[{{Understatement}} exaggerated]] size of the show’s ''Liopleurodon'', people often cite the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_of_Aramberri Monster of Aramberri]] as its inspiration. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. The 2000 tie-in book ''Walking with Dinosaurs: The Evidence'' details that the massive size was actually based on an [[http://markwitton-com.blogspot.com/2020/04/in-pursuit-of-giant-pliosaurids-and.html assortment of jaw and snout fragments from Oxford Clay, as well as one vertebra around 25 cm in width housed at the Peterborough Museum]] ([[ScienceMarchesOn that later turned out to have come from a sauropod]]), which were interpreted at the time as belonging to pliosaurs up to 20 meters in length. Meanwhile, the Monster of Aramberri gained notoriety for its alleged colossal size around 2003 (after WWD aired). [[note]] The 2005 book ''The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life'' does allude to the Aramberri pliosaur in the ''Liopleurodon'' entry, though this seems to have been an afterthought to validate the size [[/note]]
12** It's often claimed that the little ornithopod from "Death of a Dynasty" is just the ''Othnielia'' from "Time of Titans", [[PropRecycling without even being given a new coat of paint]]. While they are the same model ([[PaletteSwap the same one as all the "hypsilophodonts" in the series]]), ''Othnielia'' [[MandelaEffect never actually appeared]] in "Time of Titans", we only see a small background ornithopod with a green body and red head. The brightly colored ''Othnielia'' (along with ''Dryosaurus'') showed up a year later in ''Series/TheBalladOfBigAl'' and [[EarlyBirdCameo repurposed the striking color scheme of the unnamed ornithopod]] from ''Death of a Dynasty".
13* EnsembleDarkhorse:
14** The giant sea reptile ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Liopleurodon]]''. This show did to him what ''Film/JurassicPark'' did to ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Velociraptor]]'': make it stock (as well as exaggerate its size).
15** While they didn't become stock, ''Ornithocheirus'' and ''Tapejara'' became fan favorites after this show and were given more attention in educational dinosaur books. The ''Ornithocheirus'' character became particularly popular due to the [[TearJerker tragic outcome of his story]].
16** ''Didelphodon'' is among the most remembered non-dinosaurs of the show, and was given further exposure in the making-of (where it was jokingly shown making the ''Tyrannosaurus'' [[AdaptationalBadass flee]] with a ZergRush) and a TV promo where they were shown as [[TalkingAnimal Talking]] FunnyAnimals. They also got a small cameo at the beginning of ''Series/WalkingWithBeasts''.
17* FanNickname: The core documentary trio, ''Dinosaurs'', ''Beasts'' and ''Monsters'', are sometimes referred to as the Trilogy of Life, thanks to the documentary on the ''Walking With Monsters'' DVD and Executive Producer Tim Haines referring to the three as such in the documentary. The name is appropriate as the three cover the evolution of life throughout Earth's history.
18* FandomSpecificPlot: [[FixFic "Updated" fan takes]] on ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' are common, which also try to fix the MisplacedWildlife and AnachronismStew, leading to some ideas being repeated.
19** For "Cruel Sea", the setting is almost always changed from Oxford Clay to Kimmeridge Clay, in order to stay in Britain but also keep the original Late Jurassic date. As a result, ''Liopleurodon'', ''Cryptoclidus'', and ''Eustreptospondylus'' are always replaced with ''Pliosaurus'' [[note]] Fitting, as the giant ''Pliosaurus macromerus'' and ''Pliosaurus rossicus'' were placed in ''Liopleurodon'' back in the '90s. [[/note]], ''Kimmerosaurus'', and ''Juratyrant'' (the last one being a basal tyrannosaur instead of a megalosaur), while ''Rhamphorhynchus'' stays the same. The replacement for ''Ophthalmosaurus'', however, varies, since there are several different ophthalmosaurids known from Kimmeridge Clay.
20** For "Giant of the Skies", the ''Utahraptor'', ''Iguanodon'', and ''Polacanthus'' are commonly replaced with ''Deinonychus'', ''Tenontosaurus'' and ''Sauropelta'', as the latter actually lived around the same time as ''Tropeognathus'' (the real inspiration for WWD's ''Ornithocheirus''). This usually involves a SettingUpdate from 127 mya to circa 110 mya and often removing Europe from the plot.
21* FirstInstallmentWins:
22** ''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, 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.
23** The Walking with Trilogy (''Dinosaurs'', ''Beasts'', and ''Monsters'') is the most well-known and beloved prehistoric documentaries ever made, and both Creator/TheBBC and Creator/DiscoveryChannel try to repeat their success with other dinosaur documentaries but none of them aside from ''Series/PrehistoricPlanet'' have come close to the popularity of the original trilogy. At least part of the reason behind this may be because many future dinosaur documentaries would often splice their episodes in with talking head segments explaining more about what the viewers saw, whereas the Walking With Trilogy attempts to go for a more naturalistic "[[ShowDontTell show, don't tell]]" approach.
24* FranchiseOriginalSin:
25** One frequent criticism of ''Series/WalkingWithMonsters'' was that it apparently made an effort to get the audience to root for certain animals over others, which felt strange for a nature documentary. This tendency can be seen here as well, as it treats various animals like protagonists and antagonists, with apex predators generally being depicted as menacing and less charismatic carnivores (especially scavengers and ovivores) being shown in a decidedly negative (or at least macabre) light. This was, however, less noticeable in ''Dinosaurs'', as it lacks the rhetoric characterizing evolution as a ForeverWar that was present in ''Monsters''' narration, which drew attention to the narrative slant present in that series.
26** Quite a few later documentaries on prehistoric life were heavily criticized for attempting to pander to mainstream audiences by depicting its subjects in an overly "edgy" and "badass" way (often making them out to be [[PrehistoricMonster monstrous]] in the process), a tendency that earned the derisive nickname "[[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/awesomebro awesomebro]]". While these documentaries were frequently contrasted with the ''Walking With...'' franchise, it was not innocent of this sort of thing itself, as demonstrated by [[RuleOfCool/WalkingWith its extensive Rule of Cool page]]. This was, however, considered more acceptable for two reasons. First, these embellishments were generally based on [[ScienceMarchesOn ideas that were seriously considered at the time]], rather than being simply added for the sake of being awesome regardless of factual basis. Second, the series made an effort to depict prehistoric life realistically in both appearance and behavior, having them act in ways reminiscent of normal present-day animals rather than making them out to be vicious, bloodthirsty beasts.
27* HarsherInHindsight: The death of the ''Ornithocheirus'' (now ''Tropeognathus'') at the end of “Giant of the Skies” becomes even more tragic once you learn that the specimen on which its portrayal was based, MN 6594-V, a partial skeleton from the Romualdo Formation and one the most complete giant pterosaur skeleton ever found, was lost in a museum fire (which are a common problem in Brazil) following its proper description in 2013. After surviving for 110 million years and giving us an invaluable insight into the full size and magnificence of Early Cretaceous pterosaurs, this rare specimen will never again be studied or marveled at by future generations.
28* HilariousInHindsight:
29** During the making-of special, we are shown Crystal Palace Park and the narrator cites the resident statues as vintage examples of past generations trying to reconstruct scientifically accurate dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals but making crucial mistakes, calling them “a solid reminder of the mistakes of the past”. Some 20 years later, [[ScienceMarchesOn/WalkingWith in the wake of a lot of new discoveries]], and that summary aptly describes WWD and its sequels when compared to later and more up-to-date documentaries such as ''Series/PrehistoricPlanet''.
30** The series has gotten flak for [[OutOfFocus shafting]] ''Quetzalcoatlus'', who is just a [[PaletteSwap reskin]] of ''Ornithocheirus'' here and only appears briefly in "Death of a Dynasty", while other pterosaurs are given more substantial roles in the previous episodes (not helped by ''Azhdarcho'' being given the same treatment in ''Series/ChasedByDinosaurs''). This is pretty ironic in hindsight, as ''Quetzalcoatlus'' and azhdarchids, in general, would go on to become the most commonly depicted pterosaurs in the paleo-documentary genera [[FollowTheLeader that spawned from WWD]], being prominently featured in ''WesternAnimation/WhenDinosaursRoamedAmerica'', ''Series/DinosaurPlanet'', ''Series/ClashOfTheDinosaurs'', ''Series/PlanetDinosaur'', ''WesternAnimation/MarchOfTheDinosaurs'', ''Flying Monsters 3D'', and ''Series/PrehistoricPlanet'', just to name the most prolific ones, while other types of pterosaurs would only appear sporadically.
31** A huge marine reptile drags a theropod by a body of water underwater to eat? The "Cruel Sea" opening now reminds people of the ending to ''Film/JurassicWorld''.
32** The "Prehistoric Planet" cut of "New Blood" features a trivia card for the cynodont that briefly describes it as "Triassic Cuddly?" due to its fur. More than a decade later, "Triassic Cuddle" would become a far more iconic phrase associated with cynodonts thanks to a [[https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/a-triassic-cuddle-set-in-stone certain fossil]] that had a cynodont up and intimate with an amphibian wit.
33* HypeBacklash: Although it's often been held as one of the highest quality paleo-documentaries ever made, and many dinosaur fans look back very fondly on the series and its sequels and spinoffs, a number of palaeontologists, then and now, have criticized the series for its extremely speculative depictions of prehistoric life, many of which were questionable even then, and more of which [[ScienceMarchesOn/WalkingWithDinosaurs have since been discredited]].
34* ItWasHisSled: Spoiler alert--[[spoiler:The K-Pg extinction happens!]]
35* MemeticBadass: ''Liopleurodon'' is a giant sea monster and is well remembered for it.
36* MemeticMutation:
37** ''[[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed2dJIR4MI0 Allosaurus had never seen such bullshit before.]]''
38** [[https://44.media.tumblr.com/cc561234e17dee608865e021626dd173/tumblr_onqlkt6Cfa1vwwm7ko3_400.gif The derpy Utahraptor front view animatronic]] has become a popular image reaction among fans due to its strange yet goofy design that makes the animal look like if its having a FlatWhat reaction to something.
39** The ''Postosuchus'' roar being an edited Howie scream has not been lost on fans.
40** Postman ''Postosuchus''. [[note]] Originated from [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLg2b87Z7XEhO0pIQklwqvCYHwBMm9gf7U this series of]] [[YouTubePoop YTPs]] of ''Walking with Dinosaurs'', which depicted a ''Postosuchus'' posing as a delivery man. During the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT2_Hng_1Kg&list=PLg2b87Z7XEhO0pIQklwqvCYHwBMm9gf7U&index=4 later]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z24dyjoLi4&list=PLg2b87Z7XEhO0pIQklwqvCYHwBMm9gf7U&index=6 YTPs]] of this series, the OC in question evolves into a [[BunnyEarsLawyer Bunny Ears]] UnstoppableMailman who time travels throughout the Mesozoic to make deliveries [[spoiler: and later saves the dinosaurs from extinction by allowing for them to join him in his TimeMachine truck as temporal refugees]].[[/note]]
41** [[WebAnimation/CharlieTheUnicorn "It's a magical ''Liopleurodon'', Charlie!"]]
42** Many memes have retroactively spawned since the release of its SpiritualSuccessor, ''Series/PrehistoricPlanet'', such as a remake of the meme "Allosaurus had never seen such bullshit before" with the ''Tarbosaurus'' instead. It also drew joking comparisons of the aggressive and hostile ''Tyrannosaurus'' courtship, as opposed to the more casual and peaceful courtship and mating in PP.
43* {{Narm}}:
44** 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, [[ScienceMarchesOn we now know]] ''Postosuchus'' '''wasn’t''' a [[MightyGlacier sluggish, lumbering hulk]].
45*** Making ''Postosuchus'' even sillier is that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDXozpChRHg its roars]] are actually distorted versions of ''[[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aUTe2ndjRew the]] [[StockScream Howie Long Scream]]''. Once you hear it, it's impossible to un-hear it.
46** 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.
47* NauseaFuel: The dead T-rex embryo in "Death of a Dynasty".
48* NewerThanTheyThink: While the animal itself was named back in 1903, ''Ornitholestes'' having a crest on its snout was a very recent theory, proposed by Gregory S. Paul in his book ''Literature/PredatoryDinosaursOfTheWorld'', only to then be disproven in the early 2000s, not long after WWD aired. Throughout most of paleontological history, ''Ornitholestes'' [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ornitholestes#/media/File:The_American_Museum_journal_(c1900-(1918))_(17537482124).jpg was depicted without any nose adornment]].
49* NightmareRetardant: The ''Postosuchus'' resembles a terrifying cross between a [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile crocodile]] and a ''Tyrannosaurus rex'', and is the top predator of the Triassic, but she’s also as [[WeaksauceWeakness slow as molasses]] and you could avoid her deadly jaws by just walking at a brisk pace.
50* 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. Ironically, this would also happen to the 2013 film, but as the decision was made late in production, it doesn't work nearly as well.
51* OneSceneWonder:
52** ''Plateosaurus'' only shows up at the end of the first episode, but it's easily the biggest creature seen thus far, and makes quite the EstablishingCharacterMoment for large dinosaurs.
53** The unidentified pliosaur (presumably ''Plesiopleurodon'') is only in frame for a few seconds, but impresses the dangers of the sea that the ''Ornithocheirus'' was flying over.
54** ''Quetzalcoatlus'', which captures the majesty of the large pterosaurs (in the series at least, in the book it's subjected to a {{karmic death}}) and highlights their decline.
55** ''Deinosuchus''. A few shots are all that is needed to make the danger feel palpable.
56* SignatureScene: The ''Liopleurodon'' snatching up the ''Eustreptospondylus'' is easily the most memorable moment of the original series, and immediately put the former species on the map.
57* SpecialEffectFailure:
58** 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 and the ''Ornitholestes''' quills clipping into its skin), 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 flaking off in the birthing scene), others are much more clever in hiding their flaws, only catchable if you watch the clips frame-by-frame.
59** The animals in the earlier series often suffered from weird clipping and deformation. Sometimes during motion, their skin-textures would overlap and clip through each other near the joints, creating odd-looking "seams". There were also some rigging problems evident, like the shoulder-spikes of ''Polacanthus'' moving separately from its skin, or the upper teeth of the ''Diplodocus'' stretching when they open their mouth in a couple of shots. [[SpecialEffectsEvolution These issues were gradually ironed out as the series progressed]].
60** One of the biggest and most obvious instances of clipping is the ''Utahraptor'' pair attacking an ''Iguanodon''. Because of the direct and dynamic nature of the attack, with the raptors pouncing onto the ''Iguanodon'' and clawing at its flanks in the centre of the shot, the show could not resort to obscuring the points of contact as in many other scenes, making it incredibly obvious the ''Utahraptor'' models frequently and heavily merge with the ''Iguanodon'' model (such as one shot where the raptor's entire hand sinks into the ''Iguanodon'''s shoulder).
61** The level of detail on the models has also not aged too well, as skin detailing is very vague. Many dinosaurs were also modeled at the same scale, which can cause issues where a smaller ''Polacanthus'' is walking around with more detail-per-foot compared to the larger ''Iquanodon'' around him. And of course, the detail of the models cannot stand up to what's possible on a hand puppet... but hand puppets often have movements that make it obvious that they're hand puppets, which the CGI does not suffer from thanks to well-crafted animations.
62** Another trick the show used was obscuring the foot contacts of the animals, which are one of the hardest things to do in CG. This was often done by compositing in real plants in front of the creatures or by cutting out bits of the environment in the real shot and moving them upwards to obscure the feet, and once you notice it, the trick is immediately obvious. While it works better in some episodes than it does in others, in Death of a Dynasty the bare ash 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.
63** Similarly, any shots of animals eating would be done in ways that avoiding actually showing them swallowing, such as cutting away, putting their head just out of frame, obscuring it behind some object, or just showing them chewing but with nothing in their mouth. It's also noticeable that predators are rarely seen pinning a food item with their foot. Presumably, this was due to the difficulty in showing the different CGI models realistically interacting or the CGI animal interacting with a physical prop, but once the trick is noticed it becomes hard not to notice it ''everywhere'' in the series.
64** In tandem with the above, another issue is 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; the series only rarely uses real moving shots with ground contact), but this often reveals the edges of the composition where the various scene elements have their varying edges visible.
65** The ''Deinosuchus''. The fact that it's just an immobile head puppet is extremely obvious due to the fact every time it appears, it only shows its head in a single position, with the camera carefully avoiding showing anything behind its neck in every shot it's in (because it doesn't have a body), and it never occurs onscreen together with any other animal.
66** The Cretaceous mammal in "Spirits of the Ice Forest" is played by an easily recognizable coati, which is made worse by supplementary material calling it a ''Steropodon'', an early relative of the ''platypus''. One wonders why they didn't at least use a more generic-looking small mammal like a possum or rat (which plenty of other paleontological documentaries have done).
67* {{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.
68* StockFootageFailure:
69** "Spirits of the Ice Forest" uses footage of a modern day tuatara and weta to show the taxa as "living fossils" that have survived unchanged since the age of dinosaurs. The fact that it's older stock footage is obvious though, as the image quality is much worse than the rest of the episode, and neither animal interacts with the other prehistoric animals at any point. Some of the stock footage of insects has a similar issue.
70** "Time of Titans" also uses stock footage to represent the Jurassic wildfires, and it's similarly obvious that it's older unrelated footage due to the very noticeable drop in video quality and the fact no footage of fire and dinosaurs overlaps.
71* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
72** ''Plateosaurus'' and ''Brachiosaurus'' are both little more than [[TheCameo glorified cameos]] in “New Blood” and “Time of Titans” respectively. The former only shows up at the end to symbolically signal the dawn of the age of dinosaurs, while the latter appears for less than a minute purely to visually emphasize how big Jurassic sauropods could truly get. ''The Ballad of Big Al'' also doesn’t use ''Brachiosaurus'' for much more than atmosphere.
73** The ''Anatotitan'' (''Edmontosaurus'') also does little in “Death of a Dynasty” besides being MonsterMunch for the UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex. Though the tie-in book does give them a larger role slightly.
74*** Same episode, the ''Deinosuchus'' (one of the largest known crocodiles and confirmed dinosaur-eater), who is just a floating animatronic head that menacingly watches other animals drinking. Though again, larger role in the book, where it eats a ''Quetzalcoatlus''.
75** The ''Steropodon'' from "Spirits of the Ice Forest". It might have been interesting to see a Mesozoic, maybe land-dwelling, [[ToothyBird toothy]] relative of the platypus animated. This would have been an opportunity to namecheck monotremes (or platypi) and reference that mammals are diversifying in spite of the dinosaurs; mammals don't appear otherwise but in the last episode set in the literal last days of the dinosaurs. Finally, male platypi have venomous spurs in their feet that are believed to have been a basal condition in mammals, so the ''Steropodon'' could have used these to defend itself from a predator attack.
76* UglyCute: Oh so many examples.
77** The cynodonts from "New Blood", and their babies for that matter. They're like little, half-bald puppies.
78** The baby ''Diplodocus'' from "Time of the Titans". At certain points, they even sound like ''human'' babies! And rather than being creepy, the effect is downright ''adorable''.
79** 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.
80** The ''Tapejara'' from "Giant of the Skies" and pretty much every pterosaur in the series. The fact that pterosaurs were this in real life certainly helps.
81** The ''Leaellynasaura'' from "Spirits of the Ice Forest". All of them.
82** The baby ''Tyrannosaurus'' from "Death of a Dynasty". Especially [[TheWoobie the runt of the litter]].
83** The ''Utahraptors''.
84* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: An inevitability with a paleontological documentary that's over 2 decades old. Non-saurian Triassic wildlife being sluggish and ungainly, scaly coelurosaurs, quadrupedal prosauropods, ''Ornitholestes'' with a nose-crest, whale-sized pliosaurs, plesiosaurs crawling onto land, stiff-necked diplodocids, female T. rex being larger and more aggressive than the males, badger-like ''Didelphodon'', and dinosaurs already teetering towards extinction before the meteor impact are all very reflective of [[TheNineties late '90s]] paleontology.
85* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: For many, its visual effects are among the most impressive in any TV series ever (it should come as little surprise that it had an unprecedented budget for a television series at the time; each ''second'' of footage cost over 1,000 USD).
86** The arena spectacular for the sheer spectacle of seeing life-sized dinosaurs live in front of you.
87* TheWoobie:
88** The mother ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' 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 disappears, implicitly dying 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.
89** 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.
90
91!! The Tie-In Book
92* CommonKnowledge: It's sometimes claimed that the ''Plateosaurus'' fights the ''Postosuchus'' in the book. In actuality, it just ''scares it off'' and the encounter is summarized in one sentence.
93* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: The novelization tried to expand the cast of some episode, with "New Blood" having phytosaurs in a small role, and also cameos by metaposaurids and kuehneosaurids, giving us a better idea of Late Triassic biodiversity. But after that, few new animals were included, even for cameos. Worse still, the few they did add felt rather redundant. "Time of Titans" added ''Coelurus'', an animal virtually identical to ''Ornitholestes'', instead of a more interesting pick like ''Ceratosaurus'', and "Death of a Dynasty" featured both ''Anatotitan'' and ''Edmontosaurus'' ([[ScienceMarchesOn which we now know are the same animal]]) over more unique taxa like ''Pachycephalosaurus'' or ''Ornithomimus''. "Giant of the Skies", in particular, could have used some additional creatures, since it's a globe-trotting story, and there were plenty of interesting animals to choose from, like ''Amargasaurus'', ''Baryonyx'' and ''Pelecanimimus'', and "Cruel Sea" actually changed its location from Britain to Germany, yet did not take the opportunity to show ''Archaeopteryx''.
94
95!! The 2013 Film:
96* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Very easy to do thanks to the Cretaceous Cut removing the dialogue. A key example would be Juniper. Going from a snarky love interest for Patchi in the original cut, to a sweet, mild mannered herd member who’s just as scared and confused as he is with the world, with the two finding comfort in each other before they both learn how to fight for themselves.
97* AngstWhatAngst: The deaths of Patchi and Scowler's entire family. By the next morning, they're done mourning their father, and the loss of their mother and siblings is never even mentioned.
98* CatharsisFactor: Scowler getting mauled to near-death by Gorgon and abandoned by his herd after his nastiest moment where he leaves Patchi to die.
99* DesignatedVillain: 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 he is still a dangerous predatory animal and the story is told from the point of view of his prey.
100* EnsembleDarkhorse:
101** Alex has some popularity with the viewers, considering him to be less annoying than the others and he even does a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.
102** The TerribleTrio of azhdarchids, thanks to their slapstick and [[UglyCute strange adorableness]].
103* ImprovedByTheReCut: For those who disliked the dialogue, at least. The Blu-ray release has the "Cretaceous Cut", which eliminates it completely.
104* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: Scowler being a selfish BigBrotherBully makes him even worse than Gorgon, who is supposed to be the film's BigBad but is just a predator. It gets to the point feels satisfying when he nearly gets killed by Gorgon.
105* {{Moe}}:
106** The ''[[http://i0.wp.com/www.cgmeetup.net/home/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Walking-with-Dinosaurs-11.jpg?resize=860%2C482 Troodon]]''. How can you not "d'aww" at [[PuppyDogEyes that face?]]
107** The ''Hesperonychus''.
108** Alex is also very cute looking.
109* 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.
110* SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames: In contrast to the film, the video game is much better received.
111* RootingForTheEmpire: Many viewers found themselves supporting Gorgon instead of Patchi and especially Scowler thanks to him being both a character with no dialogue (thus not annoying like the main characters) and a badass tyrannosaur. The fact that he kills a pterosaur to feed his family definitely made him sympathetic in viewers' eyes.
112* TheScrappy: Juniper, for being a FlatCharacter and evident of the gratuitous sexism the movie shows.
113* SignatureScene: Patchi nearly allowing himself to be eaten was seen as the most jarring and nightmarish in an otherwise unremarkable film.
114* SoBadItsGood: Sometimes seen this way with its inept childish dialogue, over-the-top cliché plot and gratuitous sexism. Others are not as forgiving, though.
115* SpecialEffectFailure: 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.
116* {{Squick}}: There is a scene early on where 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.
117* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Many a dinosaur fan and ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' fan have complained about the 2013 movie humanizing the animals too much.
118* TheyCopiedItSoItSucks: The climax of the movie being Patchi leading the herd in driving off the predators by standing together made many longtime paleo-fans groan due to being too reminiscent of the same thing happening in ''WesternAnimation/{{Dinosaur}}''.
119* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Although the film 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.

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