History RuleOfCool / WalkingWith

*** This segment is based on the Besano Formation, but the only ''Cymbospondylus'' found there (and Europe in general) is ''Cymbospondylus buchseri'', which was less than 6 meters long. Here though, it's shown as a 10-meter giant, based on the North American ''Cymbospondylus petrinus''.

** '''Devonian Period''': Always-screeching protoamphibian ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeOtherExtinctCreatures Hynerpeton]]'' (shaped upon the iconic ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Ichthyostega]]'') that lays eggs with the same look of a frog's eggs. Also the ''Hyneria'' being used instead of the iconic ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Eusthenopteron]]'' to represent the transition from fish to amphbians because it's larger. And being oversized.

*** ''Tylosaurus'' is hyped up as the ultimate sea monster, by being depicted as a 60-foot giant that travels in pods like killer whales, even though the largest ''Tylosaurus'' specimens were estimated to have reached 50 feet tops (40-43 feet is more likely), and them being pod animals is dubious at best, given that mosasaurs are squamates (which aren't known for being gregarious, let alone pack-hunters) and we have a lot of evidence for intraspecific aggression in ''Tylosaurus'' and other mosasaurs. Plus, being the largest animal in the Western Interior Seaway, ''Tylosaurus'' would have little incentive to band together, when one adult could easily take any prey animal it coxisted with.

** In the Ordovician, we meet the giant orthocone (''Cameroceras''/''Endoceras''), which is depicted as a massive, 11-meter cephalopod, even though the only properly described fossils suggest a max length of 6 meters. The great size (like other media depictions) was based on an allegedly 9-meter-long orthocone shell that was destroyed.

** The Devonian placoderm ''Dunkleosteus'' is represented by the biggest known species, ''Dunkleosteus terrelli'', here shown as a 10-meter giant, based on the highest size estimates derived from large jaw fragments, while the more complete fossils (namely skulls) suggest that most specimens of specimens were 6 meters or less.
** Out of all the small cetaceans that megalodon would have hunted, they used ''Odobenocetops'', an utterly bizarre cetacean that looked like a cross between a dugong and a walrus. The more humdrum ''Cetotherium'' or ''Piscobalaena'' wouldn't be nearly as interesting.
** For the Jurassic segment, we get the return of massively oversized ''Liopleurodon'', but we also meet its main prey item, the gigantic filter-feeding fish ''Leedsichthys problematicus'', who is of course depicted as a blue whale-sized leviathan, once more based on the highest possible size estimates for its species (in reality, it was closer to a humpback in size, 15-16 meters).

*** ''Tylosaurus'' is hyped up as the ultimate sea monster, by being depicted as a 60-foot giant that travels in pods like killer whales, even though the largest ''Tylosaurus'' specimens were estimated at 50 feet (40-43 feet is more likely), and them being pod animals is dubious at best, given that they are squamates (which aren't known for being gregarious, let alone pack-hunters) and we have a lot of evidence for intraspecific aggression in ''Tylosaurus'' and other mosasaurs.
*** Instead of resembling an oversized loon or grebe with teeth, ''Hesperornis'' is depicted as an ugly, vulture-like creature with a balding red head, [[PrehistoricMonster for no real reason other than to look more threatening and "prehistoric"]].
*** A T. rex randomly shows up for a camep, uttering a MightyRoar, even though it wouldn't evolve for another 7 million years ([[ContinuitySnarl contradicting what was said in "Death of a Dynasty"]]). A more time-appropriate tyrannosaurid like ''Daspletosaurus'' or ''Gorgosaurus'' seemingly didn't have the PopularityPower.

* Most examples are played straight compared to any other Walking With continuation. But it may be a bit more justified this time, since the purpose of this program was just showing "the most dangerous prehistoric marine wildlife".
** Most animals appear oversized because of RuleOfCool (Megalodon, however, was probably undersized and it was also severely underrated)
*** However it's worth noting that the stock sea reptile ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Elasmosaurus]]'' shows up accurately at last, with relatively stiff necks (and not snake- or swan-like as seen in almost every other portrait).
** Inverted with the fact they did not show the other large marine predators from Megalodon't ocean (and boy there are A LOT of giant marine predators in that time, much more than the Cretaceous)

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[[folder:Sea Monsters]]
* Most examples are played straight compared to any other Walking With continuation. But it may be a bit more justified this time, since the purpose of this program was just showing "the most dangerous prehistoric marine wildlife".
** Most animals appear oversized because of RuleOfCool (Megalodon, however, was probably undersized and it was also severely underrated)
*** However it's worth noting that the stock sea reptile ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Elasmosaurus]]'' shows up accurately at last, with relatively stiff necks (and not snake- or swan-like as seen in almost every other portrait).
** Inverted with the fact they did not show the other large marine predators from Megalodon't ocean (and boy there are A LOT of giant marine predators in that time, much more than the Cretaceous)
[[/folder]]

* Related to the ''Sea Monsters'' example above, the ''Land of Giants'' special also details Nigel Marven's efforts to track down the largest of all the dinosaurs and the biggest land predator ever: ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Argentinosaurus]]'' and ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Giganotosaurus]]'', respectively. We get to see a whole pack of ''Giganotosaurus'' bring down a small ''Argentinosaurus'', but if this wasn't cool enough for the viewers, they included a scene of Nigel's plane flying alongside a (still oversized) ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Ornithocheirus]]'', and as the icing on the cake, included the gigantic crocodilian ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Sarcosuchus]]''. Naturally, recent studies indicate ''Giganotosaurus'' wasn't the largest carnivorous dinosaur, and there may have been bigger dinosaurs than ''Argentinosaurus'', but at the time it was made, they were considered record-holders.
** The special was a two-parter, the other episode being ''The Giant Claw''. Not ''that'' Film/TheGiantClaw, but it also centers around a freaky-looking animal, the ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Therizinosaurus]]'', the famed [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger]]-Film/EdwardScissorhands-ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}-osaurus. It turns out it was actually a gentle herbivore, but not before slapping a ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Tarbosaurus]]'' (the Asian "twin" of ''T. rex'') right in the face with those (arguably fragile) claws. Actual (albeit naked) ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Velociraptor]]''s are also included, though they are easily scared away by the film crew.
*** Actually a fossil has been found of a Tarbosaurus with a fractured skull, probably by a therizinosaur claw or an ankylosaur tail club (it's in the hands of a private collector, though)
*** Talking about the "largest theropod" argument: if a complete ''Therizinosaurus'' skeleton is discovered in the future it could become the ''real'' largest theropod: thanks to its bulky body, it was perhaps ''heavier'' than the modern "biggest one", the sail-backed ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Spinosaurus]]'' (made famous by ''Film/JurassicParkIII''). But don't forget the equally impressive giant ornithomimosaur ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Deinocheirus]]'': if its forelimbs were proportionate to the body, it might result as long as ''Spinosaurus'' and perhaps even taller than it. Let's see the awesome concurrence: both ''Deinocheirus'' and ''Therizinosaurus'' were large herbivorous (at least omnivorous in the case of ''Deinocheirus'') theropods which dispute the record of the "longest forelimbs" among bipedal dinos; both are rather mysterious, since they are mainly known just from their forelimbs which once lead to the belief that they were predators even more powerful than ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs T. rex]]''; and both lived in the same habitat, were described in the same country (Mongolia) and entered the dinosaur list in the same period (the 1970's)! It will be awesome to see a ''Therizinosaurus'' vs ''Deinocheirus'' fight; or, alternatively, ''Deinocheirus'' vs ''Tarbosaurus''.
*** The rest of the body of ''Deinocheirus'' has now been found. While it had a much lighter build than ''Therizinosaurus'', it was probably one of the tallest, if not ''the'' tallest, of all theropod dinosaurs. Depending on whether its row of extended spines sported a sail, a clump of muscles or a hump of fat, it could have been remarkably powerful creature.

** Like many other creatures in the series, the portrayal of the terror bird is based on the highest possible estimates, being shown as a 3-meter-tall giant with a very long neck and legs, even though more complete phorusrhacid fossils showed that these animals were rather stocky and the biggest ones were less than 2.5 meters tall.

** '''Cambrian Period''': ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Anomalocaris]]'' fighting each other without any apparent reason, and the tiny vertebrate-ancestor ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeOtherExtinctCreatures Haikhouichthys]]'' scavenging the flesh of the loser ''Anomalocaris'' just like modern hagfish and lampreys; [[note]]Modern jawless vertebrates such as lampreys and hagfish are very specialized animals, while ''Hakhouichthys'', being a very early animal, was more likely a filter-feeder, see UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLife.[[/note]] Also, the only true Cambrian invertebrate shown is, naturally, the first superpredator Anomalocaris (The others are [[AnachronismStew generic trilobites]].

* '''Silurian Period''': Armoured fish ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Cephalaspis]]'' portrayed as a tireless migrant despite it was a bad swimmer in RealLife (and depicted so [[{{CanonDiscontinuity}} just a moment before]] during the ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeOtherExtinctCreatures Brontoscorpio]]'''s chase); not to mention that scorpion which moults ''onto land'' instead of into water (with a high risk to get dehydratated...). Also Brontoscorpio being shown instead of the more classic-but-smaller [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeOtherExtinctCreatures Palaeophonus]] to represent the passage from water to land among arthropods. ''Pterygotus'' was also not the largest sea scorpion, that title belongs to a larger relative that lived later.
* '''Devonian Period''': Always-screeching protoamphibian ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeOtherExtinctCreatures Hynerpeton]]'' (shaped upon the iconic ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Ichthyostega]]'') that lays eggs with the same look of a frog's eggs. Also the ''Hyneria'' being used instead of the iconic ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Eusthenopteron]]'' to represent the transition from fish to amphbians because it's larger. And being oversized.
* '''Carboniferous Period''': The most RuleOfCool-filled of all: ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Arthropleura]]'' rearing just like a cobra to frighten enemies, and the giant [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeOtherExtinctCreatures anthracosaurian]] amphibian ''impaling'' the "giant millipede" after the fight. And [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeOtherExtinctCreatures giant spiders]] with ''black venom'' (RealLife spiders have colourless, water-looking poison) and apparently ''laughing sadistically upon its victims'' before destroying the nest of the tiny protoreptile ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Petrolacosaurus]]'' (with the narrator saying "ARTHROPODS ARE BACK!").
* '''Early Permian Period''': The rival female [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Dimetrodon]] chooses to lay her eggs ''just over another Dimetrodon nest'' despite all the endless room available... Interesting that Dimetrodonts are represented in a strong Komodo Dragon-like fashion in this show, despite being mammal relatives (and correctly shown with mammal-like skin instead of scaly, at last). Not to mention the Dimetrodont which [[CameraAbuse sprays dung over the camera]] and the babies which ''dive themselves in dung'' to repel the (alleged) cannibalistic adults...
* '''Late Permian Period''': The [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Gorgonopsid]] shown is the largest member of its family (most relatives were much smaller than the near-reptile ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Scutosaurus]]'' which appears as its prey); the ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Diictodon]]''s playing a sort of Wack-a-mole with the gorgonopsid; the giant amphibian [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeOtherExtinctCreatures labirhynthodont]] which produces a "cocoon" just like modern lungfishes (there is no proof of this); and it seems there are ''too many'' Gorgonopsids that manage to survive around such a small lake almost empty of food...
* '''Early Triassic Period''': The herbivorous stem-mammal ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Lystrosaurus]]'' and the croc-like ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Proterosuchus]]'' behaving just like modern wildebeest and Nile crocodiles; another stem-mammal, the carnivorous [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles therocephalian]], with a venom so powerful that "it's several times more lethal that a black mamba's" (we don't know even if it was venomous at all, although it has been seriously suggested by palaeontologists.).

* '''Next Of Kin''': ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Deinotherium]]'' entering in "musth" and chasing all the ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeMammals Australopithecus]]'' they meet just like modern elephants; however, deinotheres ''weren't'' elephants, just distant relatives (as much as we are related to baboons) and we have no proof about such a behaviour. Again, like hyenodonts, only the largest species of ''Deinotherium'' show up (the smaller ones weren't bigger than modern elephants).
** ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeMammals Dinofelis]]'' as a specialized australopithecine killer, being later driven back by a concerted effort of the [[CowardlyLion australopithecine group]]. This is a showcase of Bob Brain's book ''The Hunters or the Hunted?'', where he argued that ''Dinofelis'' preyed mainly on primates and that its extinction happened when hominids got too smart and turned the tables on it. However, there are no australopithecine fossils with ''Dinofelis'' bites. There are australopithecines with leopard bites, but leopards are considerably smaller and they are still around, and also a later hominid species with bites of ''Megantereon'', a sabertoothed cat smaller than ''Dinofelis''. A study using calcium isotopes, though not completely conclusive, found that their sample of ''Dinofelis'' had the results expected of an animal that fed solely on grass-eaters like ungulates, while the ones of ''Megantereon'', leopard and hyena fossils were compatible with predation of omnivores like primates.
** ''Dinofelis'' was also given a SignatureScene where it climbed a tree carrying a felled ''Australopithecus'' just like leopards do with their prey (and we know leopards did with australopithecines, in fact). However, ''Dinofelis'' was heavier and larger than a leopard, with leg proportions more like a jaguar or a lion. Both can climb trees, but do it more rarely and never take their prey there.

* '''Whale Killer''': ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Basilosaurus]]'' throwing a shark in the air just like orcas do with seals. And 60 tons seem too much for this very long but slender cetacean (perhaps 20 tons is a more reasonable measure).

* '''Mammoth Journey''': The [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Woolly Rhino]] attacking that poor [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Neanderthal]] [[RhinoRampage only a few seconds after having perceived its presence, and without any apparent reason]]. RealLife modern rhinoceroses ''aren't'' normally that aggressive (while elephants can be such, because of their "musth").
** Subverted/inverted in ''Prehistoric Park''; here the male mammoth does charge Nigel ''and'' the huge rhino ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Elasmotherium]]'' which flees immediately (despite ''Elasmotherium'' weighting 5 tons as much as a male mammoth and had probably more chances to win a fight against the latter, being faster and more agile).