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''Walking with Dinosaurs'' is a 1999 [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]][=/=]Creator/DiscoveryChannel SpeculativeDocumentary series focusing on... well... dinosaurs, using state-of-the-art CGI (by late-'90s standards) and animatronics to recreate Mesozoic life. It was narrated by Creator/KennethBranagh, and is the first entry in the ''Franchise/WalkingWith'' franchise.

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''Walking with Dinosaurs'' is a 1999 [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]][=/=]Creator/DiscoveryChannel SpeculativeDocumentary series focusing on... well... dinosaurs, using state-of-the-art CGI (by late-'90s standards) and animatronics to recreate Mesozoic life. It was narrated by Creator/KennethBranagh, and is Creator/KennethBranagh. Among the first entry in most expensive documentaries ever produced, the ''Franchise/WalkingWith'' franchise.
series nonetheless became a major hit, spawning a [[''Franchise/WalkingWith'' media franchise]] that would continue for most of the next decade.

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** Reusing models meant that some correct anatomical details that got carried over from one animal to the other suddenly turned erroneous. Case in point: the thumbs on hadrosaurs. The ''Quetzalcoatlus'' has has ''teeth'' (although they're not easily visible) due to being recycled from the ''Ornithocheirus'' model.

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** Reusing models meant that some correct anatomical details that got carried over from one animal to the other suddenly turned erroneous. Case in point: the thumbs on hadrosaurs. The ''Quetzalcoatlus'' has has ''teeth'' (although they're not easily visible) due to being recycled from the ''Ornithocheirus'' model.



** ''Coelophysis'' and ''Plateosaurus'' never existed at the same time, but in this case it was truly an artistic decision, just to show how the former grew into the giant beast later in the Triassic.
** The ''Liopleurodon'' is five times larger than it actually was.

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** ''Coelophysis'' and ''Plateosaurus'' never existed at the same time, but in this case it was truly an artistic decision, just to show how the former grew into the giant beast later in the Triassic.
** The ''Liopleurodon'' is five times portrayed far larger than it actually was.the largest pliosaurs, even from inflated estimates of the time (which ranged up to ''maybe'' twenty metres for the very largest), although it's handwaved as a century-old giant that is big even for his kind (presumably relying on the idea of reptiles continuing to grow as they age).



** As noted in MisplacedWildlife and AnachronismStew, nearly every episode has at least one animal which is unknown from the time or place in which the story is supposed to be set.

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** As noted in MisplacedWildlife and AnachronismStew, nearly every episode has at least one animal which is unknown from the time or place in which the story is supposed to be set. For example, at the end of the first episode, a herd of ''Plateosaurus'' (known only from Central and Northern Europe) arrive in Arizona, about ten million years before it existed.



** The episode "Spirits of the Ice Forest" states that allosaur predators were rare during the Cretaceous, and only in remote refugium like the polar forests do they still hold out. Unless the narrator meant ''Allosaurus'' specifically, this is a ridiculously incorrect statement since large carnosaurs were more successful than ever during the Early-Mid Cretaceous.

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** The ''Diplodocus'' is portrayed with a row of iguana-like spines running down its back and neck. This is based on a fossil of a still unidentified diplodocid tail with skin impressions from the Morrison Formation described in 1992. Their presence on ''Diplodocus'' specifically, and running down the back and neck, is speculative, although certainly possible, but the restoration makes one crucial error: it omits the spines from the end of the tail, the ''only'' place they're known from for sure in the actual fossil.
** The episode "Spirits of the Ice Forest" states that allosaur predators were rare during the Cretaceous, and only in remote refugium like the polar forests do they still hold out. Unless the narrator meant ''Allosaurus'' specifically, this is a ridiculously incorrect statement since large carnosaurs were more successful than ever during the Early-Mid Cretaceous.Cretaceous (this is partly due to the classification of carcharodontosaurs as allosaurs being controversial at the time, but it's now widely accepted).
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** The novelization even does this with the ''landmasses''. Specifically, in "Giant of the Skies", North America is called Appalachia, but that name refers to the eastern half of the continent while it was cut in half by the Western Interior Seaway between 100 and 70 million years ago. As the story takes place in 127 mya, Appalachia shouldn't technically exist yet.
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* '''New Blood''': (220 MYA, Arizona) In the late Triassic, large synapsids (or "mammal-like reptiles") such as the cow-sized herbivore ''Placerias'' and non-dinosaur archosaur reptiles such as ''Postosuchus'' (a predator more closely related to crocodiles) is coming to an end. In their place, the dinosaurs have evolved and are beginning to dominate the arid ecosystems of the period, while other new terrestrial lifeforms (such as pterosaurs and cynodonts, a form of synapsid highly similar and directly ancestral to mammals) simultaneously begin to emerge. The episode focuses on a female ''Coelophysis'', a small theropod, who must endure a severe drought that tests who will remain to claim the Earth.

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* '''New Blood''': (220 MYA, Arizona) In the late Triassic, the age of large synapsids (or "mammal-like reptiles") such as the cow-sized herbivore ''Placerias'' and non-dinosaur archosaur reptiles such as ''Postosuchus'' (a predator more closely related to crocodiles) is coming to an end. In their place, the dinosaurs have evolved and are beginning to dominate the arid ecosystems of the period, while other new terrestrial lifeforms (such as pterosaurs and cynodonts, a form of synapsid highly similar and directly ancestral to mammals) simultaneously begin to emerge. The episode focuses on a female ''Coelophysis'', a small theropod, who must endure a severe drought that tests who will remain to claim the Earth.
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* '''New Blood''': (220 MYA, Arizona) The age of the mammal-like reptiles such as ''Placerias'' and Paleozoic reptiles like ''Postosuchus'' is coming to an end. In their place, the dinosaurs have evolved. The episode focuses on a female ''Coelophysis'' who must endure a severe drought that tests who will remain to claim the Earth.
* '''Time of the Titans''': (152 MYA, Colorado) The Jurassic plains of Colorado are teeming with giant sauropods and theropod dinosaurs. A female ''Diplodocus'' must struggle to survive the many dangers that plague her and her siblings as they mature to adulthood, where they are destined to join a herd of their own kind.
* '''Cruel Sea''': (149 MYA, Oxfordshire) In the Jurassic Period, much of Europe was reduced to an ocean with scattered islands, where the few dinosaurs scavenge a living. A new brood of ''Opthalmosaurus'' take refuge in a coral reef after their birth, but they must remain cautious, because a gigantic ''Liopleurodon'' is preying on predator and prey alike.
* '''Giant of the Skies''': (127 MYA, the Americas and Europe) At the dawn of the Cretaceous Period, an elderly ''Ornithocheirus'' embarks on a world-spanning journey to his old breeding grounds in Europe for the annual courtship. On his way, he encounters massive herds of ''Iguanodon'', hungry packs of ''Utahraptor'', and an unforeseen adversary that is an omen of the all-too-rapidly approaching future.
* '''Spirits of the Ice Forest''': (106 MYA, Antarctica) In the mid-Cretaceous, Antarctica was not the frozen hellhole we know it as today; dinosaurs survived there year-round. A clan of ''Leallynasaura'' spends the spring and summer breeding, until an unforeseen tragedy cripples them on the eve of the approaching Antarctic winter.
* '''Death of a Dynasty''': (65 MYA, Montana) It is the end of the Cretaceous Period, and while the dinosaurs are still around, they find themselves in decline as their planet begins to suffocate them to extinction. As their world is on the brink of collapse, a female ''Tyrannosaurus'' attempts to start a new clutch of eggs, but even her ferocity is no match for the dinosaurs' nemesis that arrives from space.

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* '''New Blood''': (220 MYA, Arizona) The age of In the mammal-like reptiles late Triassic, large synapsids (or "mammal-like reptiles") such as the cow-sized herbivore ''Placerias'' and Paleozoic non-dinosaur archosaur reptiles like such as ''Postosuchus'' (a predator more closely related to crocodiles) is coming to an end. In their place, the dinosaurs have evolved. evolved and are beginning to dominate the arid ecosystems of the period, while other new terrestrial lifeforms (such as pterosaurs and cynodonts, a form of synapsid highly similar and directly ancestral to mammals) simultaneously begin to emerge. The episode focuses on a female ''Coelophysis'' ''Coelophysis'', a small theropod, who must endure a severe drought that tests who will remain to claim the Earth.
Earth.
* '''Time of the Titans''': (152 MYA, Colorado) The late Jurassic plains fern prairies of Colorado are teeming with giant sauropods and theropod dinosaurs. A female ''Diplodocus'' ''Diplodocus'', one of the most iconic of these sauropods, must struggle to survive the many dangers multitude of predators and natural disasters that plague her and her siblings as they mature to adulthood, where they are destined to join a herd of their own kind.
* '''Cruel Sea''': (149 MYA, Oxfordshire) In the Jurassic Period, much of Europe was reduced to an ocean with scattered islands, where the few dinosaurs scavenge a living. A new brood of ''Opthalmosaurus'' (an ichthyosaur, or aquatic reptile closely resembling present-day dolphins) take refuge in a coral reef after their birth, but they must remain cautious, because a gigantic ''Liopleurodon'' is preying on predator and prey alike.
* '''Giant of the Skies''': (127 MYA, the Americas and Europe) At the dawn of the Cretaceous Period, an elderly ''Ornithocheirus'' ''Ornithocheirus'', a megalithic migratory pterosaur, embarks on a world-spanning journey to his old breeding grounds in Europe for the annual courtship. On his way, he encounters massive herds of ''Iguanodon'', hungry packs of ''Utahraptor'', and an unforeseen adversary that is an omen of the all-too-rapidly approaching future.
* '''Spirits of the Ice Forest''': (106 MYA, Antarctica) In the mid-Cretaceous, Antarctica was not the frozen hellhole we know it as today; dinosaurs while heavily-seasonal with cold winters, numerous species of dinosaur survived there year-round. A clan of ''Leallynasaura'' (a small bipedal ornithopod) spends the spring and summer breeding, until an unforeseen tragedy cripples them on the eve of the approaching Antarctic winter.
* '''Death of a Dynasty''': (65 MYA, Montana) It is the end of the Cretaceous Period, and while the dinosaurs are still around, they find themselves in decline as their planet begins to suffocate them to extinction. As their world is on the brink of collapse, volcanic activity surges, decimating habitats and polluting ecosystems with toxic sulphurous compounds. Amidst this environmental calamity, a female ''Tyrannosaurus'' attempts to start a new clutch of eggs, but even her ferocity is no match for the dinosaurs' nemesis that arrives from space.
gargantuan meteorite set to imminently strike the planet.
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''Walking with Dinosaurs'' is a 1999 [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]][=/=]Creator/DiscoveryChannel SpeculativeDocumentary series focusing on... well... dinosaurs, using state-of-the-art CGI and animatronics to recreate Mesozoic life. It was narrated by Creator/KennethBranagh, and is the first entry in the ''Franchise/WalkingWith'' franchise.

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''Walking with Dinosaurs'' is a 1999 [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]][=/=]Creator/DiscoveryChannel SpeculativeDocumentary series focusing on... well... dinosaurs, using state-of-the-art CGI (by late-'90s standards) and animatronics to recreate Mesozoic life. It was narrated by Creator/KennethBranagh, and is the first entry in the ''Franchise/WalkingWith'' franchise.

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** Scaly raptors weren't to the paleontologists' liking even back then.

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** Scaly raptors weren't to the paleontologists' liking even back then.then (the feathered non-avian theropod ''Sinosauropteryx'' had been described three years prior, two years before production began).


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** It's stated that "Giant of the Skies" that pterosaurs with wingspans of six-metres plus were common by the Early Cretaceous. This is not true, pterosaurs of such a size did not become even remotely common until near the end of the Late Cretaceous, but during the Early Cretaceous, pterosaurs with a six-metre wingspan were exceptional (pterosaurs with 3-metre wingspans were widespread though).
** The end of "Giant of the Skies" implies by its wording that dinosaurs did not reach some landmasses, such as Antarctica, until the Cretaceous Period, but fossils of Antarctic dinosaurs had already been discovered dating from far earlier (such as ''Cryolophosaurus'', from the Early Jurassic).
** The same episode has a tuatara (portrayed with stock footage of a modern tuatara) as a filler species. However, it's not based on any animal actually known to have existed in Australia at the time (at best, there's a humerus of a possible lepidosaur known from early strata, but this could be a lizard too, and has been suggested to a small theropod), it's based entirely on the tuatara's status as a "living fossil" and the assumption it was in the region since the Mid Cretaceous.
** The ending of "Spirits of the Ice Forest" implies that the polar dinosaurs of Antarctica became extinct when Antarctica drifted south and glaciated, but this didn't occur in reality until long after non-avian dinosaurs had become extinct (Antarctica did not become completely glaciated until about 10 million years ago). The only reason they disappeared is the same reason all the non-avian dinosaurs disappeared.
** The end of "Time of Titans" implies that the sauropods declined at the end of the Jurassic and states that sea level rise was the primary reason. In fact, the Morrison Formation strata shows that the shallow sea bordering the region was actually ''receding'' (creating the expansive salt flats seen in ''The Ballad of Big Al''), and sauropods remained very successful and widespread until the end of the Cretaceous; only in North America did they seem to decline, and even then ''Alamosaurus'' returned to dominate the southern part of the continent in the last few million years.
** Hell Creek is portrayed as being a volcanic wasteland, but there is very little evidence of this (volcanic ash has been found in the formation, but it's believed to have been the result of ash thrown up by the asteroid impact). While there was intense volcanism near the end of the Cretaceous, it was in India (namely, the Deccan Traps), on the other side of the planet, and its effect on dinosaur diversity is heavily contested, even at the time.
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if it's averted, what's the point of having it here?


* SexyDiscretionShot: [[AvertedTrope Averted]] several times. We see on-screen mating between ''Diplodocus'' in "Time of the Titans," ''Ornithocheirus'' in "Giant of the Skies," and ''Tyrannosaurus'' in "Death of a Dynasty."
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* SexyDiscretionShot: [[AvertedTrope Averted]] several times. We see on-screen mating between ''Diplodocus'' in "Time of the Titans," ''Ornithocheirus'' in "Giant of the Skies," and ''Tyrannosaurus'' in "Death of a Dynasty."
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For the series' initial U.S. run on the Creator/DiscoveryChannel, the program was abridged to play in a 3-hour timeslot as a continuous two hour-long special, and was largely rewritten, the new narration handled by Creator/AveryBrooks. This version has remained exclusive to television and sporadic appearances on streaming services. In addition, a LighterAndSofter cut aimed at children was released in 2002, ironically named ''Prehistoric Planet'', not to be confused with the [[Series/PrehistoricPlanet dinosaur documentary series of the same name]] released 20 years later (although that series is widely considered an updated SpiritualSuccessor to WWD).

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For the series' initial U.S. run on the Creator/DiscoveryChannel, the program was abridged to play in a 3-hour timeslot as a continuous two hour-long special, two-hour-long special (divided into three separate episodes in reruns), and was largely rewritten, rewritten to be more educational, the new narration handled by Creator/AveryBrooks. This version has remained exclusive to television and sporadic has had very miniscule appearances on streaming services. In addition, a LighterAndSofter cut aimed at children was released in 2002, ironically named ''Prehistoric Planet'', not to be confused with the [[Series/PrehistoricPlanet dinosaur documentary series of the same name]] released 20 years later (although that series is widely considered an updated SpiritualSuccessor to WWD).
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** The episode "Spirits of the Ice Forest" states that allosaur predators were rare during the Cretaceous, and only in remote refugium like the polar forests do they still hold out. Unless the narrator meant ''Allosaurus'' specifically, this is a ridiculously incorrect statement since large carnosaurs were more successful than ever during the Early-Mid Cretaceous.
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* RaptorAttack: Scaly, pack-hunting raptors appear.

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* RaptorAttack: Scaly, pack-hunting raptors appear. The series was produced during the cusp of when the first unambiguous evidence of feathers of non-avian dinosaurs was being described, but chose to portray its dromaeosaurs as featherless regardless (although the more primitive coelurosaur ''Ornitholestes'' has a little feathered crest).
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* RuleOfSymbolism: The first episode ends with the non-dinosaur fauna vanishing and a herd of huge ''Plateosaurus'' arriving, signalling the true beginning of the dinosaurs' dominance. This is in-spite of the fact "rauisuchians" and dicynodonts continued to be successful for another 20 million years, and ''Plateosaurus'' is not known to have lived in the region the episode is set.

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* RuleOfSymbolism: The first episode ends with the non-dinosaur fauna vanishing and a herd of huge ''Plateosaurus'' arriving, signalling the true beginning of the dinosaurs' dominance. This is in-spite of the fact "rauisuchians" and dicynodonts continued to be successful for another 20 million years, years[[note]]Although the latter was not known until a few years later[[/note]], and ''Plateosaurus'' is not known to have lived in the region the episode is set.

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* AnyoneCanDie: The series goes for a very uncensored view of the natural world and the harsh conditions dinosaurs and their contemporaries must have lived through, and through this, any number of characters can and do die for any reason. The gargantuan, seemingly untouchable ''Liopleurodon'' is washed ashore by a tropical storm and perishes, the male ''Ornithocheirus'' exhausts himself to death trying and failing to attract a mate, the ''Leaenllynasaura'' matriarch and all but one of her offspring are eaten by predators, and of course ''every character'' in the last episode dies.



* CreatorProvincialism: The pilot episode was set in the Oxford Clay Formation, located in England, and the series was produced by Creator/TheBBC. The actual series mostly averts this though, being set mostly around the world (although still mostly in English-speaking countries).



* DeadlyScratch: The female ''Postosuchus'' in the first episode is wounded offscreen during a hunt, causing a cut on her thigh. The injury ends up becoming infected, weakening her and eventually resulting in her death months later.



* DownerEnding:
** "Giant of the Skies" ends with the ''Ornithocheirus'' male arriving to the mating grounds too late and unable to secure a prime display patch in time. He is forced to the edge of the throng, where he not only fails to attract even a single female, he dies of heat exhaustion. The episode also starts with his corpse, so his fate was already made clear from the very beginning.
** "Death of a Dynasty" ends with the female ''Tyrannosaurus'' being fatally injured protecting her chicks from an ''Ankylosaurus''. Then the asteroid hits and kills her chicks, and all the other dinosaurs, shortly afterwards.



** At the end of "Spirits of the Ice Forest" the narrator states that inevitably, Antarctica drifted south and froze over, destroying the unique ecosystem and wildlife which had thrived there for millions of years.

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** At the end of "Spirits of the Ice Forest" the narrator states that inevitably, Antarctica drifted south and froze over, destroying the unique ecosystem and wildlife which had thrived there for millions of years.years (although the narration implies that's what wiped out the dinosaurs present, while in reality Antarctica only froze over long after the Cretaceous was over).



* GrimUpNorth: Inverted in ''Spirits of the Ice Forest'', where the dinosaurs of the Early Cretaceous struggle to survive the polar winters of the south pole.

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* GrimUpNorth: Inverted in ''Spirits of the Ice Forest'', where the dinosaurs of the Early Mid Cretaceous struggle to survive the polar winters of the south pole.pole. Although it's still much warmer than Antarctica is today, it's nonetheless still six months of darkness, no plant growth, and freezing temperatures.



* JustBeforeTheEnd: The final episode begins a few months before the meteor arrives, but the narration makes clear that even without it, dinosaurs and their ilk are on the decline. The environment, turning sparse and poisonous, is killing them faster than they can reproduce.

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* JustBeforeTheEnd: The final episode begins a few months before the meteor arrives, but the narration makes clear that even without it, dinosaurs and their ilk are on the decline. The environment, turning sparse and poisonous, poisonous due to intense global volcanism, is killing them faster than they can reproduce.



** The unnamed mammal in "Spirits of the Ice Forest" ([[AllThereInTheManual identified as]] ''Steropodon'' in the book and [[{{Slurpasaur}} live-acted]] by a coati) is wimpy enough that a dinosaur the size of a small child scares it off by ''throwing debris at it''.

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** The unnamed mammal in "Spirits of the Ice Forest" ([[AllThereInTheManual identified as]] ''Steropodon'' in the book and [[{{Slurpasaur}} live-acted]] by a coati) is wimpy enough that a dinosaur the size of a small child scares it off by ''throwing debris dirt at it''.



* MisplacedWildlife: European dinosaurs ''Plateosaurus'', and ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeAnkylosaurs Polacanthus]]'' and the equally European pterosaurs ''Peteinosaurus'' and ''Anurognathus'', all placed in North America in the show, not to mention ''Utahraptor'', of all things, in Europe. The ''Peteinosaurus'' and ''Plateosaurus'' examples may be justified, since they lived at the time of Pangaea. They could easily have migrated from Europe into North America or vice versa, although no fossil evidence of this has been found. ''Polacanthus'' in North America may be based on the genus ''Hoplitosaurus'', an ankylosaur often referred to by the European genus. The American narration refers to the ankylosaur as ''Gastonia'', a similar animal from the proper time and place.

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* MisplacedWildlife: European dinosaurs ''Plateosaurus'', and ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeAnkylosaurs Polacanthus]]'' and the equally European pterosaurs ''Peteinosaurus'' and ''Anurognathus'', all placed in North America in the show, not to mention ''Utahraptor'', of all things, in Europe. The ''Peteinosaurus'' and ''Plateosaurus'' examples may be justified, since they lived at the time of Pangaea. They could easily have migrated from Europe into North America or vice versa, although no fossil evidence of this has been found. ''Polacanthus'' in North America may be based on the genus ''Hoplitosaurus'', an ankylosaur often referred to by the European genus. The American narration refers to the ankylosaur as ''Gastonia'', a similar animal from the proper time and place.place (or at least, was ''thought'' to be the proper time [[ScienceMarchesOn back then]]).



* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: In "Death of a Dynasty", a large crocodile eagerly eyes a ''Quetzalcoatlus'' that comes to take a drink, but the pterosaur leaves well before he gets into any real danger.

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* NatureIsNotNice: Pretty up every episode has some weather condition or natural catastrophe making life hard for any animals in the region and lots of fatalities, such as a scorching drought, a typhoon, a forest fire, polar winter, volcanism, and, of course, an asteroid. It also takes an AnyoneCanDie approach, no matter how cute or cool-looking they are, basically ever episode has at least one character meeting a very grim end.
* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: In "Death of a Dynasty", a large crocodile eagerly eyes a ''Quetzalcoatlus'' that comes to take a drink, but the pterosaur leaves well before he gets into any real danger. The ''Postosuchus'', a distant crocodilian relative, is also portrayed as a monstrously powerful and fearsome hunter of its time.



* RuleOfSymbolism: The first episode ends with the non-dinosaur fauna vanishing and a herd of huge ''Plateosaurus'' arriving, signalling the true beginning of the dinosaurs' dominance. This is in-spite of the fact "rauisuchians" and dicynodonts continued to be successful for another 20 million years, and ''Plateosaurus'' is not known to have lived in the region the episode is set.



* StockDinosaurArchetypes: Being a TropeCodifier for modern depictions, this show focuses on depicting dinosaurs in a more complex light, best shown with ''Allosaurus'' and ''Tyrannosaurus'' being shown as sympathetic and struggling predators and ''Leallynasaura'' being a protective parent in spite of its skittish and reclusive nature. There are also pterosaurs in migration and the toll their journey takes and ''Olphamosaurus'' having to bear the burden of caring for their young in a dangerous coast. Still, the series doesn't shy away from usual depictions like placid sauropods and herd-traveling iguanodonts and hadrosaurs.

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* StockDinosaurArchetypes: Being a TropeCodifier for modern depictions, this show focuses on depicting dinosaurs in a more complex light, best shown with ''Allosaurus'' and ''Tyrannosaurus'' being shown as sympathetic and struggling predators and ''Leallynasaura'' being a protective parent in spite of its skittish and reclusive nature. There are also pterosaurs in migration and the toll their journey takes and ''Olphamosaurus'' ''Ophthalmosaurus'' having to bear the burden of caring for their young in a dangerous coast. Still, the series doesn't shy away from usual depictions like placid sauropods and herd-traveling iguanodonts and hadrosaurs.


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* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: In the first episode, both the ''Coelophysis'' and the unnamed cynodonts resort to killing and eating their infants during the dry season. However, while the former is shown in a savage "might makes right" dominance sort of way, as the dinosaurs are hunting anything that moves, the former is shown sombrely and sympathetically as parents eating their children that were forced to choose between the lesser of two evils. The fact the first is a reptile and the latter is an animal ancestral to mammals probably is not coincidental.
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[[folder:A-H]]

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[[folder:A-H]][[folder:A-G]]
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* StockDinosaurArchetypes: Being a TropeCodifier for modern depictions, this show focuses on depicting dinosaurs in a more complex light, best shown with ''Allosaurus'' and ''Tyrannosaurus'' being shown as sympathetic and struggling predators and ''Leallynasaura'' being a protective parent in spite of its skittish and reclusive nature. There are also pterosaurs in migration and the toll their journey takes and ''Olphamosaurus'' having to bear the burden of caring for their young in a dangerous coast. Still, the series doesn't shy away from usual depictions like placid sauropods and herd-traveling iguanodonts and hadrosaurs.
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** The pilot short, which eventually got adapted into the episode "Cruel Sea", had the sauropod ''Cetiosaurus'' in it. For reasons unknown, it was omitted in the full program, as too were sauropods with high arched, swan-like necks.

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** The pilot short, which eventually got adapted into the episode "Cruel Sea", had the sauropod ''Cetiosaurus'' in it. For reasons unknown, unknown[[note]]Perhaps redundancy coming after ''Time of the Titans'' and not fitting right into the story[[/note]], it was omitted in the full program, as too were sauropods with high arched, swan-like necks.
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** Female ''T. rexes'' are portrayed as being [[MoreDeadlyThanTheMale larger and more aggressive]] than their male counterparts. [[ScienceMarchesOn Do note that there's very little support for this nowadays]].
** Female ''Ornithocheirus'' are depicted as lacking the keel-like crests that the males have on their beaks, while female ''Tapejaras'' have smaller head crests than their male counterparts.

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** Female ''T. rexes'' are portrayed as being [[MoreDeadlyThanTheMale larger and more aggressive]] than their male counterparts. It was a popular idea at the time, but [[ScienceMarchesOn Do note that there's very little support for this nowadays]].
** Female ''Ornithocheirus'' are depicted as lacking the keel-like crests that the males have on their beaks, while female ''Tapejaras'' have smaller head crests than their male counterparts.counterparts (both cases are purely speculative, although it is known in the distantly related ''Pteranodon'').

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* AdaptedOut: For obvious reasons, a ''lot'' of animals had to be adapted out of the arena spectacular, but it's noteworthy in that it cuts four of the eight protagonist animals out of the story: ''Coelophysis'', ''Diplodocus'', ''Liopleurodon'' and ''Leallynasaura''. ''Coelophysis'' actually gets ''replaced'' by ''Liliensternus''.

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* AdaptedOut: AdaptedOut:
**
For obvious reasons, a ''lot'' of animals had to be adapted out of the arena spectacular, but it's noteworthy in that it cuts four of the eight protagonist animals out of the story: ''Coelophysis'', ''Diplodocus'', ''Liopleurodon'' and ''Leallynasaura''. ''Coelophysis'' actually gets ''replaced'' by ''Liliensternus''.''Liliensternus''.
** The pilot short, which eventually got adapted into the episode "Cruel Sea", had the sauropod ''Cetiosaurus'' in it. For reasons unknown, it was omitted in the full program, as too were sauropods with high arched, swan-like necks.



* {{Foreshadowing}}: Near the beginning of "Giant of the Skies", we see the courtship of a colony of ''Tapejara', with one male unable to get a good courting spot and unlikely to attract any mates as a result. This same fate ultimately befalls the ''Ornithocheirus'' protagonist when he finally reaches the mating grounds at the end, resulting in his death, as his instincts drive him to continue his courtship dance, to the detriment of his health, until he mates.



* GiantFlyer: Several giant pterosaurs (the correct name instead of "pterodactyl"). From the first series, both ''Ornithocheirus'' (oversized) and ''Quetzalcoatlus'' (not oversized) had a wingspan of 45 feet.

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* GiantEqualsInvincible: On several occasions, the narration remarks that an animal is so big that nothing else in its ecosystem can threaten it. Examples include the four-ton ''Plateosaurus'', full-grown ''Diplodocus'', ''Liopleurodon'', and ''Muttaburrasaurus''. The ''Liopleurodon'' ends up being a subversion however; although presented as the ultimate apex predator, it is killed at the end of the episode by a force more powerful than itself, a powerful tropical storm stranding it ashore.
* GiantFlyer: Several giant pterosaurs (the correct name instead of "pterodactyl"). From the first series, both ''Ornithocheirus'' (oversized) is the protagonist for one episode, portrayed as having a forty foot wingspan (nowadays, the specific ''Ornithocheirus'' species is known as ''Tropeognathus'', and it is believed to have a much smaller maximum wingspan of under thirty feet), and ''Quetzalcoatlus'' (not oversized) had makes a small appearance in the last episode, portrayed with a thirteen metre wingspan of 45 feet.(modern estimates put it at around eleven to ten metres in wingspan).



* HumansAreSpecial: Although obviously no humans actually appear, in two episodes, two mammalian or near-mammalian species have supporting roles in the program, and they're treated with greater detail than something so minor should otherwise warrant (in one case, they were based on only two, at the time unnamed, teeth). The cynodonts are treated with the greatest sympathy in the Triassic episode, showing their close familial bonds, absent in all the other animals, while the small ''Didelphodon'''s great success and growing numbers in the face of the other dinosaurs struggling to survive the volcanic environment is shown, as though mammals were already usurping dinosaurs even before their extinction.



* MamaBear: The female ''Tyrannosaurus''. Deconstructed, as her valiant attempt to scare an Ankylosaurus away from her infants ends up killing her, and it's implied that her babies would have starved to death without her to protect them. Only implied, because they're soon killed by the meteorite anyway.

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* MamaBear: The female ''Tyrannosaurus''. Deconstructed, as her valiant attempt to scare an Ankylosaurus ''Ankylosaurus'' away from her infants ends up killing her, and it's implied that her babies would have starved to death without her to protect them. Only implied, because they're soon killed by the meteorite anyway.



* ObscuredSpecialEffects: Whenever two CG models had to interact or a CG model had to interact with a physical prop, they would almost always be shot in a way that the points of contact would not be visible to the audience. Examples including the ''Postosuchus'' biting the ''Placerias'', the ''Allosaurus'' pouncing on the ''Diplodocus'', the ''Eustreptospondylus'' feeding on the ''Liopleurodon'', or the ''Tyrannosaurus'' killing the ''Anatotitan''. They didn't do this for the ''Utahraptor'' grappling with the ''Iguanodon'' and in several shots you can see the raptors clipping into the ''Iguanodon'''s model.



* RealIsBrown: Averted. Much like modern fauna, these dinos are pretty vibrant-looking.



* RogerRabbitEffect: Modern day animals are used in a few episodes to represent their prehistoric equivalents, such as horseshoe crabs, dung beetles, and a boa. A coati being used to represent the prehistoric platypus relative ''Steropodon'' is a little more questionable however...



** The episode "Giant of the Skies" was about an Ornithocheirus traveling halfway across the globe enduring various hardships in order to reach the mating grounds only to [[spoiler:have it driven away and eventually dying from starvation and exhaustion, and it never got to mate a single time. However, the narrator does state that it managed to mate in previous mating cycles many times before, and some of its own young were among those in the mating rounds.]]
** The Mother Tyrannosaurus rex in "Death Of A Dynasty". After a nest she built prior to the start of the episode fails, she mates again and lays a fresh clutch of eggs. Unfortunately, however, out of the twelve eggs that she lays, nine of them fail to hatch, of the three that do, the youngest one doesn't last long and is implied to have been killed by its own siblings. Shortly afterwards, the mother herself is fatally injured while defending her last two young from an ''Ankylosaurus'' and suffers a slow agonizing death shortly afterwards. And, the very next day, the asteroid impact that caused the K-T Mass Extinction kills both of her only surviving offspring. As the book puts it, "Her long struggle to reproduce has come to nothing."

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** The episode "Giant of the Skies" was about an Ornithocheirus traveling ''Ornithocheirus ''traveling halfway across the globe enduring various hardships in order to reach the mating grounds only to [[spoiler:have it driven away and eventually dying from starvation and exhaustion, and it never got to mate a single time. However, the narrator does state that it managed to mate in previous mating cycles many times before, and some of its own young were among those in the mating rounds.]]
** The Mother Tyrannosaurus rex ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' in "Death Of A Dynasty". After a nest she built prior to the start of the episode fails, she mates again and lays a fresh clutch of eggs. Unfortunately, however, out of the twelve eggs that she lays, nine of them fail to hatch, of the three that do, the youngest one doesn't last long and is implied to have been killed by its own siblings. Shortly afterwards, the mother herself is fatally injured while defending her last two young from an ''Ankylosaurus'' and suffers a slow agonizing death shortly afterwards. And, the very next day, the asteroid impact that caused the K-T Mass Extinction kills both of her only surviving offspring. As the book puts it, "Her long struggle to reproduce has come to nothing."



* SterilityPlague: In "Death of a Dynasty", the atmospheric pollution caused by the increase in volcanic activity at the end of the Cretaceous means dinosaur eggs are not forming properly, leading to clutches either failing completely or producing only a handful of viable eggs. This, along with everything else that was going on in the world, is taken to imply that, even if the comet strike hadn't happened, the dinosaurs were dying out anyway.
* StockFootage: Episodes occasionally seem to use clips from other sources, which can be spotted when the episode look noticeably grainier than usual. The forest fire from "Time of the Titans" and a brief moment of an Opthalmasaurus bursting out of the water in "Cruel Sea" are some obvious examples.
* SuperPersistentPredator: When the ''Coelophysis'' discover the cynodonts' nest, they work away at it for several days, gradually digging into the entrance to expose the vulnerable young. In this case, it's justified, because of a drought, the ''Coelophysis'' are getting desperately hungry, and managing to catch one of the young entices them further.

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* SterilityPlague: In "Death of a Dynasty", the atmospheric pollution caused by the increase in volcanic activity at the end of the Cretaceous means dinosaur eggs are not forming properly, leading to clutches either failing completely or producing only a handful of viable eggs. This, along with everything else that was going on in the world, is taken to imply that, even if the comet strike hadn't happened, the dinosaurs were dying out anyway.
anyway (this was because of the prevailing view at the time that dinosaurs were declining at the end of the Cretaceous, [[ScienceMarchesOn but the idea has been refuted many times since and has far fewer adherents now]]).
* StockFootage: Episodes occasionally seem to use clips from other sources, which can be spotted when the episode look noticeably grainier than usual. The forest fire from "Time of the Titans" and a brief moment of an Opthalmasaurus ''Ophthalmosaurus'' bursting out of the water in "Cruel Sea" are some obvious examples.
* SuperPersistentPredator: When the ''Coelophysis'' discover the cynodonts' nest, they work away at it for several days, gradually digging into the entrance to expose the vulnerable young. In this case, it's justified, because of a drought, the ''Coelophysis'' are getting desperately hungry, and managing to catch one of the young earlier entices them further.further. This persistence ultimately proves to be their detriment when the cynodonts flee the nest in the night, and they spend several hours the next day trying to dig them out not knowing they've already left.
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* '''New Blood''': (220 MYA, Arizona) During the Triassic period, the age of the mammal-like reptiles such as ''Placerias'' and Paleozoic reptiles like ''Postosuchus'' is coming to an end. In their place, the dinosaurs have evolved. The episode focuses on a female ''Coelophysis'' who must endure a severe drought that tests who will remain to claim the Earth.

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* '''New Blood''': (220 MYA, Arizona) During the Triassic period, the The age of the mammal-like reptiles such as ''Placerias'' and Paleozoic reptiles like ''Postosuchus'' is coming to an end. In their place, the dinosaurs have evolved. The episode focuses on a female ''Coelophysis'' who must endure a severe drought that tests who will remain to claim the Earth.
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* '''New Blood''': (220 MYA, Arizona) The age of the mammal-like reptiles such as ''Placerias'' and Paleozoic reptiles like ''Postosuchus'' is coming to an end. In their place, the dinosaurs have evolved. The episode focuses on a female ''Coelophysis'' who must endure a severe drought that tests who will remain to claim the Earth.

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* '''New Blood''': (220 MYA, Arizona) The During the Triassic period, the age of the mammal-like reptiles such as ''Placerias'' and Paleozoic reptiles like ''Postosuchus'' is coming to an end. In their place, the dinosaurs have evolved. The episode focuses on a female ''Coelophysis'' who must endure a severe drought that tests who will remain to claim the Earth.

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* KingOfTheDinosaurs: A mother ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' is the main character of the final episode. In the outro for "Spirits of the Ice Forest", the narrator describes ''T. rex'' as "the most terrifying predator that has ever walked the Earth."


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* TerrifyingTyrannosaur: A mother ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' is the main character of the final episode. In the outro for "Spirits of the Ice Forest", the narrator describes ''T. rex'' as "the most terrifying predator that has ever walked the Earth."
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** When their burrow is besieged by the ''Coelophysis'', the cynodonts, having already lost one pup to the dinosaurs, are forced to eat the remaining two in order to both cheat the ''Coelophysis'' of their meal and give themselves the chance to escape. This is TruthInTelivision to many small modern-day mammals, most infamously hamsters.

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** When their burrow is besieged by the ''Coelophysis'', the cynodonts, having already lost one pup to the dinosaurs, are forced to eat the remaining two in order to both cheat the ''Coelophysis'' of their meal and give themselves the chance to escape. This is TruthInTelivision TruthInTelevision to many small modern-day mammals, most infamously hamsters.
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* [[RuleOfCool/WalkingWithDinosaurs Rule of Cool]]

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* [[RuleOfCool/WalkingWithDinosaurs [[RuleOfCool/WalkingWith Rule of Cool]]
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* [[ScienceMarchesOn/WalkingWithDinosaurs Science Marches On]]

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* [[ScienceMarchesOn/WalkingWithDinosaurs [[ScienceMarchesOn/WalkingWith Science Marches On]]
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''Walking with Dinosaurs'' is a 1999 [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]][=/=]Creator/DiscoveryChannel SpeculativeDocumentary series focusing on... well... dinosaurs, using state-of-the-art CGI and animatronics to recreate Mesozoic life. It was narrated by Creator/KennethBranagh, and is the first entry in the ''Franchise/WalkingWithDinosaurs'' franchise.

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''Walking with Dinosaurs'' is a 1999 [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]][=/=]Creator/DiscoveryChannel SpeculativeDocumentary series focusing on... well... dinosaurs, using state-of-the-art CGI and animatronics to recreate Mesozoic life. It was narrated by Creator/KennethBranagh, and is the first entry in the ''Franchise/WalkingWithDinosaurs'' ''Franchise/WalkingWith'' franchise.
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Land Down Under doesn't mean "Australia exists", plus most of the episode takes place in what is now Antarctica.


* LandDownUnder: Cretaceous Australia spends half the year frozen solid, with no sunlight whatsoever during that period.

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[[folder:I-Z]]

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[[folder:I-Z]][[folder:H-Z]]


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* HourglassPlot: In the first episode, stem-mammals are portrayed as relics from the previous mass extinction, and dinosaurs are portrayed as baby-eating menaces who are taking over. In the last episode, dinosaurs are portrayed as relics who are about to die in the next mass extinction, and mammals are portrayed as baby-eating menaces who are about to take over.

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** Reusing models meant that some correct anatomical details that got carried over from one animal to the other suddenly turned erroneous. Case in point: the thumbs on hadrosaurs.

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** Reusing models meant that some correct anatomical details that got carried over from one animal to the other suddenly turned erroneous. Case in point: the thumbs on hadrosaurs. The ''Quetzalcoatlus'' has has ''teeth'' (although they're not easily visible) due to being recycled from the ''Ornithocheirus'' model.



** Similarly, ''Didelphodon'' is portrayed as badger-like when in reality it was more otter-like.

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** Similarly, ''Didelphodon'' As noted in MisplacedWildlife and AnachronismStew, nearly every episode has at least one animal which is portrayed unknown from the time or place in which the story is supposed to be set.
** The cynodonts in "New Blood" were based on two teeth found in the Chinle Formation that were ([[ScienceMarchesOn at the time]]) believed to belong to cynodonts (the teeth are now named ''Kraterokheirodon'' and it is unknown what type of animal they are). However, even at the time, the depiction in the episode is purely speculative, because the teeth were believed to belong to a large traversodont cynodont, which the cynodonts in the episode do not resemble. Why? Well, for one, they're depicted
as badger-like when in reality it was more otter-like.predators, but traversodonts were herbivores.
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You don't need to pothole the same pages multiple times in one article. Also, don't split one word across multiple potholes.


* BigDamnHeroes: In ''Walking with Dinosaurs'', the young ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Diplodocus]]'' is attacked by an ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Allosaurus]]'' and is saved when another ''Diplodocus'' knocks the ''Allosaurus'' down with its tail.

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* BigDamnHeroes: In ''Walking with Dinosaurs'', the young ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Diplodocus]]'' ''Diplodocus'' is attacked by an ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Allosaurus]]'' ''Allosaurus'' and is saved when another ''Diplodocus'' knocks the ''Allosaurus'' down with its tail.



* BloodierAndGorier: Several scenes of mild or implied violence and death from the TV series were described in rather graphic detail in the accompanying book ''Walking with Dinosaurs: A Natural History''. Compare, for example, the scene of fight between female ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Tyrannosaurus]]'' and the armoured herbivore ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Ankylosaurus]]'' from the TV series with their fight in the book. Meanwhile, the poor ''Ornithocheirus''—as if he hadn't [[TheWoobie suffered enough]]—dies not just of exhaustion, but of more or less getting ''torn apart'' by the rival males!

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* BloodierAndGorier: Several scenes of mild or implied violence and death from the TV series were described in rather graphic detail in the accompanying book ''Walking with Dinosaurs: A Natural History''. Compare, for example, the scene of fight between female ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Tyrannosaurus]]'' ''Tyrannosaurus'' and the armoured herbivore ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Ankylosaurus]]'' ''Ankylosaurus'' from the TV series with their fight in the book. Meanwhile, the poor ''Ornithocheirus''—as if he hadn't [[TheWoobie suffered enough]]—dies not just of exhaustion, but of more or less getting ''torn apart'' by the rival males!



** New Blood contained the deaths of all the [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles cynodont]] young (one by being eaten by the ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Coelophysis]]'', the rest eaten by their ''own parents'' in the uncut UK Broadcast/DVD). The Coelophysis themselves are also cannibals.
** "Time of the Titans", obviously, with all the ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Diplodocus]]'' youngsters (called "sauropodlets" in the show), very few of whom reach adulthood, the rest having either fallen victim to other dinosaurs (mostly predators, though one is killed when it gets in the way of a Stegosaurus's spiked tail) or died in a forest fire. Even more so in the book, where [[spoiler: only one survives.]]
** "Cruel Sea" focuses on a generation of young ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Opthalmosaurus]]'', a fish-like marine reptile belonging to the ichthyosaur group. The one we mostly follow manages to avoid death by storms, sharks, and drowning, but it's implied that most of his fellows aren't so lucky. There's also the very, very graphic instance of DeathByChildbirth, in which neither mother nor baby Opthalmosaurus are left alive.

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** New Blood contained the deaths of all the [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles cynodont]] cynodont young (one by being eaten by the ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Coelophysis]]'', ''Coelophysis'', the rest eaten by their ''own parents'' in the uncut UK Broadcast/DVD). The Coelophysis themselves are also cannibals.
** "Time of the Titans", obviously, with all the ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Diplodocus]]'' ''Diplodocus'' youngsters (called "sauropodlets" in the show), very few of whom reach adulthood, the rest having either fallen victim to other dinosaurs (mostly predators, though one is killed when it gets in the way of a Stegosaurus's spiked tail) or died in a forest fire. Even more so in the book, where [[spoiler: only one survives.]]
** "Cruel Sea" focuses on a generation of young ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Opthalmosaurus]]'', ''Opthalmosaurus'', a fish-like marine reptile belonging to the ichthyosaur group. The one we mostly follow manages to avoid death by storms, sharks, and drowning, but it's implied that most of his fellows aren't so lucky. There's also the very, very graphic instance of DeathByChildbirth, in which neither mother nor baby Opthalmosaurus are left alive.



** "Death of a Dynasty" has, (besides the orphaned ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Tyrannosaurus]]'' young killed by the meteor at the end) the ''Triceratops''-like ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeCeratopsids Torosaurus]]'' young killed by [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs dromaeosaurids]] (commonly known as "raptors") and an implied death of a picked on ''Tyrannosaurus''. And if it counts: the small mammal ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeMammals Didelphodon]]'' eating the eggs.

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** "Death of a Dynasty" has, (besides the orphaned ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Tyrannosaurus]]'' ''Tyrannosaurus'' young killed by the meteor at the end) the ''Triceratops''-like ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeCeratopsids Torosaurus]]'' young killed by [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs dromaeosaurids]] dromaeosaurids (commonly known as "raptors") and an implied death of a picked on ''Tyrannosaurus''. And if it counts: the small mammal ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeMammals Didelphodon]]'' eating the eggs.



* EatsBabies: The ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Coelophysis]]'', [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles cynodonts]], ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Allosaurus]]'', ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeMammals Didelphodon]]'', and [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeBirdlikeTheropods Hell Creek dromaeosaurids]] all get to feed on babies and juveniles. In some cases, [[IAmAHumanitarian those of their own kind]]. (Or even ''their own''.)

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* EatsBabies: The ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Coelophysis]]'', [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles cynodonts]], ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Allosaurus]]'', ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeMammals Didelphodon]]'', ''Coelophysis'', cynodonts, ''Allosaurus'', ''Didelphodon'', and [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeBirdlikeTheropods Hell Creek dromaeosaurids]] all get to feed on babies and juveniles. In some cases, [[IAmAHumanitarian those of their own kind]]. (Or even ''their own''.)



* FeatheredFiend: The primitive bird ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeBirds Iberomesornis]]'' in ''Giant of the Skies'' fit the ZergRush type of this.
** Technically also ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeOtherSmallTheropods Ornitholestes]]'', ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Utahraptor]]'', and the [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeBirdlikeTheropods Late Cretaceous dromaeosaurids]], even though many of them were depicted as [[ScienceMarchesOn unfeathered]] or [[ArtisticLicensePaleontology only sparsely feathered]].

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* FeatheredFiend: The primitive bird ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeBirds Iberomesornis]]'' ''Iberomesornis'' in ''Giant of the Skies'' fit the ZergRush type of this.
** Technically also ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeOtherSmallTheropods Ornitholestes]]'', ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Utahraptor]]'', ''Ornitholestes'', ''Utahraptor'', and the [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeBirdlikeTheropods Late Cretaceous dromaeosaurids]], dromaeosaurids, even though many of them were depicted as [[ScienceMarchesOn unfeathered]] or [[ArtisticLicensePaleontology only sparsely feathered]].



** The death of the old ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Ornithocheirus]]''. The first thing we see is his body, and rest of the episode [[HowWeGotHere shows his last journey before he died]].

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** The death of the old ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Ornithocheirus]]''.''Ornithocheirus''. The first thing we see is his body, and rest of the episode [[HowWeGotHere shows his last journey before he died]].



* {{Gasshole}}: One of the ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Diplodocus]]'' is heard farting during the digestion of plant matter, while the narrator says "[[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments The activity in its gut produces a lot of excess gas]]".[[note]]We don't actually know if dinosaurs were capable of flatulence... since birds can't, but other reptiles can.[[/note]]
* GiantFlyer: Several giant [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs pterosaurs]] (the correct name instead of "pterodactyl"). From the first series, both ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Ornithocheirus]]'' (oversized) and ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Quetzalcoatlus]]'' (not oversized) had a wingspan of 45 feet.

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* {{Gasshole}}: One of the ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Diplodocus]]'' ''Diplodocus'' is heard farting during the digestion of plant matter, while the narrator says "[[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments The activity in its gut produces a lot of excess gas]]".[[note]]We don't actually know if dinosaurs were capable of flatulence... since birds can't, but other reptiles can.[[/note]]
* GiantFlyer: Several giant [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs pterosaurs]] pterosaurs (the correct name instead of "pterodactyl"). From the first series, both ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Ornithocheirus]]'' ''Ornithocheirus'' (oversized) and ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Quetzalcoatlus]]'' ''Quetzalcoatlus'' (not oversized) had a wingspan of 45 feet.



* {{Leitmotif}}: The ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Utahraptor]]'' pack is accompanied by tribal drums during their ambush on the ''Iguanodon'' herd.
* MamaBear: The female ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Tyrannosaurus]]''. Deconstructed, as her valiant attempt to scare an Ankylosaurus away from her infants ends up killing her, and it's implied that her babies would have starved to death without her to protect them. Only implied, because they're soon killed by the meteorite anyway.
** The female ''Tyrannosaurus'' also displays the trait in the live arena show, when she scares away a ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeCeratopsids Torosaurus]]'' and an ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Ankylosaurus]]'' that are harassing her baby.

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* {{Leitmotif}}: The ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Utahraptor]]'' ''Utahraptor'' pack is accompanied by tribal drums during their ambush on the ''Iguanodon'' herd.
* MamaBear: The female ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Tyrannosaurus]]''.''Tyrannosaurus''. Deconstructed, as her valiant attempt to scare an Ankylosaurus away from her infants ends up killing her, and it's implied that her babies would have starved to death without her to protect them. Only implied, because they're soon killed by the meteorite anyway.
** The female ''Tyrannosaurus'' also displays the trait in the live arena show, when she scares away a ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeCeratopsids Torosaurus]]'' ''Torosaurus'' and an ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Ankylosaurus]]'' ''Ankylosaurus'' that are harassing her baby.



* MisplacedWildlife: European dinosaurs ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Plateosaurus]]'', and ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeAnkylosaurs Polacanthus]]'' and the equally European pterosaurs ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Peteinosaurus]]'' and ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Anurognathus]]'', all placed in North America in the show, not to mention ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Utahraptor]]'', of all things, in Europe. The ''Peteinosaurus'' and ''Plateosaurus'' examples may be justified, since they lived at the time of Pangaea. They could easily have migrated from Europe into North America or vice versa, although no fossil evidence of this has been found. ''Polacanthus'' in North America may be based on the genus ''Hoplitosaurus'', an ankylosaur often referred to by the European genus. The American narration refers to the ankylosaur as ''Gastonia'', a similar animal from the proper time and place.

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* MisplacedWildlife: European dinosaurs ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Plateosaurus]]'', ''Plateosaurus'', and ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeAnkylosaurs Polacanthus]]'' and the equally European pterosaurs ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Peteinosaurus]]'' ''Peteinosaurus'' and ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Anurognathus]]'', ''Anurognathus'', all placed in North America in the show, not to mention ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Utahraptor]]'', ''Utahraptor'', of all things, in Europe. The ''Peteinosaurus'' and ''Plateosaurus'' examples may be justified, since they lived at the time of Pangaea. They could easily have migrated from Europe into North America or vice versa, although no fossil evidence of this has been found. ''Polacanthus'' in North America may be based on the genus ''Hoplitosaurus'', an ankylosaur often referred to by the European genus. The American narration refers to the ankylosaur as ''Gastonia'', a similar animal from the proper time and place.



* MoodWhiplash: In the arena show, the mother ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Tyrannosaurus]]'' scares away the ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeCeratopsids Torosaurus]]'' and ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Ankylosaurus]]'' harassing her baby. The mother and her baby then share a cute little moment where she goes around roaring at the audience and he tries to mimic her, with underwhelming results. They nuzzle a bit, and then the comet hits.

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* MoodWhiplash: In the arena show, the mother ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Tyrannosaurus]]'' ''Tyrannosaurus'' scares away the ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeCeratopsids Torosaurus]]'' ''Torosaurus'' and ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Ankylosaurus]]'' ''Ankylosaurus'' harassing her baby. The mother and her baby then share a cute little moment where she goes around roaring at the audience and he tries to mimic her, with underwhelming results. They nuzzle a bit, and then the comet hits.



* NobodyPoops: Averted in "Time of the Titans". Not only do they show a full view of a ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Diplodocus]]'' defecating twice, but they also show the pile of dung and the dung beetles crawling all over it.

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* NobodyPoops: Averted in "Time of the Titans". Not only do they show a full view of a ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Diplodocus]]'' ''Diplodocus'' defecating twice, but they also show the pile of dung and the dung beetles crawling all over it.



* PaletteSwap: Similar looking animals (like ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Utahraptor]]'' and ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeBirdlikeTheropods Dromaeosaurus]]'', ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Allosaurus]]'' and ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeLargeTheropods Australovenator]]'', various ornithopods) were just these. Certain animals (like large theropods and ornithopods) only got new heads. You can tell, because many creatures have the exact same folds and blood vessels on their skin. Then, there is ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Plesiopleurodon]]'', which is just StockFootage of ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Liopleurodon]]'' from the previous episode, only tinted lighter.

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* PaletteSwap: Similar looking animals (like ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Utahraptor]]'' ''Utahraptor'' and ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeBirdlikeTheropods Dromaeosaurus]]'', ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Allosaurus]]'' ''Dromaeosaurus'', ''Allosaurus'' and ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeLargeTheropods Australovenator]]'', ''Australovenator'', various ornithopods) were just these. Certain animals (like large theropods and ornithopods) only got new heads. You can tell, because many creatures have the exact same folds and blood vessels on their skin. Then, there is ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Plesiopleurodon]]'', ''Plesiopleurodon'', which is just StockFootage of ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Liopleurodon]]'' ''Liopleurodon'' from the previous episode, only tinted lighter.



* PapaWolf: The male [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles cynodont]]. Until the ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Coelophysis]]'' discover the burrow and he decides that the young aren't worth defending anymore, at least...

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* PapaWolf: The male [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles cynodont]]. cynodont. Until the ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Coelophysis]]'' ''Coelophysis'' discover the burrow and he decides that the young aren't worth defending anymore, at least...



* RedHerring: ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeLargeTheropods Eustreptospondylus]]'' being shown during the opening narration of ''Cruel Sea'', with Kenneth Branagh talking about "the most fearsome predator of the Jurassic" that "is watching his prey". Only a few moments later it becomes obvious that [[spoiler:this narration ''wasn't'' about ''Eustreptospondylus'', but instead about ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Liopleurodon]]'']]
* SeaMonster: The entire third episode, ''Cruel Sea'', which features all manner of prehistoric marine reptiles, though a giant ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Plesiopleurodon]]'' also appears in ''Giant of the Skies'' for one shot.

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* RedHerring: ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeLargeTheropods Eustreptospondylus]]'' ''Eustreptospondylus'' being shown during the opening narration of ''Cruel Sea'', with Kenneth Branagh talking about "the most fearsome predator of the Jurassic" that "is watching his prey". Only a few moments later it becomes obvious that [[spoiler:this narration ''wasn't'' about ''Eustreptospondylus'', but instead about ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Liopleurodon]]'']]
''Liopleurodon'']]
* SeaMonster: The entire third episode, ''Cruel Sea'', which features all manner of prehistoric marine reptiles, though a giant ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Plesiopleurodon]]'' ''Plesiopleurodon'' also appears in ''Giant of the Skies'' for one shot.



* TaxonomicTermConfusion: Branagh refers to the [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs sauropods]] as "a great family of dinosaurs" in the original WWD. "Infraorder" would be more appropriate.

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* TaxonomicTermConfusion: Branagh refers to the [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs sauropods]] sauropods as "a great family of dinosaurs" in the original WWD. "Infraorder" would be more appropriate.



** A good way to show that an animal is a badass is have it drive off, beat up, or ''kill'' the top predator of the episode, as was the case with ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Stegosaurus]]'' (to ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Allosaurus]]'') and ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Ankylosaurus]]'' (to ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Tyrannosaurus]]'').
** If the animal is another predator, another way is to have it [[AlwaysABiggerFish prey on or scare away]] another stereotypically dangerous predator such as a theropod or shark. Most famously done with ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Liopleurodon]]''; and then the several ThreateningShark examples in many "Walking With" sequels.

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** A good way to show that an animal is a badass is have it drive off, beat up, or ''kill'' the top predator of the episode, as was the case with ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Stegosaurus]]'' ''Stegosaurus'' (to ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Allosaurus]]'') ''Allosaurus'') and ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Ankylosaurus]]'' ''Ankylosaurus'' (to ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Tyrannosaurus]]'').
''Tyrannosaurus'').
** If the animal is another predator, another way is to have it [[AlwaysABiggerFish prey on or scare away]] another stereotypically dangerous predator such as a theropod or shark. Most famously done with ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Liopleurodon]]''; ''Liopleurodon''; and then the several ThreateningShark examples in many "Walking With" sequels.



** The ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Coelophysis]]'' against the dying ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Postosuchus]]''.

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** The ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Coelophysis]]'' ''Coelophysis'' against the dying ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Postosuchus]]''.''Postosuchus''.



** A defensive variant is used by ''[[FeatheredFiend Ibero]][[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeBirds mesornis]]'' on the old ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Ornithocheirus]]''.

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** A defensive variant is used by ''[[FeatheredFiend Ibero]][[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeBirds mesornis]]'' Iberomesornis]]'' on the old ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Ornithocheirus]]''.''Ornithocheirus''.

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