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Behemoth Battle in all its prehistoric glory.
With a series that promises to make a revolution in dinosaur documentaries, Prehistoric Planet displays a myriad of some truly beautiful, spectacular, awe-inspiring, awesome moments:


    Season One 
Coasts:
  • During the opening scene where a Mosasaurus chases a Tyrannosaurus and its offspring in the water, despite being barely half it's size, the rex is stated to be capable of sufficiently defending itself even underwater. Even at a disadvantage, T. rex truly was The Dreaded.
  • The first flight of the Alcione hatchlings. They climb up at the top of a crag moments after being born and just like that, quickly start flying towards a dense forest where they will be protected from predators. During the journey, in a spectacular sequence, they fall victim to predatory Barbaridactylus and Phosphatodraco, but some of them successfully manage to arrive to the forest in time, surpassing the first big trial of their lives.
  • The fight for the territory between the two male Mosasaurus. Seeing the two leviathans going all out with the incredible visuals of the series is nothing short of amazing. Even better, though he was initially taken by surprise and starting on the losing end, the elder male manages to escape from the jaws of his younger opponent, catch air, and then overpower him, showing the youngster experience matters.
  • The mating display of the ammonites is simply beautiful, with them using bioluminescent displays in order to attract mates, bringing color in the darkness of the night. Since ammonites are not usually given much spotlight in paleomedia except for marine reptile food, it feels satisfying to see them having a scene for them alone.
  • The climax of the episode. When the pregnant female Tuarangisaurus is stalked by the Kaikaifilu that wants to make a meal out of her, her calf quickly goes to attack the mosasaur, acting as a bait to protect its mother. Not only that, as soon as the rest of the Tuarangisaurus pod (that are also family with the female) notices this, all of them quickly join the youngster to successfully drive away the Kaikaifilu, saving her.

Deserts:

  • The Dreadnoughtus fight. Simply the Dreadnoughtus fight. After the older, dust-covered male that stayed dominant for two weeks manages to drive off any potential rival, a newly arrived, younger male appears to defy his domain, fully intending to battle. What follows is perhaps to greatest sauropod fight to ever be featured in a documentary. In a clash reminiscent of modern elephant seals, the sauropods rear up on their hind limbs, smack their necks against each other, bite the neck of the rival and even use the claws on their legs to deliver cuts to the opponent. Finally, the younger male ends up winning and taking down the older one. Heck, just the arrival of the male sauropods to the mating grounds in the desert is a breathtaking sight. The movements, design and behavior of the Dreadnoughtus really shows how big and humongous these animals were. You can tell the makers of the program really put the "titan" in "titanosaur".
    • The intial face-off between the old bull and the young challenger as they stare each other down and size each other up. With the glare in their eyes, the music, and the dry, dusty desert environment, the overall feel is that of a cowboy duel in an old Western.
  • On a similar note, the arrival of the Mongolian Titans to the oasis deserves a mention. Even tough they don't do much onscreen besides drinking water, their humungous size (dwarfing every other dinosaur present) coupled with the grandiose soundtrack that plays when they appear marching to the watering hole really makes them come across as gods walking among mortals.
  • The Tarbosaurus arriving at the watering hole. This watering hole was surrounded by a massive aggregation of hadrosaurs, sauropods, ankylosaurids, and therizinosaurs. All of these are large, formidable herbivores. Yet the tyrannosaur doesn't need to roar loudly or charge at any of them with mouth agape (as is common in stereotype) to incite fear in them. Its sheer presence is enough to do that.
  • The High-Altitude Battle between the alpha male Barbaridactylus and his rival, ending in the latter’s death.
    • The sneaky male, meanwhile, manages not only to avoid that fate by simply taking advantage of his natural disguise, but also ends up more successful at finding a mate than the alpha male — proof that brains beat brawn every time.
  • The Secernosaurus journey through an incredibly dry desert (so dry, the easily soluble gypsum forms the dunes).

Freshwater:

  • The Velociraptor segment, managing to gloriously avert both Raptor Attack and Goofy Feathered Dinosaur at the same time. It shows a trio of them scaling a sheer cliff face to prey on a flock of pterosaurs, using their feather coat to control their nimble movement among the rocks and even shield themselves from falls. Looking like an elegant and menacing ground hawk mixed with behavioral traits and mannerisms from leopards and coyotes, the raptors are easily the most accurate and most believeable depiction of this species in popular culture.
  • The battle between the mother Quetzalcoatlus and the rival female preying upon her nest. It's a jousting match between a pair of ten-foot long beaks, made even more spectacular by the Quetz's terrifyingly-baritone goose-like honks.

Ice Worlds:

  • The Velociraptor sequence gets topped by a cinematic segment of dromaeosaurs ambushing a group of hadrosaurs at a river crossing, operating like a pack of wolves in the snow.
  • The Nanuqsaurus demonstrating true pack hunting to corral a herd of Pachyrhinosaurus and isolate the weakest member for an easy kill, all while in the middle of a blizzard. Pachyrhinosaurus, for their credit, hold off the tyrannosaurs and successfully defend their young.
  • For many animals, a forest fire is a disaster, but for the troodontid, it's an opportunity. Like modern Australian firehawks, it intentionally spreads fire to flush out prey. You can see the gears turning inside its head as it stares into the flames.

Forests:

  • The Qianzhousaurus hunting Corythoraptor in the forest using stealth and camouflage in the forest. It's especially refreshing since it's such a realistic portrayal of a predator hunting: no stomping and roaring, no exaggerated fight scene, like with most documentaries. Just a swift, precise and efficient kill, in a way that's very reminiscent of a tiger. Adding to the realism, the Qianzhousaurus actually fails her first attempt—as noted by the narration, this is the outcome of most hunts in the wild.
  • Some juvenile Therizinosaurus are shown going to great lengths to reach a bees' nest, only to be driven back by the bees after barely tasting the honey. Then an adult Therizinosaurus shows up, and it simply knocks the nest to the ground with a casual swipe of its claws, ignoring the bees' stings. After it leaves, the juvenile Therizinosaurus are finally able to enjoy what's left of the honey (despite receiving some more stings).

    Season Two 
Islands:
  • The cornered Simosuchus warding off a Majungasaurus way bigger then it long enough to escape.
  • The Madtsoia eating a Masiakasaurus about to eat the baby Adalatherium. There's Always a Bigger Fish.

Badlands:

  • The Isisaurus lay their eggs in volcanic soil just like the Olorotitan... only they lay it in a caldera and cross through active lava fields to do so. The sight of a whole herd of sauropods by an erupting volcano is like something out of a metal album cover.
    • The fact that the first thing the babies do upon hatching is making essentially the same journey in reverse, without any assistance or even supervision by their parents. Granted, the hatchlings are born during the wet season when rain and shifting wind directions have cleared away most of the toxic gases, but the terrain and lurking predators still make the journey quite perilous. One definitely has to commend those youngsters who make it to the forest at the end.
    • The Uncovered section at the end makes this even more awesome because this isn't an isolated event. Paleontologists have found layers of Isisaurus eggs in the same location throughout the millions of years that Isisaurus lived. This means that at some point in Isisaurus' evolution, these animals discovered that not only were they the only dinosaurs that could survive this harsh environment, but that over generations they got the timing down so precisely that it became their habitual nesting site.

Swamps:

  • The Pachycephalosaurus segment sees a fight break out in a flock. It's shot just like a street brawl with the others running with the fight in the dust, and every impact is felt. Especially awesome is the older male gaining a surprise victory after being knocked down.
  • The Tyrannosaurus rex hunting scene is in equal parts Nightmare Fuel for watching the giant predators set up their trap at night, and awesome in watching the actual hunt unfold. Including one of the tyrannosaurs using its heavily reinforced head like a battering ram to throw the Edmontosaurus off its feet.

Oceans:

  • By bending its body into a C shape, the Mosasaurus can accelerate from a still position to such a speed that the mere impact kills the Tuarangisaurus it was hunting. The hunt ends with the Mosasaurus breaching with the dead elasmosaur in its jaws.
  • The end of the ammonite section has a glorious shot of dozens of ammonites from multiple species, with Attenborough noting that ammonites have existed for four hundred million years. After decades of shows and books treating them as marine reptile snacks, it's stunning to see just how spectacular ammonites can be on their own.

North America:

  • The arrival of the herd of Alamosaurus carries just as much majesty as the other sauropods in the series. Their size truly puts the "Titan" in titanosaur.
  • Credit to the old male Alamosaurus - in a world filled with danger, this supergiant herbivore managed the seemingly impossible - living to die of old age. The narration also points out that he likely has many surviving offspring in his herd, which means his legacy will live on even longer.
  • The fight between the T. rex and the Quetzalcoatlus pair. In a shocking turn of events, it's the Quetzalcoatlus that win, pecking at the T. rex until he's forced to back down.
  • The fight between the old male Triceratops and his younger opponent. It's completely one-sided in favor of the larger, older bull, but an absolute spectacle in showcasing just how strong these giants were as the old Trike, whom outweighs his opponent by four tons, easily pushes around the younger bull.

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