Trivia / Planet of Dinosaurs

• Accidentally Correct Zoology: The first animatronic dinosaur shown indirectly in the show is a silhouette of a moving Brontosaurus in a video. At the time of the documentary it was scientifically accepted its real name was Apatosaurus and not "Brontosaurus" (which is the name almost-always used in the program), but in 2015 the name "Brontosaurus" returned valid again for a part of the scientific community.
• Dueling Movies: It might seem unbelievable, but in Italy this documentary was really in competition against Jurassic Park! Piero Angela even cited the film J.P. in his first episode when talking about insects trapped in amber, mentioning the film's theory about cloning dinosaurs from mosquitos as "ridiculous". Also, in one interview, Angela proudly said that his docu has more than 15 kinds of dinosaur while the film only has seven. In truth, 19 kinds of non-avian dinosaurs are encountered during the time travel, plus many pterosaurs (4 of them identified) and 4 aquatic reptiles. In total, about 50 models of dinosaurs and non-dinosaurs were realized for the program.
• In Memoriam: In Italy a great number of relevant characters, from the current President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella to the then Prime Minister Mario Draghi, to RAI colleagues, to singers, have quoted Piero Angela's demise as "a great loss for Italy", and the RAI chose to change its programs the days after his death, happened in 13th August 2022. In 29th March 2023 it was proposed to dedicate a square to him in the city of Bologna — the seventh largest Italian city, well-known for its ancient university. In 21st June 2023, the Italian high-school final exam for the 18-years-old Italian students had Piero Angela as one of the authors to choose (among the others) for their first examination, to achieve the so-called "Maturità" — which allows the teenagers to potentially frequent the university after the high school.
• Science Marches On: More than a quarter of a century has passed since this documentary; thus, some portrayals and statements about extinct animals are not accurate anymore. According to modern knowledge Plateosaurus was not quadrupedal; "Ultrasaurus" is not valid; Anatosaurus may not be valid as well ^note Edmontosaurus is also shown as a distinct animal from Anatosaurus, but was arguably Edmontosaurus regalis, while "Anatosaurus" should be Edmontosaurus annectens. ; Torosaurus was not the biggest-headed land animal; dromaeosaurids were probably not pack hunters and their foot-claws were used as hooks than slashing weapons; Mamenchisaurus did not look like Diplodocus; Oviraptors were not egg-robbing specialists; plesiosaurs did not have serpentine necks; and several dinosaurs and pterosaurs had some form of feathers or similar structures. Also, in the 3rd episode dinosaurs and birds are described as possibly distinct lineages, and in the last episode the host incautiously says "dinosaurs went extinct without leaving descendants" - the referred descendants probably are the modern reptiles and not the birds. In the 1st one, however, birds are quoted as the most strict living relatives of dinosaurs (in traditional sense), followed by crocodilians (the other living Archosaurian lineage), snakes & lizards (the Lepidosaurians), and finally turtles & tortoises (the Chelonians). The imprecisions in the series are compensated by the fact that Piero Angela points out the uncertainty of scientific statements across the whole program, unlike most Walking With pieces.
• Unpopular Popular Character: Piero Angela and his programs have always been very popular in Italy: he's been present almost since the beginnings of the TV in this country in the 1950s, more precisely in the Italian public network: the RAI, Radio Audiovisione Italiana, "italian radio-TV". It used to be the host of the first TV news-broadcastings, followed as a foreigner journalist the First Men on the Moon (the ones of the Apollo 11, in 1969), before starting the franchise Quark in year 1981. According to many critics and TV experts his success among people of every generation, from elderly to children, was due to his typical ability to explain even the most complex technical/scientifical arguments with a familiar household language, and to his courteous and nice manners when presenting himself to the public. Alberto, too, has herited these abilities from the father, and since The '90s has also become a well-known host of scientific/educative RAI programs, and is expecially popular among the younger audiences. Worthy to note is that was just the series Il Pianeta Dei Dinosauri that launched Alberto Angela (a professional palaeontologist) for the first time in TV. On the other hand, both Piero and Alberto Angela have sometimes had troubles with other popular italian TV characters in the past, as admitted by themselves in some interviews.