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Watching Prehistoric Planet episode 2, then going away to play
Prehistoric Kingdom. This is the kind of life that I live now and I
wouldn't have it any other way.
Episode 2 is even better simply because it sorta addressed a concern
that I had with episode 1. This episode feels a little bit more focused
on the ecosystem and the creatures that live in it. Mongolia had the
most screen time, then South America, then North Africa. It's not
perfect, since North Africa still suffers from limited screentime and
limited scope. It would have been nice for the entire show to dedicate
just 40 minutes to one ecosystem, but I get it, the show wants to give
us a global look at dinosaurs, and spending 40 minutes on one ecosystem
with only 5 episodes just isn't going to cut it. The only solution is to
have 10 episodes! A guy can dream, right?
I don't need to tell you how good the effects and such are in this episode. It's beating a dead horse by this point. There are so many new animals and many dense scenes filled with dinosaurs.
It was great seeing a Therizinosaurus in the group shot. I also can't
help but notice the extremely long toe claws of the unnamed Mongolian
Titanosaur. I'm looking at the footprint pic Darren posted and it
doesn't seem to show such long claws in the back. Still, I think it's a
cool detail. It helps to make it stand out even if it's very speculative
at this point.
My biggest critique of this episode is with the animation of the Dreadnoughtus fight. I didn't feel the power when the necks smashed into each other. When the defeated male fell to the ground, it didn't feel like a 50-ton animal falling. Barely any dust and sand got kicked up when it fell. Ironically, in the next scene where it lifted its neck, but then collapsed back down again, the neck kicked up more dust than the entire weight of the animal falling on the ground.
Throwing some love back to the Dreadnoughtus, I immediately noticed the models addressed the recent paper on the sacral vertebra shape with the little hump on the base of the tail.
Another observation is that perhaps it was a missed opportunity to address how Velociraptors/Dromaeosaurs used their sickle claws for grabbing and pinning prey. I feel like the sickle claw has been mostly window dressing. It's there, and it looks sharp, but most dinosaur media barely does anything with it. Who knows, maybe it'll come up in a later episode.
I'm also wondering about the Tarbosaurus drinking scene. I could have sworn that whenever lions went to drink, most animals don't care. Seems a bit over-the-top to have all the herbivores clear away for the Tarbosaurus to drink. That scene kind of stuck out to me.
Oh and I love the soundtrack. I found myself humming the main theme throughout the day.
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R4PT0R
Ep. 2 was my absolute favorite one!
I think it's my favorite as well. Or maybe episode 4.
by SpaceDinosaur; ; Report