Above the deserts of North Africa, aerial combat ensues as male Barbaridactylus pterosaurs fight for the attention of females below.Above the deserts of North Africa, aerial combat ensues as male Barbaridactylus pterosaurs fight for the attention of females below.Above the deserts of North Africa, aerial combat ensues as male Barbaridactylus pterosaurs fight for the attention of females below.
- Writer
- Star
David Attenborough
- Self
- (voice)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDreadnoughtus are shown fighting by slashing each other with their giant thumb claws. Titanosaurs, the group which the animal belonged to, generally did not have thumb claws. The show's creators were aware of this, but chose to depict Dreadnoughtus with claws because another titanosaur, Diamantinasaurus was found to have had thumb claws. During production, it was deduced that this animal would have been very distantly related to Dreadnoughtus, and Dreadnoughtus most likely had no claws on its front feet. By that time it was too late to change the CGI models, so the incorrect claws were kept.
- GoofsVelociraptor was already extinct by the time of the series. It lived around 70-75 million years ago, while this show is set around 66 million years ago. However its close relative Adasaurus, which looked almost the same as Velociraptor, would have lived closer to that timeframe.
Featured review
So life like and well done
Deserts moves away from the comfort of the coastline and into the desolate deserts of the Late Cretaceous period. Viewers travel to the deserts of South America, Central Asia, and Northern Africa. While dinosaurs are the primary focus, pterosaurs also feature prominently in the episode. By depicting both predators and prey, life in deserts is presented as an unforgiving yet hopeful experience. The start of the episode follows a gathering of Dreadnoughtus, a genus of titanosaur sauropod, as they prepare for mating season. Their waltz through the heat of the South American desert is breathtaking due to the series ability to make these animals seem massive. Prehistoric Media often neglects to include scale for animals like sauropods, instead stating their dimensions and leaving it at that. Prehistoric Planet makes them feel titanic, however. Each step they take almost reverberates through the screen, building an intense feeling of grandiose and intensity for their every motion. Seeing a flock of birds land on top of one's back makes them seem even more massive, helping to remind the audience that dinosaurs like Dreadnoughtus were indeed giants that would dwarf even the largest modern life forms. While bringing them to life has proven cumbersome in the past, Prehistoric Planet excels at immersing the audience in the sauropods presence. The first thing to note is their appearance. With muddy-brown skin adorned with yellow spots, Prehistoric Planet's Tarbosaurus are not just marvelous to look at, but also quite different from the series depiction of Tyrannosaurus. While you'd think that this is nothing special, unique appearances for closely related dinosaurs is often a rarity in dinosaur documentaries. Two of my favourite dinosaur docuseries, Walking with Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Park, fall victim to this principle.
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- moviesfilmsreviewsinc
- May 26, 2022
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Filming locations
- Namib Desert, Namibia(Watering hole sequence)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime40 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 16 : 9
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