As every year, Marc, Natee and Gemma visited TetZooCon, Darren Naish’ big annual London event about animals, palaeontology, palaeoart and all things tetrapod. And this was a special edition indeed. Not only has this been the last ever edition of the Tetrapod Zoology Conference in its current form (more on which on the show) but we actually gave a talk this time! And what’s more, the talk has been recorded and is included in full on this very special, extra…
We’re back! After a few months’ break, the podcast resumes with a Prehistoric Planet 2 special and welcomes the return of palaeoartist, Gabriel Ugueto, who can finally tell us more about his role as concept artist on the series. We can wax lyrical forever about the show, and nary a soul can stop us. In the News The coming of ‘Philosoraptor’ was foretold. ‘Skull of a dromaeosaurid dinosaur Shri devi from the Upper Cretaceous of the Gobi Desert suggests convergence…
Whereas the first two episodes of Prehistoric Planet 2 took us to the Islands and Badlands, the final three transport the viewer to Swamps, Oceans and, er, North America. Why the sudden change of theme, to a continental locale rather than a type of habitat, in the final episode? It hardly matters, I suppose, if it means we get to see more of Prehistoric Planet‘s utterly fantastic T. rex. What’s more, in this series, I finally got what I really wanted… …That is, a…
It’s back! Already! This year, I don’t quite have the time to squeeze out a blog post after the release of every episode, but I’m still determined to mark the occasion in suitable fashion. So, I’ll post once today, having seen the first two episodes, and again on Friday. Can you believe that another season is already upon us? I guess that’s what Apple’s endless pit of money will buy you. That, and Darren Naish’s increasingly snazzy shirts. I’ll admit…
Slightly later than planned, thanks to the vagaries of existence (ah, yes), Episode 18 is something of a Prehistoric Planet special, as Niels, Marc, and Natee take a brief sojourn away from Vintage Dinosaur Art to wax lyrical about the much lauded Apple TV+ documentary series. Could we possibly heap yet more praise onto it amid the universal acclaim? Palaeoartist Gabriel Ugueto was among the over 1,500-strong team of creatives and scientists who lent their powers to the series, and…
I was only a year old when BBC’s landmark series Walking with Dinosaurs first aired, but I have to imagine watching it in 1999 must have felt similar to the way I felt watching Prehistoric Planet this week. Not since then has the age of dinosaurs ever been portrayed so believably. For the first time in a big-budget media project we’re getting depictions of Mesozoic life that isn’t plagued by concessions and strange design choices. Feathers are commonplace. Multi-ton behemoths…
And so Prehistoric Planet comes to an end, although thankfully not with the extinction of the (non-avian) dinosaurs as some had feared. Instead, we’re treated to glimpses of Late Cretaceous life in woodland environments, and although the show remains dominated by dinosaurs, plants do get their due this time. Starting with a herd of Austroposeidon clearing trees in the South American forest (and a look at how plants aggressively colonise the space created), the episode then shifts north, following a…
Prehistoric Planet’s third installment takes us to the Late Cretaceous poles, an environment that seems to have featured surprisingly often in palaeo-media. It opens in North America with some Arctic dromaeosaurs, drawn to migratory edmontosaurs fording a river. There are much stronger shades of the old ‘pack hunting dromaeosaurs’ trope here, with the animals seeming to co-ordinate their efforts, although they are clearly after juveniles and, in the end, scavenge the remains of an individual killed by the currents of…
The third episode of Prehistoric Planet provides reassurance that at least some of our favourite stars will return. Velociraptor is the first animal to make a re-appearance, this time depicted hunting roosting pterosaurs on a cliff face around a waterfall. Not content with just sticking fantastic-looking feathers on their maniraptors and calling it a day, the Prehistoric Planet team want to show us exactly how the creatures make use of their plumage. In this case, Velociraptor utilises its ‘wings’ and…
Our second trip to the Prehistoric Planet takes us to a series of desert landscapes, including the Gobi, North Africa and South America (twice). And in contrast with the first episode, it’s rather heavy on dinosaurs – as one might expect, given that a marine reptile flopping around in the sands wouldn’t look very dignified. Other creatures do significantly feature – pterosaurs, of course, and a little anonymous lizard chasing flies around the faces of sleeping Tarbosaurus. However, the dinosaurs…
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Chasmosaurus belli silhouette in custom bulleted list by Scott D. Sampson, Mark A. Loewen, Andrew A. Farke, Eric M. Roberts, Catherine A. Forster, Joshua A. Smith, and Alan L. Titus, CC BY-SA 3.0. Sourced from PhyloPic.