Gorgosaurus

Time for my second Walking with Dinosaurs dinosaur review (the children's version, not the TV) and this time it's my third favourite Arctic dinosaur after Parksosaurus and the Alaskan Troodon. Gorgosaurus.

Gorgon

The Gorgosaurus in the movie is a beautiful iridescent blue, with white and black marking on its skull. I will first say before I go on, is that iridescent blue is unlikely for such a large predator. However, it could be seasonal, or it didn't need to be dull coloured to blend in. To be honest, this is not as big as a deal as another part of the design that I will talk about later. 

The design of the Gorgosaurus seems to be very accurate, and the fact that we have Gorgosaurus instead of Tyrannosaurus on the big screen makes me want to smile. As I've stated before, I don't have such high hopes for the film, but the earplugs will hopefully make me enjoy what I wanted: silent dinosaur film. 

One of my biggest problems with the model is the integument. The Gorgosaurus in this movie are scaly. While it does look like what we always thought tyrannosaurs look like, recent new fossil discoveries show that even big tyrannosaurs can be feathered. In 2011, 3 specimens of the Chinese giant feathered tyrannosaurs, Yutyrannys huali, where found, but they weren't described until 2012. However, I can slightly forgive the scaly Gorgosaurus in the movie, because the models where made in 2010, a year before Yutyrannus was discovered, and a full two years before it was formally described and released to the public. 

Many people use the discovery of Yutyrannus to argue that giant tyrannosaurs, specifically Tarbosaurus  and Tyrannosaurus where fully feathered. Some argue that these animals lived in a much warmer environment than Yutyrannus. Yutyrannus may have experienced snow. Tyrannosaurus didn't, so for now, I am unsure if Tyrannosaurus was scaly or feathered, but I hope for it to be feathered because that would be more interesting. However, with Gorgosaurus it is different. It is around the same size as Yutyrannus, and lived in a much colder place than Yutyrannus did. Four months of darkness and freezing cold every winter. Therefore, it seems that Gorgosaurus was more likely to have feathers. It should be noted that impressions of scales on the base of Gorgosaurus' tail have been found, but it is possible that other parts of it's body are feathered, or that the tail was covered in feathers, but the type of preservation didn't preserve feathers. Also, it seems like the film makers thought that scaly tyrannosaurs would be more recognizable to the audience. 

I give this Gorgosaurus a 8/10.

In the end, I think if the Gorgosaurus won't talk, he will be my favourite character in the entire film. And below, is what the movie tyrannosaur could have been. Until next time. 

New Walking with Dinosaurs Japanese Trailer

A new trailer for Walking with Dinosaurs has been released, and is available on Youtube. It is such a shame that it looks so awesome, but the fact that there will be voices just makes me angry. I am for sure buying ear plugs. And of course, they could have done Gorgosaurus with feathers, but I will justify this since Yutyrannus existance was not known at the time the models where made.

It is a real shame that they had to do this, but I guess we don't get what we want. Let's just hope this is successful enough to warrant a sequel that won't be like this.

Here is where to go to see the trailer. Intense, but just childish. I apologize for being such a pendant, but I guess they've missed what could have been an awesome movie. I'll just pop in the original series this weekend and eat a bowl of ice cream, and I'll be all set.

Troodon

This post, I am going to talk about this little guy who will be appearing in the Walking with Dinosaurs movie. Since the movie is not out, I am going to talk just about its appearance based on the photo above and from other places.

I am going to start by saying I like this design. I like how the design in hoatzin like, with blue around the eye, and the feathers sprouting from the back of its head. I like how the designer didn't just make a Troodon with feathers, but a Troodon that feathers it may not have had. I also like that it has tiny feathers similar to its wing on its back leg, maybe it was derived by a gliding ancestor of its. I also like that the feathers go past the ankles, not that it is more realistic, it's just that I like that style better for some reason. It also doesn't look shrink-wrapped, which is good, and gives it a more realistic appearance.

That's the good part. Now I am going to talk about the negatives. And theres more negatives than I wanted there to be. While the feathers look good in the picture above, in the trailer it doesn't look that good, as if it where super-glued on.

Like that picture. 

However, it could be the pose the animal is in, but I'll just leave it at that. Now lets talk about the scaley lizard face. There are fossils of troodonts with feathered faces, and while we haven't found feathers on Troodon yet, given it position in the dinosaur family tree, it certainly had feathers, and if it did have feathers, it is unlikely it had a scaly lizard face. It is more likely it had a feathered face, or an unfeathered (and unscaled) face. However, since we will never see them, we may never know. Also, the scaly face was probably artistic license, giving the animal a villainous look. Obviously its the villain because it punches a hole in Patchi's frill when he was little. However, apart from the scaly face, I think he looks cute. 

Another problem I am having with the animal is its wings. I am very happy they have wings, but it seem like the primaries are.... off. The primaries should be on the second finger, and based on the first picture, it seems like the primaries are sort of attached to it. I guess I'll give that a pass. 

However, a little thing I've noticed (I'm not sure if anyone else has) is the shape of the skull. The skull has a little bump on the top of the skull, something I have not seen in Troodon skulls before. It is also ambiguous  about what species of Troodon they are portraying. The movie is set in Alaska, and teeth of 4 meter long Troodon have been found there, but if they are the species seen in the movie or not is unclear. If they are, then I'll let that pass because it may have looked slightly different from its relatives. After all it was larger. 

So the Troodon has an overall great appearance, but the head is the biggest issue, with the bump and being scaly. 

As I do these reviews on the animals in Walking with Dinosaurs, I will score them based on my opinion and accuracy. I do have to say before I move on, I am not a paleontologist, but I think I know enough to look out for inaccuracies. 

In total I give the Troodon a 9 on the accuracy scale, as it portrays a somewhat non-shrink wrapped feathered animal, and for having the primaries barely on the second finger, and a scaly face. 

Watch out for more reviews, and if I got anything wrong, you can correct me and I'll update the post. Until tomorrow. 

Walking with Dinosaurs: The Movie

In 1999 the BBC aired a fantastic series, Walking with Dinosaurs. A six part programme with half hour episodes. It made you feel immersed in the past, and even if the animation and CGI was a bit off, the narration kept you on track. This programme inspired me to become insanely interested in special effects and television production, but of course, I was more inspired to become interested in dinosaurs, my biggest interest of the three topics I just mentioned.

That begin said, next month, the movie based off the series will come to theatres. And now this is where things go downhill from here.

We've known that a movie was in the making ever since November of 2010. So I've been waiting for this epic movie for three years. Even though It hasn't come out yet, this movie just destroyed my childhood. It is hard to believe this movie was even made by BBC Earth. It looks like a freaking Disney film!

On the positives: I am glad obscure species are finally getting well deserved screen time. We have Alexornis, Hesperonychus, Alphadon, Edmontonia, and Chirostenotes get their first on screen appearances! Also, we have feathered dinosaurs in cinemas! It looks like to be the most accurate representation of these animals yet. (With the exception of scaly Gorgosaurus and scale faced Hesperonychus and Troodon)

But, it is not like the 1999 series at all. This is aimed at children, with actors voicing their thoughts, and names for the animals. This is what upset me. You spend nearly 65 million dollars, trying to make accurate animals, animate it, edit it ect. to make a movie that already exists. Its called Dinosaur. You can call this movie Dinosaur 2 as a matter in fact. I am glad children will be given awesomely realistic and accurate dinosaurs, but the fact that they turned this movie into an infintile-fest sickens me.
When the first trailer was released, I was really hyped. It wasn't like the BBC series, but it looked good. None of the dinosaurs had names, it looked like there was no narration. It was all good.
It looked like it was marketed to all ages. But the news that big names are voicing the dinosaurs is shattering my childhood more.

If they wanted talking dinosaurs, they could have done that. Instead, everything has been ruined by voices. It seems like they are afraid to try, afraid to try something different. Instead, they want money and they want to draw children in. I actually have no problem with that, but I have a problem with marketing it only to children. You don't need to have voice actors voicing the dinosaurs thoughts to make children watch it. My cousin is in love with dinosaurs, like me, and it doesn't matter if its a documentary or not, his eyes are glued to the screen when he sees those dinosaurs. The voices don't exist to them. Its just a distraction.

This is a warning for anyone who wants to make something like this again, don't add voices. You can just show these animals with a little Kenneth Branagh sprinkled here and there and people will love it even more.

I will still see this movie, but with low expectations, and ear plugs.