Dinosaur animated series and documentaries (something special for all us dinosaur/prehistory enthusiasts)

[Nederbeest]

Although not Prehistoric Kingdom related (although it is dinosaur related awesomeness), I still want to share something special with you all.

Animator David James Armsby (YouTube channel Dead Sound and creator of the animation short "Sharp Teeth") has created a new series of animated shorts featuring dinosaur goodness. Check it out, it's absolutely stunning to see what this man has done on his own.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bczetlOc3Q

And the first episode "Old Buck" starring an old battlescared Styracosaurus. Visual story telling at its finest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQJWcrjC_OY

And here's the original short "Sharp Teeth" which started it and planted the idea of a series in the creators mind all the way back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtWYvo0vMO8

EDIT 2022-04-03: Seeing as the scope of this thread is slowly changing into a loveletter to all kinds of (quality) paleomedia and animation I've changed the title slightly.

Also bumping this up a little simply because it's amazing. Yes, we ARE getting a big budget Hollywood level CGI spiritual Walking With Dinosaurs successor slated to be released on May the 23th. Check it out it's glorious:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkGS-L_1L-I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk4ZlVEtjsc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnoNeMlNeD0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7EvnNIV8_0

Produced by Jon Favreau
Narrated by Sir David Attenborough
and a musical score by Hans Zimmer
Produced and funded by the BBC Planet Earth Team and Apple TV+

2022 is shaping up to be the year of the dinosaur.

[Nederbeest]

Първоначално публикувано от SBA77:

Първоначално публикувано от Nederbeest:

Did you spot the Triceratops hiding in the background? A dino time traveler. Hahaha!

Nice little cameo.

No I didn't, I should take a second look.

He must have been sent back in time to save Sarah Conner ;)

Check near the palmtree upper right at the 1:33 minute mark. You can spot the sneaky trike.

[SBA77]

Първоначално публикувано от Nederbeest:

Първоначално публикувано от SBA77:

No I didn't, I should take a second look.

He must have been sent back in time to save Sarah Conner ;)

Check near the palmtree upper right at the 1:33 minute mark. You can spot the sneaky trike.

Don't worry I saw him in my second viewing. He's in the scene where the dimetradon chases off the crocodilomorph or archosaur from the lake; in the background and looking a bit like a rock formation or as part of the cliffside.

Hmmm...now that I think about it that way, it's possible he used the same time machine from that Black Sabbath song "Iron Man", and now he is now trapped in a stony prison.

[Nederbeest]

I came across this nice little feature with original animation. And can I say that these designs are some of the best I've seen for Triceratops, Edmontosaurus and Tyrannosaurus. Especially Tyrannosaurus is amazing. An absolute unit. Lucas Mateus (the person who made the designs), I salute you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2K9JYPpApE

And here a longer version in a more documentary style video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY60MMOOBqM

Move aside T.rex, there's a new king taking your spot.

"Now the memory of the Ceratopsians is kept in a mausoleum in another dimension" Say wut? That bit took me by surprise there. Not sure if I like it, or find it crinch. Nevertheless I do appreciate these short videos. Also unsure if it's a real narrator or an AI, since it sounds a bit off at times... hard to tell nowadays.

[SBA77]

Първоначално публикувано от Nederbeest:

I came across this nice little feature with original animation. And can I say that these designs are some of the best I've seen for Triceratops, Edmontosaurus and Tyrannosaurus. Especially Tyrannosaurus is amazing. An absolute unit. Lucas Mateus (the person who made the designs), I salute you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2K9JYPpApE

And here a longer version in a more documentary style video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY60MMOOBqM

Move aside T.rex, there's a new king taking your spot.

"Now the memory of the Ceratopsians is kept in a mausoleum in another dimension" Say wut? That bit took me by surprise there. Not sure if I like it, or find it crinch. Nevertheless I do appreciate these short videos. Also unsure if it's a real narrator or an AI, since it sounds a bit off at times... hard to tell nowadays.

Oh yes the dinosaurs certainly look good. The quills on the backs of the Triceratops is an interesting choice. I've never seen that before and I'm pretty sure it's speculative, though as you know we have found other ceratopsians that do have them. Though the animations are a bit stiff, but other than that it's pretty good. Also the script could also use some work, but that's expected I suppose for indy projects like this.

Oh and there's something funny I notice about the Triceratops design. The amount of scaliness of the skin is very reminiscent of the old outdated dinosaur designs from movies from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. When looking at the triceratops I kept remembering those old claymation dinosaurs from One Million BC and Planet of Dinosaurs (the old 1970s film) and some of those old 80s and early 90s dinosaur documentaries.

On a side I almost thought this was coming from the Australian's public TV channel because of the youtube channel's name, but the narrator gave it away. I recognized as the AI I've heard elsewhere.

[Nederbeest]

Първоначално публикувано от SBA77:

Oh yes the dinosaurs certainly look good. The quills on the backs of the Triceratops is an interesting choice. I've never seen that before and I'm pretty sure it's speculative, though as you know we have found other ceratopsians that do have them. Though the animations are a bit stiff, but other than that it's pretty good. Also the script could also use some work, but that's expected I suppose for indy projects like this.

Oh and there's something funny I notice about the Triceratops design. The amount of scaliness of the skin is very reminiscent of the old outdated dinosaur designs from movies from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. When looking at the triceratops I kept remembering those old claymation dinosaurs from One Million BC and Planet of Dinosaurs (the old 1970s film) and some of those old 80s and early 90s dinosaur documentaries.

On a side I almost thought this was coming from the Australian's public TV channel because of the youtube channel's name, but the narrator gave it away. I recognized as the AI I've heard elsewhere.

I've seen the quills a couple of times in different kinds of media and artwork (it's kind of becoming a paleo meme). I mean the Styracosaurus from Prehistoric Kingdom has them as well, as does the Pachyrinhosaurus from Prehistoric Planet. Is it speculative, yes, but they base it on the early ceratopsian Psittacosaurus who had quill like structures on the tail.

Triceratops designs in this short do have a certain vintage feel, I agree (made me also think of the claymation stuff). Although it's still very modern, which I appreciated. We do know they had scales based on a slab of fossilized Triceratops skin. The Prehistoric Kingdom model shows them in all their glory, which are based on this.

And as I've already mentioned, the Tyrannosaurus in this short has become one of my favourites. It's really, really good (dare I say even better than the Prehistoric Planet version?). The person who designed the animals should be hired for professional model designer if he hasn't been already.

ABC Terra is apparently a channel from a YouTuber in Brazil. I've watched a couple of his clips where he narrates himself. Luckily each video has English translation, which means most people can watch and learn from them.

Hmm... perhaps I should make a list of YouTubers who make quaiity educational and fun content about prehistoric life. Some of these content creators are really good in their research and sharing new bits about discoveries and paleontology factoids in general.

[SBA77]

Първоначално публикувано от Nederbeest:

Първоначално публикувано от SBA77:

Oh yes the dinosaurs certainly look good. The quills on the backs of the Triceratops is an interesting choice. I've never seen that before and I'm pretty sure it's speculative, though as you know we have found other ceratopsians that do have them..

I've seen the quills a couple of times in different kinds of media and artwork (it's kind of becoming a paleo meme). I mean the Styracosaurus from Prehistoric Kingdom has them as well, as does the Pachyrinhosaurus from Prehistoric Planet. Is it speculative, yes, but they base it on the early ceratopsian Psittacosaurus who had quill like structures on the tail.

Oh yes, I'm aware of that. Protoceratops is often depicted as having the quills on their tails too (as PK players can attests to 😉). I just haven't really seen it on Triceratops before. I suppose quill on ceratopians' tail is a bit like feathered raptors; we have hard evidence that some species had it but it's applied to all them and believed to be a common shared feature.

Първоначално публикувано от Nederbeest:

Първоначално публикувано от SBA77:

On a side I almost thought this was coming from the Australian's public TV channel because of the youtube channel's name, but the narrator gave it away. I recognized as the AI I've heard elsewhere.

ABC Terra is apparently a channel from a YouTuber in Brazil. I've watched a couple of his clips where he narrates himself. Luckily each video has English translation, which means most people can watch and learn from them.

I know, I checked the Youtube channel and found out they were actually Brazilian, despite the name.

Първоначално публикувано от Nederbeest:

And as I've already mentioned, the Tyrannosaurus in this short has become one of my favourites. It's really, really good (dare I say even better than the Prehistoric Planet version?). The person who designed the animals should be hired for professional model designer if he hasn't been already.

Mmmm, I don't know about that T-rex. It just liked like a "normal" T-rex to me though I didn't like it's wide jowls. They made it look a little silly, almost like Barney at times lol. But yeah Lucas did a good job. Hopefully someone sees his work and hires him.

Първоначално публикувано от Nederbeest:

Hmm... perhaps I should make a list of YouTubers who make quaiity educational and fun content about prehistoric life. Some of these content creators are really good in their research and sharing new bits about discoveries and paleontology factoids in general.

Looks like you've found another thread idea ;)

[SBA77]

The trailer for the next episode of Sauria just dropped
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krgTY-YqFK0

[SBA77]

And it's finally here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVqM2NzuwTk

[Nederbeest]

Първоначално публикувано от SBA77:

And it's finally here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVqM2NzuwTk

To be honest, I didn't like this one as much compared to the previous two.

One thing I'm really starting to notice is whenever there is narration by a character it's always done by James himself, making each character of every epiosode sound like the same character (which they are not ofcourse). I get why, but personally I think it would be an improvement if he would get some other people to help out with that.

Other than that, magic and dino cthulhu is a little bit too much for me XD

[Nederbeest]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipX5x8DQ49A

The making off has dropped. Funnily enough, James himself has the same critique of this episode as me (about his voice acting).

Although I personally didn't like the short due to the Lovecraftian bits, he did. By no means it's a bad episode, but for me it did not fit the world.

Sidenote: I actually have the Necronomicon collection which contains most if not all of Lovecrafts work, so it's not that I dislike this type of horror. I think I just don't want it with my dinosaurs, hahahaha!

Sidenote 2: Dinosauria series 2 has been confirmed. YAY! Let's go!

[SBA77]

Първоначално публикувано от Nederbeest:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipX5x8DQ49A

The making off has dropped. Funnily enough, James himself has the same critique of this episode as me (about his voice acting).

Hah! I just finished watching that too, was about to comment how many of the issue you had with were the very same ones that he did.

Now as for my thoughts, I thought it was alright, but I don't think it was good finale. It'd be a bit like Primal (as in the whole series not even the season) ending on The Night Feeder. It just felt like just another episode rather than a finale. I mean yeah, Sauria was more of an anthology and each episode was meant to show different aspects and elements of the settings and focused on each race, but even with that I still feel Rise of Decayed served as a poor capstone to the series.

Also if I am correct and that each film was supposed to focus on each race, giving us an idea into their society, culture, and ideology, I'm disappointed the Blue Song (who are my favorite of the 5 races/factions) didn't get an episode. I suppose you could argue that this one was theirs, I'd say it was more focused on the Decayed rather them.

[Nederbeest]

I came across this little gem today (made by Mario Lanzas):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXCiDe9T9yc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHszQL-kxfQ

I loved it. It really had that feel of those old paleoart drawings of prehistoric seamonsters and even paying homage to some of the more famous artpieces.

Little shout out to the queen of paleontology; Mary Anning

[SBA77]

Първоначално публикувано от Nederbeest:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHszQL-kxfQ

I loved it. It really had that feel of those old paleoart drawings of prehistoric seamonsters and even paying homage to some of the more famous artpieces.

It's not just the reference to classic paleoart, the whole short feels vintage. The animation style looks like those early hand-drawn animations, and the whole thing almost looks like

Another thing I noticed is the director seems to even be trying to capture the mindset, so to speak, of that old paleo art with how savagely violent they were portraying the animals, though according to the description there was a deeper meaning behind that orgy of violence at the end of the film and it wasn't only a reference to outdated views on prehistoric creatures.

[Nederbeest]

Yep. That's why it's great. He understood the artwork and adapted it to animation perfectly.

I have the artbook "Paleoart - Visions of the Prehistoric Past" by Zoë Lescaze which contains many high quality images of the old artwork that Mario used as inspiration and recreated. He did his homework :)

[SBA77]

Oh, I also found this a couple of days ago too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGI4LIUreQs

Didn't really want to share it at first because the quality didn't seem as good, but then I thought I might as well.