Prehistoric Planet Episode 5: Forests – A Bit Lackluster for a Season Finale

It’s been a little over 9 weeks since I posted anything about Prehistoric Planet. I was riding high on the #JurassicJune thermals and getting entirely too excited about Age of Reptiles Ancient Egyptians Issue 2.

Then August hit and writing went pretty much right out the window. Oh I tried to pull some fiction together for the first week of #Smaugust, but after failure there, I did not have the time or energy to try to pick up the pieces.

But I think I’ve managed to get a handle on things, just in time to realize that my free trial of Apple+ is nearly over. So I’m trying to finish any watching, writing and reviewing I might want to do before I have give up the fruit, or break open the piggy bank. At this point I’m honestly not sure what I’ll do but I am definitely considering subscribing. There are quite a few shows on here I’ve enjoyed (Shrinking, Severance, After Party, Ted Lasso, Silo, Pachinko and Slow Horses to name a few), but I’m loathe to sign up for ANOTHER streaming service. It will be a game time decision either way.

Anyway, changing the subject back to what we’re actually supposed to be talking about, Prehistoric Planet Episode 5: Forests.

We’ve reached the end of Season 1!

I’ll admit, I’m not really sure the logic behind story-telling during documentary series, but I did feel like this episode left a little to be desired when considering it was the finale of the first season. Forests was so unassuming that I didn’t even realize it was the last episode until Season 2 began to play.

That being said, we did get to see some cool dinosaurs. Triceratops immediately jumps to mind as, even though it was not the first dinosaur to be featured, it is perhaps one of the most famous we’ve seen yet on the show.

Depictions of this three-horned behemoth generally compare its behavior with that of a bull or even a rhinoceros, which is to say aggressive, territorial and quick to violence. There is perhaps some truth to this as many triceratops fossils have broken horns, and a fossil of a triceratops-like dinosaur (Protoceratops) was discovered locked in combat with a Velociraptor.

As such we might have expected to see an epic battle between triceratops and Tyrannosaurus Rex (who also lived in North America and has featured in episodes on Coasts, on Deserts, and Freshwater), as perhaps a nod to the 1925 film, The Lost World which features such a battle.

However, this is not what happens. The triceratops-scene we see is hardly violent at all, though still filled with tension. We watch as a baby trike tries to follow its mother into a dark cave in search of clay which will line its stomach and protect it from toxins in their food (something similar presents in Jurassic Park with the trike actually getting sick). The poor thing does not keep up with the herd and (slight spoiler) nearly perishes alone in the dark.

Despite the drama of the young triceratops’ plight, the situation is perhaps a bit hilarious as it depicts a fearsome (or perhaps majestic) creature, venturing into a dark cave and essentially, licking the walls.

I’m not sure a laugh was intended here but I did chuckle to see it, though maybe I just needed to release some tension after seeing the baby trike alone and afraid.

As we continue on, we see quite a few more dinosaurs, some returning (Edmontosaurus, and Therizinosaurus), and many many new (Max’s Blogosaurus has a complete list). However, it seems to me that the next star of the show is probably Hatzegopteryx?

The last image we see in the episode is of this giant Pterosaur flying off into the sunset, evoking big Jurassic Park vibes, but other than a poor Zalmoxes which gets almost casually eaten by the Hatzegopteryx, we mostly just watch it walk around the forest.

**Aside: Zalmoxes is named for Zalmoxis, a greek divinity? — slave? Philosopher? — who lived underground for three years and has some parallels to christ’s resurrection myth. You can bet I’m going to fall down this rabbit hole when I finally have time.

I may have slightly spoiled the opening of Season 2 for myself, but it seems that really the function of Hatzegopteryx in this last episode is to introduce us to a character which will feature prominently in the opening of Season 2. However, I wouldn’t say that’s terribly clear at the end of Forests.

Give the Episode a Watch?

Got. To.

Looking back on all the incredible moments we’ve seen in previous episodes in this series however, I’m a bit surprised they chose to end here with only one really big crowd pleaser (Triceratops).

I guess this is why I don’t write for documentaries. Anyway, lack of fanfare aside, I’m still as excited as ever to jump into the next season.

That’s all I have for now. What are y’all’s thoughts? Did you like this episode? Wishing for more pomp in a season finale? Let me know in the comments.

Until next week . . .

Oh No! Not the Babies! Age of Reptiles Ancient Egyptians Issue 2 Review

Well, #JurassicJune is over, but that doesn’t mean we can’t continue enjoying awesome dinosaur filled stories. Last time, I reviewed Age of Reptiles Ancient Egyptians Issue 1, and had a little bit of a heart attack just from the mere knowledge that it existed.

Once calm, I enjoyed the story quite a bit, and was fascinated by the texture of the images, how easy the story was to engage with even without speech bubbles, and how the paralititans are showed as dangerous and not gentle giants.

For the most part, everything that I enjoyed in issue one remains present in issue two. The artwork is still incredible. Primal in a way that really allows the reader to feel like they’re in the ancient past. Brutal too, but that likely has more to do with the content of the story.

Still no speech bubbles . . . and still a unique and interesting choice which adds to the story rather than takes away from it.

I was bit disappointed by our second encounter with Paralititan Stromeri, which are attacked early in this issue by Carcharodontosaurus. In issue one, Paralititans were massive, almost bullying creatures, larger than life and seemingly unassailable. Without getting into spoilers, the opening scene of issue 2 shows that no longer to be the case, and the reader is again presented with a sort of cow-like creature that despite its size cannot defend against smaller but more vicious predators.

It seemed a bit of a step backwards to me.

Regardless of what we think the creatures may have really been like or not, they had been set up one way in issue one and were now being depicted as something else. I suppose not all individuals in a group are the same, and perhaps this group was merely less aggressive than what we saw before, but my initial reaction while reading was not as sense of “no behavior is a monolith” and that different groups will act differently, but one of “would that have happened like that?” Based on the expectations I had from issue one? I’m not sure it would have.

But issue two does not just rest on its laurels, it pushes forward, adding new elements while continuing excellence in the areas I enjoyed in issue one.

Slightly spoilery, but one new element brought to the fore in issue two was sex . . .

Yup, dino sex.

If you’re worried about the kind of hackneyed, purple, and often pornographic depictions of eroticism found in the quite baffling and prevalent sub-genre of Dinosaur Erotica, you needn’t be.

Courtship in issue two consists of presenting the lady Spino with a fish (we saw something similar with the Utahraptors in Raptor Red, one panel of them doing the deed, and then they retire to Lady Spino’s nest to find . . . well you’ll just have to read it.

In reality, its just ‘mating’, akin to something we might see in Prehistoric Planet or a documentary about some other kind of animal. It looks awkward, uncomfortable, and probably a bit painful for everyone involved. However, there is a pretty strong thematic current surrounding violence within this issue so perhaps its depiction adds to that stream. Who is to say? It certainly adds drama to what happens next which again, I don’t want to spoil (but is some deft story telling by Delgado).

Far more important thematically however, is the part of life’s cycle which comes after sex . . . Children.

We see each of the various dinosaurs rearing their young in some capacity during this issue, and I found this theme to be deftly used in each instance. Delgado discusses his inspiration in afterward text at the end of the issue, reliving his experience watching westerns and samurai movies. Sanjuro appears to have stuck with him, specifically the experience of a wandering samurai who gets drawn into local politics and helps nine young samurai. Sanjuro learns that violence is not always the answer.

Delgado says it caused him to think a lot about the place of violence in his work, and ultimately he decided it should be varied. All things considered, this issue seemed to me to be one of the violent ones.

Anyway, that’s all I have for you this week. Is anyone else reading these? Or has already read them? What did you think of issue two? Please leave your answers in the comments. Looking forward to chatting about this one!

See you next time!

Alert! Alert! This Is So Cool – Age of Reptiles Ancient Egyptians

We’re three quarters of the way through #JurassicJune2023, and by now you’re probably expecting another post about Prehistoric Planet. Episode five, Forests, would make the most sense and indeed that was the episode I was gearing up to rewatch and write about . . .

That is, until I stumbled across this: Age of Reptiles: Ancient Egyptians.

At seeing this title, my existence became a rollercoaster. I can’t even tell you whether or not my palms were sweating, or if my knees got weak (feels like the next clause should be about my arms getting heavy or mom’s spaghetti). I don’t remember. All I know is that the next 45 minutes were a blur of google searches and a lot of whispered cursing.

This was my thing! The thing I had wanted to make. The thing I had hoped I’d staked a claim to with Narmer and The God-Beast. Had someone else already done it? Had I waited too long? Had someone copied me? Was theirs better?

All of these thoughts ran through my mind as I saw the cover image in a goodreads list about dinosaur books. Obviously these kind of thoughts are futile. Nothing is original and indeed even I can’t take credit for the Ancient-Egypt-and-Dinosaurs idea considering its genesis in my own headspace (I essentially ripped it of from a conspiracy theory).

Still, you just can’t help the things you feel sometimes . . .

Anyway, I had to know and so I purchased every issue of Age of Reptiles: Ancient Egyptians in digital from Dark Horse comics.

It appears that I was safe enough for now. While this comic takes place in “Ancient Egypt“, it is not the time of pyramids or pharaohs. The Sphinx does not watch mysteriously as both men and dinosaurs go about their daily business.

For AoR:AE, “ancient” is the Cretaceous Period. While there is not a primate in sight, we do spend the issue with my beloved Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus as they hunt fish and defend themselves from another familiar face: Paradiddle Stromboli Paralititan Stromeri.

The Spino also encounters some smaller theropods which I believe are meant to represent Deltadromeus, and witnesses the death of a larger theropod which I believe is meant to be Carcharodontosaurus. All of these dinosaur friends I’ve used in my own fiction, and I think most of them might also be familiar from The Lost Dinosuars of Egypt.

I probably could get away with just gushing about these creatures for the rest of the post, but this post is supposed to be about a work of fiction, so I’ll do my best to stay on target.

I’ll admit that I’m still a newbie when it comes to comics. The last one I reviewed was the Annotated Sandman Vol.1 (need to pick up the rest of those!) back in 2022, and before that, only a handful of Moon Knight comics, so I can’t really say I’m well versed in this medium, but a couple of things stood out to me while reading AoR:AE.

Perhaps the easiest thing to notice is the images themselves. They’re incredible. It looks like Ricardo Delgado did both the writing and the artwork for these books, and it’s not like anything I’ve seen before. I’m at a complete loss for adequate vocabulary with which to describe what I’m seeing, but I’ll persist in trying anyway.

It sometimes feels like there’s as many black lines on the page as there is colored spaces (texture?). These dinosaurs are wrinkled and leathery things (unsure how prevalent feathered dinosaurs were in 2015 when this debuted), the trees gnarled and snaking, and just about everything is incredibly detailed.

Another dinosaur artist I hear about and see images from quite frequently, Mark Witton, posted on how Age of Reptiles influenced his own artwork. He notes that the framing of the images is ‘cinematic’, and likens the artwork to “… ambrosia from the loftiest peaks of Olympus.”

I have to agree.

The next thing which stuck out to me was the complete lack of dialogue or speech bubbles (seemingly a pretty common feature of comics). I suppose this only makes sense as dinosaurs would not have spoken any kind of language (despite what you see in Dinotopia), and a book filled with RAWRs and GRRRRs would easily become tiresome and quickly push the tone from serious to silly.

What’s amazing about this though, is that the narrative does not seem to suffer at all for the omission. Some frames which depicted a lot of movement were a struggle to understand what exactly was happening, but I imagine this would still have been the case with speech bubbles. I think it’s more my inexperience with the medium than any failure on the part of the depiction. AoR:AE‘s was still easy to follow, and also quite compelling. A feat to be sure.

Finally, I loved how the story framed the Paralititans as dangerous, almost villainous creatures. All sauropods are often depicted as gentle and peaceful giants, much like massive cows (a notion formed from the Jurassic Park movie no doubt).

But given the fact that nothing else around was even close to their size, I would not be shocked to find that they were the bullies of the cretaceous. Afterall what could stop them?

Give This One a Read?

Absolutely. Top marks for Age of Reptiles: Ancient Egyptians. Pure dinosaurian ambrosia, made even sweeter by the fact that I don’t have to give up on my own Dinosaurs in Egypt setting. So good even that I may just take a quick break from Prehistoric Planet and work my way through these issues for a bit. I guess I’ll be back next time with Issue #2

That’s all I have for now. Has anyone read these yet? What stood out to you the most? Please leave your answers in the comments. I’m excited to talk about this one!

---

Still here? Awesome. I hope you enjoyed Alert! Alert! This Is So Cool – Age of Reptiles Ancient Egyptians. As mentioned at the beginning of this post, I had a similar idea in my own story, Narmer and the God Beast except I went full tilt and have ancient Egyptians and dinosaurs inhabiting the Nile Delta at the same time. How cool is that?

If you want more of my writing, please check out my fiction page, or consider signing up for my newsletter at https://jdweber.news/EgyptAndDinos. It will give you access to exclusive fiction, special offers, and just my general life and nonsense (here’s a sample newsletter). Just for signing up I’ll send you an email with the very first story I ever wrote about a Warlock Doctor.

Thanks for your time, and I hope to see you around here more!

Prehistoric Planet does Fire and Ice in Episode 4 – Ice Worlds

Following up on last week’s post about Prehistoric Planet Episode 3: Freshwater, we’re back again with a post about Episode 4: Ice Worlds.

I feel like this is the most astonishing episode yet, and not because of any interesting behavior or fact about an individual dinosaur (although there was one really cool thing which I’ll touch on later on), but namely because I think I’m still just not used to seeing dinosaurs in the snow.

This should not be all that shocking. Paleontologists such as John Ostrom, and Robert Bakker were talking about warm blooded dinosaurs as far back as the 1960s and 1970s (a movement known as the Dinosaur Renaissance) and the original Jurassic Park movie, brought agile, social, warm-blooded dinosaurs into the mainstream 30 years ago.

While we should be able to extrapolate from this knowledge that dinosaurs would have lived in colder climates, having the information needed to figure something out, and actually figuring it out are completely separate things.

As such, I feel like the predominant climate in which we associate dinosaurs is still that of a rainforest or tropical setting. Indeed I can only think of two examples which might have dampened the shock. Robert Bakker’s Raptor Red, written in 1995, contains a long section in which Red and her pack live (I think) in the foothills beneath a mountain, and seek warmth and shelter in a cave to get away from snow (something we kinda see Antarctopelta do in this episode . . . well seeking out a cave at least). And then the most recent Jurassic movie, Jurassic World: Dominion, features a Pyroraptor (meaning FIRE THIEF how cool is that?!), swimming in cold water beneath ice while hunting, and an Apatosaurus doing . . . something at a lumber mill (probably due for a rewatch).

This is . . . not a lot of examples. Granted, this is just my personal experience, but I’m assuming I’m not that far off from the average person, and maybe even a little more well versed considering I love dinosaurs and have posted about them on this blog (at the time of this writing) just over 20 times.

So that was the main take-away from this episode: Much snow, many dino. Wow.

The other part of this episode which I loved was seeing the Troodontid use a burning stick to smoke out prey, spreading an already burning forest fire (again FIRE THIEF!!). While this behavior seems unbelievable, “Firehawks” — fire-foraging birds which prey on animals fleeing the flames — exist today, in many locations from Africa to Texas.

I have not been able to get this idea out of my head since watching the episode. Could it show up in some of my fiction later on? I certainly hope so. Very cool.

Also, something I thought was really interesting about this particular dinosaur, it is apparently something of an amalgam of the different members of the family Troodontidae. I assume that this is because this section of the taxonomy seems to have multiple interpretations so it appears the show decided to remain as vague as possible.

As for the rest of the dinosaurs in this episode, many were familiar in shape, but not in specificity. Nanuqsaurus was not one I’d heard of, but it seems quite similar to T. Rex. Same for Dromaeosaurus which seems kind of Velociraptor-esque, and the aforementioned Antarctopelta was giving me Ankylosaur vibes.

We got to see two kinds of Hadrosaurs, and a distant relative of triceratops: Pachyrhinosaurus.

I’m sure I’ll be googling all of these dinosaurs in the months to come, including the very strange Ornithomimus and learning what else I can, but I was at least glad to make their acquaintance here in the snow.

If you haven’t yet, give this episode a watch, there is so much to explore here.

That’s all I have for now. Please let me know in the comments what you thought the coolest part of the episode was. Maybe write me a short story about a fire thief! hahah.

See you next time!

Gushing About Jurassic Park for its 30th Birthday!

Finally! A #JurassicJune post that actually has to do with the Jurassic franchise. If you’re unsure what significance this day holds, it’s that today, June 11th 2023, marks 30 years since Jurassic Park came into theaters.

Of course the franchise is pretty much going crazy and looking for any possible excuse to celebrate (and probably bring in some more money). The Jurassic World YouTube account has been releasing bits of new content, special events are scheduled at comic conventions like Supernova in Melbourne and Comic Con in San Diego. New Funko Pop toys depict a pivotal scene from the movie . Even the Natural history Museum in London is opening a special JP anniversary themed store (you can see a more thorough list of 30th anniversary events on Jurassic Outpost’s Here’s all the ways you can celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Jurassic Park!).

It’s no surprise considering the film grossed $914 million during its first run in theaters, and was the highest grossing film of all time until Titanic came along in 1997. It’s inspired five sequel movies, animated shows, and probably every kid born in 1990s.

Darren Naish probably stated it’s importance most comprehensively in Dinopedia: A Brief Compendium of Dinosaur Lore:

“Jurassic Park is hailed today as being massively inspirational to many people working in paleontology. It played a crucial role in the history of western cinema and the application of digital effects and, in 2018, was recognized by the USA’s Library of Congress as worthy of preservation in the United States National Film Registry.” – pg 84.

It’s. A. Big. DEAAL!!

For my own part, I have no doubt that this movie is one of the reasons I grew up fascinated with dinosaurs and (according to my parents) some of my first words were archaeopteryx and deinonychus. I suspect they were not some of the first words I was able to spell considering I misspelled them both in the original draft of this post.

There is also no doubt, that when I began writing Narmer and the God-Beast, I had this movie in mind although I never listed it as an influence. In my stuck-in-development-hell (aka laziness) Egypt and Dino novel, there are assuredly tons of little homages to this film, most of which are subconscious because this movie has pretty much been a part of my wiring since before I can remember (I did manage one very conscious use of ‘Life uh, finds a way’ but I think I hid it pretty well).

And I think that is probably the case for many of us, whether it’s saying “Hold on to your butts.” before doing something we’re unsure of, or “Must go faster.” when someone is driving too slow in the left lane (maybe this is just me). If we heard someone say “What have they got in there, King Kong?” or “Clever girl.” (with that weirdly specific intonation) we’d all know what was being referenced.

According to Naish this movie is certainly why we think of dinosaurs as dynamic and quick like birds instead of slow and lumbering oafs. I would argue that this movie also managed to instill significant fear in “genetic power”, aka genetic engineering when it comes de-extinction, to the point where — as I mention in my review of Jurassic World: Dominion — the “kids these days” can’t even sit through one of the newer movies because they can’t believe someone would be dumb enough to bring back dinosaurs in the first place (to the “kid’s” credit, it has literally not worked well for anyone in five other movies).

On the other hand, its what made some of my friends study genetics in the first place . . .

Anyway, there’s probably whole books to be written about the influence of Jurassic Park (and probably whole books that already have been written), but . . .

How Does it Hold Up Now After 30 Years?

I’m sure nobody is surprised to hear me say I watched it again just before writing this post and . . . it holds up incredibly well!

There were two scenes that really stuck out in my mind after watching it again. The first is when Grant and Sattler see the Brachiosaurs for the first time, and also when they visit the Triceratops. Grant can’t speak at the sight of the Brachiosaurs, and the mention of a T. Rex has him collapsing. Sattler is actually crying when she touches the Trike.

In my humble opinion, these are the two most realistic scenes in the entire movie. They are the scenes that best depict how it would feel to suddenly have dinosaurs in real life. And the reactions of Grant and Sattler are really those of the audience. The premise of these movies alone, displayed perfectly in those two scenes, is one that is just so good . . . inspires so much awe and wonder . . . that 30 years later we’re still so excited about these movies.

But of course, after 30 years, it’s only gotten so much sweeter.

In my review of the Jurassic Park novel I mentioned how paleontology and what we know about these creatures has changed since 1993, but so much still holds true. As I’ve learned more about the history of the field and started to recognize names like Robert Bakker (see my review of Raptor Red) and Jack Horner (a real paleontologist who consulted for the movie and was the basis for Grant’s character), the movie has actually grown in my esteem as I became aware of the many layers of attention to detail this movie incorporated into its final version.

*for those wondering, Tim compares Bakker’s book to Alan’s (aka Horner), while Alan is essentially (and hilariously) attempting to run away from Tim.

Finally, it seems like every year, I learn some new tid bit about the movie which makes it that much more interesting to me. For instance, I just read an article about a waterfall scene which was scrapped from the film because it would have been too expensive and redundant. Essentially, the scene would have involved a T. Rex swimming after them, and chasing them over the edge of a waterfall (though apparently a T. Rex swimming is not too expensive for Prehistoric Planet Episode 1: Coasts).

Interestingly, I do believe this scene was cribbed directly from the book (as the post points out), but more fascinating in some ways is that a version of this scene lived on in sequels The Lost World and Jurassic World. In the first, there is a scene of a Rex licking people’s faces through a waterfall and in JW people go over the side of a waterfall.

Anyway, to me this is the sign of a good movie. With every viewing (even after 30 years) I still manage to catch something new which I never have before.

How about y’all? Has anyone given this movie another watch recently? How did it hold up in your opinion? What are the best scenes? Which dinosaur is your favorite?

Let me know in the comments. And if you’re appetite for Jurassic Park themed content is not sated after all those links up above, please read my Jurassic Park Book Tag for a little extra fun! We’ll be talking dinos all month!

#PreshistoricPlanet Ep. 3: Freshwater – Weird new Dinos and (Still) Terrifying Favs

Wow. I can’t believe it’s been a year and one day since my last post about Prehistoric Planet which reviewed Episode 2: Deserts. Please don’t take that as a sign that the rest of the series lacked substance, (I think I binged watched the remaining PP episodes in the span of like a day (and all of Ted Lasso the next day)) I’m just inconsistent in my time and motivation to write.

In the immortal words of Taylor Swift: “. . . Hi, I’m the problem, it’s me.”

Anyway, the return of #JurassicJune, and the release of Prehistoric Planet‘s second season has me back on the dino train (see last week’s review of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs) and I’m rewatching season one so I can start Season 2 with everything fresh in my mind.

Speaking of ‘fresh’ that is what Episode 3 is all about. Well Freshwater to be more precise but I didn’t have a better segue. Anywho . . .

Freshwater feels like an especially star studded episode. We saw some more Pterosaurs roosting in the cliffs, and then later, Quetzalcoatlus, named for the “feathered serpent” deity of Mesoamerican myth, Quetzalcoatl. We went to ancient North America to nom on (dead) Triceratops and have another run in with Tyrannosaurus Rex (which perhaps resulted in the 3 young T-Rexes we saw in Episode 1: Coasts).

Seeing all the wounds and injuries sustained by the T. Rexes really recalls something that stood out to me while reading The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs, which is that no T. Rex bones have been found from an adult older than 35 (the oldest, Trix, was around 30). These animals lived a very quick and hard life, which makes their size even more impressive. In order to get so big, T.Rex would have put on almost 5 lbs a day during its teen years . . . I would not want to be in charge of that kid’s wardrobe.

Two new dinosaurs (to me at least), were introduced: Masiakasaurus, and the incredibly weird looking Deinocheirus. These were perhaps some of the most interesting scenes for me in a I’m-about-to-fall- down-a-rabbit-hole-on-the-internet kind of way, but unfortunately as they’re new to me, I don’t have much to say about these two dinos here in my post except: I hope Beelzebufo gets his some day . . .

And then of course, a sure crowd pleaser no matter where they go, Velociraptor.

I loved how dramatic the Velociraptor hunting scene is. Despite looking wholly different — smaller and feathered — than the scaly reptiles we meet in Jurassic Park, I felt that the PP team still worked hard to present them as terrifying and intelligent in much the same way we remember from our childhood (and likely how they felt to any of their prehistoric prey).

While I’m realizing we saw velociraptor already once in Episode 2: Deserts, I think these fearsome creatures got much more screen time in this episode, and were shown in a much more compelling and unique scenario: hunting Pterosaurs on the edge of a cliff. Certainly, a scene to remember.

Finally, I noted the appearance of Elasmosaurs this episode, thinking they were the same rock-gobbling plesiosaurs from Episode 1, but it appears they are different (the sea reptiles in Coasts were Tuarangisaurus).

Anyway, give this episode a watch (or a re-watch if it’s been year). I’m consistently amazed at the level of detail, science, and imagination that goes into each one of these episodes. Every one teaches me something new and inspires me to keep learning. I can’t wait to watch (and learn) more in the next episode (Episode 4: Ice Worlds).

Anyway, that’s all I have for now. Who has watched this series? What was the most interesting dinosaur fact? Which dinosaurs are your favorite? Please leave your answers in the comments, I’m very excited to chat Dinosaurs for literally any reason at all.

Until next time . . .

#DinosaurDay 2023: The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs

Writing this review today feels a bit like cheating.

It feels a bit like cheating because I haven’t quite finished The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs yet. I’ve still got just a little less than one hundred pages left before I can mark it ‘finished’ on Goodreads.

However, #JurassicJune does not wait while I discuss Kratos’ Adventures in Egypt, or the marks and signs of magic. It cares little for things like Memorial Day celebrations, or the slow and deliberate notes that I’ve been filling my Obsidian vault with while reading this book . . .

It comes.

As the Jurassic gave way to the Cretaceous (words I feel much more comfortable slinging about because of reading this book), so too has May seceded to June, and all its #WyrdAndWonder of Fantasy evolves into the dinosaur themed goodness of #JurassicJune.

The first link in that chain is June 1st, #DinosaurDay. My approach this year is much the same as in years past, namely to review some non-fiction title which would teach me something about dinosaurs.

Back in 2021, I reviewed Kenneth Lacovara’s Why Dinosaurs Matter, a TED-Talk-turned-book which follows Lacovara’s career and served as a great entry point for me, just beginning to learn about the history of paleontology and the concepts necessary to further study these amazing creatures we call dinosaurs.

Last year (2022), I talked about Darren Naish’s Dinopedia: A Brief Compendium of Dinosaur Lore. I felt this book brought me firmly away from shallows and into the depth and intricacies of the discipline. Naish’s prose are funny, ironic, and sometimes serious, but always comprehensible and enlightening. With entries on each of the dinosaur clades, history of famous paleontologists, and their significance to science and popular culture, I’d say this is a handy reference for anyone looking to broaden their knowledge on this subject.

And this year, 2023, we tackle Steve Brusatte’s The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs. I say tackle, because of the entries I’ve discussed so far, this book is by far the longest. Including the notes and index (which I intend to read), TRaFotD is just over 400 pages while Naish and Lacovara’s books are a scant 215 and 192 pages respectively.

TRaFotD follows a format familiar to me from books like The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt, or even Why Dinosaurs Matter, which mixes the personal experience of the paleontologist with the history and science they are writing about. Consider a chef stirring a large pot of textbook, and adding a dash of memoir here and there for taste, and you’ll have a good idea of how this book reads. Even if it’s something common among these types of books, it seems a very good way to spice up what might otherwise be a very dull read (even for dinosaur enthusiasts like myself).

In terms of the content covered, TRaFotD is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, walking readers through each period of geological history and describing what was going on in the world at the moment different dinosaurs lived. I was quite shocked to find how harsh the conditions were during certain periods and how volatile. Megamonsoons in the Triassic, and 3,000 foot thick lava tsunamis in the later parts of that period? No thank you.

In my post reviewing Jurassic Park after a decade, I mentioned briefly an argument from Malcom’s character that humanity does not have the power to destroy or save the planet, and how awkwardly that section reads in light of Chrichton’s remarks at Cal Tech in 2003 (essentially denying climate change).

After reading the green-house gas fueled conditions the dinosaurs endured, without any humans around to contribute one way or another, I can see how easy it might be to think that our impact is negligible when looking at history through a geological lens.

I don’t think that is a stance this book takes; I’d imagine Brusatte has the opposite view in fact, but it was still interesting to discover nonetheless.

(Also there must be some irony that burning fossils is recreating the world in which those fossils were created).

Returning to the review itself, I would like to reiterate just how jam-packed this book is with prehistoric life. At only 300 pages in, I’ve already taken notes on over fifty types of reptile, mammal, dinosauromorph, and actual dinosaurs (part of the reason I’m moving so slow is all the notes). This might seem overwhelming (and looked at statistically it kinda is), but it never feels that way while reading.

Of course Brusatte talks about all of the major players that any child would recognize like T-Rex, Brontosaurus, Triceratops etc. but these are really only a small fraction of the types of creatures which made dinosaurs so fascinating, and Brusatte is not afraid to explore them all. This approach not only allows us to engage with new, or lesser-known dinos, but also sends us to places around the globe such as Poland, Argentina, Scottland and many more where these dinosaurs were discovered.

I probably only have a few gripes with the book, and each are quite surmountable in the end.

First, there are maps of how the continents looked at different stages during Earth’s history which despite Brusatte’s excellent descriptions, I still found necessary to look at. I only wish they had been mixed within the text and not just dumped in the beginning. Considering I struggled with a lack of positioning in time and geography during the first episode of Prehistoric Planet, this might just be a me issue.

Next, unfortunately when a dinosaur is discovered by paleontologists and when it lived in real life is not a very linear timeline. What I mean is, some of the dinosaurs we’ve known about for a very long time, were some of the latest to evolve, where older dinosaurs are only now being discovered. This gets compounded by the fact that Brusatte’s career is on a whole other timeline as well.

Needless to say I sometimes would get confused when the author would jump from a later part of his career to an earlier one to keep the narrative of how dinosaurs progressed in geological time in a linear fashion. I understand that this is necessary to the structure of how the book was written, however, it was sometimes hard to track.

Finally, my biggest gripe was actually how he described many individuals of the absolute legion of colleagues he’s had the opportunity to work with over his long career. The author often seems to fall into a pattern of comparing each person to a stereo type from a movie or book (often villainous) before essentially saying “But once I got to know them, they were incredible human individuals which I count among my greatest friends”.

It was a weird and slightly off-putting formula which made me feel like I would never want to be mentioned in one of his books. Why not just skip to all the parts you love about that person? What cool stuff they worked on, and why they’re special enough to include in your book? Seems like it’d be a good idea to lead with those things.

This strange quirk did not seem to carry over to figures from history, or paleontologists which Brusatte did not know personally although I did feel that there might still be a bit of sensationalism happening in their descriptions and introductions as well. Examples that stood out to me were any descriptions of Robert Bakker (author of Raptor Red), and the pretty much the whole section about Cope and Marsh.

In all honesty, I’m relatively new to all this, so those characters may have really been as Brusatte describes, but it just seemed a little much.

Give this One a Read?

Yes! Despite the slightly confusing timeline, awkwardly placed map references, and weird quirks surrounding characterization of real people, I would say this book is required reading for anyone attempting to get their foot in the door in terms of dinosaurs.

Brusatte balances a good mix of science and facts with personal anecdotes which engage the reader in a long and complicated history. This book is FULL of dinosaurs and all kinds of other prehistoric life and just getting to learn about such a diverse cast of characters is well worth the long page count.

Finally, I feel like The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs has served as a bit of a spark for me to dive back into researching and writing about dinosaurs in my own fiction. This book was filled with so much information and ideas, that I couldn’t help but feel inspired to record them and try to use them within my own work.

If nothing else, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs was a great way to kick off #JurassicJune and get excited about dinosaurs again!

Have any of you read this book? What were your thoughts? Was there a favorite dinosaur or animal mentioned within the text that you love? Please let me know in the comments!

See you next time.

Celebrating my 2nd #NationalVelociraptorDay with Raptor Red

Hold on to your butts, it’s #NationalVelociraptorDay again.

This year, I again decided to enjoy a piece of fiction instead of attempting anything remotely resembling research, but I’m feeling this year’s post is at least heading in the right direction (last year’s post on Velocipastor was . . . something else).

Raptor Red was at least written by a real paleontologist . . . about the life and adventures of a Utahraptor pack. Damn. Well there’s no #NationalUtahRaptorDay so far as I can tell.

Also, the image of Velociraptor that I assume most people associate with the term — from nearly a quarter century of watching and rewatching Jurassic Park for almost any reason at all (just me?) — actually has more to do with the real Utahraptor than it does with the real Velociraptor.

As you can see from the graphic, the big red raptor (Utahraptor; also good job Scott Hartman for doing Utahraptor in red like the title of this book) and the purple raptor (from JP) are roughly related when it comes to size. The real Velociraptor, in blue, is quite tiny by comparison.

Interestingly, as Raptor Red author Robert T. Bakker (of Dinosaur Renaissance fame) describes in the opening pages of his book, the designs of the velociraptors in Jurassic Park already had their dimensions before Utahraptor was ever found in Gaston Quarry in 1991 (Wikipedia points out that some Utahraptor bones were found in 1975 as well but not well known). Bakker would know, apparently he was helping Spielberg’s artists with the anatomy.

Is This Post Secretly About Jurassic Park?

No. I was just feebly attempting to defend my myself for talking about the wrong kind of raptor.

About Raptor Red then?

Yes! Onto the reason we’re here. How was Raptor Red?

Honestly, quite a lot of fun to read.

After the confusion that was 65, it felt really good to reengage with dinosaurs again in a way that felt both thoughtful and passionate. It is clear that Bakker has a real love for these ancient creatures and his attention to detail was astounding (though I can’t speak to its accuracy. 1995 was a long time ago so I’m sure some things have changed and also I just wanted to read and have a good time).

On a surface level, Raptor Red reads a little like an episode of Prehistoric Planet, dolling out information about how Utahraptors may have lived, providing some interludes from the points of view of other contemporary species, and showing us adaptations those species had for their unique niche.

In this capacity, Raptor Red exposed me to a bunch of new species I had never heard of before. Appearances by Astrodon, Acrocanthosaurus, and Ornithocheirus were new, as well as early mammals like Aegialodon, or marine reptiles like Kronosaurus. And it was great to see some old favorites too like Pterydactyls, Deinonychs, and Iguanadons.

But this is really only just the surface. I think the real draw of the story, and what keeps us reading is a second level altogether consisting of the humanity Bakker is able to give the Utahraptors which are essentially horrifying killing machines.

This happens in a few ways. Raptor interiority is one. Bakker represents their intelligence with more than just expert hunting tactics, but actual thoughts which is at first a little strange, but quickly palatable.

The pack dynamic and the constant struggle for survival are two more. In many cases, the tension of a scene comes from changes in environment which the raptors are not ready for, or not adapted to. They rely on either their aforementioned intelligence, or the bonds between themselves and the other members of the pack. Consequently, when those bonds begin to fray, trouble is always soon to follow.

This feels very human. And a lot more like a novel than a documentary.

So a third level which presents a kind of message or theme should not feel out of place, but a passage about the “momentous transition in family life from a male-dominated pack structure to an incipient matriarchy.” (pg 135), stood out to me as somewhat surprising. I have in my notes:

“Raptors fighting the patriarchy?”

Bakker explains later that inspiration for this came from how “Owls, hawks, and eagles have societies organized around female dominance, and we can think of tyrannosaurus and raptors as giant, ground-running eagles.” (pg 249).

Looking to these kinds of birds for inspiration makes sense (they are also raptors), but I think it was a detail that could have just as easily been left out.

But one I’m sure glad wasn’t.

Give this One a Read?

Absolutely. Two killing toe-claws way up for Raptor Red. This book has both the detail and science of a documentary, as well as the drama and catharsis of a novel. It’s clear that Bakker has a deep sense of awe, and a love for dinosaurs, but also the ability to tell a great story like a novelist. I can’t imagine a better way to spend #NationalVelociraptorDay, then with a copy of Raptor Red.

That’s all I have this week. Has anyone read this one? What were your thoughts? Please leave them in the comments section. I’d love to talk about this one.

The Real Reason Audiences Aren’t Enjoying ’65’

— Sorry Spoilers throughout —

As March 10th 2023 fades further and further into the rearview mirror, the more it seems that so too does whatever internet collective surface tension which has been keeping reviews of this movie from my feed. Or perhaps we’re all just finally getting over the state of stunned bewilderment which was watching and having already watched this strange movie.

Whichever the case, reviews HAVE been coming in, and despite the solid Badass and Child Duo dynamic between Adam Driver and Arianna Greenblatt (see also OSP’s analysis of The Loan Wolf and Cub), all-star writers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (A Quiet Place), and the seemingly legendary presence that is Sam Raimi — Oh and the fact that this movie had DINOSAURS in it! — reviews range from derivative stone-age thriller, to ‘meteoric flop’.

I admit that my initial reactions were mixed but leaning along similar lines. What dinosaurs were they actually portraying? (my favorite theory is that one was a Tyrankylosaurus, aka a genetically modified hybrid from the Jurassic World universe which would have mixed T-Rex and Ankylosaur DNA)

And why add a language barrier into a plot that already has more physical hurdles than an olympic track meet? (do they do hurdles in the olympics?) I shutter to think it’s because after the success of A Quiet Place, Beck and Woods believe that a movie can’t be good if the main characters are able to talk.

And finally, would a society advanced enough to be able to freeze people for long range space travel really miss an asteroid field with rocks big enough to cause extinction level events? (if the asteroids in this film are meant to be the belt in our system, chances of a spacecraft hitting one are actually less than 1 billion)

OK. Actually, one more thing. Are we in the past or is it somehow the future? Did we time travel? . . . I had questions.

Despite all of this, I still enjoyed the chemistry between Driver and Greenblatt. I died a little (in a good way) when Koa (Greenblatt) anchored the rope to like a million trees before tossing it down to Mills (Driver). It was simultaneously the sweetest and funniest symbol of how their relationship had progressed and also the most nine-year-old thing ever.

This bit of humor was unfortunately one of only a very small number of attempts at lightening up a pretty dark film.

Enough of all that, Why are We all Collectively Not Liking this Film?

All the things I’ve griped about above are seemingly minor, and might be easily overlooked if ’65’ had not also had a few other larger flaws, namely its misunderstanding of today’s audience.

What was that misunderstanding? Well in order to figure out the answer we’ll need to consider what kind of story ’65’ hoped to tell, and then track how other stories in that genre have succeeded to pinpoint what audiences want, and where ’65’ didn’t measure up.

Why Should We Survive?

At its core, ’65’ is a survival story. The question of this film is not ‘Does this dinosaur exist?’ (although I want to know that), or is humanity’s origin somewhere else in the cosmos than earth (which this movie sorta suggests?). The question of this film has more personal relevance. Who are we, and what would we do to survive?

When Mills is on his own? There’s not much he would do to survive. We don’t know this yet, but he must know that his daughter is already gone, and based on how anxious his wife seemed to be for him to leave, perhaps she’s not worth returning to (she’s noticeably not in any of the other clips from home we see throughout the movie). As such Mills contemplates suicide, even going so far as to load up the gun and have a good cry in the rain.

But with Koa’s introduction, things shift. Mills has a reason to live. If not for himself, then for her. To protect her and get her home.

Does This Seem Familiar?

It should. The Badass and Child Duo I mentioned earlier is everywhere right now. The Mandalorian, is a great example. In video games, God of War: Ragnork. In video games turned hit television series . . . My friend even quipped: “Oh. So ’65’ is just The Last of Us with dinosaurs.” while discussing the trailer.

And in many ways, these are great comparisons since ’65’ has a lot of the same elements. But these stories, specifically The Last of Us, have something that we just don’t find in ’65’ . . .

Survival is Not Enough

Perhaps in the past — pre-pandemic, pre- lock down, pre- recession, pre- inflation, pre- social equity crisis, pre- everything that’s currently going on in the world today — when things were relatively stable and easy, simply removing the almost invisible support structures from every day life and pitching a character into prehistoric earth and asking audiences what we would do to survive might have been a satisfying movie. In those days we might never have had to contemplate our existence, and therefore doing so would be novel enough.

But we no longer have to think about “what we would do” to survive. We know. We have been doing those things for the several years and we’re beginning to wonder if there isn’t something more . . .

Tom Van Der Linden’s youtube channel Like Stories of Old uses the aforementioned The Last of Us to demonstrate this thesis in a remarkable video essay about Why Apocalypse Stories Feel Different Now. He points out two things which I think are relevant to analysis of the movie ’65’:

1. The Green Apocalypse: essentially, an apocalypse that “…feels strangely peaceful, alive, and in many ways beautiful. In this vision of the post societal world nature has reclaimed remnants of human society, now devoid of their symbolical meaning and former purpose and reduced them back into the raw materials of the natural world.
   
   This is “. . . reflective of changing sentiment about the environment, the sense of disconnect and the longing for an environment undefined by rampant industry and thoughtless modernity…”
   
   It is “A fantasy in which we are completely free of the complications of our modern existence.”
   
   I would argue the prehistoric setting of ’65’ serves the same kind of “stripping away” of modern complications, but rather than giving humanity a chance to live in harmony with nature (which modern audiences want to see), nature plays an antagonistic role and is again seen in the tired crosshairs of the hunt in which nature must be killed or conquered.
   
   
2. Other People: The shows referenced within the video (Last of Us, Station Eleven, & The Left Overs), may superficially posit that when those previously mentioned ‘complications of modernity’ are stripped away, we will all revert back to some base form of instinctual survival in which strangers can’t be trusted, and everyone and everything is out to get us. However, the reality is that people are social creatures, and groups are more advantageous to survival.
   
   It’s in our nature to seek out others. To want something more than just basic survival. After 2 years of limiting our interactions with others because of the pandemic, it is not a leap to say that audiences are craving interaction more than ever, and want to see hope of its continuance in their fiction.
   
   Aside from ’65’s two main characters, there are essentially no other people within the film (who serve as more than tragic backstory). And while those two main characters learn to help and protect each other, their task of simply staying alive does not resonate with us because we’re craving something more.

Conclusion

So, aside from gaps in realism or story-logic which audiences wouldn’t bat an eye at in another film, why has ’65’ been reviewed so terribly?

In short, it has fatally misunderstood the zeitgeist and delivered the wrong movie. Renowned actors, writers and producers, massive special effects, and DINOSAURS should have added up to a guaranteed blockbuster, but the movie took the wrong tack with audiences in two critical areas: missing expectations in regards to the environment, and casting the film as a grim and tragic tale when these days we’re needing hope and connection with other people.

Anyway, that’s all I have on this one. Has anyone else watched it yet? What were your thoughts? Let’s hear em in the comments!

Until next time . . .

Rereading Jurassic Park After a Decade . . .

This June has been a wonderful month. A dinosaur filled month.

I’ve studied up on paleontology with Darren Naish’s Dinopedia, got to see some dinos in my favorite settings with Prehistoric Planet Ep. 2: Deserts, and then finally saw the most recent ‘Jurassic’ film TWICE(!), Jurassic World Dominion.

But I’ve only got time this month for one more Dino-centric post and I thought it might be fun to go back to the beginning with a reflective review of Michael Crichton’s original Jurassic Park novel.

For a lot of people, this is the thing that started it all. The thing that, in Naish’s view:

“. . . did more to introduce the public to the “modern view” of dinosaurs — the Dinosaur Renaissance view — than any other effort.”

Naish, Darren; Dinopedia: A Brief Compendium of Dinosaur Lore. (2021)

In the days of my youth . . .

I’m pretty sure that it was the film which first fascinated me as a child (I was only 3 months old when the book came out) but without this book, there never would have been a film (although Naish says there was a screenplay in 1983 so perhaps it still would have been).

This book seems to be another book lost to the record of not having GoodReads before 2011 (see Rereading Dune After a Decade), but if memory serves this was a book I was supposed to read in my senior year of high school (big year for me as a SFF reader it seems), but the teacher decided he was tired of teaching that particular Crichton novel and decided we should read Sphere instead (side note: I got very sick that year and tried to read Sphere with a 104 degree fever so I wouldn’t have to catch up when I got back to school. Needless to say, I hallucinated several parts of that book and it was absolutely terrifying. Perhaps it’s good that did not happen with JP).

Heartbroken, I think I ended up complaining to my dad and he presented me with his old copy, assumedly from 1995, if I tracked down the right edition, when the movie came out and he first read it.

No surprise, I was completely enthralled. I remember thinking Malcom was even cooler than he was in the movie, and probably thought I’d try to become a Chaotician if such things existed until I remembered that would literally just be a mathematician and I DID NOT like math during those times (I suppose math and I get along these days but I’m still not very practiced at it). Ironically, I don’t think reading this book kindled any desire in young me to become a paleontologist.

And Now?

Now that I’m older, and upon a second read, I think my opinion of the book has become a little more nuanced.

Actor Sam Neill (Alan Grant) has been quoted as saying today’s moviegoers would no longer accept Jurassic Park‘s slow-burn action pacing. In much the same way, the structure of Crichton’s masterpiece does not read at all like modern thriller. The opening pages are more or less a thesis on the state of (then) modern genetics research which reads more like a wikipedia article than a novel. It takes many chapters (in essence several prologues) to even meet any of our main characters with a kind of unfolding mystery that eventually leads us to the park.

My writer brain attributes this to the shear amount of situations Crichton needs to set up so he can dump exposition about dinosaurs on us without seeming to. Essentially, he’s worldbuilding, which is kind of strange to think about because we already know where we’re trying to get to, which is Jurassic Park, the name of the novel. However, certainly back in the early 90’s when this book first came out, a combined amusement park and zoo centered around genetically reincarnated dinosaurs must have seemed a pretty strange and (ahem) novel idea. We do not have that luxury of ignorance of what the novel is going to be about. We’ve known what this novel was about since about the time we were born.

Eventually the action does begin though, and when it does, it is thrilling in the extreme. Crichton really knows how to make his characters work for their survival and this novel was a great example of that. There were enough differences between the novel and the film that nobody who survived one, would be guaranteed to survive the other (slight spoiler: two character deaths in particular were baffling to me especially because one has a very prominent role in the sequel The Lost World! I’m tempted to dive into the next one just to see how he survived).

Again my writer brain derived quite a bit of enjoyment picking apart the differences between the novel and the film (both subtle and blatant) and pondering why certain changes were made and how they added to, or took away from the dramatic effect.

Of course, the part I loved the most about the whole thing was the dinosaurs themselves! Nearly every dinosaur description and behavior written into this book should be taken with a grain of salt (again take a look at Naish’s Dinopedia for the major mistakes). Some of this is because we’ve learned so much since this book came out, and some of it is choices Crichton made for dramatic effect, but either way, the dinosaurs are just sooo coooool.

Also, there was a considerable amount of things he got right which was also great to read.

Finally, now that I’m older, and I have learned a little bit more about the subjects featured in this awesome book, it was really cool to see just HOW MUCH research Crichton did to write this book. Of course the dinosaurs themselves, but also other little things like Dr. Alan Grant being a hadrosaur expert, and centering his career around studying their nests, which was a reference to Jack Horner, a real paleontologist who studied hadrosaur nests and consulted on the JP film when it came out.

I’d be remiss if I did not admit that there were other awkward parts in the in the novel besides the pacing which made it feel a bit dated. I caught a few objectifications of Dr. Ellie Sattler though certainly he has come a long way since novels like Easy Go.

Also, a chapter near the end entitled “Destroying the World” in which Malcom explains to Hammond the many different paradigm shifts our earth has encountered. How currently most organisms need oxygen to survive when three billion years ago plants producing oxygen actually created a crisis for contemporary organism for which it was a poison much like we consider fluorine.

When Hammond brings up that the ozone layer is getting thinner, Malcom suggests that: “Ultraviolet radiation is good for life. It’s powerful energy. It promotes mutation, change. Many forms of life will thrive with more UV radiation.”

Eventually he ends the segment with:

“Let’s be clear. The planet is not in jeopardy. We are in jeopardy. We haven’t got the power to destroy the planet — or to save it. But we might have the power to save ourselves.”

Crichton, Michael; Jurassic Park pg. 369 (1995)

Now it seems to me, that the point he is trying to make here is exactly the type of point Maclom would make which is: Life will find a way.

Even if that life is not human beings. That we should be less worried about “the planet” and more worried about ourselves. At least that is the way I WANT to read this chapter.

However, I’ve heard some things about Crichton being a climate change denier (check out his talk a Cal Tech in 2003 called Aliens Cause Global Warming). Apparently his opinions on climate change are made very clear in the “Afterward” of State of Fear, a novel which I own and enjoyed but apparently did not read thoroughly enough. I’m sure at some point there will be a follow up.

So Did it Hold Up?

In my opinion, yes. Jurassic Park is still a great novel despite the way times have changed around it. I think that some of the paleontology has matured since 1990, as well as some of our social attitudes, and modern readers may struggle with the pacing at the beginning, but ultimately, I think this one still thrills to read. Highly recommend.

That’s all I have for this time around. Has anyone read this? What were your favorite parts? What is your favorite dino? Would love to talk about this one!

Until next time . . .