Let's Watch "A&E's Dinosaur: The Tale of a Feather"

Get a drink for this one.

Being the final episode on a series-length dinosaur documentary is never a fun time.  Because this is The Extinction Episode -- mostly.

Because as the title "Tale of a Feather" suggests, it's also about the evolution of birds from POSSIBLY MAYBE the smallish theropod dinosaurs.  Remember, it's 1991 and this is still a pretty outrageous theory.  It's also surprisingly frustrating to watch because John Ostrom has been in this series and they never get to naming which specific group of smallish theropods gave rise to birds and ahh, you guys are so close ahh ahh!!!

But never mind that because my.  God.  The.  Ending. 😵😱😰

You're not ready for how this dinosaur documentary ends.  I sure wasn't.  Let's not keep you in suspense any longer.  Here it is:

@babbletrish

The finale of the ‘91 A&E Dinosaur series. It’s… special. ##dinosaur ##documentary ##Weird90s ##wtf ##waltercronkite ##Dinosauroid

♬ original sound - BabbleTrish

 

I reiterate: what?

The longer version isn't going to help at all but here it is anyway:

 

@babbletrish

The full ending of A&E’s Dinosaur, in case you wanted to see the full horror of Dinosaur TV.##dinosaur ##documentary ##Weird90s ##wtf ##Dinosauroid

♬ original sound - BabbleTrish

 

They really ended this with Bioparanoia / the climate and/or nuclear apocalypse is inevitable and Dinosauroids.  Completely devoid of context Dinosauroids yet!  Like we never get the usual, "here's a very weird theory this one guy has and here's the statue they made of it", we just get... this.  Whoever dreamed up this ending has Cortical folds the depth of the Marianas Trench, not least because they ended with "Somehow after humans destroy themselves the dinosaurs will take over" and thought the people watching this would all be okay.  Incredible.

-----

Help me feed the birds!  I want to be among the last to get eaten when they take over.

Art of the Day!  Gosh what would an intelligent dinosaur look like?  We just don't know.

Let's Watch "A&E's Dinosaur: The Tale of an Egg"

"The Tale of an Egg" turns our focus to dinosaur life-cycles and behavior.  Baby-rearing, migrating, fighting, and feeding.  All the things that are fun to speculate and fun to illustrate/animate/puppet.  It's the most kid-heavy episode as well, which makes it a lot of fun.

Somebody start a band based around David Weishampel's Parasaurolophus trumpet already.

Next time: brace yourself, it gets weird.

-----

(ahem...)

Art of the Day: some more current loud dinosaurs.

Let's Watch "A&E's Dinosaur: The Tale of a Bone"

This week's episode of "Dinosaur" mostly focuses on the Bone Wars.  But what I really love about it are all the interviews with dinosaur artists.  We meet Eleanor Kish and Steve Czerkas and the Dinamation crew.  And -most exiting of all- Ray Harryhausen!  We get a clip of "Gertie the Dinosaur" as well as some of Harryhausen's animation.  John Sibbick and David Norman (they of the famous "Norman-pedia") give interviews and they turn out to be mainly responsible for what the puppet dinosaurs look like here.  I thought they felt familiar.  Also, this happens: 

@babbletrish

Another wonderful moment from the ‘91 A&E Dinosaur series. ##dinosaur ##documentary ##Weird90s ##wtf ##waltercronkite ##NewYorkCity

♬ original sound - BabbleTrish

Next time: Eggs!  Like real eggs, not the one in that one confusing pain reliever commercial.

-----

(Polite little cough...)

Art of the Day!  A Kestrel and Barn Owl from a Museum of Science livestream.

Let's Watch "A&E's Dinosaur: The Tale of a Tooth"

July is going to be a very busy month here at Babbletrish Lodge.  So this feels like the perfect opportunity to watch a documentary series I'd never seen in it's entirety before. It's true, somehow I hadn’t watched the 1991 A&E "Dinosaur" documentary series until just this month and it is a real treasure.  It's another fantastic example of what a dinosaur documentary looked like before "Jurassic Park" and "Walking With Dinosaurs".

Look.  I know I say "They don't make 'em like this anymore" an awful lot, but they REALLY do not make them like this anymore.  We are never going to get a pure gold nugget of a moment like this ever again:

@babbletrish

I haven’t watched the 1991 A&E “Dinosaur!” series until today and so far it is a treasure. ##dinosaur ##documentary ##Weird90s ##moodwhiplash ##SingingKids

♬ original sound - BabbleTrish

Turn the volume up.  You could guess what kind of music scores this scene and you’d be wrong.  I guarantee.  (You also might just hear me chuckle.)

Part One, "Tale of a Tooth", is about the early days of dinosaur paleontology.  There's period costumes, more strange music choices, wonderful puppet dinosaurs, and Dr. Bob Bakker pulls a wooden sword on Walter Cronkite.  And there are vintage commercials, most of which I'd completely forgotten about.  Next week, the Bone Wars!

-----

So you may have noticed the shiny new donate button on the sidebar but just in case you didn't:

Art of the Day!  Cornell Birdfeeder sketches

Digs, Dragons, and the Dinosauroid (again?) Let's Watch "The Great Dinosaur Hunt"

It's almost 100 degrees out!  It's so hot, why don't we take a journey to the desert!

Okay, this one's a real oddity.  I only learned about "The Great Dinosaur Hunt" (a 1993 Goodtimes home video release, not to be confused with the identically titled "Infinite Voyage" and, er, "Postman Pat" episodes) recently on Twitter and since it was a dinosaur documentary I somehow never saw, I needed to watch it.  Three nights later (!) I'm here to tell the tale.

"The Great Dinosaur Hunt" covers the China-Canada Dinosaur Project, an expedition that started in 1986 and carried into 1991.  And it is a fantastic example of what I can only accurately describe as a pre-"Jurassic Park" dinosaur documentary.  First off, it really did take me a while to get through.  For a 90 minute film, this is s-l-o-w.  The focus is on paleontology itself and the truth of the matter is, paleontology is an awful lot of wandering through the desert hoping to find something, anything.  And boy did I feel that vicariously.

Another interesting thing about this documentary is there's almost no animation.  There are a few animated sequences showing living dinosaurs in action, all traditional and by the fine National Film Board crew.  The scene showing the world through a young Troodon's eyes is particularly lovely and I long for a whole short like this.  

Of course as soon as they mentioned Troodon, and because Dale Russel is one of the paleontologists involved, I knew our old friend the Dinosauroid would make an appearance.  I'm honestly starting to wonder if they were required to mention this thing in every dinosaur documentary from this time.  Think of how weird that is; like if every marine biology documentary spent a few minutes on Initial Bipedalism (link goes to an old TetZoo article where sadly the illustrations are gone, but brace yourself for a wild ride anyway.)

And because this mostly takes place in China, the very droning narrator really loves droning on and on about dragons and how the dinosaur scientists are Unearthing the Mysterious Dragon and did you know that the ancient Chinese found dinosaur fossils and thought they were from dragons?  And that in Asia they use the same word for "dinosaur" and "dragon"?  And and and...?  (Turns out this is all, to put it succinctly, Kinda Racist Nonsense ^TM.  I f-in' knew it. 😒)

Other than that, this is a pretty nifty look at a legendary expedition.  I'm glad to have had my attention brought to it.  Now I need to jump in the lake.

-----

Art of the Day

So. I knew about the “We’re not sure how Azhdarchids moved on the ground, did they walk on two legs?” theory but I
A. did not know there was a sculpture depicting this or that
B. it looks... Like This.
Anyway, this was all I could see. A vision that haunted me all that night, so I had to draw and share.

The 2020 Paleo Rewind

Before we completely leave 2020 behind, it might be nice to do a year in review type thing.  And while there are a lot of options out there, I don't believe there's one that's more on brand for me than a Paleontology Year in Review.  Since 2020 was a Lot, even in the realm of prehistoric creatures and the people who love them, this Paleo Rewind gives each month to a different YouTuber and the result is a roller coaster.  Here's the whole shebang, edited together by E.D.G.E.: 

-----

Art of the Day: Another older painting but another one whose joy and energy I want to bring into the New Year.  Corgi owners seem to like this one.  And yes, Fairies riding Corgis is a Folklore Thing.

Let's Watch "Dinosaurs: Fun, Fact, and Fantasy"!

You know, I was all set to review "Dinotasia".  But right after I watched that, I watched an older dinosaur show that had been lying around on my YouTube "Watch Later" queue, and I found it much more interesting and worthy of discussion.

Tangent time for the curious: "Dinotasia" is a very strange edit of the animated sequences in "Dinosaur Revolution".  So if you've seen that already, it's not even worth your time.  Unless you love the melodious sound of Werner Herzog's voice, in which case you should watch "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" instead and become humbled as f*** as an artist.  The only thing different for me was I really noticed how frequently questionable the animation was this time.  Someday, dinosaur documentary animators will learn that CGI dinosaurs on a real live background for an entire film never look entirely right, and also that they are going about integument all wrong.  Until then... ouch.

Anyway, I called this show interesting, but really the more accurate descriptor is, freakin' fascinating.  It's from 1982, so it's from right at the last gasp of the pre-Dinosaur Renaissance way of thinking, so there are more than a few unintentional mind-screws seen thirty-one years after the fact ("Plodding Dinosaurs"?)  So here for your enjoyment is Picture Palace Productions made-for-video documentary for children entitled "Dinosaurs: Fun, Fact, and Fantasy".

Either that, or it is a collective fever dream we're all having involving singing crocodiles, a "Pokerap" but with dinosaurs (from before the "Pokerap" was even a thing, no less), magic dragons, and other, weirder things.  I don't even...?



(Note, I initially watched this because I had it confused with a Ray Harryhausen documentary with a similar title, but isn't that our old friend Dougal Dixon in the credits?)

-----

Sketch of the Day!  Inspired by an odd mechanic in a "Jurassic Park" game.

Let's Watch "The Dinosaurs: Flesh on the Bone"!

I know I've said this before but YouTube is here to make us happy. Except for the comments, but never mind them now. Here is one episode of what is, all things considered, my all-time favorite dinosaur documentary:



You'll have to trust my foggy memory because there is almost no information about this documentary online, to the point where neither Wikipedia nor IMDB appear to have heard of it (to be fair, the title makes the series hard to search for). There were four episodes of the PBS documentary mini-series "The Dinosaurs" and this is the only one intact on YouTube. By a happy coincidence, it's the one I remember most fondly.

Let us first of all talk about the animation in this show. It's unfortunate that one could make a very valid argument that animation ate dinosaur documentaries. They tend to focus on CGI dinosaurs of wildly varying quality mostly doing the same damn things we've been seeing CGI dinosaurs do since about 1993. But here, everything is hand-drawn, which makes a big difference. HUGE, really. I don't just mean aesthetically either (and, reminder, I do not hate CGI). You see, we meet the animators at one point in the show, and now that we know everything was drawn by hand by what appears to be only two guys makes you appreciate it more. Hell, I have a hard time drawing a stegosaurus with accurate... thingies... even once. I can't imagine doing twelve drawings per second's worth!

Better yet, the animated dinosaur action is supervised by none other than Dr. Robert T. Bakker.  And so in the early 90's, when this documentary premiered, we got to see animated dinosaurs doing things we *really* usually didn't get to see them do.  That migration sequence blew my mind as a teen and I still love the sequence with the mother tyrannosaurus. Many of the animated sequences appear to be directly inspired by the drawings in The Dinosaur Heresies.

Aside from the beautiful animation, here's another thing that's really worth pointing out: this is a documentary about dinosaurs and the focus is on the actual science of paleontology.  They manage to make it look fascinating without resorting to cheap sensationalistic tricks.  On top of that, they're focused on paleontologists who were studying the incredibly exciting and sexy subject of... dinosaur metabolism.  Woo.  Party.  (And it is very amusing to watch it twenty years after the fact.  LOL, "Gigantothermy".  Is that even still a thing?) On top of THAT, they follow a group of scientists as they perform an experiment to test a theory and the results they get are basically the exact opposite of what they were hoping for. Yet they aren't upset, because at least they still learned something. It's all incredible, and I cannot imagine a modern-day dinosaur documentary giving over so much time to actual science like this one does.

There are a lot of terrific things to see in "The Dinosaurs" that I haven't mentioned and wouldn't dare give away.  I hope the other three episodes eventually pop up on YouTube but I'm honestly just happy to have this one.

-----

Sketch of the Day! Drew these while watching "Nature: Cracking the Koala Code", speaking of documentaries that actually show scientists doing science.

A Salute to All Nations, but Mostly Links of Interest!

* - Well, first of all, Sciurumimus Sciurumimus Sciurumimus!!!

* - Witmer Lab made the Ghetie's Atlas of Avian Anatomy available as a big, giant PDF file!

* - Speaking of avian anatomy, I am suddenly in the market for a fairly expensive book.

* - Passport to Dreams wrote a very detailed history of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", its influence on Italian horror (!!!), and in particular the strange case of "Snow White's Scary Adventures".

* - Long-Forgotten also wrote about "Snow White's Scary Adventures" and its possible influences on the Haunted Mansion.

* - And while we are on the subject of "Snow White's Scary Adventures", here is a story that is at once deeply strange, utterly fascinating, and a genuine crowning moment of heartwarming.

* - If you need a drink after all those rides, Party Through the Parks recently redesigned sections of their website.

* - I recently discovered Tom Ruegger's blog "Cartooniacs".  Here, he shares the story of a not-too-well-thought-out promotion for "Animaniacs".

* - Tetrapod Zoology has just written a very long article on our old friend David Peters.

* - And speaking of TetZoo, after reading this, you will never think of "Turtle Power" the same way again...

* - Deep Sea News explains how the Cretaceous coastline impacts modern-day politics.

* - Muddy Colors shared some advice on creating a portfolio.

* - You can now watch every single episode of "Reading Rainbow" on YouTube.

* - Time for some weirdness.  This unsettling-in-a-way-that's-hard-to-put-into-words song poses a philosophical question that has never occurred to me.

* - Here's a fantastically animated short that shows how an oddly-named Pokemon move actually works (NSFW language).

* - io9 shared a list of genre films to watch out for in the coming years (including several animated films I had forgotten to list last weeks.)

* - And finally, here is a fine gallery of summery art!

-----

Sketch of the Day!

Here's an older study of a young Bald Eagle:

Florida Trip and Birthday Hangover - Hence, Links of Interest!

Owww... my thing that was my brain but is now leaking out my ears.

Yes, I will admit that I partied a little too hearty. Or hard-y? Anyway, it will take me a while to sort through everything from the trip and write about it at length.

I also had the bad luck to catch something unpleasant from one of the little bratty kids sitting behind me on the plane ride home. (I like kids, but when I am queen, the first new rule will be that airplanes must have special Adults With Young Children and Adults Without Young Children sections. Everyone will be happier because, as a very general rule, little kids *hate* sitting in a tin can, far above the world for hours and hours.)

So in lieu of actual content, here is yet another edition of Links Of Interest!

The most interesting thing going on in the paleoart community is Gregory S. Paul's reaction to (boo, hiss) art thieves. It's understandable, since he's clearly very upset, but also... maybe a little extreme.

The Smithsonian Wild website has recently launched and it is fascinating. Makes me want to set up automated cameras in my backyard.

The Disney Parks Blog shared remarkable footage of the creation of a particularly elaborate Audio-Animatronic character.

O.T.I.S. visited the LaBrea Tar Pits, without a doubt my favorite thing in Los Angeles.

"Rango" is apparently much better than it looks, but it is really, really strange. If you like animated films that are really strange, IndieWire has a pretty good list.

Finally, while we are on the subject of experimental and/or indie animation, Topless Robot had a fantastic overview of the dearly missed "Mtv's Liquid Television". I very definitely remember seeing some of these clips as a child and being freaked the eff out.

----

Sketch of the Day!

As you might imagine, it's a little difficult to sketch from a moving vehicle. Nonetheless, I wouldn't give up this sight for all the Audio-Animatronic Yetis in the world: