Re: Dinosaur Revolution Review

[Jura <pristichampsus@yahoo.com>]

----- Original Message -----

> From: Sim Koning <simkoning@msn.com>

>   This show was meant to be a form of lighthearted  xenofiction, not a David 
> Attenborough ducumentary.  For that you have 'Planet Dinosaur'... well 
> sort of. I mean it's almost like complaining that 'Bambi' was a 
> horrible movie because its portrayal of North American wildlife wasn't 
> accurate , and so it's misinforming people all over about white tailed dear. 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The biggest failing of this show is that it was retrofit to try and straddle 
both sides of education and entertainment. As pure entertainment, Dinosaur 
Revolution is okay, but the fact is that it has being billed as yet another 
"documentary" showing the world what we currently know about dinosaurs. This 
forces the show to live up to a higher standard than it does; which warrants 
the scathing criticisms that it has received. The original plan for the show 
was to not even have narration. The scientists that were seen during the 
interstitials, were brought in at the 11th hour, which is why the majority of 
the "talking heads" bits are just paleontologists talking about why they like 
dinosaurs, rather than anything specific. 

The scary thing is going to be seeing how a show like this will fare. If it 
does well then it could signal the downfall of any real scientific input. Given 
how controversial these documentaries have been over the years, it's hard to 
say whether, or not, that will be a good thing. It certainly won't fare well 
for grant proposals since these "documentaries" -- despite their quality -- 
make for great examples of scientific outreach/broader impacts.

Jason