Re: MORE ON DINOSAURS ON TV OVER XMAS

[Mike Taylor <mike@seatbooker.net>]

> Date: Wed, 8 Jan 2003 10:41:31 -0000 
> From: "Heathcote, Julia" <julia.heathcote@ic.ac.uk>
> 
> I found the therizinosaur episode particularly frustrating.  Marven
> took nearly half an hour to work out that Therizinosaurus was
> herbivorous, when I suspect every palaeontologist (and probably
> every child between the ages of 7 and 12) was on the case within 10
> minutes.  I found myself getting all nostalgic for the golden days
> of WWD when Kenneth Branagh [...]

Eh, eh, I can't have that!  I _loved_ the Christmas specials (I've
watched them again and again with my four-year-old) and I'm prepared
to cut them a lot of slack if it means they can conjure up some
dramatic justification shots that show us the scale of those critters
by putting a human next to them.  OK, so it would be stupidly
dangerous to go messing with therizinosaurs and megacrocs -- but
aren't we prepared to suspend a bit of disbelief here?  In the name,
you know, GORGEOUS DINOSAURS?

I think we're all getting a bit spoiled for choice now.  In the decade
since the _Jurassic Park_ gave us the first believable on-screen
dinosaurs, we've had two more _JP_s, a six-episode _WWD_ series, three
WWD specials, _When Dinosaurs Roamed America_ (and maybe others that
elude me for the moment).  What wouldn't we have given to watch just
five minutes of any one of those productions a few years back?  Let's
not get so blase that we forget to enjoy this stuff.

BTW., for whoever asked the question: who is Nigel Marven?  He's a TV
zoologist who's made a career out of doing stupidly dangerous things
with unpredictable animals.  A fairly typical episode of his would
show him crawling down into a python's underground nest, swimming
under the arctic ice with sharks and fighting a kicking cassowary
defended, only by a wooden shild.  Actually, I believe he _would_ try
to draw the _Sacrosuchus_ out of the water; I'm only surprised he
didn't try to arm-wrestle the _Giganotosaurus_.

Oh -- and far better Marven's brand of infectious, gung-ho enthusiasm
than Brannagh's stentorian faux-Shakespearian tones.  Jeez, I get
bored of that guy _so_ quickly ...

In conclusion, m'lud: Hurrah for _WWD_!  :-)

 _/|_    _______________________________________________________________
/o ) \/  Mike Taylor   <mike@miketaylor.org.uk>   www.miketaylor.org.uk
)_v__/\  "I never comment on referees and I'm not going to break
         the habit of a lifetime for that prat" -- Ron Atkinson,
         after WBA's UEFA Cup defeat to Red Star Belgrade.