Dinosaur Revolution

***Dinosaur Revolution*** is a four-part American documentary series produced by Creative Differences. It utilizes computer-generated imagery to portray dinosaurs and other animals from the Mesozoic era. The first two episodes were aired on the Discovery Channel on September 4, 2011, with the two remaining episodes originally scheduled to air on September 11 on the same network; however, a last-minute chance in schedule was made to out of respect for the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks and resulted in the two episodes being replaced with 9/11 based programming and moved to the Science Channel on September 13.

## Episodes

 Sequences include:
* A pair of Inostrancevia during the Permian-Triassic extinction event
* Eoraptor mating rituals in Triassic South America
* A battle between two Cryolophosaurus in Jurassic Antarctica
* An examination of the adaptations of Gigantoraptor in Cretaceous Mongolia
* A female Tylosaurus attacking Squalicorax sharks to defend her offspring in Cretaceous North America
 2
 Sequences include:
* A Utahraptor pack hunt
* A Rahonavis being portrayed as capable of climbing trees in Cretaceous Madagascar
* An Anhanguera brood learning to fly in Cretaceous Brazil
* Mammals such as Castoracauda and Volaticotherium being chased by Guanlong in Jurassic China
* A Protoceratops male voyaging with a baby and fending off Velociraptor in Cretaceous Mongolia
 4

## Production

Production on the series began in spring of 2009 after several months of pre-production and took three years in total. The series was built around several short and long-form stories taking place in a number of distinct environments spanning the Mesozoic era. Originally titled *Reign of the Dinosaurs*, the series was intended to be a six-hour series of fictional narratives loosely based on the *Age of Reptiles* comic book series by Ricardo Delgado and employing no narration, rather than as a documentary. Each episode was intended to be followed by one of a companion series entitled *Science of Reign of the Dinosaurs*, in which scientists would explain the basis for the preceding story and pointing out which parts were speculative or imaginary. Cuts and changes in marketing strategy by the network and production company resulted in the series being retitled *Dinosaur Revolution* and divided into a more traditional format intercut with "talking heads" or brief explanations from scientists, and the series was cut from six to four episodes. Of the four finished episodes, the first was originally planned to feature the Triassic Chinle Formation of the southwestern United States and to include Coelophysis, Placerias and Postosuchus in the storyline. However, production on the segment led to the location being changed to the much older Ischigualasto Formation of Argentina, and the featured animals were changed to Eoraptor, Ischigualastia and Saurosuchus, which resulted in the Ischigualastia model remaining anatomically based on Placerias. Scenes with Cryolophosaurus and Glacialisaurus were filmed in Tenerife.

Changes in location were made for the following episodes as well. The second episode, "The Watering Hole", was intended to focus on the Jurassic Morrison Formation in North America, which had been featured in other dinosaur documentaries, before the setting was shifted, at recommendation from scientific consultant Tom Holtz to the Lourinhã Formation in Portugal, which led to the first television appearance of species like Draconyx. The Cretaceous Mongolia segment from the third episode was set in the Wulansuhai Formation rather than the contemporary Djadochta Formation, which led to the focus on the species Velociraptor osmolskae in place of the well-known V. mongoliensies and Protoceratops hellenikorhinus in place of P. andrewsi, respectively. Some of the events of "The Watering Hole", such as the scenes of an Allosaurus whose lower jaw was wounded by a sauropod tail, were based off of research by Tom Holtz, and most of the episode's featured species were scientifically reported to Portugal by Portuguese paleontologist Octávio Mateus. Not all animals featured in the series were based on specific species, with the crocodyliform from the Utahraptor sequence and notosuchian from the Anhanguera sequence left intentionally unnamed.

Notable artists involved in the series include paleoartist David Krentz (Disney's *Dinosaur* and *John Carter*), Ricardo Delgado (author of *Age of Reptiles*), Tom de Rosier (*Lilo & Stitch*, *Mulan*), Mishi McCaig (*Iron Man*), Pete Von Sholly (*The Mask*, *Darkman*), and Ian McCaig (*Star Wars* films). The creators also cited *Looney Tunes*, *Avatar*, *Up*, and *WALL-E* as inspirations for the show's storytelling aspect.

Creative Differences used ZBrush for the modeling, texturing, and painting of the various creatures in the series, and employed other studios to use Maya for the animation and rendering, including Mokko in Montreal, Kinkajou in the UK, Sauce FX, and Hawaii Animation Studios, with the latter also using a program called Bakery Relight for rendering. Miniature sets and physical special effects were designed and filmed by John Tindall at Tindall Vision Laboratories in Los Angeles. At one point, a press release by the Discovery Channel led to confusion about the production of the series, leading some to believe that Pixar was the studio producing the project.

Stories that were planned or not completed during production, including one about an unknown pterosaur, and featuring species such as Spinosaurus, Megapnosaurus, Placodus, Mixosaurus, Nothosaurus, Iguanodon, Agilisaurus, and Prenocephale, were cut from the program, with the latter model being used for the final episode. David Krentz expressed that these segments were cut based on the quality of their stories. Additionally, some relevant scientific discoveries were published too late in production to have been incorporated into the program. For example, the mosasaur model from the first episode (identified as a Mosasaurus by the show's website but stated by Krentz to be a Tylosaurus) lacked a tail fluke, a discovery which came shortly after the CGI model was completed.

## Reception

*Dinosaur Revolution* received mixed reviews from critics, with some citing the poor quality of its animation and a lack of seriousness in its tone. It was, however, praised for its educational content and general energy. Riley Black of the *Smithsonian* criticized the show for a lacking scientific content and described it as "more of a dinosaur tribute than a documentary." Linda Stasi of the *New York Post* criticized the show for being "cutesy" but noted that the series teaches viewers "a huge amount of interesting stuff." Ross Langager from *PopMatters* criticized the show for its lack of scientific content. Brian Lowry of *Variety* took a more positive note of the series, determining that it was "a very laudable decision to give viewers a taste of life on a prehistoric planet." David Hickley of *New York Daily News* noted the series as being very "lively", in spite of having criticisms for it.

Criticism came from some of show's production crew as well. Artist Peter Von Sholley, who was involved in production, expressed regret at the way the series was handled and cuts were made. He expressed that some of the best sequences were removed and that they were cut based on how far production process on the segments were, rather than the story quality as Krentz had stated. Tom Holtz commented on and agreed with Black's criticism.

## *Dinotasia*

In 2012, Creative Differences released a recut feature film version of the series entitled *Dinotasia*, which consisted of material incorporated and expanded upon from the show and was designed to be closer to what *Dinosaur Revolution* was originally conceived as to correct problems allegedly caused by the network. This version was narrated by Werner Herzog and released in select theaters in the United Kingdom on May 4, 2012.

## Home media

Main article: *Dinosaur Revolution (videography)*