TheLittleSongbird Have always been fascinated by dinosaurs, whether reading about them or seeing documentaries and films on them. Love documentaries, especially those of the national treasure that is David Attenborough, and admire to love a lot of the late John Hurt's filmography. So my expectations for 'Planet Dinosaur' were quite big and that's an understatement.Expectations that were actually mostly lived up to, a good thing for me having seen my fair share of wastes of potential recently. 'Planet Dinosaur' is not one of the best documentaries personally seen (far from it), and there are better ones on the subject of dinosaurs. It is also not as ground-breaking as 'Walking with Dinosaurs', as far as dinosaur documentaries go, still a big achievement to this day. Standing on its own without comparing it to anything, 'Planet Dinosaur' was very interesting and mostly very well done.'Planet Dinosaur' isn't perfect. The dinosaur effects are stiff, hasty-looking and lack finesse too often, though there are some grand ones. At times, it gets a bit repetitive, especially in the last two episodes agreed.It sometimes is on the biased side, rather than a multi-dimensional picture of the dinosaurs they can be described in a certain way and viewpoint and one is not offered another.However, when it comes to how it's written, 'Planet Dinosaur' does just as good a job entertaining and teaching, it's all very sincerely done and it never feels like a sermon. There are things here that are common sense and knowledge but one is taught a huge deal as well.John Hurt's (RIP) narration delivery is similarly spot-on, very sensitively delivered and very dignified in a distinctively John Hurt way. Bias aside, the narration is comprehensive and sincere, with a good balance of things known to me and things new to me (really like it when documentaries do that), as well as compelling.Visually, 'Planet Dinosaur' may lack the awe-inspiring, almost cinematic quality one anticipates. With that being said, it is beautifully shot, shot in a fluid and non-static way. The sceneries and landscapes can be beautiful but also they can be at other times they can be rendered a bit flatly, would have been better with the real settings. Every episode is appropriately scored, never intrusive or too low-key. There is fun, tension and pathos throughout and the dinosaurs, prey and predator, are like characters that one cares for in the same way they do a human. The fossil evidence, very well researched and grounded rather than speculative, and the science, which in no way sounds like gibberish or like it was made up as they went along (a lot of homework was done in this regard) are also notable assets.Overall, very good though with flaws that stop it from being great. 8/10 Bethany Cox

tankace Planet Dinosaur, not to be confused with Dinosaur Planet is in practice a series made in order to inform the public for the newest discoveries about these long dead titans. Its facts about them are practically perfect and about 95% scientifically accurate, also the fact that in every episode it show many different places makes feel like a road trip through the earth in the Mesozoic and it make me believe that the I had been transfer on another planet, which in a sense its true because the creatures we see are as alien to us as the xenomorth from the Alien. A bonus fact is that the CGI is beautiful and the way the light falls on the dinosaur, its moves are as close as it gets to fool you that what you see is a real animal. Now the drawbacks of the series, first even the environments are made by a computer and I felt like seen a image in a mirror with another mirror, yes the suspending of disbelief can go so far. Also the changing of the places ,while entertaining it made the series feel rusted and disconnected each episode from the rest. The final reason why I think is a bit overrated is a personally one: Where in the name of Pangeia is Turannosaurus Rex, it may show you for a brief time his family members ,but T-Rex is the star of the non avian dinosaurs, not including him in the show is like cutting of Turion Lannister from Games of Thrones, the series could be still good, but this what made it come for more!! To conclude if you want to be entertained and educated at the same time ,this a good choice, but lets be honest Walking with Dinosaurs is the one true King, period.

andy-g85 The new dinosaur documentary series from the BBC, Planet Dinosaur, is currently about half-way through airing as I write this. Straight off the bat it is clear they are aiming for different targets with this attempt.Previously Walking With Dinosaurs presented itself as a straight up nature doc, and was shot and narrated as such. Although it was a big hit, a lot of people mentioned how it bothered them that theories and guesswork were presented as facts. The BBC seem to have taken note of this in PD. Each episode regularly cuts away from the dinosaurs to show photos and 3D scans of real fossils, explaining what is actually known and what is educated supposition.While I like the acknowledgement of facts and theory, I have to say personally I think it interrupts the pace of the show a bit. WWD had a better flow.Onto the animals themselves. I watched a little 'Making Of' doc of PD, where a producer explained that something they really wanted to achieve was much more dramatic and dynamic camera shots of the creatures in action, and the best way they could figure to do this is by using all CG environments. I have to say I feel this was a mistake. The backgrounds are lifeless and dull, especially compared to the terrific locations used in WWD. The new bouncy, swirly camera angles do not add anything to the excitement of the show, but instead show the failings of the animals themselves more clearly.And that is the shows biggest problem. Whereas in WWD the rendering and animation of the dinosaurs was hired out to a specialist CGI company, it seems very clear that PD was done in-house. It is a marked step down, particularly in the animation. WWD was fluid and just looked and felt so much more natural. In PD it is not quite right and is very noticeable - a great let-down after an advancement of 12 years. I do feel however the actual creature design was very accurate. You can see a clear similarity between the models and the actual fossils.All this having been said however, I feel overall this a really good series, presenting some real history and facts, while managing not to insult the viewers intelligence. A good companion piece to WWD.

cayates1 The cartoon monster show is immensely disappointing. The BBC loves CGI which is fine but not when it's cheap 'n nasty CGI, the sort that would shame Channel5. You see the same rubbish in Doctor Who (which is rubbish anyway) & no doubt many other BBC co-productions which I've long since grown sick of. Outcasts, Bonekickers & Day of the Triffids are but 3 dreadful examples. It wasn't always like this. I kid you not the animation in Walking with Dinosaurs(1999)is easily better. The monsters in that have a gait & vitality that put this rubbish to shame. I can't comment about the palaeontological accuracy of this but I know when animation doesn't ring true. The landscapes look thin & synthetic, I've seen better work by amateurs on youtube. Tom & Jerry are more convincing. Ray Harryhausen must be wondering why his stop-motion technique was superseded by something that has been so shoddily rendered. Where's the quality control? The BBC is throwing a huge amount of prestige into this production with ancillary programmes on BBC2 & 4 by the likes of Alice Roberts, Jem Stansfield & Dallas Campbell(Dallas?) - a blitz really, so they obviously aren't aiming this at 5yearolds. Any simpleton can see this is not up to scratch. It's like evolution in reverse. I gave it 2/10 because the on-screen data blocks are OK, not good just OK.