I will admit, this is not the worst dinosaur documentary out there. But it is not to the same quality as the "Walking with" series was. Let's talk about the pros first. This definitely contains a plethora of factual information to share with the audience, which is quite nice. It takes the time to explain how paleontologists have theorized certain aspects and behaviors of the creatures based on direct fossil evidence. The show focuses quite a bit on the actual fossils rather than always showing the dinosaurs on screen, which is a nice change of pace. With all the evidence they present, it makes the dinosaurs in the show more believable in their behaviors and actions. Now to the cons. I don't like the style of the show. The models look very bland, especially with the models. Most of the creatures look very similar with their models, and the models themselves look cheap. When there is a feathered dinosaur, not all of the feathers look like they're really on the dinosaur. The creatures and the environments don't look real. It all looks like it was done on a computer (which I know it is, but it would be nice if it looked a little more realistic). I also do 't like how basically every scene with a dinosaur involves it fighting and/or killing another dinosaur. I get it, dinosaurs fighting each other is entertaining, but fighting is not something animals do 24/7. It's actually a last resort for animals, as it would be for dinosaurs. Now it's fine to have some scenes with fighting dinosaurs, but not too much. This is something that Walking with Dinosaurs did fantastically. That program had little fight scenes, and was mainly showing dinosaurs just doing what dinosaurs normally do, and it worked. So why does this show feel the need to only have fight scenes? It's unnecessary.

Planet Dinosaur (2011) DVD - An excellent series on the subject of dinosaurs. Several species are covered including hunting behaviors, diet, nesting, habitat range. The information is delivered in a professional and yet exciting fashion. Very well done.I've enjoyed several of the BBC produced series on the subject of Dinosaurs. They are all good. The dramatic fashion in which this series is presented is excellent. Narration by John Hurt is flawless. Much of the content incorporates new evidence uncovered within the last 10 or 15 years which gives this series a fresh and interesting view. The additional mini documentary on how Dinosaurs are reconstructed is very informative and enjoyable - don't skip that segment. It is difficult to comment on the quality of the CGI since I watched this on DVD. They put over 3 hours of content onto ONE SINGLE DVD disc ! What a BLUNDER. In order to accomplish this they must compress spectral and resolution information to such an extent as to render the final visual product a disaster. How could they have done this ? Were they trying to save a few bucks on production costs or did the marketing people convince them it would sell better as a single disc ? They even eliminated the chaptering and time sequence data to further save on space. This means that if you stop watching in the middle of one episode to go use the bathroom your DVD player has no way of remembering where you were. You must restart the episode from the beginning and fast forward to where you were. Ridiculous.Perhaps the BLU-RAY disc version has all these flaws corrected. As bad as the disc quality was I still really enjoyed the content and rate this an easy 7/10. On BLU-RAY this may be an 8/10 or higher.

In this over simplification of dinosaur life, we get to see how sensational the writers can be about these majestic creatures. Countless times throughout the series the narrator defines dinosaurs as "Killers" "Terrible killers" Deadly killers" "Monsters". Watch and roll your eyes at the blood splattered on the screen and ground. Anti-intellectual and narrow in scope. Dinosaurs lived for millions of years and depicting them only as "Horrible killers" does them a disservice in my opinion. Did they kill their prey to survive? Yes, as do lions, polar bears, and bald eagles. This is a common theme in nature but is it their sole defining attribute? No, and it shouldn't be. For a lover of nature and one always interested in the natural history of our planet, this series was disgraceful.

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.