Tag: jurassic world live

Walking with Dinosaurs to Return in 2025 with All-New Series

Posted on by J. Malone

BBC Studios recently announced that they are co-producing an all-new Walking with Dinosaurs series with ZDF and France Télévisions, for the BBC and PBS stations.

From the official press release:

‘In an exciting reimagining of one of the BBC’s best loved factual shows, each episode of Walking with Dinosaurs will tell the dramatic story of an individual dinosaur whose remains are currently being unearthed by the world’s leading dinosaur hunters. Thanks to cutting-edge science, experts can reveal how these prehistoric creatures lived, hunted, fought and died more accurately than ever before. As the dinosaur’s bones emerge from the ground, the series will bring these prehistoric stories to life with state-of-the-art visual effects – making each episode a gripping dinosaur drama based on the very latest evidence.‘

The original Walking with Dinosaurs series, which debuted in 1999, mixed digital and practical effects to showcase dinosaurs (and other animals that lived during the Mesozoic) in natural environments and with [at the time] up-to-date scientific knowledge. The six-part series was record-breaking, and due to its popularity, it spawned several spin-off series and specials, such as Allosaurus: A Walking with Dinosaurs Special, Walking with Beasts and Sea Monsters. There was also a very successful Walking With Dinosaurs arena show (produced by Creature Technology Company, who are also responsible for the animatronics used for a plethora of Jurassic projects such as Jurassic World Live Tour!, Jurassic World The Exhibition, and Jurassic World Adventure at Universal Bejing,) and one unfortunately unsuccessful movie attempt in 2013.

The new Walking with series will span six episodes and audiences can expect to meet many different prehistoric species in an array of Mesozoic landscapes. These include a Spinosaurus roaming the rivers of ancient Morocco; Cretaceous favorites of North America; and a lonely Lusotitan risking it all for a chance at love in Portugal. Scientific consultants, such as Dr. Thomas Holtz, have also given hints as to how the series will be structured:

Watch the teaser for the all-new series, and let us know in the comments if you’re excited about the new series and what you hope to see!

New Look at the Dinosaurs of Jurassic World Live Reveals Green Raptors

Posted on by Corey Anderson

The Jurassic World Live Show tour is set to kick off its first set of shows in Columbus, Ohio next month, but much of the shows contents are shrouded in mystery. A new preview from USA Today gives us a new glimpse at the dinosaurs being made for the show – read on and take a look at their video below!

The show utilizes practical dinosaur puppets to bring the animals to life for the live audiences. Puppets is perhaps a bit of an understatement here. These dinosaurs animatronics describe more like advanced prehistoric vehicles, as the human inside each dinosaur uses advanced controls to bring them to life. In the Velociraptor, the pilot uses joysticks, levers, and triggers to control all the functions of the animal, even down to the eyelids. A small monitor inside gives the “dino-teer” a look outside of the creature in an effort to assist with steering functions.

And that’s just one of the dinosaur set to take the stage. We know the show will heavily feature a Troodon, as well as Stegosaurus, Triceratops, and T-Rex. The Rex animatronic is reportedly 43 feet long and fully piloted by Jurassic World Live staff members during the show. From a robotics standpoint, this show is shaping up to be just about as advanced as we could hope for from a traveling Jurassic show. The production has truly spared no expense with the inside workings of the dinosaurs.

However, we can’t help but talk about the Velociraptors seen in this video (who weirdly have square-ish snouts and nearly identical color schemes of Jeanie the Troodon).

You may have read our recent article about the issues that have plagued the velociraptors for decades. Jurassic World Live seems to have fallen into the same trap: green raptors. We won’t stand on a long soap box again about the raptor color here. We have already done that before and are likely to do it again, but it essentially boils down to the raptors looking pretty generic and bland – and not having any real canonical reason to keep being green. To the casual viewer, we know this probably will not be a glaring issue – though, with so many iconic wild raptor designs from Stan Winston Studios for the Jurassic Park films, we can’t help but wish they made a reappearance.

In any case, progress on building the dinosaurs seems to be drawing to a close as the first tour date draws near. USA Today reporter Carly Mallenbaum got a chance to look around the studio and even put some of the animatronics to the test. Check out the video below to see how the studio is bringing these prehistoric creatures to life.

Are you planning on catching a showing of Jurassic World Live? Are you excited about the animatronics they are using or does their appearance fall flat? Let us know in the comments below!

Source: USA Today