One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving growing up was watching some of the natural history programs that would often air during the day, anxiously awaiting the later galliform feast. One such show I remember quite well was a PBS series called The Dinosaurs! (Part 1: "The Monsters Emerge," Part 2: "Flesh on the Bones," Part 3: "The Nature of the Beast," and Part 4: "Death of the Dinosaur"). Unfortunately, the series is only available on VHS today (yet another reason for me to eventually purchase a DVD burner with a VHS deck in it), but someone has been kind enough to upload some of the animation sequences onto Youtube. Some aspects of the vignettes may be a bit dated, but they're still fun to watch, and they definitely remind me of one wonderful Thanksgiving where PBS played all four back-to-back. Here are the scenes I was able to find;
If all that isn't enough (and even if it is), make sure you check out Darren's own nostalgic look at another series from around the same time that I unfortunately missed out completely on: The Velvet Claw. While I'll probably never get to see the series, I did manage to obtain a copy of the companion book, a volume that is a little bit dated but still a great introduction to the mammalian carnivore guild and I definitely recommend it.
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When I was about 9 or 10, I remember a documentary series on dinosaurs narrated by Walter Cronkite. I think it was simply called Dinosaur, and I do sort of recall the intro sequence - a running animated Deinonychus, (which remains one of my favourite animated dinosaur sequences of all time, even if it didn't have feathers back then).
I remember that series because it was a very good guide to even the casual observer, not just because of the comprehensive coverage of the historical discoveries, it also talked to a lot of contemporary paleontologists and reflected a lot of the research that was going on that time. It was dividied into four episodes - Tale of a Tooth, Tale of a Bone, Tale of an Egg, and Tale of a Feather.
There were a few short sequences with animatronic dinosaurs, which were quite well-done at that time - I still remember one particular vignette which showed a Megalosaurus [sic] stalking and killing an Iguanodon, juxtaposed with the discoveries by William Buckland and Gideon Mantell, and with a church boys' choir singing All Things Bright and Beautiful... they don't quite make documentaries like that these days. *sniffle*
Oh man, I remember both of those shows. I used to have them both on VHS (recorded off TV like the cheapskate that I am) and I'd watch them religiously. Sad thing is the Cronkite one first came out when I was about five years old, and some of the puppets (the Coelophysis, the dueling Centrosaurs) actually scared the complete crap out of me back then. I got over it eventually...about the time the PBS series came out. And that PBS one was absolutely incredible, particularly for the animations. I watched the T.rex/Triceratops fight so much I think I wore that specific part of the tape out.
Granted, I think both tapes are about shot now, but...I dunno. I think I'm gonna go try to dig those out over the weekend and see if they still function. Also had another tape with a bunch of old early-90s NOVA specials on dinosaurs, including one about T.rex (specifically, excavating the Wankel specimen) that I think was hosted by Horner before he went on his borderline crackpot obligate scavenger tirade.
I LOVED that show when it came out (I was in jr. high)...
As much as people bad mouth him now (I think a lot of it's jealousy) but that show had Bakker in his prime. The parts where he directs the animator through the anatomy of T-Rex, Triceratops, and Stegosaurus... I still use his language and examples when dealing with the public... So good.
Their explaination of the extinction still holds up perfectly... Despite all the hoopla over supposed volcanic stuff in India, they have yet to explain shocked quartz and iridium in the KT boundary the way an asteriod does...
Sorry quick clarification I'm not saying I don't believe that volcanic stuff was occurring in India in the late Cretaceous... I just don't see it as a compelling explanation for the KT boundary especially in light of all the extra terrestial elements (outlined perfectly years ago by Agent 99 in the Dinosaurs! series)
In the 5th video, I noticed that the archaeopteryx is very identifiably based on a Gregory S. Paul reconstruction. From Predatory Dinosaurs of the World, I'm pretty sure.