Product Description

You'll be on the edge of your seat when the creators of the groundbreaking Walking With... series send zoologist Nigel Marvin back in time to track down the owner of the Giant Claw. But as soon as his mission is accomplished, it's on to prehistoric South America, in Land of Giants, where Nigel witnesses the battle between history's largest predator and its even more gigantic prey. Finally, in Chased by Sea Monsters, our intrepid explorer dives into the world's most dangerous depths. In seven different seas in seven different eras, Nigel meets scary sea scorpions, terrifying giant squid, massive armored fish, and the vicious sixty-foot Mosasaur!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8384 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2004-03-23
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 150 minutes

Features

• You'll be on the edge of your seat when the creators of the groundbreaking Walking With. series send zoologist Nigel Marvin back in time to track down the owner of the Giant Claw. But as soon as his mission is accomplished, it's on to prehistoric South America, in Land of Giants, where Nigel witnesses the battle between history's largest predator and its even more gigantic prey. Finally, in Chase

Amazon.com
What do you get when you cross the Crocodile Hunter with the Jurassic Park trilogy? You get Chased by Dinosaurs, an awesomely entertaining BBC follow-up to the phenomenally successful Walking with Dinosaurs programs. Hosted by zoologist-adventurer Nigel Marven, this compilation of playfully exciting 30-minute programs is a time traveler's dream come true, presenting a feast of impressive prehistoric scenery as if it were readily accessible to any present-day camera crew. It's digital fakery at its finest, and Marven's infectious enthusiasm combines up-to-date research with wide-eyed intensity as he introduces us to a wide-ranging menagerie of long-extinct species, thriving in their native habitats and raging from 75 to 450 million years B.C. "Land of Giants" leaps back to the early Cretaceous period (100 million B.C.) to what is now Argentina, where Marven and his intrepid crew find Argentinosaurus, at over 100 feet long the largest dinosaur ever. Other marvels abound, including an Ultralight flight among a flock of Pteranodons, with wingspans up to 40 feet! "The Giant Claw" is a search for Therizinosaurus, an amazing herbivore (Mongolia, 75 million B.C.) with enormous 28-inch claws on 10-foot arms. The three-part "Sea Monsters" spans seven epochs to survey some of the most bizarre and terrifying creatures that ever swam the oceans, including sea scorpions, a multi-tentacled Giant Orthocone, and Megalodon, the ancient relative to Great White Sharks. And that's just a sampling: Many other amazing creatures are included among Marven's close encounters.

With each successive effort, the digital wizards at Framestore CFC (Europe's largest computer-animation company) rise to new heights of photorealism, interactive lighting effects, and biological authenticity. And while Marven's a fair educator and a robust adventurer, more science-minded viewers will appreciate the 50-minute bonus program "The Science of Giants," centering on the behavior of massive dinosaurs and the efforts of renowneds paleontologist Philip Currie to prove that "megacarnivores"--once thought to roam alone--actually hunted in packs. This is really amazing stuff, and the helpful "Fact Files" provide detailed profiles of every dinosaur and sea creature featured in these memorable programs. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Surprising and Fun Romp!
This newest DVD addition to the BBC Walking With Dinosaurs series and is surprisingly good!

Like the best of Jurassic Park but without all the subplots, Nigel Marven is a Jeff Corwin / Crocodile Dundee like character who time travels to prehistoric times (how he does it is never explained but that is really irrelevant) and brings us right with him into the adventure.

He gets into all kinds of interesting confrontations with dinosaurs on land, air, and sea and tries stuff that no sane human would attempt. Although some of his bravado backfires on him, this makes the whole premise at somewhat more believable.

The integration of live action, animation, and CGI is simply amazing. Taking some 21st Century technology with him, one scene has Nigel in an ultra-light flying amidst huge pterosaurs. Another has him actually catching a small dino in his "camp".

This is certainly the lightest episode but at the same time perhaps most interesting one in the series. Highly entertaining and you might even learn something new too!

A must see for dino-fans!

The best of recent dino DVDs by BBC and Discovery Channel
My 6-year old son has 4 of the recent dino DVDs created with computer-generated graphics:

* Chased by Dinosaurs (BBC)
* Allosaurus (BBC)
* Walking With Dinosaurs (BBC)
* Dinosaur Planet (Discovery Channel)

I have reviewed all the others, too.

The BBC productions are all far better quality than Dinosaur Planet. But Dinosaur Planet has longer stories, and the dinos are given names and more personality, which appeals to kids.

Of the BBC productions, Chased by Dinosaurs is the best. They are all exceptional. You'd think somebody managed to go back in time and shoot film of real dinosaurs. In fact, that is the plot of Chased by Dinosaurs. The host, Nigel Marvin, is something of a "dinosaur hunter", ala the Crocodile Hunter series. He goes back in time and interacts with marvelous dinosaurs in 3 long episodes. The animation is brilliant! In one moment, Nigel captures a small bird-like dinosaur. In another, a T-Rex nearly back into Nigel, who is hiding in the bushes. The animation is just mind-blowing.

This is absolutely my son's favorite. He's old enough to know that Nigel Marvin didn't really go back in time. But he's young enough to be absolutely delighted by the possibility.

Time Travel TV
If mankind ever invented a real time travel machine this is just the type of documentary the BBC would make. Two episodes of Chased by Dinosaurs plus three episodes of Chased by Sea Monsters make this DVD a real deal. It also has lots of extras and Nigel Marvin is the zoologist who is sent back in time to explore the past. Because he is a real zoologist he knows just how to deal with the predators and their prey, but sometimes he DOES get in over his head and even lost his temper once. 150 minutes, with English subtitles for the deaf or hard of hearing, I have to give the BBC, the Discovery Channel and ProSieben a big two-thumbs up. Because of the predator-prey interaction I would not suggest this DVD for really young kids.