Comments on: JFC lockjaw

By: Jura

Jura — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:02:44 +0000

I'm amazed at how popular these three posts have been. It has been over a year since I wrote them, and yet they still generate a lot of buzz. I don't quite understand your position. On the one hand you seem to be arguing that JFC was meant to be educational, yet when I lashed into the program for some glaring inaccuracies, you seem to defend it as just being entertainment. Which one is it? As I mentioned in the posts, my issue was not that JFC was making little - nit picky - errors. JFC was making huge egregious errors. Saying that sharks can taste the water with their skin, or that dromaeosaurs could breathe through their bones, is flat out wrong. This is not an area with much room for argument. We know how air sacs work in birds (and by extension, in dinosaurs). So too do we know how denticles work in sharks. These are simple fact checking errors that deserved to get fixed, and severely hurt the credibility of the show. It is embarrassing to be a paleontologist on shows like these because then you get associated with these cheesy mistakes. Hence all the vitriolic responses to it on the Dinosaur Mailing List, or the anti-fan group on Facebook. For a more recent take on this, see how paleontologist Matt Wedel was misrepresented in Clash of the Dinosaurs, and the fallout from that. Also, as someone who was a kid that was interested in dinosaurs, and used documentaries to help fuel that interest, I can say that I was much more entertained listening to scientists talk about what we actually knew, vs watching two dinosaurs go at it in a one on one match. Case in point, the far superior (if dated, and not perfect): 80's Dinosaur special. In the end JFC was just a symptom of the long running problem with the concept of "entertainment documentaries." An idea that was (unfortunately) started with BBC's Walking with... series.

By: Eric Warren

Eric Warren — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 05:05:24 +0000

I think that the over bashing of George Blasing is unwarranted…Some of the greatest contributors to paleontology over the past 200 years have had far less training than he…Jurassic Fight Club had it’s flaws yes, but no more so than the highly acclaimed “Walking with Dinosaurs” did or any of it’s spinoffs. All shows about paleontolgy are going to be suspect to inaccuracies. That is the nature of the science, and to suggest that the scenarios in the show were wrong, noone can say. Even Dr Holtz, Dr Bakker or Larson can say for sure what exactly dinosaurs did or didn’t do when interacting. It is impossible to do so because fossils cannot tell us facts about behavior. Let alone the fact that dinosaur paleontolgy changes so fast that what is relevant today is debunked tomorrow and back and forth. Take Glut’s encyclopedis set that requires revisions ever 2 years with some information and identifications changed and reversed each supplement. For example the ongoing diagnosis of Tarbosaurus in and out of the genus Tyrannosaurus. It never stops and never will. Paleontolgy is a soft science because there is no absolute hard facts other than this is what we found, how big it is and the apparent relationship to this other one because the way this bone fossilized seems to show that (until another skeleton of the same animal contradicts that). Do not be so quick to slam someone on facts that just aren’t there. It isn’t like discussing the species of crocodilians that you can observe live. You ignorace to the relationship between education and entertainment makes you sound a bit like a typical Hollywood critic intent on blasting an effort to increase interest and awareness by expecting perfection. As far as George Blasing’s credentials or lack of, it is not for you to judge…and calling him names like “fanboy” only makes you sound jealous and ignorant. All paleontologists are fanboys, professional or amateur. Mr. Blasing has done what many fail to do and that is attempt to keep science relevant. No average adult or 8 year old child is interested in hearing a scientist in a lab coat spout off about Tyrannosaurus’ paletal kinesis or variation of sexual dimorphism. (And, yes, blood aside, kids were watching this show.) They want to see T. rex and Allosaurus fighting their prey…they want to see Megalodon attacking toothed whales…The science was presented in lay terms, and alot of it was spot on accurate as far as we can see from fossils, the rest, guess work…just like EVERYTHING in paleontology starts out as. The point of this show was education, entertainment and an attempt at keeping dinosaurs interesting and relevant. Some kid watching may use this show as a springboard to his/her own career in sciences just as many others were inspired by Bakker’s ravings in the ’70s and ’80s (most of which was also pure conjecture and hence debunked). As far as the errors, I think you read too much into the statements and take things literally. Liberal desription is part of entertainment in documentaries…saying Megalodon was as big as a jumbo jet is no worse than calling Liopleurodon an 80foot monster (in actuality it was closer to 35). You have personal problems with Blasing that probably stems from jealousy in the fact that some other amateur is making it big and you aren’t he…Let him do his work and get over it, if you know he makes a mistake, then fine, thats great, I am happy you are so smart or had an encyclopedia handy to look it up in…

By: David Davi Tull

David Davi Tull — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:59:26 +0000

So if I understand this correctly, Dino George makes it a point to say that the different “experts” had a theory or two that were brought up in the early part of the show during the educational piece and then he used modern animal habits to entertain us with a “what if” scenario of how these animals might have had the wounds, etc found on them.
Your issue with Dino George is that he has theories that disagree with YOUR theory on the subject and therefore HE is “fanboy”?
This is interesting for me because I don’t think any of you have a clue what you are talking about HALF of the time and it is hard to figure out which HALF is the correct stuff. So unless you have figured out ALL of it I take your comments to be those of an academic upset that you didn’t make the show as an expert. Spew your sour grapes oh Great Jura, it is your rightful place. On the sidelines. Hating.
One other quick question; is it a bad thing that Dino George is inspiring all of these young minds to come to Universities to be “straightened out” by the all seeing academics? Just curious.

By: Jura

Jura — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:21:36 +0000

Actually Mr. Blasing himself has talked about how he created the show, both on his blog, and on the Dinosaur Mailing List. He even lists all that he did on the show, on his website. http://www.dinosaurgeorge.com/Jurassic_Fight_Club.php

By: Lisa Miller

Lisa Miller — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:21:16 +0000

Geez…you poor old buzzard. Sounds like the rantings of a very jealous somebody. I guess you don’t know the difference between academia and entertainment. Too bad for you.
However, YOU have mistated several “facts” in your little rant. For instance, if you had done your homework, you would know that JFC was NOT Mr. Blasing’s “pet project”. It WAS the pet project of the powers-to-be at the History Channel. And, he didn’t use any of his funds to make any show. I’m not sure where you got your information on the subject. But, see, how easy it is to put something in print that you believe and then have someone else come along and correct you??