RE: Note To Dinosaur Documentary Producers

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> Andrea Kirk
>
> On Sun, 15 Jul 2001 Danvarner@aol.com wrote:
>
> >        Dinosaurs probably did not scream and bellow every
> moment of their
> > waking existence--especially not when stalking prey. Good God,
> where's the
> > asprin? DV
> >
>
> Weren't the metal-bending tones of the dilophosaurs enchanting though?
>
I particularly liked (?!?) the sounds picked for various critters:
_Desmatosuchus_ (no need for the extra "s", guys...) has a pig-like snout,
so it'll make pig sounds; _Apatosaurus_ is as big as a (small) whale, so
it'll make whale-like sounds; _Ceratosaurus_ is a hunter, so it will have
big-cat sounds mixed in its call.

Incidentally, part III (the Zuni Basin segment) was completed first, and I
have to say that the other sections had bits and pieces that looked
"rushed".  The animals in general seemed better rendered than did those in
WWD, but the interaction with the real environment wasn't always as good
(for example, most of the scenes of the phytosaur _Rutiodon_ entering and
leaving the water had almost no sign of wakes or spalshing).

Still, I have to say that it was a fun project to work on, and I was glad to
hear that some of my script suggestions/corrections were incorporated in the
final version.

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
                College Park, MD  20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796


> -----Original Message-----
> And did anyone else start laughing as the camera panned up and the love
> story music played as the stegosaurs were mating?  (And there's someone's
> hypothesis of how they managed it with all those plates..) ;)
>
> Andrea Kirk
> University of Maryland
>
> http://mistrust.com
>