Re: The "Animal World" Spoilers!

[Danvarner@aol.com]

John Bridgman writes:
    
<< *(It should be noted that the narrator called it Allosaurus,which the
close-up puppet clearly WAS,reflecting original plans for the scene,but
during production,the Tyrannosaurus stop motion model was used in place of
the originally planned allosaur model for both this scene and the
Triceratops fight scene later on.Incidentally,there was also a Tyrannosaurus
close-up puppet that wasn't used.)
John Bridgman >>

       According to Ray Harryhausen's new book, _An Animated Life_, the 
theropod animation models for "The Animal World" all came from the same mold. 
They 
were slightly "tweaked" when they became different taxa. Add a nose horn for 
the ceratosaurs, etc.
       The models are generally very good for the time. The Stegosaurus has a 
breathing bladder, a long-time Willis O'Brien trick. The baby "Brontosaurus" 
has an eggtooth. The offscreen Tyrannosaurus has the voice of "The Beast from 
20,000 Fathoms" (hey, it was Warner Bros., too). Harryhausen animates the 
fifteen minute sequence with his usual verve. I believe the main problem with 
the 
set-ups (which I've never heard mentioned before) is that the landscape 
settings and the miniature trees and foliage are about the same quality as an 
average model railroad layout. Irwin Allen, the director, did this on the 
cheap, but 
it was still fun seeing it nearly fifty years since the last time. 
       The clip is on the DVD of O'Brien's "The Black Scorpion". Two other 
points to bring up are: 1) The Tyrannosaurus vs Triceratops episode appears to 
have been trimmed (possibly for bloody violence) and 2) Jim Farlow will love 
the first cut which is a long pan across R.T.Bird's Texas trackway at the AMNH. 
DV