From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu]
On Behalf Of Bob Tess
Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2011 4:15 PM
One of the problems is that now, everything MUST be 3D
digital and that is the budget eater.
Once they pay to animate a model, they are going to make it
do showy stuff, whether it could or not.
I remember with some fondness the days when they filled up
the show with paleontologists telling it like it is and 2D
artwork that actually illustrated and advanced the point of the show.
Now it is all just 3D animation for animation's sake.
Tess
On Jun 30, 2011, at 3:48 PM, Luis Rey wrote:
YES....!
I have just spent TWO excruciating hours in the "Dino Gangs"
special... and I was: next time that bloody monstrous T.
rex looks and
me, growls shaking its head trying to bite me I'm going to KICK the
TV!
Is it really necessary to repeat the same (bad) animation again and
again until you just get absolutely fed-up? Is it really
necessary to
fill two hours with repetitive takes and specially repeat
arguments so
much you feel brainwashed instead of instructed?
\Maybe perhaps it is just a commentary on the level of the
audiences
these days. Short attention span indeed.
The animals in the animations were cartoony, badly proportioned,
badly directed, badly animated and above all... as dark,
colorless and
monstrous as they could possibly be.
The poor direction kept their stars including Phil Currie
hanging on
and repeating and repeating arguments, probably bored to
death... at
least I'm glad (and hope) they paid his trips around the
world... the
question is... is it really worth it to go all around the
world just
to measure an emu or watch an ostrich running? Or to be close to an
alligator?
Another problem is that documentaries nowadays all look so
alike that
I'm not sure if I'm talking about this dino gangs special
or "Dinosaur
CSI"... I'm confused...
On 28 Jun 2011, at 15:29, Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. wrote:
http://optimisticpainter.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/a-brief-
commentry-on-science-documentaries-about-prehistory/
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Email: tholtz@umd.edu Phone: 301-405-4084
Office: Centreville 1216
Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology Dept. of Geology,
University
of Maryland http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
Fax: 301-314-9661
Faculty Director, Science & Global Change Program, College Park
Scholars http://www.geol.umd.edu/sgc
Fax: 301-314-9843
Mailing Address: Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Department of Geology
Building 237, Room 1117
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742 USA
Luis Rey
Visit my website
http://www.luisrey.ndtilda.co.uk