Review

New Blood concerns itself with a single year on Pangaea as the three month rainy season gives way to nine months of drought and most creatures are forced to the brink of extinction. The era is ruled by ancient reptiles who are slowly dying out, while in their place a new form of reptile is emerging, the dinosaurs. Due to their ability to run on two legs, agile nature, and higher intelligence the dinos are destined to replace the ancient reptiles as rulers of the planet. Now if it wasn’t for those pesky mammals…

During the course of this guide we will catch up with all six hour long episodes and lift the bonnet to see what’s under the hood in each outing. Each review will detail the major critters covered by the episode in question, then turn its attention to the events the critters find themselves immersed in, before hearing from our old friends the Fundos on why Walking With Dinosaurs is scientifically incorrect and by heck blasphemous to boot. Hey, if you believe the planet was created six thousand years ago then at the very least you have a whole mob of roos bouncing around your top paddock. Hopefully there will be enough in this guide to offer some food for thought and heck, have you go out and score the DVDs. Let’s get down and dirty with episode one, New Blood.

In episode one we first catch up with Placerias, a rather large reptile, that lumbers around eating any available vegetation. Kenneth can inform us that Placerias is the last of quite an array of similar reptiles but is facing extinction due to the general harshness of the Pangaea environment. Apparently the giant herbivores must be in decline as ten or so of them are described in rather breathless fashion as a “huge herd”.

Helping speed up the demise of the ancient reptiles is a new breed of reptile, the dinosaurs. And to prove the point we get to confront Coelophysis, a light boned green runner that sort of foreshadows those raptors everyone remembers from Jurassic Park. Coelophysis is a hunter that views Placerias as a food source, though how exactly an animal the size of this carnivore is going to take down the much larger herbivore is never explored in any detail. Unfortunately for our “huge herd”, an ambush predator is loitering around with intent; Postosuchus is the real villain of the episode. Like the Placerias, Postosuchus is an ancient reptile without the ability to run on two legs. The animal is 20 feet long, has heavy armour on her back, and sports a massive jaw with the slicing teeth common to most carnivores. As presented in New Blood, Postosuchus resembles a sort of skinny crocodile with legs.

This documentary brings dinos to life, they should get the crew up for the next Speilberg dino island flick

Having whetted our appetite for destruction with some reptiles and dinos, the show then introduces the real pinup character, Cynodont, an early link between reptiles and mammals. Cynodont mates for life, and although laying eggs like the reptiles has developed the trait of suckling and caring for the young, which will prove to be an important survival technique for the creature. Males only hunt at night due to the danger from the ever increasing Coelophysis population.

A number of other dinosaurs get walk-on roles but not a lot of time is spent exploring their lifestyles or survival techniques. We also get to see some fish, only as a food source, and find out that predatory dragonflies predated the dinosaurs and clearly outlasted them as well.

As stated, New Blood pretty much follows a year in Pangaea and throws on some high drama to keep us all amused. A Cynodont pair under the growing attention of Coelophysis are forced to flee their home before becoming a meal. Before they leave, the pair kill and devour their young, thus depriving the dinos of sustenance. A Postosuchus attacks a Placerias herd and manages to injury one of the older herbivores. A furious chase scene is enacted, if you call lumbering animals travelling about five miles per hour “furious”, until the injured Pacerias collapses due to shock and blood loss. Viewers with weak stomachs may want to go grab a cup of tea at this stage cause the Postosuchus is happily chowing down on the still living Pacerias. But don’t worry, the Postosuchus comes to a nasty end as well after suffering an injury in a confrontation with a rival, Coelophysis also enjoys an easy meal as a result. Clearly Walking With Dinosaurs isn’t going to hold back on the ketchup or indeed with presenting the savage nature of the beasts it’s covering. During the height of the dry season the Coelophysis population will be kept down by cannibalism and Cynodont hunting of younger family members.

As we would expect, the production values are top notch in New Blood though I did note the CGI was not entirely merged with the background frames in some scenes, particularly those involving the Pacerias herd for some reason. The actual animals themselves are rendered in stunning detail, and are totally believable creatures. Clearly the producers were to a certain degree hampered by the available technology at the time, but have still managed to put together a sensational package.

Fundo Word on the street

“It discusses the cynodont, a dog-like creature that “mates for life.” There is absolutely no evidence for this.”

And the evidence against would be? Naturally since the producers of Walking With Dinosaurs are already running all over fundamental Christian doctrine – that whole six thousand years is a doozy folks – the right wing Christian militia railed against the show. In interview after interview, writer Tim Haines was at pains to point out all animal behaviour shown in Walking With Dinosaurs was best guess based on scientific research, behaviour of current animals, and the opinion of experts. Haines doesn’t hold up his version of behaviour as being 100% correct, he is trying to make a natural life style documentary that attempts to show how these ancient animals may have lived their lives and interacted with each other.

There’s more evidence to support the notion that Cynodont may have mated for life than there is in the absurd statement that the planet is only six thousand years old due to some half baked theory dragged out of what is by and largely a work of fiction. Sorry to any Christians reading – I’m one myself – but the Bible is full of stories etc, not actual facts. Unfortunately the fundamentalists have confused the mind of man with the mind of God. Stating that you don't believe there is any evidence to support the Cynodont life style would indicate acceptance of the creature, ergo the world is a lot older than you argue and by the by that whole evolution thing went down - witness the lack of Cynodonts today!

Must say I had a lot of fun with New Blood. I really dug the creatures on display, got into the dramas being played out, and shockingly learnt a whole bunch of stuff I didn’t previously know. When did television become educational? Am I missing a salient point here? Superb production values, an entertaining script, and simply stunning scenery has me high fiving Tim Haines, figuratively and relatively, already. I’m almost calling this a new era for television. Hold onto your bums, it’s not going to take me long to get through this documentary series.

Well, another day and another episode guide starting up. Yes, I’m aware we have a few to finish up with but hold your horses, we’ll get there eventually. This episode guide is entitled ”Walking With …” rather than “Walking With Dinosaurs” because the plan is to cover all three of the major releases in the series as well as the one-offs that were released from time to time. So we’ll be covering Walking With Cavemen (already in queue), Walking With Beasts (hard to locate), Walking With Monsters, The Ballad of Big Al etc. Hey, it’s like a whole undergraduate course in prehistory, and aren’t those IQs going to be dropping with us covering it.

Highly recommended show for the dinosaur enthusiasts amongst us and for those who dig above-average documentaries. With Kenneth doing the voice overs you just know you’re in for a good time tonight, folks. Put your walkers on because this is not to be missed stuff, friends and neighbours; and did I mention it has dinosaurs?