Review

We are 127 million years BC and we are in the Cretaceous period. The giant Northern and Southern land masses continue to breakup and sea levels are rising, giving a perfect environment for giant marine pterosaurs. Giant of the Skies follows the long flight path of a single massive Ornithocheirus as he flies from the top of the Americas across 300 kilometres of the forming Atlantic to the breeding grounds in modern day Spain.

Not only does our Ornithocheirus need to make the journey but he needs to arrive in peak condition at the end of his flight in order to attract a female. During his journey we will meet a number of dinosaurs, other pterosaurs, and surprisingly bird life.

We are first introduced to the "hero" of the episode, the giant Ornithocheirus who dominated the skies of the Cretaceous. Our flying reptile is over 40 years old and has grown large even for his own species. There is a 5-foot head, an 11-foot body, and an amazing 40-foot wingspan. Kenneth is careful to explain that the wings are made up of skin membrane that stretches from the fingers to the toes making this pterosaurs species, like the entire biological family, graceful in the air but completely clumsy on land.

Another pterosaur is given a walk-on role, the bizarre looking Tapejara that is much smaller than Ornithocheirus. Tapejara has a yellow beak, blue face, and an impressive and barely plausible tall red-orange head crest.

During our Ornithocheirus journey we get to meet a herd of Iguanodon lumbering along a beach on the tip of North America. Kenneth can tell us that Iguanodons are the most successful of all plant eating dinosaurs and they inhabit all environments due to the development of the revolutionary secondary teeth to grind down foliage. Accompanying the overachieving Iguanodons is a Polecanthus, which looks like an early version of the more famous Ankylosaurus. During this section we are also given a close up of a wasp working away at a flower. Apparently flowering planets have just made an appearance during this period of evolution and are rapidly dominating the flora niches.

The one thing this series does right is introduce modern life forms in amongst the dinos.

Our Ornithocheirus manages his epic journey across the Atlantic and lands on the first island of the future Europe. A herd of Iguanodon, larger than their North American cousins, is in evidence. Hold onto your panties team, finally we get a raptor in the form of some vicious looking Utahraptors. The Raptors are hunting the Iguanodons and will eventually bring one down. For no apparent reason Haines goes artistic with the kill, and if you don't like those modern natural documentaries with predators gorging themselves then you might want to skip this segment. The Utahraptors are alert-looking, highly-developed 21 foot sprinters with some vicious looking claws on each foot.

Kenneth can inform us that Ornithocheirus must find somewhere safe for the night away from the raptor killing fields. Unfortunately the flying reptile picks the wrong spot as he is being watch by relatives of the raptors from within the dense forest. The "threat" turns out to be a flock of small birds called Iberomesornis. They are blue with red and black markings on the wings and tail feathers.

When our flying friend finally makes it to the breeding grounds he's tired and hungry and hence can't compete for the best position to attract females. He is an outcast. Overcome with exhaustion and heat stress the Ornithocheirus passes onto the other side, and naturally becomes food for the next generation of giant flying reptiles. There's probably a parable in there for our religious friends, but I'm not going to make an attempt at that one with this review likely to be getting some female attention.

Fundo Word on the street

"Although many TV reviewers gushed at the program's animatronic wizardry, it should be observed that some of the creatures appear 'stilted',� and that the special effects don't quite match up with what was seen in movies like the Jurassic Park sequel The Lost World. Indeed, such animation can cost many thousands of dollars per second, so it appears as if the TV producers have gone the less expensive route than that taken by big-budget Hollywood moviemakers."�

What does that statement even mean? Sure the special effects used in each episode are not going to match the budget Spielberg had to throw at his dino outings, but so what! Walking With Dinosaurs doesn't have Sam Neil either, and how exactly is this of any possible relevance? So big-budget Hollywood is to be applauded for equally pointing out evolutionary theory? Do these Fundos even know how to put their pants on in the morning? An absolutely nonsensical statement made by someone grasping at straws while throwing all logic out the window. Wait till we get to the final episode; this cretin really outdoes himself.

Well I was happy enough with Giant of the Skies and could have done with another half an hour to be honest. Not only do we get a giant pterosaur but we also get Iguanodon, (my favourite dinosaur), and the gunslingers of the dinosaur era, raptors! You can't ask for much more, well okay, an entire episode devoted to Utahraptors, but once again Tim Haines delivers a knock out episode. I was surprised the episode finished when it did, it seemed like only five minutes since I started it.

On the good news front I have managed to source a copy of Walking With Cavemen. Walking With Beasts and Walking With Monsters are available from Amazon so I will be snuffling those up in the coming weeks. I may have to elicit some help from our friendly neighbourhood editor in sourcing some of the other stuff, however, as it's not available locally and seems to have been released in North America under differing titles. Still lots to get through before we face that hurdle however.

Giant of the Skies is probably the most gore-inclined of the Walking With Dinosaurs episodes due to the raptors being pack animals. If you can handle that sort of stuff then there's no reason not to add this episode to your viewing list. The central creature is majestic once in the air and there's quite a decent story going down. Well worth a rental if you are not planning on purchasing the entire series.