Dinosaurs on my Blog!

Just some of my Dinosaur related DVDs. I also have the full run of Primeval UK and Canada, Prehistoric Park and many more.

I love Dinosaurs. I am a sucker for a show on Dinosaurs (not Barney, though, thank you!).

Unfortunately, Dinosaurs have gotten a bad rap by Doctor Who.

True, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship Last year was probably their best outing ever.

They had cameos in The Big Bang.

But most people like me remember, Invasion of The Dinosaurs and the extreme let down and bad taste left by those dinosaurs.

The Dinosaurs in that are legendary, and not in a good way.

Then the poor things were killed off by Adric in a space freighter in Earthshock.

Oh, the indignity of it all.

Invasion of The Dinosaurs is a true test of the suspension of bad effects you need on the original run many times. The story itself is quite good, but the truly spectacularly bad effects is a trial by fire.

If you want a really good test of your faith, this one will do nicely.

I think the story is very good.

The Doctor and Sarah arrive in 1970s London to find that the city has been evacuated, due to the mysterious appearance of dinosaurs. The monsters are being brought to the present by a disaffected scientist, using a time machine nicknamed the Timescoop, as part of a plan to revert London to a utopian pre-technological age. The plan calls for Central London to be depopulated prior to being moved back through time, so that only an elite group (who will re-found the human race in the remote past, along more ethical lines) will make the trip. This plan, known as Operation Golden Age, is secretly being supported by key personnel within the British Government – and even within the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, which is ostensibly combatting the menace.

Sounds like a cracking good story. And it is. You just have to get over the Dinosaurs.

But this little featurette shows that the episode itself has some depth to it:

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship doesn’t suffer from this malady because of nearly 40 years of technological advancements. But they maybe in the title but are they really the star of the episode?

And it’s a much more comedic romp compared to Invasion, which is a political and ecological thriller.

And the bad guy in this episode is the actor who will portray William Hartnell in the 50th Anniversary TV Bio Movie Adventure in Space & Time.

But at least they had an ankylosaur

 I am a sucker for them because of another slightly dinosaur related love of mine, GODZILLA. 🙂

I have been watching Godzilla films since the 1960s when I was but a wee lad.

And you had

Anguirus™

So two of my passions crossed in this episode. Such a fan boy… 🙂

There have been books like Blood Heat that feature dinosaurs, but there’s not like seeing them on the screen which is why if you have never seen Walking With Dinosaurs You should immediately find it and watch it. Sure it’s 10 hours, but 10 Hours of pure Dino heaven.

I even went to the live show TWICE. Once in Las Vegas (a Day trip from Phoenix) and once here in Phoenix.

I was so in dino geek heaven.

Then  I Found this:

Now that some Dinosaurs!! 🙂

But back to WHO:

Dinosaurs are hard to realize on screen because, even today, they are expensive.

But they are so primal.

And I think that’s why the Silurians work so well. They are lower cost alternative.

So let’s hear it one more time for the rulers of Earth for 160 Million years.