The Ballad of Big Al | |
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Also known as | Allosaurus |
Genre | Nature documentary |
Directed by | Kate Bartlett |
Narrated by | Kenneth Branagh Avery Brooks (US) |
Composer | Ben Bartlett |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Executive producer | Mick Kaczorowski |
Producers | Tim Haines Joshua C. Berkley |
Running time | 29 minutes |
Production companies | BBC Studios Science Unit Impossible Pictures |
Original release | |
Network | BBC, Discovery Channel, ProSieben, TV Asahi |
Release | 25 December – 27 December 2000 |
The Ballad of Big Al, [a] marketed as Allosaurus [b] in North America, is a 2000 special episode of the nature documentary television series Walking with Dinosaurs . The Ballad of Big Al is set in the Late Jurassic, 145 million years ago, and follows a single Allosaurus specimen nicknamed "Big Al" whose life story has been reconstructed based on a well-preserved fossil of the same name. The Ballad of Big Al was like the other episodes of Walking with Dinosaurs made by Impossible Pictures and was produced by the BBC Studios Science Unit, [1] the Discovery Channel, ProSieben and TV Asahi. [2] The episode was aired together with a 30-minute behind-the-scenes episode, Big Al Uncovered.
The special begins at the University of Wyoming's Geological Museum, showing the bones of a sauropod followed by an Allosaurus named Big Al. After the ghost of Big Al wanders the museum passing by his own skeleton and a nest of fossilized eggs, the film then travels back in time to 145 years ago during the Late Jurassic of Colorado, showing an Allosaurus nest. Al and his siblings hatch and are helped out of the nest by their mother. She brings them to a river bank and the hatchlings start to hunt for insects. When the mother leaves the hatchlings temporarily, a one-year-old Allosaurus comes out of hiding and kills one of them; thankfully, Al wasn't the victim.
Al is then shown at the age of two years. He tries to hunt a flock of Dryosaurus . He has not yet learned how to ambush so he fails to kill one of the swifter, smaller dinosaurs. Later, he snatches a lizard from a branch to keep him satisfied. Al comes across a dead Stegosaurus , and another Allosaurus waiting for death in a pit of sticky mud, which forms a predator trap. Meanwhile, a two-year-old female Allosaurus, attracted to the Stegosaurus carcass, also gets stuck. She struggles to free herself, but fails. Al luckily avoids the same fate, because he has learnt to avoid carrion and the large carnivores that it usually attracts. Unable to escape, the trapped Allosaurus pair die of exhaustion, their corpses left to be feasted upon safely by Anurognathus .
Three years pass, and a herd of Diplodocus are migrating across the Late Jurassic salt lake, heading for a nesting site to the south. Al, now five years old and 30 feet long, is joined by several other Allosaurus and they manage to panic the herd into leaving a sick individual behind. But as the Allosaurus pack gathers for the kill, Al is struck down by the neck of the Diplodocus. The pack decides to wait for a few hours until the Diplodocus is brought down by heat exhaustion and his illness. Though they feed, within the hour, a much larger five-year-old female Allosaurus scavenges the kill. Al takes some remnants of the carcass for himself and leaves, trying to find a safer place to eat.
A year passes by, and Al, now 33 feet long and with the crests over his eyes reddening, is shown drinking at a pond. His presence however makes other dinosaurs around the pond nervous and the smell of blood he brings with him puts off a pair of Stegosaurus that were attempting to mate. Away from the pond, he discovers the scent of a nearby six-year-old female Allosaurus and issues a mating call. She is not interested, but the inexperienced Al persists, and the female turns hostile when he gets too close. Al is lucky enough to escape from the ensuing fight with his life, although he sustains injuries to his right arm as well as smashed ribs. Later, the dry season comes, and Al is attempting to hunt a flock of Dryosaurus. Whilst chasing them however, he trips over a log that falls in his path and ends up breaking something in his right foot in the resultant fall; he limps away, his chances of survival as prey gets scarcer now very unlikely. As the dry season turns to a drought, Al's limp from the fall gets worse and his right middle toe -which he broke in the fall- has become badly infected. Soon, unable to hunt because of this handicap, he dies in a dried-up riverbed, where two infant Allosaurus are hunting for bugs, and come across his emaciated carcass. He is said not to have reached full size, dying as a mature adolescent and that the process of his fossilisation was so perfect it preserved even the injuries he sustained in his lifetime, including lumps where his ribs healed after their break and the raging infection on his middle toe. The narrator concludes the special stating how Big Al, in death, represents a frozen moment in the fast and furious life of a carnivorous dinosaur.
No. | Title | Original air date | U.K. viewers (millions) | |
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1 | "The Ballad of Big Al" | 25 December 2000 | N/A (<6.47) [c] [3] | |
A biography of how Big Al might have lived, in the same format as the original series. Includes many of the dinosaurs seen in the previous Walking with Dinosaurs episode Time of the Titans, alongside the new additions Apatosaurus , Dryosaurus and Othnielia . | ||||
2 | "Big Al: The Science" [4] [d] | 27 December 2000 | 6.72 [3] | |
A documentary following the scientific research that informed Big Al's life story, including the similarities dinosaurs shared with birds and Crocodilians, the fossil site that inspired the predator trap scene, and the fossil specimens Big Al the Allosaurus and Willo the Thescelosaurus . |
Julie Salamon gave The Ballad of Big Al a positive review in The New York Times , deeming it an excellent follow-up to the original series of Walking with Dinosaurs, praising the computer animation, the authentic animal designs and the presentation of the programme. [2]
The Ballad of Big Al won two 2001 Emmy Awards, one for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Non-Fiction Program and one for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming More Than One Hour). [5] [6] It was also nominated for Outstanding Special Visual Effects (For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special). [6] The Online Film & Television Association also awarded The Ballad of Big Al with two awards, one for Best Visual Effects in a Series and one for Best Informational Special. [7]
The Ballad of Big Al was adapted into a children's book by Stephen Cole. [8] Titled Allosaurus! The Life and Death of Big Al, [8] [9] the book was published in North America by Dutton Children's Books on 4 June 2001. [9]
An accompanying website to The Ballad of Big Al was launched in 2000, featuring a written retelling of Big Al's story by the researcher Alexandra Freeman and an online role-playing game, the Big Al game, based on the episode. [10]
Allosaurus is an extinct genus of large carnosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 145 million years ago during the Late Jurassic period. The name "Allosaurus" means "different lizard", alluding to its unique concave vertebrae. It is derived from the Greek words ἄλλος and σαῦρος. The first fossil remains that could definitively be ascribed to this genus were described in 1877 by famed paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh. The genus has a very complicated taxonomy and includes at least three valid species, the best known of which is A. fragilis. The bulk of Allosaurus remains have come from North America's Morrison Formation, with material also known from the Lourinhã Formation in Portugal. It was known for over half of the 20th century as Antrodemus, but a study of the abundant remains from the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry returned the name "Allosaurus" to prominence. As one of the first well-known theropod dinosaurs, it has long attracted attention outside of paleontological circles.
Stegosaurus is a genus of herbivorous, four-legged, armored dinosaur from the Late Jurassic, characterized by the distinctive kite-shaped upright plates along their backs and spikes on their tails. Fossils of the genus have been found in the western United States and in Portugal, where they are found in Kimmeridgian- to Tithonian-aged strata, dating to between 155 and 145 million years ago. Of the species that have been classified in the upper Morrison Formation of the western US, only three are universally recognized: S. stenops, S. ungulatus and S. sulcatus. The remains of over 80 individual animals of this genus have been found. Stegosaurus would have lived alongside dinosaurs such as Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, Camarasaurus and Allosaurus, the latter of which may have preyed on it.
The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 161.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.
Walking with Dinosaurs is a 1999 six-part nature documentary television miniseries created by Tim Haines and produced by the BBC Science Unit, the Discovery Channel and BBC Worldwide, in association with TV Asahi, ProSieben and France 3. Envisioned as the first "Natural History of Dinosaurs", Walking with Dinosaurs depicts dinosaurs and other Mesozoic animals as living animals in the style of a traditional nature documentary. The series first aired on the BBC in the United Kingdom in 1999 with narration by Kenneth Branagh. The series was subsequently aired in North America on the Discovery Channel in 2000, with Avery Brooks replacing Branagh.
Dryosaurus is a genus of an ornithopod dinosaur that lived in the Late Jurassic period. It was an iguanodont. Fossils have been found in the western United States and were first discovered in the late 19th century. Valdosaurus canaliculatus and Dysalotosaurus lettowvorbecki were both formerly considered to represent species of Dryosaurus.
Age of Reptiles is a comic written by Ricardo Delgado published by Dark Horse Comics.
Como Bluff is a long ridge extending east–west, located between the towns of Rock River and Medicine Bow, Wyoming. The ridge is an anticline, formed as a result of compressional geological folding. Three geological formations, the Sundance, the Morrison, and the Cloverly Formations, containing fossil remains from the Late Jurassic of the Mesozoic Era are exposed.
Jurassic National Monument, at the site of the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, well known for containing the densest concentration of Jurassic dinosaur fossils ever found, is a paleontological site located near Cleveland, Utah, in the San Rafael Swell, a part of the geological layers known as the Morrison Formation.
Saurophaganax is a genus of large allosauroid dinosaur from the Morrison Formation of Late Jurassic Oklahoma, United States. Some paleontologists consider it to be a junior synonym and species of Allosaurus. Saurophaganax represents a very large Morrison allosauroid characterized by horizontal laminae at the bases of the dorsal neural spines above the transverse processes, and "meat-chopper" chevrons. It was the largest terrestrial carnivore of North America during the Late Jurassic, reaching 10.5 metres (34 ft) in length and 2.7–3.8 metric tons in body mass.
The Lost World is a 2001 British made-for-television film adaptation of the 1912 novel of the same name by Arthur Conan Doyle, directed by Stuart Orme and adapted by Tony Mulholland and Adrian Hodges. It was filmed at various locations on the West Coast of New Zealand. The 145-minute film was divided into two 75-minute episodes when broadcast on BBC One on 25 and 26 December 2001, receiving 8.68 million and 6.98 million viewers respectively. Bob Hoskins played Professor Challenger and was supported by James Fox, Peter Falk, Matthew Rhys, Tom Ward and Elaine Cassidy.
Dinheirosaurus is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur that is known from fossils uncovered in modern-day Portugal. It may represent a species of Supersaurus. The only species is Dinheirosaurus lourinhanensis, first described by José Bonaparte and Octávio Mateus in 1999 for vertebrae and some other material from the Lourinhã Formation. Although the precise age of the formation is not known, it can be dated around the early Tithonian of the Late Jurassic.
Marshosaurus is a genus of medium-sized carnivorous theropod dinosaur, belonging to the family Piatnitzkysauridae, from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation of Utah and possibly Colorado.
When Dinosaurs Roamed America is a two-hour American television program that first aired on the Discovery Channel on July 15, 2001. The show features the reign of the non-avian dinosaurs in America over the course of more than 160 million years, through five different segments, each with their own variety of flora and fauna.
Stegosaurus is one of the most recognizable types among cultural depictions of dinosaurs. It has been depicted on film, in cartoons, comics, as children's toys, as sculpture, and even was declared the state dinosaur of Colorado in 1982. Stegosaurus is a subject for inclusion in dinosaur toy and scale model lines, such as the Carnegie Collection.
Walking with... is a palaeontology media franchise produced and broadcast by the BBC Studios Science Unit. The franchise began with the series Walking with Dinosaurs (1999), created by Tim Haines. By far the most watched science programme in British television during the 20th century, Walking with Dinosaurs spawned companion material and four sequel series: Walking with Beasts (2001), Walking with Cavemen (2003), Sea Monsters (2003) and Walking with Monsters (2005). Each series uses a combination of computer-generated imagery and animatronics, incorporated with live action footage shot at various locations, to portray prehistoric animals in the style of a traditional nature documentary.
Diplodocus is an extinct genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaurs known from the Late Jurassic of North America. The first fossils of Diplodocus were discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, is a Neo-Latin term derived from Greek διπλός (diplos) "double" and δοκός (dokos) "beam", in reference to the double-beamed chevron bones located in the underside of the tail, which were then considered unique.
Uteodon is a genus of herbivorous iguanodontian dinosaur. It is a basal iguanodontian which lived during the late Jurassic period in what is now Uintah County, Utah. It is known from the middle of the Brushy Basin Member, Morrison Formation. The genus was named by Andrew T. McDonald in 2011 and the type species is U. aphanoecetes.
Paleontology in Utah refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Utah. Utah has a rich fossil record spanning almost all of the geologic column. During the Precambrian, the area of northeastern Utah now occupied by the Uinta Mountains was a shallow sea which was home to simple microorganisms. During the early Paleozoic Utah was still largely covered in seawater. The state's Paleozoic seas would come to be home to creatures like brachiopods, fishes, and trilobites. During the Permian the state came to resemble the Sahara desert and was home to amphibians, early relatives of mammals, and reptiles. During the Triassic about half of the state was covered by a sea home to creatures like the cephalopod Meekoceras, while dinosaurs whose footprints would later fossilize roamed the forests on land. Sand dunes returned during the Early Jurassic. During the Cretaceous the state was covered by the sea for the last time. The sea gave way to a complex of lakes during the Cenozoic era. Later, these lakes dissipated and the state was home to short-faced bears, bison, musk oxen, saber teeth, and giant ground sloths. Local Native Americans devised myths to explain fossils. Formally trained scientists have been aware of local fossils since at least the late 19th century. Major local finds include the bonebeds of Dinosaur National Monument. The Jurassic dinosaur Allosaurus fragilis is the Utah state fossil.