Land of Giants / The Giant Claw

Last updated

Land of Giants / The Giant Claw
Land of giants the giant claw cover.png
Cover of the original UK DVD release
Also known asChased by Dinosaurs
Genre Nature documentary
Created by Tim Haines
Directed by Tim Haines
Jasper James
Presented by Nigel Marven
Composer Ben Bartlett
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes2
Production
Executive producers Tim Haines
Gaynelle Evans
Adam Kemp
Producer Jasper James
CinematographyJohn Howarth
Peter Thorn
Paul Jenkins
Claire Allistone
EditorsAndrew Wilks
Tom Parker
Running time30 minutes
Production companies BBC Studios Science Unit
Impossible Pictures
Original release
Network BBC, Discovery Channel, ProSieben
Release30 December 2002 (2002-12-30) –
1 January 2003 (2003-01-01)

Land of Giants and The Giant Claw, [lower-alpha 1] marketed together as Chased by Dinosaurs in the United States, are two special episodes of the nature documentary television series Walking with Dinosaurs . [1] [2] Created by Impossible Pictures and produced by the BBC Studios Science Unit, [3] the Discovery Channel and ProSieben, [4] The Giant Claw was first broadcast on 30 December 2002, followed by Land of Giants on 1 January 2003. The two episodes stars British wildlife presenter Nigel Marven as a "time-travelling zoologist", interacting with dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures, a drastic change in presentation from preceding entries in the Walking with... franchise.

Contents

As with previous documentaries in the Walking with... franchise, Land of Giants and The Giant Claw recreated extinct animals through a combination of computer-generated imagery and animatronics, incorporated into live action footage shot at various locations. The choice to include a presenter was made to more easily allow audiences to see the scale of the creatures shown in the episodes. Both episodes have Marven on a purposeful journey; in The Giant Claw, Marven searches for the long-clawed Therizinosaurus and in Land of Giants he searches for the enormous Argentinosaurus and Giganotosaurus .

The visual effects of the episodes were praised, with both episodes together winning the Emmy for Outstanding Animated Programme in 2004 and The Giant Claw winning a BAFTA TV Award for Best Visual Effects in 2003. The success of Land of Giants and The Giant Claw spawned further prehistoric miniseries starring Marven: Sea Monsters (2003) and Prehistoric Park (2006). For his role as the presenter of Land of Giants and Sea Monsters, Marven was nominated for a Royal Television Society Programme award.

Premise

Land of Giants and The Giant Claw sees time-travelling zoologist Nigel Marven travel back in time to encounter and interact with prehistoric life. Marven seeks to solve palaeontological mysteries through direct observation. In The Giant Claw he searches for the obscure dinosaur Therizinosaurus . Because of its giant claws, Marven mistakenly initially believes it to have been an enormous carnivore. In the Land of Giants, Marven seeks to track down Argentinosaurus , one of the largest dinosaurs to ever live, and observe how they were hunted by the giant predatory dinosaur Giganotosaurus .

Production

Land of Giants and The Giant Claw were created by Impossible Pictures, [4] [5] creators of the original 1999 series of Walking with Dinosaurs . The same technologies used to restore the animals in the previous series were used to reconstruct the prehistoric creatures and environments showcased in the specials, with computer-generated animals and animatronics being used for the animals and background footage being shot in real natural environments. [5] [6] The visual effects were created by visual effects company Framestore, which had also worked on previous installments in the Walking with... franchise, including the original Walking with Dinosaurs. [7]

Because grass had not yet evolved in the Cretaceous, the location team had to look for filming sites where there was no grass. Filming locations included Fraser Island in Australia and Tenerife (including the lava-covered slopes of Mount Teide, prominently figuring in Land of Giants) [8] in the Canary Islands. [5]

The decision to include a wildlife presenter, The Giant Claw being the first time a wildlife presenter had ever been depicted interacting with computer-generated dinosaurs, was made to more easily allow the audience to see the true scale of the creatures shown in the programme. [4] Tim Haines, the creator of Walking with Dinosaurs, had seen Nigel Marven's work with modern-day reptiles and approached him about the possibility of producing a programme in which Marven travelled back in time to meet dinosaurs, a prospect which Marven was enthusiastic about. [8] Haines and Marven first discussed the prospect of producing the specials on 11 September 2001, the meeting being held at the exact same time as the September 11 attacks in New York. [9]

In one segment of The Giant Claw, Marven is chased by velociraptors and has to climb up a tree to escape. While climbing, Marven accidentally put his finger under a vine before stepping on it, which led to one of his fingernails being pulled off. In order to protect himself from infection, Marven then had to wear a bandage on his finger. The bandage and injury was incorporated into the story of the episode, with a Mononykus being depicted as biting Marven's finger. [8]

Episodes

No.TitleTime periodDirected byOriginal air dateU.K. viewers
(millions)
1"The Giant Claw" Late Cretaceous, 75 mya Tim Haines 30 December 2002 (2002-12-30)6.83 [10]
Nigel searches the deserts and forests of Cretaceous Mongolia for Therizinosaurus , an obscure dinosaur with massive fossil claws, believing it to have been a huge carnivore. Throughout his journey, Marven comes face-to-face with dinosaurs such as Saurolophus , Protoceratops , Mononykus , Velociraptor and Tarbosaurus , a close relative of the famous Tyrannosaurus rex . Once Marven finds live Therizinosaurus he discovers them to have been a bizarre type of giant plant-eating theropod dinosaur.
2"Land of Giants" Middle Cretaceous, 100 mya Jasper James 1 January 2003 (2003-01-01)5.76 [10]
In Middle Cretaceous Argentina, Marven searches for the largest dinosaurs of all time. He encounters a herd of Argentinosaurus , one of the largest sauropod dinosaurs, and observes the long and drawn-out hunt of the sauropods by one of the largest predatory dinosaurs, Giganotosaurus . During his journey, Marven also uses a small plane to fly with pterosaurs such as Pteranodon and Ornithocheirus , and he also encounters the massive crocodyliform Sarcosuchus .

Reception

Reviews

Paul Hoggart gave Land of Giants and The Giant Claw a positive review in The Times , calling them "stunningly animated". [11] The episodes was also positively reviewed in the Sunday Express . The Sunday Express review called them "beautifully produced" with "breathtaking" animation and also called Marven's performance "incredible convincing" and worthy of an Oscar. [7]

Awards

In 2003, The Giant Claw won a BAFTA TV Award for Best Visual Effects. [4] In 2004, The Giant Claw and Land of Giants won the Emmy for Outstanding Animated Programme. [5] For his work in Land of Giants and in the subsequent miniseries Sea Monsters , also part of the Walking with... series and produced by Impossible Pictures, Nigel Marven was nominated for a Royal Television Society Programme award in 2004 for best presenter (factual). [12]

Successor series

Following Marven's work on The Giant Claw and Land of Giants, [13] he was approached by Jasper James, producer of both episodes and director of Land of Giants, about the prospect of producing a standalone series where Marven travelled to different prehistoric seas and swam with ancient sea creatures. Marven was enthusiastic and agreed to partake in the project. [14] The series, titled Sea Monsters , was announced by the BBC on 29 July 2003 [15] and first aired in November the same year. [10]

In addition to Sea Monsters, both Marven and James returned to prehistory with the series Prehistoric Park , also created by Impossible Pictures. [16] [17] [18] Prehistoric Park is unconnected to the Walking with... series and was produced by ITV, ProSieben, Animal Planet and M6. [18] Marven starred in the series [17] and James served as executive producer. [16] Prehistoric Park took a year to film and first aired in July–August 2006. [17] It is today considered a cult classic. [19]

Notes

  1. ↑ Full titles: Land of Giants: A Walking with Dinosaurs Special and The Giant Claw: A Walking with Dinosaurs Special

Related Research Articles

<i>Walking with Cavemen</i> 2003 British television documentary series

Walking with Cavemen is a 2003 four-part nature documentary television miniseries produced by the BBC Science Unit, the Discovery Channel and ProSieben. Walking with Cavemen explores human evolution, showcasing various extinct hominin species and their inferred behaviours and social dynamics. The original British version of the series is presented by the British researcher Robert Winston; in the American version Winston's appearances and narration is replaced with narration by Alec Baldwin.

<i>Walking with Dinosaurs</i> 1999 British television documentary series

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.

<i>Walking with Beasts</i> 2001 British television documentary series

Walking with Beasts, marketed as Walking with Prehistoric Beasts in North America, is a 2001 six-part nature documentary television miniseries created by Impossible Pictures and produced by the BBC Science Unit, the Discovery Channel, ProSieben and TV Asahi. The sequel to the 1999 miniseries Walking with Dinosaurs, Walking with Beasts explores the life in the Cenozoic era, after the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs, particularly focusing on the rise of the mammals to dominance. The UK version of the series is narrated by Kenneth Branagh, who also narrated Walking with Dinosaurs, and the US version is narrated by Stockard Channing.

<i>Sea Monsters</i> (TV series) 2003 British television documentary series

Sea Monsters, marketed as Chased by Sea Monsters in the United States, is a 2003 three-part nature documentary television miniseries created by Impossible Pictures and produced by the BBC Studios Science Unit, the Discovery Channel and ProSieben. Following in the footsteps of The Giant Claw (2002) and Land of Giants (2003), special episodes of the nature documentary series Walking with Dinosaurs, Sea Monsters stars British wildlife presenter Nigel Marven as a "time-travelling zoologist" who travels to seven different periods of time in prehistory, diving in the "seven deadliest seas of all time" and encountering and interacting with the prehistoric creatures who inhabit them. The series is narrated by Karen Hayley.

<i>Space Odyssey</i> (TV series) British TV series or programme

Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets, marketed as Voyage to the Planets and Beyond in the United States, is a 2004 two-part fictional documentary created by Impossible Pictures and produced by BBC Worldwide, Discovery Communications and ProSieben. Space Odyssey chronicles a fictional crewed voyage throughout the Solar System, which is used to convey scientific information on spaceflight and on the different planets. The programme was initially announced under the title Walking with Spacemen as an instalment in the Walking with... franchise of documentaries. Though the title was changed before release and its connection to the other Walking with... programmes was removed, it was broadcast under the original title in Canada. The special effects and scientific accuracy of Space Odyssey was praised by critics, though some criticism was leveled at the storylines and drama portions of the programme.

<i>Walking with Monsters</i> 2005 British television documentary series

Walking with Monsters – Life Before Dinosaurs, marketed as Before the Dinosaurs – Walking with Monsters in North America, is a 2005 three-part nature documentary television miniseries created by Impossible Pictures and produced by the BBC Studios Science Unit, the Discovery Channel, ProSieben and France 3. Walking with Monsters explores life in the Paleozoic era, showcasing the early development of groups such as arthropods, fish, amphibians, reptiles and synapsids. Like its predecessors Walking with Dinosaurs (1999) and Walking with Beasts (2001), Walking with Monsters is narrated by Kenneth Branagh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nature documentary</span> Documentary film genre

A nature documentary or wildlife documentary is a genre of documentary film or series about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures. Nature documentaries usually concentrate on video taken in the subject's natural habitat, but often including footage of trained and captive animals, too. Sometimes they are about wildlife or ecosystems in relationship to human beings. Such programmes are most frequently made for television, particularly for public broadcasting channels, but some are also made for the cinema. The proliferation of this genre occurred almost simultaneously alongside the production of similar television series which is distributed across the world.

<i>The Lost World</i> (2001 film) 2001 British television film by Stuart Orme

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.

<i>Primeval</i> (TV series) British science-fiction drama television series

Primeval is a British science-fiction television programme produced for ITV by Impossible Pictures. Primeval follows a team of scientists tasked with investigating the appearance of temporal anomalies across the United Kingdom through which prehistoric and futuristic creatures enter the present, while simultaneously trying to stop a terrorist plot to bring about the end of the world. Primeval was created by Tim Haines, who previously created the Walking with... documentary series, and Adrian Hodges. It ran for five series, originally broadcast from 2007 to 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nigel Marven</span> British television presenter

Nigel Alan Marven is a British wildlife TV presenter, naturalist, conservationist, author, and television producer. He is best known as presenter of the BBC miniseries Chased by Dinosaurs, its sequel, Sea Monsters, as well as the ITV miniseries Prehistoric Park. He is also known for his unorthodox, spontaneous, and daring style of presenting wildlife documentaries as well as for including factual knowledge in the proceedings.

<i>Prehistoric Park</i> British TV series or programme

Prehistoric Park is a six-part nature docu-fiction television series that premiered on ITV on 22 July 2006 and on Animal Planet on 29 October 2006. The programme was produced by Impossible Pictures, who also created Walking with Dinosaurs. Each episode is an hour long including commercial breaks. Repeats of the show are broadcast in the UK on Watch.

Tim Haines is a screenwriter, producer and director who is best known for his work on the BBC popular science shows Walking with Dinosaurs, Walking with Beasts, and Walking with Monsters. He is co-creator and executive producer of the ITV sci-fi drama Primeval, and founder of the production company Impossible Pictures.

<i>The Ballad of Big Al</i> 2000 British television documentary programme

The Ballad of Big Al, marketed as Allosaurus 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, the Discovery Channel, ProSieben and TV Asahi. The episode was aired together with a 30-minute behind-the-scenes episode, Big Al Uncovered.

<i>Walking with...</i> Television series

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.

Monsters We Met is a documentary produced by the BBC that later aired as a special on Animal Planet in 2004 which also included footage from Walking with Beasts and Walking with Cavemen. The show used computer-generated imagery to recreate the life of the giant animals that lived during the last ice age and explains how early humans encountered them. It also features humans as the main reason for the extinction of all great animals.

<i>Wild New World</i> TV series or program

Wild New World is a six-part BBC documentary series about Ice Age America that describes the prehistory, landscape and wildlife of the continent from the arrival of humans to the welcome of the Ice Age. It was first transmitted in the UK & JP on BBC Two from 3 October to 7 November 2002. Like several other BBC programmes, it contains both computer graphics and real-life animals. Occasionally, footage of non-American counterparts of the extinct North American beasts are used in juxtaposition with footage of native American animals, like the pronghorn.

Impossible Pictures Ltd. was a London-based independent TV production company founded in 2002 by Tim Haines.

<i>Planet Dinosaur</i> 2011 six-part documentary television series

Planet Dinosaur, is a six-part documentary television series created by Nigel Paterson and Phil Dobree, produced by the BBC, and narrated by John Hurt. It first aired in the United Kingdom in 2011, with VFX studio Jellyfish Pictures as its producer. It was the first major dinosaur-related series for BBC One since Walking with Dinosaurs. There are more than 50 different prehistoric species featured, and they and their environments were created entirely as computer-generated images, for around a third of the production cost that was needed a decade earlier for Walking with Dinosaurs. Much of the series' plot is based on scientific discoveries made since Walking with Dinosaurs, with episodes frequently stopping the action to show fossil evidence and the assumptions based on them. The companion book to Planet Dinosaur was released on 8 September 2011, and the DVD and Blu-ray were released on 24 October 2011. Planet Dinosaur is highly praised for its stunning graphics and 3D animation.

Jasper James is a British television producer, director and screenwriter. He is well known as the co-creator of several of the Walking with... series.

<i>Prehistoric Planet</i> British-American nature documentary television series

Prehistoric Planet is a British–American nature documentary television series about dinosaurs, that premiered on Apple TV+ beginning May 23, 2022. It is produced by the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, with Jon Favreau as showrunner, visual effects by MPC, and narration by natural historian Sir David Attenborough. The documentary follows dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals recreated with computer-generated imagery, living around the globe in the Late Cretaceous period 66 million years ago (Maastrichtian), just before the dinosaurs' extinction. It set out to depict prehistoric life using current palaeontological research by including accurately feathered dinosaurs, and speculative animal behaviour.

References

  1. ↑ "Walking with Dinosaurs". BBC One. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  2. ↑ "Nigel Marven Profile | Nigel Marven | Presenters | Eden Channel". eden.uktv.co.uk. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  3. ↑ Støen, Michael (2022). "1999: The BBC simulates prehistoric wildlife". Public Understanding of Science. 31 (4): 524–529. doi:10.1177/09636625211068944. ISSN   0963-6625. PMID   35062833. S2CID   246165620.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "The Giant Claw | Impossible Pictures". impossiblepictures.co.uk. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Land of Giants | Impossible Pictures". impossiblepictures.co.uk. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  6. ↑ Huelsman, Eric (1 March 2000). "Walking With Dinosaurs". Animation World Network. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  7. 1 2 ProSieben (3 April 2003). "Reise zu Urzeit-Giganten auf ProSieben". presseportal.de (in German). Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  8. 1 2 3 "Chased by Dinosaurs: Nigel Marven Interview". 2002. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021 – via YouTube.
  9. ↑ Time Travelling Nigel Marven Talks Dinosaurs! - Interview on YouTube
  10. 1 2 3 https://www.barb.co.uk/viewing-data/weekly-top-30/ Weekly top 30 programmes BARB Web. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  11. ↑ Hoggart, Paul (28 December 2002). "Pick of the week: Watching the dinosaurs". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  12. ↑ "RTS programme awards nominations". The Guardian. 25 February 2004. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  13. ↑ Kettlewell, Julianna (7 November 2003). "Ancient sea monsters bite back". BBC News. Archived from the original on 16 October 2020. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  14. ↑ Marven, Nigel; James, Jasper (2004). Chased by Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Predators of the Deep. DK Publishing. p. 7. ISBN   978-0756603755.
  15. ↑ Burrell, Ian (30 July 2003). "BBC looks to the past in its autumn line-up". The Independent. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  16. 1 2 "Jasper James". BFI. Archived from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  17. 1 2 3 "BBC - Somerset - Entertainment and Leisure - Interview: Nigel Marven in Prehistoric Park". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  18. 1 2 "Prehistoric Park | Impossible Pictures". impossiblepictures.co.uk. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  19. ↑ "The Perfect Jurassic World TV Show Already Happened In 2006". ScreenRant. 20 March 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.