Walking with...
Cover of the Australian 2008 DVD box set of the franchise
Created byTim Haines & Jasper James[lower-alpha 1]
Original workWalking with Dinosaurs
OwnerBBC
Print publications
Book(s)See below
Films and television
Television series
Television special(s)
Theatrical presentations
Play(s)Walking with Dinosaurs − The Arena Spectacular
Games
Video game(s)See below

Walking with...[lower-alpha 2] is a palaeontology media franchise produced and broadcast by the BBC Studios Science Unit.[11] 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,[12] 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.

The Walking with... programmes were praised for their special effects and for their science communication. Though largely praised by scientists for the effort to adhere to science and for portraying prehistoric life as animals rather than movie monsters, some academic criticism has been leveled at the series for not making clear through their narration what is speculative and what is based in fact.[13]

In addition to the five main series, the success of Walking with... also led to the production of the Walking with Dinosaurs special episodes The Ballad of Big Al, The Giant Claw and Land of Giants. The franchise has also been accompanied by several books, merchandise, video games and the live theatrical show Walking with Dinosaurs − The Arena Spectacular. In 2013, a movie based on Walking with Dinosaurs, with the same name, was directed by Neil Nightingale and Barry Cook.[14]

Development

Puppet head of the dinosaur Eustreptospondylus, used in Walking with Dinosaurs

Walking with Dinosaurs was devised by the then BBC-employed science television producer Tim Haines in 1996. Inspired by the 1993 film Jurassic Park, Haines envisioned a more science-based documentary programme using the same techniques as Jurassic Park to bring dinosaurs to life. Though such a series was initially feared to be far too expensive to produce, particularly considering the production costs of Jurassic Park, Haines managed to bring down the costs through working with the award-winning UK-based graphics company Framestore. It was only after the production of a six-minute pilot episode in 1997 that Haines managed to secure funding for the series; Walking with Dinosaurs was funded by the BBC, BBC Worldwide and the Discovery Channel, alongside major investments from TV Asahi in Japan and ProSieben in Germany.[3] At a cost of £6.1 million ($9.9 million), Walking with Dinosaurs cost over £37,654 ($61,112) per minute to produce, making it the most expensive documentary series per minute ever made.[15] The visual effects of Walking with Dinosaurs were done by Framestore and the puppets and animatronics were done by the special effects company Crawley Creatures.[13]

The success of Walking with Dinosaurs led to the rapid creation of Walking with... as a brand of documentary series.[16] In the aftermath of Walking with Dinosaurs, Haines founded the production company Impossible Pictures together with Jasper James,[17] one of the producers on Walking with Dinosaurs.[3]

2000 saw the release of a special episode of Dinosaurs, The Ballad of Big Al, focusing on a single Allosaurus specimen.[18] The first entire sequel series released in 2001: Walking with Beasts, which explored the life of the Cenozoic, after the age of the dinosaurs. Like Walking with Dinosaurs before it, Beasts was the idea of Haines. Haines wished to introduce the general public to the assortment of animals of the Cenozoic, typically less represented in popular culture than the dinosaurs.[2] Haines served as executive producer on the series, with James and Nigel Paterson producing and directing.[19] Beasts was in terms of effects more challenging to produce than Dinosaurs, owing to mammals having features such as fur, whiskers, eyebrows and various floppy parts absent in dinosaurs, and to audiences being more familiar with how mammals move and act and thus better at spotting mistakes.[20]

Initial cover for the companion book of the 2004 BBC series Space Odyssey, initially intended to be part of the Walking with... franchise as "Walking with Spacemen"

In late 2002 and early 2003, further special episodes of Dinosaurs were broadcast: Land of Giants and The Giant Claw. These specials starred wildlife presenter Nigel Marven as a "time-traveling zoologist". Marven's inclusion was mainly so that audiences would have a better understanding of the scale of the animals shown.[21] While Haines, James and Impossible Pictures worked on Land of Giants and The Giant Claw, the BBC produced a further series without their involvement: Walking with Cavemen, also broadcast in 2003.[22] Cavemen acted as a sequel to Beasts, exploring human evolution. The series was created by Richard Dale and Peter Georgi, both of whom had previously worked together on documentaries such as The Human Body, and starred Robert Winston as a presenter.[23] The success of Land of Giants and The Giant Claw led to the creation of Sea Monsters, broadcast in 2003, a miniseries exploring the "seven deadliest seas of all time", once again starring Marven.[24]

The series Space Odyssey (2004), produced by Haines and James at Impossible Pictures together with BBC Worldwide, the Discovery Channel and ProSieben, was originally going to be titled Walking with Spacemen. Both executives of the BBC and ProSieben heralded Walking with Spacemen as the logical next step in the series, following on from the journey began with Walking with Dinosaurs, Beasts and Cavemen.[7][25] Space Odyssey used special effects and techniques from the Walking with... documentaries[25] to speculate how astronauts may explore the various planets in the Solar System on crewed missions.[7][26] Despite the title change, Space Odyssey has at times been referred to as Walking with Spacemen also after its release[16] and the old title was used in some of the companion material, including as the title of the earliest editions of the companion book, co-authored by Haines and Christopher Riley.[27]

Instead of a futuristic series, Haines and Impossible Pictures decided to round off the Walking with... series by making a programme on the before then largely underutilized Paleozoic era, set before the dinosaurs. Walking with Monsters, broadcast in 2005, utilized the most sophisticated effects of the entire franchise, owing to advancements in technology by the time of its production.[28]

Framestore and Crawley Creatures returned to do the computer graphics and animatronics, respectively, for every successor series,[20][29][30][31][28][32] with the sole exception of Walking with Cavemen, which involved Framestore but not Crawley Creatures.[23] The practical effects of Walking with Cavemen were done by several companies, including Altered States FX, Animated Extras and BGFX.[33] After the release of Monsters, Impossible Pictures, Framestore and the others involved were effectively forced to move on from documentary filmmaking and produce other series like Primeval (2007–2011) due to companies and executives losing interest in funding fact-based documentaries on prehistoric life.[34]

Television series

Walking with... series
Series Release date (UK) Director(s) Producer(s) Episodes Narrator (UK) Composer
Walking with Dinosaurs 4 October – 8 November 1999 Tim Haines & Jasper James John Lynch, Tim Haines & Jasper James 6[lower-alpha 3] Kenneth Branagh Ben Bartlett
Walking with Beasts 15 November – 21 December 2001 Jasper James & Nigel Paterson Tim Haines, Jasper James & Nigel Paterson 6
Walking with Cavemen 27 March – 23 April 2003 Richard Dale Richard Dale, Nick Green, Mark Hedgecoe & Peter Oxley 4 Robert Winston[lower-alpha 4] Alan Parker
Sea Monsters 9–23 November 2003 Jasper James Tim Haines, Adam Kemp & Jasper James 3 Karen Hayley[lower-alpha 5] Ben Bartlett
Walking with Monsters 5 November 2005[lower-alpha 6] Chloe Leland & Tim Haines Tim Haines & Chloe Leland 3 Kenneth Branagh
Release timeline
Series in bold
1999Walking with Dinosaurs
2000The Ballad of Big Al
2001Walking with Beasts
2002The Giant Claw
2003Land of Giants
Walking with Cavemen
Sea Monsters
2004
2005Walking with Monsters

Walking with Dinosaurs (1999)

Envisioned as the first "Natural History of Dinosaurs" and a series that would provide viewers with "a window into a lost world",[12] Walking with Dinosaurs explores life in the Mesozoic era, particularly dinosaurs, in the format of a traditional nature documentary.

Specials (2000–2003)

The first special episode of Walking with Dinosaurs to be released was The Ballad of Big Al (2000). Big Al 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 two later specials, The Giant Claw (2002) and Land of Giants (2003), star "time-travelling zoologist" Nigel Marven as he travels back in time to encounter and interact with prehistoric life.

Walking with Beasts (2001)

Walking with Beasts follows Walking with Dinosaurs in showcasing prehistoric life in a nature documentary style. Beasts tracks animal life, particularly the rise of the mammals to dominance, in the Cenozoic era. The series also gives some insight into human evolution, with an episode devoted to Australopithecus and appearances by both Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans.

Walking with Cavemen (2003)

Walking with Cavemen follows Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with Beasts in adopting the same nature documentary style, though this time involving presenter Robert Winston. Cavemen follows the story of human evolution through exploring key developments on the path from Australopithecus afarensis to modern humans. The programme often focuses on particular characters and their relationships to each other in order to be more accessible to viewers.

Sea Monsters (2003)

Sea Monsters once again stars Nigel Marven as a "time-traveling zoologist" who this time 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.

Walking with Monsters (2005)

Serving as a prequel series to Walking with Dinosaurs, Walking with Monsters explores the prehistoric life of the Paleozoic era. The series focuses on "the struggle for the survival of the fittest", using stories of individual animals to cast the Palaeozoic as a long "war" between various animal groups for dominance, some of which are described within the context of the series as being distantly related to humans.

Reception

Accolades

Award Category Walking with Dinosaurs The Ballad of Big Al Walking with Beasts Land of Giants/The Giant Claw Walking with Cavemen Sea Monsters Walking with Monsters
Annie Award Technical Achievement in the Field of Animation Won
BAFTA TV Award Outstanding Innovation Won
Best Original Television Music Won
Interactive Entertainment Award Won
Best Sound (Factual) Nominated
Best Visual Effects & Graphic Design Nominated Won Won Nominated
Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Animated Programme (One Hour or More) Won Won Won Won Won
Outstanding Special Visual Effects Won Nominated
Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie, or a Special Nominated Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Non-Fiction Programming Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Non-Fiction Programming - Sound Mixing Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Non-Fiction Programming – Sound Editing Won
Outstanding Sound Editing for a Non-Fiction Program Won
Monitor Award Film Originated Television Specials - 3D Animation Won
National Television Award Most Popular Factual Programme Nominated
Online Film & Television Association Award Best Visual Effects in a Series Won
Best Informational Special Won
Golden Laurel Award Best Original Television Music Nominated
Peabody Award Peabody Award Won
RTS Television Award Design and Craft Innovation Won
Best Visual Effects - Digital Effects Won
Best Picture Manipulation Nominated
Multi-Media and Interactive Won
Best Presenter (Factual) Nominated Nominated
TV Quick Award Best Factual Programme Won
TCA Award Outstanding Achievement in News and Information Nominated
TRIC Award Documentary Programme of the Year Won
Visual Effects Society Award Outstanding Visual Effects in a Television Series Nominated
Young Artist Award Best Educational TV Show or Series Won

Viewership

Walking with Dinosaurs was broadcast to record audiences in 1999[35] and is sometimes considered the biggest science documentary series ever created.[36] With 15 million viewers viewing the first episode on 4 October 1999 and another 3.91 million viewing it on its repeat the Sunday afterwards, Walking with Dinosaurs is by far the most watched science programme in British television history.[12] Viewership figuers steadily declined for later series; the first airing of the first episode of Walking with Beasts in 2001 had around 8 million viewers and the first airing of the first episode of Walking with Monsters in 2005 attracted 4.57 million viewers.[37]

The ratings shown below are 7-day data, including both the original airings of the episodes and their repeats some days later. There is only data for the top 30 programmes in terms of viewers; episodes labeled N/A failed to reach the top 30 programmes during their airings.

Walking with...: UK viewers per episode (millions)
SeriesEpisode numberAverage
123456
Walking with Dinosaurs18.9117.7517.9616.815.9515.6817.18
The Ballad of Big AlN/AN/A
Walking with Beasts13.9911.349.27N/A5.879.489.99
The Giant Claw & Land of Giants6.835.766.30
Walking with Cavemen7.636.21N/AN/A6.92
Sea Monsters7.596.946.527.02
Walking with Monsters4.57N/AN/A4.57
Audience measurement performed by Broadcasters' Audience Research Board[38]

Prehistoric Planet

Prehistoric Planet is a revision of Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with Beasts, done by Discovery Channel and NBC for the Discovery Kids network in 2002–2003. Though the producers kept most of the original animation, David Bock and Peter Sherman wrote new text for a younger target audience, narrated by Ben Stiller (in Season 1) and Christian Slater (in Season 2),[39] and interspersed the scenes with occasional quizzes to act as bumpers around the commercial breaks. New music was incorporated as well. Most marketing and advertising for the series focused on the dinosaur episodes. In addition, the final episode, Prehistoric Planet Top 10, focused solely on the creatures from Walking with Dinosaurs.

Books

Companion books

The first four Walking with... series were accompanied with companion books. These books were coffee table books exploring the settings from each series in detail, with scientific information, facts and narratives similar to those shown on screen. All of the books were lavishly illustrated with stills from the episodes. All of the Walking with... companion books were well received.[40][41][42]

  • Walking with Dinosaurs: A Natural History (1999), by Tim Haines[40]
  • Walking with Beasts: A Prehistoric Safari (2001), by Tim Haines[41]
  • Walking with Cavemen: Stand Eye-to-Eye with your Ancestors (2003), by John Lynch and Louise Barrett[42]
  • Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Predators of the Deep (2003), by Nigel Marven and Jasper James[43]

Other books

Walking with Monsters was not accompanied by a companion book, instead the series was in 2006 accompanied by the book The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life, an encyclopedia and reference work with images from the entire franchise, co-authored by Haines and Paul Chambers.[44] In addition to the companion books and The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life, several other books have been released to accompany the different series. Walking with Dinosaurs was in addition to its companion book also accompanied by Walking with Dinosaurs: The Evidence (2000) by David Martill and Darren Naish and Walking with Dinosaurs: The Facts (2000) by Michael Benton, both books serving to corroborate the science behind the series.[36] Among the various children's books that have been released alongside the Walking with... documentaries is a children's book adaptation of The Ballad of Big Al by Stephen Cole, titled Allosaurus! The Life and Death of Big Al,[45] as well as 3D albums, sticker albums and photo journals for both Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with Beasts.

Electronic media

With the exception of Walking with Monsters, all of the Walking with... series launched with accompanying websites.[12][23][46][47] The original 1999 Walking with Dinosaurs website was considered innovative for the time and included scientific information, fact files, glossaries, as well as games and puzzles.[12] The content of the websites of following series was similar, offering both accompanying scientific information and games.[23][46][47]

In addition to the games on the website, full Walking with... games have also been developed. The first such game was the freeware video game Dinosaur World, developed by Asylum Entertainment and published by the BBC Imagineering in June 2001. Dinosaur World is an adaptation of The Ballad of Big Al where players try to find various animals and plants. The game was never finished but could be downloaded from the BBC website in its alpha form. There was also a video game adaptation of Walking with Beasts, Walking with Beasts: Operation Salvage, developed by Absolute Studios and published by BBC Worldwide Ltd. in 2001. Operation Salvage is a top-down shooter where players travel back in time to observe animals and fight time-traveling enemies.[48] Another Walking with Dinosaurs game was released in 2013, titled simply Walking with Dinosaurs, to accompany the film adaptation of the series released that year. Walking with Dinosaurs is an augmented reality game developed by Supermassive Games in collaboration with the BBC.[49]

Notes

  1. Tim Haines conceptualized both Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with Beasts and is often referred to as the creator of the series.[1][2] Jasper James joined as producer during the development of Walking with Dinosaurs[3] and served as co-creator and creator for later programmes; together they founded Impossible Pictures, which produced all series and specials except for Walking with Cavemen. Additional creators behind the different series include Susan Spindler (co-creator of Walking with Dinosaurs),[4][5] Andrew Wilks (co-creator of Walking with Beasts and Walking with Monsters), Richard Dale and Peter Georgi (creators of Walking with Cavemen) and Chloe Leland (co-creator of Walking with Monsters).
  2. Walking with... is the conventional umbrella title for the franchise.[6][7] Other names sometimes used include Walking with Prehistoric Life[8] and Prehistoric Earth.[9] Walking with Dinosaurs (1999), Beasts (2001) and Monsters (2005) have also been marketed together as the Trilogy of Life.[10]
  3. Not counting the three later special episodes The Ballad of Big Al (2000), The Giant Claw (2002) and Land of Giants (2003)
  4. Also presenter in the series
  5. Nigel Marven also stars in the series as a presenter
  6. Walking with Monsters first aired as a omnibus version, cut together into a single 90-minute instalment, on 5 November 2005. The series as divided into three episodes first aired a month later, 8–19 December 2005.

References

  1. Haines, Tim. "The Making of…Walking with Dinosaurs". Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  2. 1 2 Tim Haines (2002). Tim Haines Production Interview (Walking with Beasts DVD featurette). BBC.
  3. 1 2 3 "Summary". Walking with Dinosaurs - The Origins. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  4. "BBC "Making It Happen" Project Director Joins Speakers at CSR Forum". CSRWire. 4 July 2001. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  5. "Greg Dyke Making It Happen". BBC - Press Office. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  6. Rawnsley, Ming-Yeh T.; Rawnsley, Gary D. (2018). "Science communication in Taiwan". In Storm, Carsten (ed.). Connecting Taiwan: Participation – Integration – Impacts. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-26894-3.
  7. 1 2 3 "BBC - Worldwide Press Office - Walking with Spacemen". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  8. "11 Must-Watch Dinosaur Movies That Aren't 'Jurassic Park'". Collider. 14 March 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  9. Calderaro, Marc (31 July 2008). "Prehistoric Earth: A Natural History, PopMatters". PopMatters. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  10. Walking with Monsters DVD - Trilogy of Life featurette
  11. 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.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Scott, Karen D.; White, Anne M. (2003). "Unnatural History? Deconstructing the Walking with Dinosaurs Phenomenon". Media, Culture & Society. 25 (3): 315–332. doi:10.1177/0163443703025003002. ISSN 0163-4437. S2CID 143566889.
  13. 1 2 Naish, Darren. "Reminiscing About Walking With Dinosaurs, Part 2". Tetrapod Zoology. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  14. Cook, Barry; Nightingale, Neil (19 December 2013), Walking with Dinosaurs 3D (Animation, Adventure, Comedy), Animal Logic, BBC Earth MD (WWD), BBC Earth, retrieved 2 April 2022
  15. "Most expensive television documentary series per minute". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  16. 1 2 Thussu, Daya Kishan (2008). News as Entertainment: The Rise of Global Infotainment. SAGE. p. 36. ISBN 978-1-4462-3331-3.
  17. "Impossible Pictures Appoints New Managing Director - UK Broadcast News | 23 November 2006". www.4rfv.co.uk. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  18. "Walking with Dinosaurs". BBC One. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  19. "Making Of - TV Production". bbc.co.uk. 2001. Archived from the original on 23 December 2001.
  20. 1 2 "Making Of - Computer Graphics". bbc.co.uk. 2001. Archived from the original on 21 December 2001.
  21. "The Giant Claw | Impossible Pictures". impossiblepictures.co.uk. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  22. "'Walking with Dinosaurs' - the Television Phenomenon". The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  23. 1 2 3 4 Walking with Cavemen - BBC One Press Pack (3 March 2003)
  24. Kettlewell, Julianna (7 November 2003). "Ancient sea monsters bite back". BBC News. Archived from the original on 16 October 2020. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  25. 1 2 Meza, Ed (27 March 2003). "ProSieben, Discovery 'Spacemen' in orbit". Variety. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  26. "Blue plaques for film stars' seats". BBC News. 27 March 2003. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  27. Walking with Spacemen (2004) by Tim Haines and Christopher Riley. Amazon. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  28. 1 2 "Walking With... Series". Framestore. 1 June 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  29. "Making Of - Animatronics". bbc.co.uk. 2001. Archived from the original on 21 December 2001.
  30. "Framestore CFC Makes Sea Monsters". Creative Planet Network. 15 February 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  31. "Films, TV & Adverts". Crawley Creatures. 24 May 2019. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  32. Mike (25 October 2010). "The People Behind Prehistoric Animal Animatronics and Puppetry". Everything Dinosaur Blog. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  33. "fantasy makeups | hominids and cavegirls | Suzanne Cave in 'Walking with Cavemen' | themakeupgallery". www.themakeupgallery.info. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  34. Naish, Darren. "Reminiscing About Walking With Dinosaurs, Part 1". Tetrapod Zoology. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  35. Haines, Tim; Chambers, Paul (2010) [2005]. "Introduction". The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life. Richmond Hill, Ontario: Firefly Books. ISBN 978-1-55407-181-4.
  36. 1 2 Benton, Michael J. (2001). "The Science of Walking with Dinosaurs" (PDF). Teaching Earth Sciences. 24: 371–400.
  37. "Planet Earth sees off CGI". the Guardian. 10 May 2006. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  38. "Weekly top 30 programmes on TV sets (July 1998 – Sept 2018) | BARB". Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  39. "Prehistoric Planet", TV Time, retrieved 2 May 2022
  40. 1 2 "Nonfiction Book Review: Walking with Dinosaurs: A Natural History by Tim Haines". Publishers Weekly. 1 March 2000. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  41. 1 2 "Nonfiction Book Review: Walking with Prehistoric Beasts by Tim Haines". Publishers Weekly. 1 November 2001. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  42. 1 2 "Nonfiction Book Review: WALKING WITH CAVEMEN". Publishers Weekly. 2003. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  43. Sellers, LaRue (2004). "Chased by Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Predators of the Deep". The Science Teacher. 71 (7): 85.
  44. Palmer, Douglas (5 October 2005). "Book Review: Myriad monsters". New Scientist. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  45. Johnson, Nancy J.; Giorgis, Cyndi (2002). "Children's Books: Pleasure Reading". The Reading Teacher. 55 (8): 780–788. ISSN 0034-0561. JSTOR 20205139.
  46. 1 2 "BBC - Science - Beasts". 16 December 2001. Archived from the original on 16 December 2001. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  47. 1 2 "BBC - Science & Nature - Sea Monsters". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  48. "65 Million Years of Strategy". IGN. 5 October 2001.
  49. "Wonderbook gets more Harry Potter, dinosaurs, detectives on Nov. 12". Joystiq. 31 October 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
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