By Jason Mack, Contributing Writer
For anyone eagerly anticipating the release of Jurassic World: Dominion, the miniseries Prehistoric Planet on Apple TV+ is a great way to scratch that itch of going 66 million years into the past.
As someone who has been obsessed with both dinosaurs and nature documentaries since I was a kid, I fell hook, line and sinker for Prehistoric Planet. Jaws inspired me and many others to become obsessed with shark documentaries and any other shark content we can get our hands on. It spurred the creation of Shark Week on the Discovery Channel and turned it into a national phenomenon. Jurassic Park would have done the same for dinosaurs if it weren’t for that pesky problem of them being extinct for millions of years.
The focus on dinosaurs in paleontology is still a relatively new study, but the information they have gathered and the assumptions they glean from context clues are astounding. The information has been there, but the ability to properly illustrate it has not… until now. The exponential development of CGI has made a show like this possible. You’re no longer watching a rough animation of what they think dinosaurs looked like. You’ll feel like Planet Earth has developed the use of time travel.
While the quality of the movies themselves may leave something to be desired, you can’t argue against the technical and visual success achieved with The Lion King (2020) and The Jungle Book (2017) with the pairing of Jon Favreau and Moving Picture Company. The visuals alone make this an exciting experience, but providing the full Planet Earth vibe complete with narration from David Attenborough allows for full immersion.
Attenborough is in a class all his own when it comes to nature documentaries. Other productions have tried with legendary voices like Morgan Freeman. They are decent, but they don’t hold up against Attenborough. He is charming, emotive, distinctive and sophisticated. Even when he makes lewd jokes, they feel classy.
Attenborough is amazing, but his narration alone could not carry this without being paired with astonishing visuals. One of the trademarks of Planet Earth productions is the cinematography, as they provide detailed looks at nature you can’t find anywhere else. I would love to get into the Russian nesting doll situation of watching a documentary about the camera work that goes into creating the documentary. The first thing my wife and I loaded up two years ago to test out our first 4K TV was Planet Earth, and we stared in awe at the visuals.
Prehistoric Planet somehow achieves the lofty standard of matching those visuals and feeling real. It’s not just the dinosaurs, as many plants and landscapes are also being recreated from scratch. The dinosaur visuals are at their best during close-up shots. Tight shots on the Tyrannosaurus rex feature every bump in the skin, scars from battle, tiny hairs and even scars from battle.
The way the dinosaurs interact with the environment and other creatures is another highlight. I anticipated the believability would take a dip in these situations, but it heightens it. Even action underwater looks great. The moments where the seams show are few and far between. There is a moment in the first episode where a Tyrannosaurus rex is swimming with its babies and a top-down shot feels a little off. It otherwise looks great though, and as I side note I had no idea the Tyrannosaurus rex could swim.
The fun facts are another positive of the show. Most fans of Jurassic Park have heard the criticism over the years that Velociraptors were actually much smaller and had feathers. The movie has the excuse that they fill in missing strands of DNA with genetic material from reptiles. Still, it was always hard to picture what Velociraptors really looked like until seeing them in action.
Like most nature documentaries, the content centers heavily around hunting and mating behaviors. The moments are created so believably that you will empathize with the hunted creatures and worry about their fate. This is a fitting moment to warn against watching this show while eating. I made this mistake and was surprised by a closeup of Deinocheirus dung. The goofy creature with a duckbill face and wooly body let loose and everything was shown as they illustrated that its waste became food for others. I could have done without knowing that fact.
Everything the show put out was great, but it does leave you wanting more. There is a lack of coverage of classic dinosaurs like the Stegosaurus and Triceratops, and I would love to get a scientific look at the infamous spitting Dilophosaurus made popular in Jurassic Park.
One final positive to tout is the score composed by Hans Zimmer. They took every aspect of this show seriously and spared no expense.
If you don’t enjoy nature documentaries, then even a love for dinosaurs might not save you here. However, anyone who loves Planet Earth or any of its spinoffs will be enthralled with Prehistoric Planet. Apple TV+ continues to build on its impressive track record, and here’s hoping they return to the Mesozoic Era for another season.
Score: 9/10
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