Search - When Dinosaurs Ruled on DVD

Very informative

Stacy D Fitz-Lupo | Roseville, Ca. United States | 10/16/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you are looking for the spectacular computer animated dinosaurs that are found in 'Walking With Dinosaurs', look somewhere else. This set doesn't have them. What it does have, however, is a lot of wonderful, up to date, fact based information on dinosaurs not found anywhere else. It is enough to keep a five year olds' attention, and intelligent enough to pull me into watching it as well.I have a five year old son who is absolutely ga-ga for dinosaurs, and voraciously watches anything he can find on them, pours over books about them, spends hours putting together and taking apart puzzles of them, colors endless quantities of pictures of them - in short, anything with a dinosaur on the cover he wants. When he saw this, there was nothing for it but to buy it. I have to say I don't regret it for a minute.To be honest, I purchased this not expecting much. I had read reviews of others and thought it would be inferior to anything else out there, but might keep him occupied for a while. To be fair, the animation is substandard, you can tell that it was made for tv, and the editing isn't the greatest. However, I found myself watching it with him, facinated dispite myself. The information is presented in an easy to listen to maner, with graphs, charts, and animation that(while substandard compared to Walking With Dinosaurs)gives you a feel for the size and weight these creatures must have had. And, being that they were produced in 2000, the information is more up to date than most everything else out there with facinating new discoveries.True, there is repetion of content from one DVD to the next, but the repetion deals more with the basics of dinosaur evolution and the relevent time periods than repeating information about the individual dinosaurs themselves. While the repetition can be frustrating for adults, it also means that each of the DVDs stands on it's own, and can be watched in any order.In short, I found this set, while a bit pricey, to be worth it, and am not sorry I got it at all."

Better Than I Thought

ragtime@iprimus.com.au | 06/17/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I didn't think this DVD would be as good as "Walking With Dinosaurs", but it's different. The animation isn't as good (it's good enough) but there is a lot of information you wouldn't have heard before, it has the very latest information. If your interested in Dinosaurs get this DVD, if you're more interested in good animation get "Walking With Dinosaurs". I think both are worth buying."

Wouldn't you rather be Walking with Dinasaurs?

ragtime@iprimus.com.au | 08/22/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"When Dinosaurs Ruled is a 5-part series from The Learning Channel that coincidentally was released to home video at about the same time as Walking with Dinosaurs. Narrated by Jeff Goldblum (Jurassic Park/The Lost World) each part explores dinosaurs whose remains were found in a generally specific part of the modern world: Africa, Europe, North America, South America, and Australia/Antarctica. This is a video essay for those who want to watch and listen rather than read.Interspersed throughout are short, fairly cheesy, animated sequences of dinosaurs that are very uninteresting. Once in a while we are treated with a nice global map of the area or specific locations. There are shots here and there of paleontologists at excavation sites, but nothing revealing about the sites themselves. Clips of Bob Bakker pop up apparently at random as if to add credibility. But mostly this is a travelogue with Goldblum's voice reading the "essay."Don't get me wrong. This "essay", as I call it, has a lot of information available and might have made a good audio tape - with someone else reading it. Granted, Avery Brooks narrating the U.S. broadcast version of Walking with Dinosaurs is an impossible act to follow (unless, perhaps, you're James Earl Jones). As much as I like Goldblum as an actor, his voice leaves me wanting somebody else who can hold my attention.Unfortunately, Madacy Entertainment produced this DVD, but they seem to be improving their act a bit. As with other disks I've reviewed I find their production values wanting, most notably the chapter divisions. The full-motion scene selections are a great touch, but Madacy still doesn't seem to care how they divide up the disk. Several times throughout the series you will be dropped into the middle of a sentence or even the middle of a word. There are big fat black spots where the commercials belong that would be hard to miss, but they do. While this is a minor thing (and I won't use it in my rating) it's sloppy.And a word about trivia quizzes: "Why? "When I saw the Madacy name on the set I hesitated. But we have to have anything and everything dinosaur, so that's my excuse and I'm stickin' to it. I can recommend the set (but not the individual videos) for your collection if you've got the money. A much better recommendation would be Walking with Dinosaurs and the companion book."