I thought I would comment on the article above - Jurassic Park IV and the dinosaurs have weapons? I really don't believe this, I am massively incredulous and will remain so until I see the movie website with actual pictures of T'Rex sporting a 50-mm rifle. Mr. Spielberg and his buddies are nutty as loons but not stupid. I cannot believe he would make a movie that costs millions that would appeal 4 -year-old but would make a 55 year-old laugh with embarrassment. The trick is to make a movie that will captivate the 4 year-old and does not bore the 55 year-old.
It will be a terrible movie if they start going into such a comic book land of nonsense, but I have never truly respected Spielberg and his intellectual abilities - He always falls slightly short of being impressive (my personal opinion). That said, it is a given that I will not be going - or buying this movie. I am fascinated with dinosaurs - natural history fascinates me and my husband has more than once protested the replaying of dinosaur videos - the National Geographics that cover everything from the history of the science of paleontology (scary that I can spell that word correctly first try.) to the origin of birds as theropod dinosaurs.
A quick explaination of their place on evolution's endless lists! (The origin of birds is a favorite subject of mine.)
So next time some bird walks past you with really dumb look on his face just bow slightly and show some respect for the only dinosaurs that survived the asteroid 65 million years ago. The truth is that the whole premise of the Jurassic park scenario is impossible - DNA does not survive 65 million years well enough to build an animal from it - even a few hundred is pushing it unless the tissue has been well taken care of, such as frozen.
The Japanese spoke about bringing mammoths back. I have no idea if they have succeeded! There has been some success but nothing like 'Jurassic Park'!! I admit the dinosaurs of 'Jurassic Park' were just about perfect and that it (the movie) opened up a new world of well done computer generated documentaries on the subject of evolution but I am rather sensitive to tension. I usually cannot watch a horror or over-done, violent action movies. I almost become ill when the tension involved. I am not sure why I am like this but I consider it a weakness. I've never been able to watch the Jurassic Park trilogy, soon to be four movies, all the way through. Maybe I take things too seriously or my body reacts to tension differently than most people...
'Walking with Dinosaurs ' was the first of many documentaries that took advantage of new technologically computer generated beasties, and while it is not adult-level informative, it is worth getting out of the library - It is a moving picture book. I tend to like a little more meat in my documentaries and I suggest the PBS NOVA series and National Geographic's many offerings. Thank God, little drama and no emotion is ever expended in a good documentary!
The Wikipedia article of 'Walking...". It is still available just about everywhere they sell DVDs. Here is a selection that the NG store. NOT much. Discovery channel also has a store. All the videos in the world won't really educate you, though - the real education comes in reading books on the subject. I suggest starting with the shows, yes, but then use the names of the scientists interviewed in the documentaries to research on line and at the library - there is no replacement for the written word.
Now for some fun. Old movies on the subject are usually based on fine old books, like 'Lost World' by Arthur Conan Doyle. I suspect the name of the modern movie is a bow to this great classic. The first time the book was dramatized was 1925, it is a silent movie but is still worth watching - the stop action battle between dinosaurs was well done and the plot of the movie is pretty faithful to the book. My favorite is still the Michael Rennie 1960 film - I just like Rennie but the movie fails to stay faithful to the book.
The book is free on the net. Isn't life great? Of course, there is the absolutely worse movie made on this subject - 'One Million Years B.C' with Raquel Welch - a lady of many talents - or, at least 2 talents !
A small article about a really bad movie - 1966 wasn't the best year for outstanding Sci-Fi movies, that would come later. It was, as I said, a truly BAD movie with no science to speak of and a story line as slim as Miss Welch, herself.
There are a hundreds of movies, TV show episodes and even whole shows devoted to dinosaurs
Here is the IMDb site with a list. We all remember the great dinosaur scenes in the first 'King Kong' and its overly sentimentalized recent remake - and I am absolutely sure you all can remember your favorite scenes in what ever science fiction movies you happen to love best !
A note to everyone on the subject of religion : I see no conflict between my love of Jesus Christ and my fascination with paleontology - The bible, as a wise man once said, is a book about how to get to heaven, not how the heavens - or the earth - evolves !
One could hope that Mr. Speilberg won't ruin his new movie with a lot of political messages and correctness - would it be too much to ask Hollywood to lay off the politics and just entertain us with some dinosaurs ?
