Prehistoric Planet episode ranking

So Prehistoric Planet is out and about. As predicted, it is the most scientifically accurate and visually stunning dinosaur documentary done to date. There’s honestly not much to add that hasn’t been said before, though I will note how I like how the animals are “perfect but not perfect”. They’re not skinwrapped, but not embubbled as some pop paleoart depictions go either. The crew has maintained an amazing attention to detail on how real life animals works, and as such were it not for the CGI frame pacing I could easily mistake any of the animals seen for real, breathing creatures. Still shots alone fully sell the illusion.

Hence, a review of the episodes:

Coasts

Easily the best, which kinda makes it sad the series is downhill from here. It did the impossible and made T. rex genuinely interesting by showing it displaying atypical behaviours like swimming, an image well deserving of its reputation as the series’ signature scene. Soon after that we get extended segments on North Africa’s diverse Maastrichtian pterosaur fauna and it is a delight, pterosaurs have never looked this realistic before and I wish my necromancy would bring them back (soon…). The ammonite segment was also beautiful and sad, and the inclusion of a pycnodont fish alone makes the whole series worth watching. The weakest points were the marine reptile segments: the elasmosaurs don’t look as up-to-date as other prehistoric animals and the mosasaurs are fooking boring.

11/10, it is that good. Don’t think there’s any way to improve it, beyond maybe updating the plesiosaur apparence.

Deserts

Also a damn good episode, it opens with Dreadnoughtus putting all previous sauropod depictions in the corner with a “dummy” hat on. We then go to Asia where we get to see all the media darlings like Tarbosaurus, Velociraptor, some azhdarchids, enantiornitheans (always a plus, even if for a few seconds) and Mononykus. Curiously the Asian segment actually features an agamid lizard protagonist, a first for a dinosaur documentary, and one choice I dearly love. Mononykus is equal parts silly and astonishing, easily one of the most realistic dinosaurs put on screen (though maybe the modern flight feathers should have been replaced by ratite-like plumes).

Later we get the infamous Barbaridactylus short, where the pterosaur is depicted with sexual mimicry, allowing a “sneaky male” to court a female and give birth to a thousand memes. The cynical side of me is aware that BBC has openly been homophobic and transphobic lately so him rejecting the larger males’ advances and being described as “sneaky” feels awful, but overall the segment is very enjoyable. Lastly we see a South Americna hadrosaur nobody cares about.

9/10. Really the last hadrosaur should have been replaced by a mesungulatid mammal, which were large sized herbivores so if anything it’d make that segment far more interesting.

Freshwater

Sadly this is where the series starts to decline. I personally think it is the worst episode of the series, since it doesn’t actually feature any freshwater animals (its not like the Cretaceous lacks any, from the giant Mawsonia coelacanths to the aquatic mammal Didelphodon) and shows T. rex for absolutely no reason, engaging more stereotypically than ever before.

Still, the opening with Velociraptor hunting pterosaurs and the Quetzalcoatlus segments almost redeem this for me.

1/10, would replace the T. rex segment with Champsosaurus and Didelphodon and maybe the marine elasmosaurids with actual freshwater plesiosaurs. Possibly also replace the boring Maevarano formation critters with Mawsonia and a goniopholid to sate the crocodylomorph fans.

Ice Worlds

Easily the second worst. It doesn’t really do much being showing the Alberta polar dinosaurs again and again, with Antarctopelta making a guest apparence. It also features the ONLY mammal of the series, Cimolodon, which dies horribly. C’mon.

2/10, maybe focus more on the Antarctic animals. Probably replace the Olorotitan segment altogether to show Arctic mammals like Schowalteria and predatory ptilodontidoidean multituberculates.

Forests

A brief return to form. It makes Triceratops interesting again by showing it behave like modern macaws and eating clay to stave off plant poisons, has an amazing ginkgo forest setting and shows poorly represented Asian dinosaurs. It ends on Hatzegopteryx not as a demonic flying menace but as a majestic animal flying into the sunset.

5/10, probably replace Austroposeidon with a look into Madagascar to cover the Maevarano Formation animals I would delete from Freshwater. Albeit said animals would be Adalatherium and Falcatakely.