Amazing Dinoworld: World of the Sea Monsters

 Synopsis: This episode of Amazing Dinoworld features a mother Mosasaur and other marine reptiles that swam in the oceans of the Cretaceous period.
Viewed on: HBO Max (Also available on CuriousityStream)
 

    The second episode of Amazing Dinoworld is World of the Sea Monsters. Starting right off with a bang, the episode begins with a Spinosaurus locked in a titanic battle with a giant marine reptile. Good way to get my attention. After the opening sequence, the second half of Amazing Dinoworld focuses mainly on the story of a mother Mosasaurus, the 13 meter long ruler of the Cretaceous oceans.

    World of the Sea Monsters really dives deep into the evolutionary history and remarkable rise of the Mosasaurs. The speed of the rise of the Mosasaur is quite unprecedented in the history of life. Their ancestors, the Protomosasaurus, evolved into the dominant oceanic predators of the Late Cretaceous in a span of around 20 million years which is fast for geologic time. The Protomosasaurus was a monitor lizard like creature closely related to snakes and other lizards. Like snakes Protomosasaurus (and Mosasaurs) can even open their jaws wide for gulping down food. 

    During the entire Amazing Dinoworld series, there are several interviews with paleontologists discussing their theories on animal behavior and I found the the Mosasaur behaviors the most fascinating. A paleontologist at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles shows us that fossil evidence implies that Mosasaurs had close parent-baby bonds. This type of bond is advantageous to all vertebrates, which helps showcase how Mosasaurs were so successful. 

    Just like The Feathered Revolution episode, World of the Sea Monsters delivers impeccable animation that really gives life to these amazing animals. Unfortunately, also like The Feathered Revolution, there can be melodramatic moments but I found those scenes in this half of the series a little less cheesy. Plus the creature fights were entertaining as hell to watch. World of the Sea Monsters and Amazing Dinoworld as a whole is just an awesome watch for dinosaur fans of any age. This series convinced to sign up for CuriousityStream haha.

 
My Score: Tyrannosaurs Recs

Amazing Dinoworld: The Feathered Revolution

Synopsis: We follow the life and adventures of dinosaurs like Deinocherus and Troodon as they grow and survive in a prehistoric world.
Viewed on: HBO Max (Also available on CuriousityStream)

    Apparently to my surprise, HBO Max has a two part documentary series on their platform called Amazing Dinoworld. This series is a japanese-american co-production by CuriousityStream with state of the art CGI that really took my back to those days of watching Walking with Dinosaurs on television. Although this series can overextend its reach about the science, it is nonetheless a fun thrill ride. Compared to other dinosaur documentaries that have come out in the past few years, Amazing Dinoworld makes it mark and stands out as one the new great dinosaur documentaries. 

    The first half of this series is called The Feathered Revolution which takes us through the lives of two feathered dinosaurs, Deinocheirus and Troodon, and how feathers possibly influenced their evolutionary histories. Deinocheirus (means horrible hand) is an omnivorous dinosaur with giant claws, and I was actually very intrigued by the new science of this animal. Fossils out of Mongolia show this creature is a T-rex sized animal that used its claws for finding food and for defense against predators like Tarbosaurus. Other fossils show a strong parental instinct was present in Deinocheirus based on sophisticated nests that became fossilized. 

    The other part of the episode focus on a mother Troodon. The story takes a drastic shift in locality because now we are in the Arctic. Its very interesting to see dinosaurs in snow since most people don't know they can adapt pretty well to the cold. Scientist begin to explain here that feathers probably influence certain evolutionary traits. For example, feathers kept dinosaurs warm which is believed to of helped Troodon fuel its big brain. Troodon has the biggest brain relative to body size amongst dinosaurs. Both Troodon's and Deinocheirus' feathers probably helped them incubate their eggs and allowed the animals to better nurture their young.

    The only negatives I noticed were the melodramatic story elements. I understand this is for the purposes of entertainment, but when a dinosaur documentary tries to pull at your heart strings like a Pixar movie would, it's just a little out of place for a speculative nature documentary. Now lets forget about all the science and the melodramatic story stuff, and just look at the CGI. The animation in this series in incredible, top notch! Honestly, Amazing Dinoworld has the best CGI of any dino doc of seen recently. Even amongst all the special limited engagement museum imax theaters, this documentary ranks up their in terms of visual quality. This viewing would be best seen on a big screen. If you want an updated Walking with Dinosaurs with scientifically accurate (but not perfect) dinos and reptiles, with CGI that that doesn't lag far behind Jurassic World, then this series if for you.

My Score: Tyrannosaurs Recs