THE MOVIE

Walking With Beasts is another excellent BBC documentary series that follows on from the award winning Walking with Dinosaurs. This series consists of six 30 minute episodes, and it takes a look at some of the mammals that lived in the shadows of the dinosaurs around 65 million years ago. The series looks at the dominant mammal species from a time period called the Eocene (around 49 million years ago, following the extinction of the dinosaurs) up until the beginning of the ice age (around 30,000 years ago). Here is a more detailed look at each of the six episode in the series.

Episode 1 - New Dawn
It starts some 49 million years ago, during a time period called the Eocene. Earth has recovered since the asteroid impact that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, although the animals that now dominate the planet are covered in feathers or fur, not scales. This episode looks at some of the birds and mammals that thrived during this period. Interestingly, birds are the top predators. The largest, Gastornis is as tall as a grown male and weighs up to half a tonne. There is also Ambulocetus (meaning walking whale), a 3 m long carnivorous water dwelling mammal and Propalaeotherium, an early form of horse.

Episode 2 - Whale Killer
Fast forward to 36 million years ago, the late Eocene period. The giant whales (including the 18 m long, 60 tonne Basilosaurus) have arrived. These aren’t the filter feeders we know and love today, but ruthless carnivorous predators that prey on sharks and other large fish. There is also an amphibious mammal called Moeritherium, looking a bit like a cross between a pig and a hippopotamus, they are in fact related to elephants. On land, there are carnivorous predators such as Andrewsarchus, which is as large as a horse, and weighs more than a tonne. This episode also looks at Brontothere, an mammal which is related to horses and rhinos, which travels in large herds numbering over 100 beasts.

Episode 3 - Land of Giants
It is now 25 million years ago, and the time period is called the Oligocene. It follows on from a time when 1 in 5 species became extinct due to catastrophic climate change. Now the earth is experiencing greatly different weather patterns, and is home to an interesting array of new plants and animals such as Indricothere, a 12 tonne giant that can go without food or water for several days. Then there is Calicotheres, a mammal that walks like a gorilla and eats like a panda, despite its closest living relative being the horse. The predators include Hyaenodon, and Entelodont (though they are often scavengers), a distant relative of the pig.

Episode 4 - Next of Kin
At 3.2 million years ago, this documentary series looks at a species thought to be our own ancestors. Australopithecus are apes that walk upright and live in groups with complex social hierarchies. Despite this fact, they were still a long way from the top of the food chain. Australopithecus are mainly herbivores and occasionally scavengers if they can beat the vultures. They are also prey for predatory cats such as Dinofelis. Episode 4 also looks at Deinotherium, a mammal that appears to be an elephant, but is actually 3 times the size, being as tall as a giraffe and weighing 14 times as much.

Episode 5 - Sabre Tooth
1 million years ago, south America gave rise to some exotic and truly unique mammals. This episode centres around the top predator during this time period, that being Smilodon, the sabre tooth cat (not a tiger as commonly thought), which live in tightly knit clans. This species survived up until 10,000 years ago, when dramatic climate change caused the extinction of many species they preyed upon. Other animals that get a look in include Doedicurus, a much larger (the size of a car) relative of the armadillo, Macrauchenia (one of Smilodon’s favourite snack foods) and Megatherium, a giant ground sloth, weighing more than an elephant.

Episode 6 - Mammoth Journey
Over the last 50 million years, the earth has been getting colder and colder, but a change in the earths orbit has brought on an ice age. It is now 30,000 years ago and the landscape is dominated by grazing mammals such as the great woolly Mammoth, Bison, Antelopes and woolly Rhinos. The predators in this time period are cave lions, but Neanderthals and our own ancestors, Cro-Magnon, are also at the top of the food chain. Cro-Magnon seldom hunted animals as large as mammoths, but they did demonstrate ingenuity, making use of the tusks and fur from dead mammoths for clothing and shelter. They were omnivores, hunting smaller mammals including Megaloceros, a large form of deer, with antlers over a metre.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

Walking With Beasts is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen and is 16:9 enhanced. As was the case with The Ballad of Big Al, this transfer is wonderful. The level of detail is awesome, you only need to look at the close up shots of the mammals (presumably animatronic puppets) to see what I mean. Every little blemish and hair is clearly visible. This transfer is also free of film grain and MPEG artefacts. Unfortunately, this is not the case for the two bonus featurettes, these both contain a mixture of footage from various sources, and as such, visual quality can sometimes be a little lacklustre. Some of the aged stock footage that has been incorporated suffers from rather distracting background noise and grain. I guess you can’t complain too much though, these two 50 minute featurettes are still a very worthwhile addition.

In terms of the overall look of the Walking With Beasts documentary series. Well, it is nothing short of breathtaking, with some amazing shots of wide open deserts and savannah, lush tropical forests and sandy coastlines. Colours are rich and warm, all appear to be very natural and well saturated. The computer generated mammals are very well done and most of the time they blend in seamlessly with the background. The producers of this series have also used CGI in during night vision shots, which gives the series that extra bit of realism.

The camera work also warrants praise. This series features a healthy mix of panoramic landscape shots, close up animatronic puppet work and even beast POV (point of view), complete with camera shake to make it appear as though you’re on the move. There are also some great moments where the mammals interact with the camera. For example, during chapter 6 (Episode 3) when the Indricothere knocks over the camera, and during chapter 5 (Episode 6) when the Mammoth squirts muddy water at the camera lens.

Audio:

The Walking With Beasts documentary series has just one soundtrack, that being a Dolby Digital 2.0 channel soundtrack. It is more than adequate for this presentation. Kenneth Branagh’s narration is once again highly intelligible. He has fabulous diction and is the perfect choice for this series. Similarly, narration and dialogue during interviews on disc two are also clearly audible and highly intelligible. There didn’t appear to be any audio synch problems either. Ben Bartlett once again composes the music for this series, which is performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra (Bartlett was also involved in The Ballad of Big Al, and presumably Walking With Dinosaurs). The music is very appropriate given the subject matter. It has that whole epic battle feel about it, which works well with the hunting scenes.

THE EXTRAS

Triumph of the Beasts
This first featurette provides a very interesting behind the scenes look at how the Walking With Beasts documentary series was made. You get to see the animatronic puppets that were used, the computer generated effects employed to bring the mammals to life and the crew filming scenes on location. However, this featurette involves more than just behind the scenes footage. It also takes a more technical look at the evolution of a few specific mammals and explores the link between the land and the sea. This featurette also details the many beneficial characteristics of mammals that have helped them to reign supreme after the extinction of the dinosaurs. For example, different teeth allowed mammals to take advantage of many food sources, and large brains meant greater ability to learn and adapt to the changing environment.

Many technical insights in this featurette are provided by scientists, presumably in the fields of archaeology and palaeontology, including Professor Michael J Benton (University of Bristol), Dr Michael Morlo (Senckenberg Research Institute), Professor Lawrence Witmer (Ohio University) and Dr Frank Fish (West Chester University), to name but a few. I also have to mention the humorous footage of the different mammals interacting with the modern environment. This featurette, along with the one below, are presented in 1.85:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound. Both have a running time of around 50 minutes.

The Beasts Within
The second featurette takes a more details look at the evolution of humans from the early primates, many of which were nocturnal, so as to avoid predation by larger animals. Comparisons between humans and primates are considered, most notably monkeys and apes (gorillas, chimpanzees and orang-utans), which are our closest living relatives. Some things we share in common are large forward facing eyes, grasping hands and larger brains. But when did our ancestors start walking upright, and when did they move to the top of the food chain? This featurette also explores several theories on why the larger mammals disappeared at the end of the last ice age, coinciding with the rise of man. Were the Neanderthals responsible for their demise, or was it their cousins, the Cro-Magnons?

Photo Gallery
Around 50 photos which like they’ve been taken directly from the documentary series. Not all that exciting, it would have been nice if some behind the scenes shots could have been included, as was the case with The Ballad of Big Al.

Storyboard Comparison
There are storyboards from each of the six episodes in the series. You get to see the drawings displayed as an animated sequence accompanied by production audio, featuring narration by Kenneth Branagh.

Beast Fact Files
This is an excellent inclusion. It provides statistics on all of the mammals featured in the documentary series (e.g. Leptictidium, Gastornis, Basilosaurus, Andrewsarchus, Indricothere, Entelodont, Smilodon, Doedicurus, Megatherium, Ambulocetus, Propalaeotherium, Dorudon, Moeritherium, Hyaenodon, Chalicothere, Dinofelis, Australopithecus, Macrauchenia, etc, etc). For each beast there is information on the time period they roamed the earth, their diet, size and weight, their closest living relative and where fossils have been located. There is also a scale drawing for each beast so you can get an idea of how large these mammals were in comparison to an average human.

Production Crew Interviews
Speaks for itself really. This extra feature contains interviews with the production crew, including executive producer Tim Haines who talks about being inspired by Jurassic Park and then coming up with the idea for the documentary series Walking With Dinosaurs and the follow-up series, Walking With Beasts. Other crew members interviewed include series producer Jasper James and Max Tyrie, one of the lead animators at Framestore, the company that created the CG beasts for the series. Then there is Jeremy Gibson Harris from Crawley Creatures and Associates, who were responsible for the animatronics, and finally Alex Freeman, one of two researchers involved in the production. All interviews are presented in 1.85:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound. Total running time is around 24 minutes.

SUMMARY

Walking With Beasts picks up where Walking With Dinosaurs left off. This fascinating BBC documentary series takes a look at many significant mammals that roamed the earth between 65 million years (following the demise of the dinosaurs) and 30,000 years ago (around the beginning of the ice age). This DVD has a great visual transfer and the soundtrack is also more than adequate. This two disc set also boasts animated menus and scene selections as well as two bonus 50 minute specials, beast fact files, production crew interviews and storyboard comparisons.