BBC’s Walking With Dinosaurs Returns! Scientists Say These Prehistoric Titans Are Not Monsters: “They Are Animals With Complex, Rich Lives”

If a film crew teleported back 65 million years, they would be among dinosaurs on their home turf. They could capture unique images of a time when these scaly, scary titans rule on Earth.

That was the pitch for Walking with Dinosaurs, the acclaimed 1999 BBC docu-series which, in lieu of a time-travel device, scientists reimagines the lost world using Jurassic Park-style CGI, traditional puppetry and animatronics.

Flash forward 25 years, plenty has happened in palaeontology: new excavations uncovering new evidence that in turn inspire new ideas and theories challenging and debunking existing notions of what we think we know of these extinct beasts. And this brings us to the six-part Walking with Dinosaurs: Legends Unearthed.  

“That’s the joy of making any science show,” Thomas Scott, head of development at BBC Studios Science Unit, tells 8days.sg Zoom from the UK via Zoom. “There are always ongoing discoveries. Even with the current evidence, there’s debate about how these creatures lived. You have to weigh the evidence and choose a path. New findings could change things, but that’s part of the pleasure, not a problem.”

A case in point: the Utahraptor. “In Series One, it was portrayed featherless and scaly with brown patches,” says Thomas. “In our show, it’s completely covered in feathers and is bright red. There’s evidence of potential coloration in feathered dinosaurs — reds, blacks, and whites. It’s nice to compare and contrast the old and new portrayals.”

Joining Scott on the call is Dr Nizar Ibrahim, senior lecturer in palaeontology at the University of Portsmouth. Ibrahaim is an expert on Spinosaurus, the ‘star’ of the second episode ‘The River Dragon’.

“We now live in a golden age of dinosaur discoveries,” says Ibrahim. “New dinosaurs are found at an increasing rate in previously unexplored regions. We now have a better global picture of dinosaur history. Yes, the original series had inaccuracies based on what we now know, but at the time, it was an amazing attempt to showcase the science. And that’s what we’re doing now — presenting the most up-to-date vision of the dinosaur world.”

He adds: “That’s the nature of science, right? It’s not written in stone; new discoveries would continue to change our image of the dinosaurs.”

And one image Ibrahim hopes the series would rectify is that “dinosaurs are monsters — huge, roaring creatures that fight all the time”.

“What we try to do in Walking with Dinosaurs is portray these creatures as animals,” he explains. “Even the mighty T-Rex was struggling and had to face all sorts of dangers. And if you follow one particular animal around, this really shines through because you see their daily struggles.

“People think of crocodiles and sharks as monsters, but if you follow one specific Great White around its journey in the ocean or a croc swimming through the Northern Territory in Australia, after a few weeks, you just go like, ‘My God, this creature has such a rich and complex life.’”

The show’s character-led narratives — based on the bones dug up — give the viewer a sense of what the dinosaurs experienced.

Thomas adds: "You remember the young Diplodocus growing up [in the original series]; in this series, each episode follows one of two individuals through a pivotal moment in their life. Some would succeed, some fail. You’ll root for some of them and be heartbroken by others. We wanted the viewer to feel like they’re watching a lion documentary — you understand the stakes, the risks, and the resilience.

“We have a general tendency to underestimate the complexity of animals,” says Ibrahim. “It took us a long time to accept that they’re very complex and have these rich lives.”

Yes, the dinosaurs are killing machines but they’re also capable of showing tenderness, as seen in the ‘The River Dragon’ episode, which posits that the Spinosaurus picks up its little ones with its massive jaws, not unlike the crocodiles.

Can we ascribe the dinosaurs’ bad rep to the way they’re depicted in popular culture, notably the Jurassic Park/World movies?

“As a palaeontologist, we can nitpick and point out all the flaws and errors,” says Ibrahim. (For the record: he prefers Steven Spielberg’s 1993 original — “an amazing film in so many different ways” — over the sequels.)  “[Instead] we should celebrate the huge interest these movies generate with the public — no other subject in science generates this level of enthusiasm. After they see the movie, they’d visit a museum or watch Walking with Dinosaurs and learn more of the actual science of dinosaur palaeontology.

“[A movie like Jurassic Park] is not a doctoral dissertation — it’s a Hollywood movie, we should accept it for what it is and go on a fun ride.”

Thomas agrees: “I, having grown up with those movies and then having kids, understand that the people’s engagement with those movies is sort of the baby steps towards watching a documentary like [Walking with Dinosaurs] and then maybe read a book written by a palaeontologist they saw on screen. Suddenly, they’re entering the world of science, understanding mysteries and stories from the past.

“The degree I chose to do at university was largely affected by the factual TV shows I watched as a kid, so I don’t think you can underestimate the power of cinema and science TV series to inspire young minds.”

And a documentary like Walking with Dinosaurs has a vital role to play in getting people, especially kids, interested in science at a time when scientific literacy is under attack.

The show isn’t just about prehistoric animals, it’s also the story of the scientific process, says Thomas. “By including the stories of the digs and looking at the fossils, we show viewers where the evidence [to what is depicted onscreen] comes from. It’s sort of slightly fantastical, but as soon as they see the layers of evidence, they would appreciate the process and the thinking that went into it.”

“In that sense, dinosaurs are a fantastic gateway to science,” says Ibrahim. “Sometimes we forget just how many people in the world have rather odd ideas about dinosaurs. Some people believe that dinosaurs walked our planet alongside humans 4,000 years ago. There are people who actually believe that dinosaurs are not real. I was just amazed.

"I think actually seeing scientists pulling dinosaur bones out of the ground is really important. To actually see, ‘Well, this is how the scientific process works.’

“We live in a time when some of the biggest challenges we face are very much in the realm of science — climate change, extinction-level events, biodiversity loss, vaccines, pandemics. Even if you’re not a scientist, you will vote on issues that are very much built around scientific issues.

"So I think people need to learn how scientists come up with evidence and why science changes. That was a big surprise to some people during the pandemic. They were, like, ‘Oh, why are they changing their minds?’ To understand that science marches on and changes as more evidence comes in is really important.

“I think in that sense, any science documentary series plays a really important role in improving scientific literacy in the public.”

Walking With Dinosaurs: Legends Unearthed airs on BBC Earth channel (StarHub Ch 407 and Singtel TV Ch 203), 8pm, from June 1. It’s also available on demand on BBC Earth Video.There’s also a special screening on July 5 at BBC’s Earth Screening Festival at Gardens by the Bay. Jurassic World Rebirth opens in cinemas July 3.

Photos: BBC Studios, Universal Pictures