Paleoworld
Paleoworld (Jurassica in Europe) is an American documentary television series that aired on The Learning Channel from 1994 to 1997. The series focuses on paleontology and comprised 50 half-hour episodes. It was the first television series dedicated to paleontology that spanned multiple seasons.[1] The series is now owned by the Discovery Channel, along with other documentaries such as Beyond T. rex (1997), When Dinosaurs Roamed America (2001), Valley of the T. rex (2001), and Dinosaur Planet (2003).
| Paleoworld | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Documentary |
| Narrated by | Ben Gazzara (season 1) Nick Schatzki (seasons 2 and 3) Ted Maynard (season 4) Susan Rae (Europe) |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 50 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 24 minutes |
| Production company(s) | New Dominion Pictures |
| Release | |
| Original network | The Learning Channel (TLC) |
| Original release | September 28, 1994 – 1997 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | When Dinosaurs Roamed America, Beyond T-rex, Valley of the T-rex and The Ultimate Guide: T-rex |
Spin-off
Paleoworld never returned for a fifth season. However, TLC released a new series about dinosaurs (1999) as a spin-off to the series, When Dinosaurs Ruled.
A revised, more kid-friendly version, Bonehead Detectives of the Paleoworld, appeared in 1997 as a part of the Discovery Kids network.
Reception
Season 1 (1994) featured a smooth style and was narrated by Ben Gazzara. This series had many musical scenes, and some consider the show calm and relaxing. It also uses much more Paleoart than later series. Season 2 (1995) and Season 3 (1996) lost the musical element (as well as changing narrators), which resulted in a more conventional-style nature documentary. Even so, Seasons 2 and 3 were still perceived as maintaining the quality standard. For Season 4 (1997), the series changed narrators again, and viewers felt the show suffered a drop in quality, shifting from being musical and calm, to full-on and repetitive. Consequently, Season 4 was cancelled mid-season. The show never returned for a fifth season.
Release
Many DVDs and VHS tapes have been made with episodes from the series; however, most have been discontinued and are no longer available to purchase. Three DVDs of Paleoworld with five episodes on each were released in Australia in 2002, and a five-disc set with 15 episodes from the series was released in the US and Canada. The three-disc set was also re-released in 2010.