Chased by Dinosaurs

Chased by Dinosaurs is a two-episode spin-off of the BBC program Walking with Dinosaurs which originally aired on BBC One during Christmas 2002 and November 2003. In a departure from the series usual format, these specials feature zoologist Nigel Marven as a time traveller who investigates and encounters dinosaurs in the wild. The specials are known only by their individual titles (with the subtitle 'A Walking With Dinosaurs Special/Trilogy') on-screen; The umbrella title 'Chased by Dinosaurs' was used to market the series in the United States.

Chased By Dinosaurs
StarringNigel Marven
Composer(s)Ben Bartlett
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Production
Production company(s)BBC Natural History Unit
Impossible Pictures
DistributorBBC Worldwide
Release
Original networkBBC
Original release30 December 2002 – 1 January 2003

The production company Impossible Pictures and producer Jasper James would produce the ITV series Prehistoric Park in 2006. This docu-fiction series would also feature Marven traveling through prehistory in search of extinct animals.

Episodes
No.TitleDirected byTimePlace (Filming Location)Original air dateU.K. viewers
(millions)
1"The Giant Claw"[1]Tim Haines75 mya; (Late Cretaceous)
↓
Nemegt Desert, Mongolia (Fraser Island, Australia)30 December 2002 (2002-12-30)6.83[2][note 1]
Lake McKenzie on Fraser Island, Australia, served as the main filming location of Chased by Dinosaurs: The Giant Claw.

Nigel searches the early Mongolia deserts and forests for Therizinosaurus (10 m, 5 t), who has massive and very long claws. Nigel's tent is immediately trampled by a Saurolophus (12 m, 8 t), but he still goes off for his adventure. On his journey, Nigel dashes across a nesting ground of Protoceratops (3 m), and deflects them from attacking him by using a red flag. He enters a forest ruled by Velociraptor (2 m), and finds a pack of them bringing down a large male Protoceratops. In the night, Nigel catches a scorpion and explains that they have been on the planet long before the dinosaurs, and are still alive today. He also finds a group of Mononykus (1 m) and discovers they have feathers. The next morning he finds that the Mononykus have eaten his scorpion, and heads out of the denser parts of the forest. There he finds the nesting site of a Therizinosaurus, along with the embryo of one, but also finds herbivore dung around the area. Nigel cannot understand why it is scattered around the nest of Therizinosaurus which he thinks must be a predator. He continues his journey, and a group of Mononykus run past him, but he finds out that they are actually running away from a Tarbosaurus (12,2 m, 5 t) that is nearby. He narrowly escapes the predator and decided to head to a freshwater lake to see if there are any signs of Therizinosaurus there. He finds an entire skeleton of one, and reassembles one of the arms. He speculates that Therizinosaurus used the claws for disemboweling prey, but he gets even more confused as he also finds herbivore teeth amongst the bones. Before Nigel can continue searching, he finds a pack of Velociraptors hunting him. He escapes them by driving them off with a fog horn, and hears some noises by the lake. He then finds a Tarbosaurus arriving at the lake to drink, but is then confronted by a real live Therizinosaurus. The two dinosaurs fight and the latter wins by slashing the former with its huge claws. A herd of Therizinosaurus appears and begins browsing on the surrounding vegetation, making Nigel realize that the Therizinosaurus were actually plant-eaters all along. He continues observing it using his camera, and at the end, the Therizinosaurus licks Nigel's camera, which makes him fall.

Animals
Saurolophus  · Protoceratops  · Velociraptor  · Azhdarcho  · Mononykus  · Tarbosaurus  · Therizinosaurus
2"Land of Giants"Jasper James100 mya (Middle Cretaceous)
↓
Argentina (Tenerife, Santa Cruz de La Palma, Canary Islands)1 January 2003 (2003-01-01)5.76

Nigel Marven travels back in time to mid-cretaceous Argentina with his film crew. He travels to a nearby lake, where the Argentinosaurus (35 m) nest every year. There Nigel sees a juvenile Argentinosaurus (10 m), where he is attacked by a Sarcosuchus (12 m). Throughout the day, Nigel meets other creatures, such as the iguanodont Macrogryphosaurus and the pterosaur Pteranodon with 20-foot (6 m) wingspan. As Nigel returns to camp, he find the campsite trashed and a carnivorous dinosaur tooth stuck in a can of meat. The next morning, Nigel follows a trackway left by the mystery dinosaur until a wounded iguanodont leads him to the mystery dinosaur, which is a Giganotosaurus (13 m) carrying a dead iguanodont in its mouth. The next morning, Nigel flies in his ultralight, 20 miles away from the camp, in his search for the herd, alongside the giant pterosaur Ornithocheirus with a 40-foot (12 m) wingspan. Finally, he finds the herd and drives the jeep. As they continue their journey, Nigel weighs one of the them with weighing pads and measures it at 92 tonnes. Later he finds the herd being stalked by a Giganotosaurus pack. After an hour of selecting a victim, the predators separate and attack a sub-adult female from the herd as they move on and leave her behind. The predators relentlessly attack and wound her until a larger Giganotosaurus arrives and joins in on the attack. The hunt continues for the rest of the day and into the night, when filming is no longer possible and Nigel must leave. The next morning, Nigel finds the herd at the nesting site beside the lake. While the females are laying their eggs Nigel comments on what a magical ending this is for his dinosaur safari. Suddenly a Sarcosuchus lunges at him out of the water. Nigel just escapes, but his camera is consumed.

Animals
Argentinosaurus  · Sarcosuchus  · Pteranodon  · Giganotosaurus  · Ornithocheirus  · Macrogryphosaurus (identified as iguanodont)

Home Video releases

The first two specials were released on DVD in the UK as Land of Giants/The Giant Claw: A Walking With Dinosaurs Special [sic] by BBC Worldwide on March 8, 2004 as the third title of The Big Dinosaur Box,[3] bundled with the previously released Walking with Dinosaurs and The Ballad of Big Al. This set was re-released as The Walking with Dinosaurs Box Set in 2013 with new artwork.[4] This release also contains a sixteen minute interview with producers/directors Tim Haines and Jasper James and presenter Nigel Marven. Although this DVD has not been released individually, both releases are packaged as individual cases in a slipcase, meaning that separated copies can be found pre-owned.

A North American edition containing all five episodes, Chased By Dinosaurs, was released by BBC Worldwide on October 5, 2004.[5] It was re-released with new artwork in 2014.[6]

All five episodes have also been released in Europe as a region-free PAL DVD, Walking With Dinosaurs Specials, with English audio and optional Dutch subtitles; This release includes an extended twenty-one minute version of the interview present on the UK disc, with the additional material relating to Sea Monsters.

See also

Chased by Dinosaurs is a spin-off of the following series of BBC documentaries:

Chased by Dinosaurs is one of the Walking With... series specials, that also include:

The following are similar programs, produced by the BBC:

References
Notes
  1. 7 day data.
Sources
  1. Walking with Dinosaurs Special - The Giant Claw bbc.co.uk. Web. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  2. https://www.barb.co.uk/viewing-data/weekly-top-30/ Weekly top 30 programmes BARB Web. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  3. "'The Big Dinosaur Box' DVD". Amazon UK. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  4. "Walking with Dinosaurs Box Set (repack) [DVD]". Amazon UK. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  5. "Chased By Dinosaurs". Amazon. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  6. "Chased by Dinosaurs". Amazon. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
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