The Most Stupendous Things Ever Alive: Dinosaurs, Art and Cinema in the Early 20th Century

Please enjoy this video focused on exploring the depiction of dinosaurs in Early 20th Century art, literature and cinema.
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/ drpolaris
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[@thedarkmasterthedarkmaster]

Say what you want about Knight's painting's inaccuracies I think they still stand up as amazing art, more than previous periods. They seem like truly living animals. I wish more people did the painting type

[@dr.polaris6423]

I totally agree. They are impressive works of art and are very well composed, especially considering that Knight was almost blind.

[@thedarkmasterthedarkmaster]

@@dr.polaris6423 I did not know that. It makes it even more impressive. Can I ask a question what happened to the speculative dinosaur series you were doing

[@flightlesslord2688]

@@dr.polaris6423 indeed. Its why I love Mark Witton's art, as it really emulates that... primordial style

[@thisisbetterthanmyprevious6674]

@@flightlesslord2688 If you want to see some modern paleoart done in a somewhat knight-esque oil painting style I would highly recommend checking out the paleoart of Emiliano Troco.

[@flightlesslord2688]

@@thisisbetterthanmyprevious6674 looked it up, gorgeous stuff

[@naturegirl92584]

It was art like this that first drew me towards my love of prehistory. Even in the 1980's, this type of art was what we had access to. It wasn't until Jurassic Park that things started to really change. Thank you for showcasing the things that brought me back to my childhood.

[@jointgib]

For me it was the PG Tips tea cards

[@walterfechter8080]

Dinosaurs: Nature's special effects. As a kid, I remember owning books which featured the work of Charles Knight. That got me interested in dinosaurs to the point where I told kids at school that I had an invisible brontosaurus living in my family's barn. The dwindling supply of hay in our barn was all the proof anyone needed. Of course, other farmers used our barn to store up hay. When they came by to procure bales of hay, I'd owe the hay's disappearance to my brontosaurus pal. Many thanks, Dr. Polaris, for this fascinating look at early depictions of dinosaurs in popular culture.

[@gafls3151]

I had a pet stegosaurus 🤓

[@walterfechter8080]

@@gafls3151 -- Yay! Was its name, "Stan?" :-)

[@SamuelJamesNary]

The Brontosaurus rampaging through London also helped inspire what Spielberg did in "Jurassic Park: The Lost World," though he did it with a T Rex.

[@ExtremeMadnessX]

Spielberg's The Lost World: Jurassic Park was more inspired by Conan Doyle's novel than Michael Crichton's sequel novel.

[@SamuelJamesNary]

@@ExtremeMadnessX - And in a way, I like that. As in the novel... all the dinosaurs were doomed to die of some virus. The movie would at least allow for sequels.

[@bo7341]

"T. Rex was dubbed the prize fighter of antiquity" you know... like a boxer. Because of it's famously prominent and strong arms.....

[@Nightscape_]

Really neat history of dinosaurs in film and animation. I wonder if anyone still remembers Denver the Last Dinosaur? That is the earliest thing I remember seeing a dinosaur in.

[@bobbenson6825]

Back in the 60's I found my father's college geology text and it contained many Charles R. Knight illustrations. They really turbo-boosted my imagination and were a huge reason for my dinomania.

[@drlawson]

Thank you for another gem! Like many of us, I was FASCINATED by the world depicted by Charles Knight. Took me awhile to get over my resentment of those who pointed out his inaccuracies lol. I was very interested to learn about some of the early cinematic depictions--I had no idea!

[@coloerakker2]

You overlooked Zdenek Burian´s art! Big thing here in Europe before John Ostrom and Robert Bakker set the new standards after the 1970ties.

[@dr.polaris6423]

In the next video in this series I’ll be covering Burian and other artists, as well as King Kong and the later 50’s B movies featuring dinosaurs.

[@1969kodiakbear]

Dinosaurs. This is so cool. By the way, I have difficulty communicating because I had a stroke in Broca’s area, the part of the brain that controls speech. 2/8/2021 but I lived again. (My wife helped me compose this.)

[@SawdEndymon]

Interesting Fact: Osborn when he was head of the AMNH, *also* demanded any employee be it high ranking paleontologist or Groundskeeper to vacate the elevator so he could ride it himself

[@dr.polaris6423]

I saw that tidbit of information when doing my research. A total class act all the way!

[@gattycroc8073]

still to this day Dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures are being depicted inaccurately with the exception of Prehistoric Planet. I plan on becoming an animator and work on indie animation projects about the creatures of prehistory. they are animated shorts where the animals talk much like The Land Before Time and Ice Age. some locations I want to include are Pliocene Africa, the Cerrejon swamp, and the Laventan age of Miocene South America. one of the characters in a mother Titanoboa who I think should be voiced by Elsie Lovelock. comment blow what you think about my idea.

[@thestone6324]

Wait a few years and those today claimed accurate depictions won’t be called accurate anymore

[@cyankirkpatrick5194]

I just love the catchy intro tune you have

[@TheAnimalKingdom-tq3sz]

Fun fact: Brute Force was the first dinosaur film before Gertie

[@artificercreator]

Woa there is a lot of history work to be made on this regard, so interesting! Thank you for the good content!

[@dudotolivier6363]

The picture in the thumbnail of the video, at 10:08 and 19:18 come from the movie "Cro-Man" by Aardman Animations and released in 2018 (the same studio that made "Wallace and Gromit" and "Chicken Run" movies). The picture of a Ceratosaurus fighting a Triceratops being an tribute to "One Million Years B.C." of 1966 where a Cera and Trike also anachronistically fight each others.

[@differous01]

"The child has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon." [G.K. Chesterton]. Discovering there had, in fact, been dragons (not just the one under the bed) my child's eye looked for a protector, and found George fused to his horse in Triceratops.

[@APS96a]

Great video. Thx. I hope there will be something about Mr. Burian, Zaruba and Zeman as well.💗

[@biomuseum6645]

Way better than the Jurassic world saga 😢

[@cyankirkpatrick5194]

In their defense, they didn't know what their skin/hide actually looked like so they only had the current reptile's to go on and most wer plain looking with the exception of the exotic one's. Or if they're tail we're actually worked as a balance beam as we know now. In most heavier dinosaurs.

[@tongatapu7325]

What The Lost World and Charles R. Knight did for America and the UK, Zdenek Burian and the movie Journey to the Beginning of Time did for the rest of Europe. Highly recommend this to anyone who likes paleontology. It's a fantastic film.

[@dermeistefan]

Neat. Please, sir. I want some more.

[@dudotolivier6363]

18:03 What happen with the current Jurassic Wolrd and Jurassic movies films is that, if they dont depict and show to us complete accurate dinosaurs at screen, it's because they just, in good part, can't ! Not because they are in the impossibility to made and show 100% complete dinosaurs and others extinct creatures, they have the means and budget for this. But... because a Jurassic movie with all the dinosaurs being completely accurate like they were in real life and like in our modern current paleoarts.... will not be or feel like a Jurassic movie in the first place ! It's that the problem ! In many ways, the art-style of the franchise, with approximative dinosaurs in physical apearance, have become a trademark that manage to reconize a Jurassic movie from afar. If a Jurassic movie one day show 100% accurate dinosaurs, that will be a good dinosaurs film, but it's will be a dinosaur film and not a Jurassic movie film, which is bad. Because, as made like this, the movie will not feel as a Jurassic movie but a movie that copy or is inspired by it. Just to remind everyone, it's true that Spielberg have wanted to have true dinosaurs and to made the dinosaurs exactly like they were depicted at the time. But fact is, it's was just a additional plus, a bonus, as a commercial publicity, to attract people into the theaters. Only the fact that there was dinosaurs in it mean than a ton of people will run to watch the movie, because dinosaurs are dinosaurs, so they made them accurate just as a bonus addition to made them even more cool and appealing. At the time, the dinosaurs depictions were ultra simplistic. They were only skeletons with skin above it. So Spielberg and the rest of the time do that also because the dinos were easy and quick to made. To a point that we can even ask ourselves if there was truy what we can call a "work" behind that. Dinos weren't complex phycially at the time. But today, dinos and others are extremelly complex to do, with all these teguments, fuzz, feathers and osteoderms on them. And are more difficutl to do and the work and cost to made and display them on screen are more huge as an effect. The franchise cannot also erased like if that was nothing and replace all the previous dinosaurs designs directly from one film to another, as by magic, by 100% accurate ones, about the already established and sen species such Triceraptops, Stegosaurus or Parasaurolophus. Because that will be a huge and hard to explain and justifiate inconsistencies inside the movies canon itself. The movies canon must also remain realisitc about cloning. It's our real life, it's impossible, even with current and familiar animals, to clone animals accurate to their base model. Every clone, even completely viable and healthy, isn't a 100% perfect copy. So it's even more complicated and worse with EXTINCT animals from a long time, with only fragmentary DNA of them, and with holes completed by frog or others animals DNA, AND with all the genetic manipulations that can, on purposed or unvolontary, reactive or edits traits of the genome's animals. All of these points combined as the same time. So, it's obvious that the final result will be very different from the original animal. Because of that, the Jurassic World movies depict a very realitic depiction of the Cloning domain, which is a good positive point. Because outside/at the exption to being a world where humanity manage to ressurect the dinosaurs, the franchise is wanted to have any others differences compared to our reality. If one day, we manage in our real life to brought back dinosaurs, they will look very similary to the Jurassic Park ones. So, really, the only thing and compromise the producers and realisators can do about the dinosaurs accuracy in the current movies, is to made them (mainly the new introduced species in each new movies) almost accurate with only two or three overall details left inaccurate. All the others already introduced creatures, however, must remained unchange. Because if the T-rex design, for example, who is an iconic image that remind us directly which movie franchise we see, isn't the same, things will not be good. I'm clean and okay with all the Jurassic World movie, because if the movies and still the overall franchise always hugely and strongly speak of numerous others things and themes than the dinosaurs accuracy depiction themselves. Such all the possible Science's deviations (human cloning, OGM etc..), the possibles bad sides of the Man (his destructive, greed, selfish, and egoistic nature), his relation with the Nature, his realtion and view with the animals, the rights of the latters etc... the list goes on. So, only focusing about the Dinosaurs and others creatures accuracy depiction from these movies, so one signle point, to spit on them and negatively critics them to said they are all overall Stupid Monster Series B movies is really unfair, stupid, undeserved and easy to do. The "Stupid Monster Series B" seemingly surface appearance is just justly what she is : a surface appearance. Not the true nature of the subject. And that everyone must forced itself to see deeper that the surface to correctly and fairely analyse the subject. Every Jurassic World movies are decent movies, not extraordianry but sufficient. All the the correct line.

[@sarmientoenricomiguelv.562]

Finally Somebody who gets it and not just hate on the movies for depicting Dinosaurs consistent with the franchise and not haphazardly introducing paleo accurate dinosaurs what will be deemed innacurate eventually in 5 years give or take.

[@dudotolivier6363]

@@sarmientoenricomiguelv.562 Thank you very much.

[@nickdaring]

Love this series. Such a great breakdown.

[@zacharyhenderson2902]

Well, I can't account for how things were over in Europe, I'd argue in the 18th century. Dinosaurs were more accessible to people in the United States than I almost any other point in history. After all , America was largely a country of landowners, and throughout the 18th and 19th centuries , thousands of people were digging dinosaur bones up in their own property.

[@rursus8354]

The sad thing for those eugenicist Anglosaxons, that praised the "Nordic race", is that Anglosaxons are mostly Celtic - about 70-80%. DNA proves that.

[@flightlesslord2688]

Yep, and angles and saxons are pretty much just different versions of Vikings. Hence why a Norman, 'Saxon' and Viking King were all in line for the Englisu throne in 1066. We're all far more connected than people think, and far less German despite the germanic name 😂😂 And yep, DNA has shown that most white Brits are descended from the original British natives and Celts. But yeah, we are all very connected, the Roman Empire for instance was incredibly racially diverse. Brits would have been fighting alongside Southern Africans and people's of Arabia

[@melvinshine9841]

7:00 - 7:06 I'm sorry, there's something unintentionally hilarious about Dr. Polaris saying that. I had no idea the guy responsible for the racist propaganda film "Birth of A Nation" made one of the first dinosaur films. I imagine The Rite of Spring segment from Fantasia will be mentioned in the next video in this series, which probably helped popularize depictions of my boy Stegosaurus getting dunked on just to be mean.

[@The_PokeSaurus]

Looking back at how Henry Osborn treated dinosaurs as evolutionary failures I can't help but think the same ideas are making a comeback with people making fun of Pandas and Cheetahs as evolutionary failures. Which they are not!

[@bryaneberly3588]

love the un'goro crater music in the background

[@SPECIMEN-427]

This man has taught me more than school. ALSO rewatching his vids for background slump noise is 👌👌 callin that slump studying Thank u Doctor,

[@ravensthatflywiththenightm7319]

11:20 "Scumbag Extraordinaire" 😹😹😹🦖🦖🦖

[@keithfaulkner6319]

As a kid (71 now), i had a little Golden Book hardcover book, i think, maybe 30 pages. It featured a brontosaurus-type dinosaur on the cover. This dinosaur definitely had thumbs on its front feet. I knew at the time that something was wrong with that foot, but couldn't figure out what.

[@pikkon899]

"This video is already long enough, as it is" You should have made it longer. It's damn good 🙁

[@cosmo6122]

I love this Channel!!!

[@paranormalparatrooper.7413]

I’ve been subscribed for the longest time and I never get any notifications from this channel. I thought this channel had retired years ago. 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺

[@cyankirkpatrick5194]

Before movie's there were animations of dinosaurs. About D.W.Griffth you said that right.

[@FreddyBNL]

The gmail link in your KZbin profile doesn't work. How to send a message?

[@tyrannotherium7873]

Dinosaurs were at one time slow moving reptiles But they are obviously now really active and very powerful animals

[@ravensthatflywiththenightm7319]

14:20 You know when I was a kid I kept seeing this commercial that showed black and white footage of a tyrannosaur and triceratops. I've always wondered where that came from. Now I know 🦖

[@glarnboudin4462]

I appreciate the coverage of this video, but I have to say, you kinda come down hard on retro dinosaurs. It's not their fault that assholes co-opted them.

[@dr.polaris6423]

I don't really have a problem with the retro dinosaurs themselves. In fact, much of the Early 20th Century art depicting them is of a very high quality. I was just intending to show how many scientists at the time linked them with eugenics inspired ideas about how some animals (and humans) were naturally 'better' than others.

[@glarnboudin4462]

@@dr.polaris6423 Fair enough.

[@quailking8265]

Third Comment Yay. The last time I was this early dinosaurs were still roaming the Earth!

[@takenname8053]

Nice

[@1998topornik]

That era of paleoart both very popularised dinosaur and did great damage to their image.

[@cruz7579]

"scumbag extraordinaire"... awesome lol!

[@MrLolguy93]

Now THAT was a fever dream

[@williamestes629]

I haven't seen the Lost World movie, but I've read the novel and what I remember of it is the main character goes on the expedition to impress a woman who didn't want to marry him because he was boring. By the time he returns he discovers she married and account. That's one thing I remember, but its been years since I read it.

[@dudotolivier6363]

Yes, it's what happen ! Not only the movie can be see in many extents as a parallel to human's Society view toward Africa etc... But being a product of his time, the view about women is also quite outdated by several standards. Women like this actually exist in real life, but composed a small minority. At the time of the book and movie, that was considered to be natural for them to not respect their own rules (in the book, the protagonnist 's love don't want to marry with an old man, and will accept the protagonnist if he proved himself to be courageous, only to end up at the end, while the protagonnist is on the plateau, with justly on old man, having not wait the return of the protagonnist). But, to the credit of the 1925 movie, they add an additional female characters who follow the protagonnists on the plateau and end up with the protagonnist (their love arc develop throughout the movie), who isn't mad to see his first love interest with another one, showing how much he grow mentally during his journey.

[@andythegoatman694]

I do have a soft spot for the outdated depictions of dinosaurs for some reason even as outdated tail draggers theyre irresistible 😁

[@The_PokeSaurus]

Part 2 when?

[@dynojackal1911]

A continuation of your Alter Earth spec evo videos, please.

[@Goldtaker23]

I would love to know how we would interact with dinosaurs if they were still around how would we co exist it would be very interesting

[@ShamanKish]

Eugenics only want one thing: To clone themselves 😎

[@dudotolivier6363]

Henry Fairfied Osborn was right and wrong in the same time. Evolution, during is course, ensure that animals evolved and changed more and more to be the best and most adapted to their environnement. Horses' evolution line are a good example of that, with the targeted animals becoming better to live in open ground. In this persepctive, yes, ife on Earth inevitably alway search and want to became better and more advanced with time. With even current example of entire families of animal having since a ong time reached a point where they obtain a overall "perfect form" such Sharks or Salamanders, these being animals that barely changed physically in several millions of years. Sure, there in both high diversity in everything : sizes, diet, niches, and species continue to appeared and disappeared overtime. But the overall shape still the same, a shape who is a "passkey form" for everything. However, Evolution, mostly, most of the time, don't manage to reach this point, because this latter is unreachable. It's impossible for the Evolution and the animals to reach a truly "ultimate, perfect and pure form" due to the numerous exteriors conditions that impact their evolution lines, such climate changes, biome changes, competitions, majors extinctions due to a imprevisible event etc... the list goes on. Because if Sharks and Salamander truly reached both this specific point, will be no need even to the appearance of new species. But this situation is impossible in nature and real life. Any animals or organisms are inferiors to each others in the way people think and people of the time like Osborn thought, meaning that some are better than others. Both are equals. Mammals don't kill the dinosaurs because they were superiors to them, but it's the Dinosaurs who dies due to a major extinction and the mammals just take their place after that, noyhing more. In the Tree of Life and Phylogenetical trees, superiority and inferiority between animals clades and species exist, but only when it come abou their classification and position thoughout these trees, and don't indicate or mean that some are better compared than others becauses they are placed in a upper and more derived position. Inside a clade, there always primitives/basals forms and evolved/derived forms of animals. But the evolved/derived forms aren't necessarily better or superiors to the primitives/basals ones. Because most of the time, evolved/derived animals are more specialized creatures, and so can live only under specific conditions whithout being very flexible, and are so more vulnerable to majors changes. While primitives/basals animals are more generalist and flexible in everything, and survived the majors changes more easily ! And even, if a form of somewhat is truly superior to another form in a way, she will be inferior to this same second form in anther way. For example : a Horse will be alway superior to a Cow because he can run faster and longer than her. But the Cow, with her horns and more bulky body, compensate her inferiority in these aspects by being superior to the Horse in term of defense and attack, while the Horse is inferior to her in these two aspects. In finale, both the Horse and the Cow are equal to each others because any of them compensate their inferiority in something by being better in another way. And both are equally adapted to survived. About Osborn and his opinions about humans races, he's also right and wrong as the same time. Every humans races are distinct to one each others without howevers being separates species or subspecies. African black people, Caucassian (white people) or Asian people are all biologically distinct in many ways, and inherents characteristics proper to each. However, as our current science and knowledge have show us numerous time, numerous beings can be physically differents while remaing in the same species or genus. Big Cats of the Panthera genus are such a good example of that. Lion, Tiger, Leopard, Jaguar and Snow Leopard are all distincts and biologically apart from each others, but remain all in the same genus. Same for the Canidae with the Canis genus, with the Grey Wolf, Coyote, Golden Jackal, Ethopian Wolf, Red Wolf, and two or three others species in it. The fact to be biologically distinct or more primitive isn't at all a bad thing, it's even a good one. More than people usually thought. Because a primitive form of a thing will be technically his purest form, because it's the one from which of the others forms of the same thing descend/come from. This primitive form being the original form of the thing, making it extremely valuable, important and must be treated with enormous respect. I never thought that Osborn was eugenic and that he inspired in part Adolf Hitler in his stupid and unscientific ideologies, mostly led by personnal reasons from his childhood rather than true science (that he use as a pretext to justifiate his imposing views). That a fact ! Osborn is and still a important person that must be respected even despite some of his ideologies. Because he give so much to Science as a whole, with so many studies and decriptions of important and iconic creatures and clades, even if he refuted some of them such T-rex himself. And so also he's contribution to the depiction and publicity of Dinosaurs toward the public that will have great implication to the following decades and popularities, being at the roots on which every things about dinosaurs in medias we have today, including Jurassic Park. Outside saying words that will be politically incorrect today, he do nothing wrong, and never attack or intended somewthing bad towards others people targeted in his opinions about others. So, at the opposite of Hitler, he's completely clean in that regard.

[@ExtremeMadnessX]

You just wrote entire essay in comment section. Anyway, live doesn't evolve to become more advanced, it's evolving to adapt to changes in environment.

[@dzanannovalic5166]

The waffle house has found it's new host .

[@mhdfrb9971]

Npc 🤓

[@ΧριστοςΑχιλλεως-ω6ψ]

The waffle house has found its new host

[@dzanannovalic5166]

The waffle house has found it's new house .

[@ΧριστοςΑχιλλεως-ω6ψ]

The waffle house has found its new host

[@rugops6549]

The Waffle House has found it’s new host.

[@JamesWebbKilledTheBigBangStars]

Paleontologists, especially today, would give a blind eye over the problem of how could 100+ tons animal was able to stand under the present day gravity. This 'brontosaurus in the room' issue is a glaring example of the blatant and delibrate fixing and rigging in mainstream academia (especially in astrophysics) today. The paleontologists would have to force physicist and cosmologists into explaining this issue; gravity is not as constant as they made it to be believed.

[@ExtremeMadnessX]

That's some bullshit argument right there. Evil institutions hiding the "truth"!