Walking With Beasts: Episode 1 - New Dawn Retrospective

My review of the first episode of the 2001 BBC Show Walking With Beasts, New Dawn. Covering accuracy, plot and personal thoughts. Enjoy!

[@WingedFish66]

"This is a world where birds, eat horses." One of the harddest lines ever said in a paleo doc, even if it’s not accurate by this point

[@azaanimations319]

Still kinda accurate, not with these species, though. Terror birds like Titanis were still a thing, and might have been able to pick off a small horse.

[@speedracer2008]

To be fair, the mixing of species in Walking with Beasts (2001) isn’t NEARLY as bad as in Walking with Dinosaurs (1999). Also, that face reveal was unexpected.

[@superxavxii421]

This bird gave me nightmares as a kid. The music, the design, the sounds... all of it made this episode stick with me. Also that Birds eat Horse line is iconic for me too lol

[@speedracer2008]

The Neanderthal that gets struck by the woolly rhino in Mammoth Journey is played by Miltos Yerolemou, who you might know as Sylvio Forel in Game of Thrones. Honestly, he’s perfect casting for a Neanderthal, due to his short height, stocky build, and messy hair.

[@chewitt1227]

I did not realize. I just showed my dad since me and him both like Game of Thrones.

[@speedracer2008]

@@chewitt1227 Yep. He even admitted that it was him in a interview online.

[@elsakristina2689]

I did not know that! I still remember being eight years old and seeing a video of him being fitted into the makeup and wig and prosthetics for the Neanderthal.

[@miquelescribanoivars5049]

Little headsup, the reason why the fossil ants have wings but the ones in WWB don't is, because as its the case for modern ants, only fertile females and males are born with wings, while the ones going after prey are wingless workers.

[@LanceHall]

This is one of those things that really bugs me about the public idea of paleontology. Most people think there was only the the well known dinosaurs (T. rex, ect) and then some Pleistocene animals (mammoth, saber tooth cats). They don't know that "T. rex" was just a single species that existed in the last few million years of the Mesozoic. They also don't know that there was multiple menageries of mammals that came and went after the dinosaurs.

[@djprincegrandmasteryrjdalo2905]

Thank you say it louder for the people in the back, it’s actually because of that that’s the reason why I love Cenozoic mammals so much, because a lot of the mammals that aren’t from the friggin Ice Age type mammals, gonna like the sabertooth, and the woolly mammoth and the woolly rhino those are well-known, but not all of the other million animals that have existed throughout the error and that’s why I prefer them over the dinosaurs…

[@EDPDBZ89]

Let alone not knowing about species that came and went before dinosaurs even existed, and ones that lived during their reign.

[@speedracer2008]

The Gastornis bobbing her head as she drops the Propaleotherium reminds me of the Velociraptors doing the same thing in the Jurassic Park novel.

[@AskMarkieMark]

I like your style...interesting and educational at the same time. Held my interest all the way through. Well done!

[@briscoschaefer9578]

That sound effect you mentioned at 11:28 sounds a lot like a slowed-down Red-winged Blackbird call

[@AncientRealms1999]

Oh it does that's true!

[@barbarapanfilly84]

Isn't the lack of wings and larger abdomen in the ants just because only male and queens have been discovered (cause amber) but it is assumed that (like in modern ants) workers and soldiers didn't have them ?

[@Toshiro93]

Ah, another fan of Walkimg with! ❤ I enjoy your retrospective of the first episode, and I love to see my favourites (Land of giants and Next of kin) later on!

[@anthonyt219]

My dad had a decent and big home theater system with a projector in the basement of our old house. I remember watching all of the documentaries on dvd down there including this series. When the intro comes on, the whole watching experience is just another level. My dream is to get a house, and build my own basement theater too.

[@almusquotch9872]

This series is so nostalgic. Look forward to retrospectives on the other episodes, great commentary on this one.

[@tyrannotherium7873]

I love walking with beasts it’s one of my favorite Cenozoic documentaries, the story everything about it in my opinion I always thought it was more darker than walking with dinosaurs because of the music. Also, great video.

[@gianmarcozampella5138]

excellent retrospective video,looking forward to the next ones! This documentary is a masterpiece,although I have to admit I'm very much guilty of being biased because WWB introduced me to both documentaries as a whole and to prehistory when I was only 3 or 4 years old,shaping my love for animals,exant and extinct,as well as fictional. The fact that this was the first part of Walking With... I watched also helped in it being very,very special and dear to me. As much as I love its animals,the music is most likely my favorite thing about WWB,especially the opening titles,an all-time banger,so tribal,so aggressive,so damn good,the soundtrack is always with me among my phone and PC music. Ben Barlett came up with something out of this world,that I don't think will ever be topped,not even Hans fucking Zimmer managed to with his Prehistoric Planet soundtrack! I remember feeling intimidated by Gastornis,and by the haunting line from Triumph of the Beasts "If the world had stayed covered in tropical forests,then it's possible that birds,rather than mammals,would have remained in charge". Yet,I never flinched when the female Gastornis shook to death the poor Propaleotherium,rather,I always found it a very cool,almost satisfying scene,I know,it sounds disturbing and deviated,but,with the rest of the animal-on-animal violence of the series,it was what made me a big fan of animals/creatures/dinosaurs/Kaiju fights. P.S. 41:09 this piano bit is also used more than once in "A Mammoth Journey"

[@speedracer2008]

The music in Mammoth Journey makes heavy use of the piano and I love it.

[@gianmarcozampella5138]

@@speedracer2008 and sadly,we have very few tracks officially released from that episode

[@speedracer2008]

@@gianmarcozampella5138 Same. They should totally be released.

[@exalt2674]

THIS IS A WORLD WHERE BIRDS EAT HORSES. I always reference that when I get the opportunity, though I only first saw this series in late May/early June of this year. The ants eating the baby Gastornis actually made me angry. It was so unfair.

[@exalt2674]

To be fair, the line could still be true, if it had been uttered in the Neogene or Pleistocene instead, as Terrorbirds may have hunted horses, albeit ones closer to what we know today.

[@kylebrady969]

mother nature doesn't give a crap about being fair. Whatever happens, happens; those ants found themselves in the right place at the right time, nothing more. Life goes on. Now that line about male Leptictidium not helping to raise the young? absolutely hilarious cuz I can think of another male mammal that often leaves raising the babies to the mother... ;)

[@speedracer2008]

I can’t wait for the next episode of the WWB retrospective

[@speedracer2008]

36:57 Though there is some dark humor to the ant scurrying in almost “guys,wait for me!” fashion.

[@tongatapu7325]

While I dont like this particular episode as much as most others (its in the bottom 3 Walking with episodes), its still a fantastic episode, mostly for its unique structure. Beautiful video, cannot wait to see the next (which is in my top 3 episodes).

[@Cybermat47]

Titanomyrma really lends credibility to the idea that the Myrmidons, the mythical Greek warriors of Achilles, were descended from ants.

[@Lord.Kiltridge]

I would be extremely supportive of any attempt to remake the "Walking With" programmes. However I would strongly advise that whoever does it, copies the original series as closely as possible. The music, narration, sound effects and scripts were too brilliant to walk without.

[@HodgePodge7]

Magnificent stuff!

[@dodoxasaurus6904]

Right well I have to watch it again now

[@jon_the_guanlong]

Nice job! I love it.

[@tyrannotherium7873]

28:31 this soundtrack was also use in death of dynasty when the dromeosaur try to attack the orthopods

[@speedracer2008]

6:45 Never seen someone talk so excitedly about a prehistoric horse

[@AD-tj4jc]

11:29 That appears to be the call of a red-winged blackbird

[@Leftatalbuquerque]

Stockard Channing narrated the North American broadcast. She was superb.

[@frogglen6350]

I am glad you compliment the music for the early whale animal. it sounds calming and alien

[@SamSays101]

Awesome video well done

[@CameronKiesser]

The series really does need a bluray. The closest to that is ripping the PAL disc, deinterlacing and then AI upscaling with the IRIS setting on Topaz Video Enhance AI. I've been testing this for 2 years lol. They should just release stinkin blurays.

[@maciejpatura]

We need an Another show like this

[@j.m.marshall669]

Very well done retrospective. I have the Walking With trilogy myself, and enjoy the occasional rewatch. To this day though I still wish we would have gotten another season of Prehistoric Park, in some ways I preferred it over Primeval, especially series 4 and 5 (and New World in fact) which I felt never quite felt as good as series 1-3.

[@ThaneSchroeder]

I'm making a walking with beasts reboot and cool video

[@bkjeong4302]

The biggest problem with New Dawn (and some other WW episodes like New Blood, Death of a Dynasty and Sabre Tooth) is that THE ENTIRE NARRATIVE OF THE STORY IS WRONG. The idea of birds taking over the world before mammals got big and outcompeted them was an idea that happened entirely due to people ignoring already-known fossil evidence, because we’ve ALWAYS had fossil evidence of large Paleocene and Early Eocene mammals in North America showing that the mammals got big BEFORE the giant flightless birds (both herbivores like Gastornis as well as the even later carnivorous terror birds). As a result, this is one of those cases where the ENTIRE FUCKING EPISODE counts as one huge inaccuracy.

[@thecobraeffectyt]

Sorry it took me so long to get around to watching this! I'm only a few minutes into the video but I love it so far, especially the cameo by my old friend the Megatherium arm 😂!

[@AncientRealms1999]

You are forgiven for your tardiness. That arm nearly broke me trying to wield it 😂

[@bipedalcynodont962]

2019-me would have joyfully freaked out so much at seeing The Dark Crystal (and I guess Labyrinth kind of, but not as much because I haven't seen it) referenced in a Walking with... video!!!!!!!! Also, about xenarthra being endemic to the Americas, they actually might've been found in Eocene rocks from Antarctica, though I haven't done enough research to know if the unspecified xenarthran fossil, the megalonychid, and the "tardigrade" (which is apparently a xenarthran taxon?!?!?!?!?!?) are 3 separate fossils or different names referring to the same one or 2 by different authors over the decades that Antarctic xenarthrans have been known.

[@ToaArcan]

To give the show a little more leeway with Gastornis' diet, pretty much all herbivores are facultative rather than obligate.

[@jmartinez7890]

That call you mention sounds like a corvid might be a red winged black bird call, that what it sounds like to me

[@user-bz6zy5xy6f]

" forget the gentle filter feeds of today, these days every whale is a killer" cold 🔥😢

[@Ahturos]

Nice, loved this serie too. I always wanted to know more about the creatures from this era and I still wanna find out more. Yeah I remember thinking it was funny that animals could get drunk from just the grapes being overdone. But as you mentioned the terror bird was´t really a carnivore, I have to cheak were none of them or just some species.

[@ek9509]

12:46: Nice creature collage.

[@speedracer2008]

How the heck did you get the Megatherium arm puppet?

[@AncientRealms1999]

Found it on eBay

[@speedracer2008]

@@AncientRealms1999Anyone who worked on the Walking with series could charge through the nose for any practical effects they sell.

[@joshdewitt8796]

The bird sound effect is a red-winged blackbird, just with the pitched dropped and slowed slightly.

[@Mammothar2455]

I see someone is enjoying there Megatherium arm still can't believe you were able to get that prop I legit for a second thought I was seeing a clip from an official episode at first. Will be anticipating the rest of this Retrospective series.🦣

[@AncientRealms1999]

Oh yes, I tried to replicate the shots from the episode and will experiment with more filming in the future, also work on the rest of these retrospectives too

[@Prehistoric_Studios]

Please give me the file to download the background image of fossilized soil with claw marks.

[@eddiebendigo7317]

Used to have walking with dinosaurs on vhs.

[@CameronKiesser]

There was a Leptictidium with a very similar design in Jimmy Neutron. lol

[@speedracer2008]

Since Jimmy Neutron came out after Walking with Beasts, it’s possible that the design was meant to be a reference to the one in the show.

[@chriswatson7965]

I don't know how you can claim that statement made about the last dinosaurs living on sick planet is untrue. This is definitely still a hot topic, with the weight of evidence indicating that the volcanic eruptions in India were having a negative effect prior to the asteroid collision.

[@djoniamman5318]

It was also based on lack of find species on that last time, but how times goes they find more and more species that lived there, suddenly so much that that this get its own show Prehistoric Planet with two seasons. So yep, it isn't truth

[@chriswatson7965]

@@djoniamman5318 see for example - Han, Fei, et al. "Low dinosaur biodiversity in central China 2 million years prior to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119.39 (2022): e2211234119.

[@user-yv7qw2ey7r]

At the same time, a 2017 study shows that species diversity has been growing in South America. The results of research on this topic vary depending on the place, in some areas diversity has grown, and in others it has fallen, but dinosaurs are dying out simultaneously all over the planet, which contradicts the idea of a slow extinction of the entire group.

[@chriswatson7965]

@@user-yv7qw2ey7r The supporters of the sick planet hypothesis aren't making the claim that the dinosaurs would have died out due to the volcanic eruptions, merely that the planet was less resilient than it would have been otherwise. The case logic behind supporting this theory is that asteroid collisions are, geologically speaking, fairly common, and yet this is the only mass extinction that can be attributed to one. My personal view is that geologists don't have a good understanding of scale or mathematics. I believe that the asteroid, though not much bigger than others, was just large enough to make the energy released within the order of magnitude needed create the extinction event. If the asteroid had been half the diameter it would have been unnoticed geologically. If it had been 10x the diameter all complex life would have been eradicated.

[@princessmeek5632]

i love your voice so much

[@AncientRealms1999]

Thank you!

[@Bandersnatch41]

16:32 A man of culture

[@thegreatgoldfilms6311]

I'm now bothered that there's no Miocene episode of Walking with Beasts >:(

[@OwlEye2010]

14:03 And don't forget Leppy from Jimmy Neutron. ;)

[@vahidhosoda6614]

Anyone notice that the leptictidium look like the scurrier from Star Wars

[@anthonyminimum]

18:19 And because of the fact a lot of the modern animals we know evolved alongside the extinct species

[@austinhinton3944]

The WWB Leptictidium design would go on to be the basis for the leppy in a Jimmy Neutron episode, which amusingly came out only a couple years after New Dawn. Its wrongly shown to be from the Cretaceous though (which Jimmy incorrectly places as 200 million years ago).

[@tahumphreys6543]

The bird sound is a pitched down blackbird call

[@mustachetwirler7617]

35:27 She’s the One!

[@connormunro-flanagan2078]

I have read that ambulocetus was actually incapable of supporting its weight on land. I'm wondering why that isn't mentioned here

[@PunchCounterpunch_Lizzy]

I think there’s some contention for that idea

[@ThePalaeontologist]

Great.

[@speedracer2008]

I always thought the asteroid shown in the opening look liked a dinosaur as a kid

[@Cat_Woods]

I thought it was Walking with Monsters.

[@toast99bubbles]

Are these going to be done in a similar manner to the Primeval ones?

[@AncientRealms1999]

Yeah I'll do the rest

[@toast99bubbles]

@@AncientRealms1999 Exciting. Thanks for the wonderful content as always.

[@AncientRealms1999]

@@toast99bubblesThanks!

[@darkpandalord3844]

bruh how in the world did you get one of the WWB puppets???

[@AncientRealms1999]

Luck haha

[@EggplantHarmesan]

I remember there being a show I watched,similar to this, as a kid where they would have side by side evolution CGI where they take the extinct animal and put another one next to it but the second one is gradually evolving to show what they looks like before and after. I don't remember the name sadly qwq

[@AncientRealms1999]

Probably Walking With Monsters

[@EggplantHarmesan]

@@AncientRealms1999 ding ding ding it was! Thank you so much heres a sub

[@speedracer2008]

Any idea when Whale Killer retrospective will come out?

[@AncientRealms1999]

Still working on it, will be out soon

[@speedracer2008]

@@AncientRealms1999 Great! Can't wait to see it! I hope you do a retrospective on WWD in the future.

[@AncientRealms1999]

@@speedracer2008 Yeah I hope to do those too

[@Seadraz]

Dude how do you have so little followers. 😮

[@speedracer2008]

20:35 I always thought they sounded like Carl Wheezer from Jimmy Neutron

[@Ace-rp7vr]

Honestly the only ones I honestly like in WWB, is episode 1,2,5 the others I’m not that big fan of. I want to like this show but I just don’t.

[@ultrademigod]

TBF a 2 meter tall duck would be pretty terrifying even if it only ate seeds.

[@speedracer2008]

True. Ducks can be nasty towards people, despite their small size. Imagine a 2-meter tall duck chasing after you if it feels annoyed by your presence. Herbivorous Gastornis doesn’t sound so harmless now, does it?

[@mitchellskene8176]

So at 5:10 you're just going to ignore the Deccan traps and marine Regression that was occuring? Both of those occuring around the same time would , to me, suggest the world was sick.

[@yrooxrksvi7142]

But dinosaurs were still thriving up until the end.

[@mitchellskene8176]

@@yrooxrksvi7142 it certainly looks that way for most of the globe (North America has some evidence of struggle), but it's undeniable the Deccan traps and Marine Regression were happening 66mya.

[@pbh9195]

Please make more

[@AncientRealms1999]

The rest are on their way 👀

[@user-ue6hu1xz9j]

omg that is horrifying

[@user-io6pj8bz8h]

Sorry, most dinos were extinct before the meteor hit, so it was a sick environment in that sense.

[@PunchCounterpunch_Lizzy]

??? Most? As in all the dinosaurs ever? Yeah, because they were on earth for 160 million years, not every species made it to the KPG extinction but that doesn’t mean the planet was a bad environment for them as the biodiversity there’s evidence for the late cretaceous is quite diverse. It’s an outdated idea to think the dinosaurs were in their way out before the mass extinction event

[@user-io6pj8bz8h]

@@PunchCounterpunch_Lizzy You can barely form a sentence. You couldn't even understand my comment. Posting just to try to convince yourself you have education is called narcissism.