Walking with Prehistoric Beasts mini-series review

[@HoopsAndDinoMan]

Reply to this comment to submit video responses (Here's what I mean by that: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gYCrfpp8rc-oZ8k )

[@HodgePodge7]

My review of the first episode of Walking with Beasts: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gKq5qHdsf62jn6M

[@thescauldron8436]

The mammoth cliff scene gave me chills, especially how the soundtrack is a dark version of the happy-go-lucky mammoth theme

[@Stealthwilde]

The reason why the ape CGI models look worse than the other ones is that the human brain is wired to notice oddities more the closer the subject is to human. It's what's known as the 'uncanny valley' effect.

[@piglord2819]

Man that baby bird scene... that shit stayed with you

[@the_evil06]

i have 20 years old and agree with you... that shit hunts you for life...

[@waranontwiwaha9385]

Top 3 scenes from this series that terrified me as a naive little kid. 3. The Dinotherium almost running over baby ape scene. While it turns out a happy ending, I couldn't breath properly during the entire scene when the giant elephant thingy rushing toward the helpless baby ape. 2. The neanderthals' mammoth hunt. I was terrified of their scream as they drove the mammoth off the cliff. Also pretty depressed afterward when realizing that the matriarch was also one of the victim falling down the cliff to her death. 1. THE FREAKING ANTS EATING BABY BIRD ALIVE!!! AND THEY JUST HAD TO SHOW THE MOTHER RETURNING TO HER DEAD CHICK JUST TO RUB MORE SALT ON THE WOUND IN MY INNOCENT HEART!

[@CJCroen1393]

I always loved the ending to the Indricothere's story. I could practically hear the poor cameraman shouting "Nice boy, nice indricothere, calm down no no AHHH!"

[@dominicpeterson5018]

dilophosaurus65 “the next episode of Walking With Beasts will be delayed due to a general unwillingness to take over as cameraman”.

[@JackassJunior627]

I'm actually a little bit shocked you didn't mention the final line spoken in the series "No species lasts forever". The chanting was good to establish human's taking the mantle of the dominant species, but it still left a chilling thought of realism to the viewers. That no species, including the dominant species remain on Earth permanently. It foreshadows that even if it takes millions upon millions of years, eventually humanity will die out and could be be replaced by another species.

[@Yobyman]

The ant scene really hit me, not cause I lost a pet or anything but it is incredibly similair to a time where I left to gather resources in ARK and then found my baby dodo dead. Eerily similair

[@earthtrone]

XD

[@bigpapao8889]

You didn't lose a pet.... you lost a homie.... a real nigga 😢😢

[@givewarachance2001]

''This is a world where Birds eat Horses". The best scene of the whole series.The music,the amazing animation and Kenneth Branagh's narration. It's a little sad that they didn't include Megalodon in this series. Also,holy jesus i never realised how dark some episodes of Dinosaurs,Beasts and Monsters are.Time to relive the Nostalgia i guess.

[@gavinleong209]

Love how each episode has its own unique musical score such that when you use it in the episode reviews it makes each part feel so distinct and brings back the nostalgia each time :) The soundtracks for the Walking With series are some of the best there is

[@dulat]

Baby gastornis being eaten by ants is gruesome, but... The "Walking with" series to me personally show this everlasting philosophy of life: no matter how awesome, powerful and successful you are, your life will always be a struggle for survival. You can be a tyrannosaur at the top of the food chain, but a single blow of ankylosaurs' tail can leave your chicks orphans. Or you can be a CEO of a trans-national corporation with six-figure income, but still struggle to cope with everyday stress and end up jumping out of a window. It's life and I think BBC does a good job showing it in these series...

[@yawning69]

Oh😯..........................You’re not wrong.

[@jackschwartz9419]

Just when you thought Walking With was literally incapable of doing another traumatic dinosaur death, the first episode of Beasts makes Big Al look like he got a happily ever after

[@thegeop5906]

Not to forget the kind of admonishing final words in the final episode: "And if all this has taught us anything it´s this: No species lasts forever!"

[@theswagmango6981]

I would’ve loved an episode set in prehistoric Australia (my home country) and see the Australian megafauna like Diprotodon a wombat looking marsupial as big as a rhino, Procoptodon a giant short face kangaroo, Thylacoleo the Marsupial Lion, Thylacine also know as the Tasmanian Tiger and Megalania a giant monitor lizard possibly the biggest reptile to have existed since the time of the dinosaurs. And have the early people who will later be know as the Aborigines/Indigenous Australians be shown how much of an impact they had after they arrived and point out things like “the megafauna have been through a lot but the changes in the climate and the arrival of humans was all it took to drive these massive creatures to extinction, most of the megafauna will disappear from Australia completely and all that will be left is their fossils, the Thylacine however will last another 20,000 years but will soon feel the bite of European settlers along with the Aborigines and they’ll be hunted for killing their sheep until eventually they’ll be gone from the mainland,then the last of them living on the island of Tasmania will be wiped out by European settlers.” I would’ve loved an episode like that that and the fact Australia has stayed unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs, even after the great extinction the environment came back the same until grass later appeared.

[@somekindofboy666]

New dawn takes place in Germany (my home country)and if you remember the 1st episode of walking with beast takes place their,so I didn't even know we even had such animals.

[@yawning69]

@@somekindofboy666 Ambulocetus was from Pakistan actually.

[@sterkar99]

The theme music of the series was so gooood~

[@thenerdbeast7375]

While the Smilodon social structure is incorrect, being depicted as lion-like prides while in reality their social groups were more like wolf packs with males and females being more equal, it is still probably the first time I ever saw Smilodon being depicted as a social animal at all and given reasonable limits instead of making it this indestructible mammoth and sloth-slaying monster.

[@mrreyes5004]

2:36 I think the point of that scene was to still demonstrate that even apex predators can be brought down by what most would consider an inferior creature. Throughout "New Dawn", the Gastornis is portrayed as a top-notch killer formidable enough to replace the niche left by the giant therapods of the Mesozoic. It eats horses and can only be challenged by another member of its own kind. Yet here is one such Gastornis being humbled... by *ants* of all creatures, not even the size of one of its feathers. Even the biggest beasts start out small, and sometimes not even a top predator can accomplish everything it wants.

[@davidthewhale7556]

BloodStalker 500 Still messed me up tho

[@turtle5086]

Finally good to see someone actually thinking about it for once.

[@chewitt1227]

Sabre Tooth shares a few similarities with the Lion King when you think about. A character leaves home, comes back, and defeats the enemy.

[@Bosschoice95]

Now that I think about it Yah it dus sound like the lion king 🦁👑

[@m.wallace2705]

"When one brother is killed in a freak incident" *Ground sloth Ends sabertooth bro*

[@lenastorm6280]

I don't know if anyone has already said this, but WWB has the best ending to an documentary ever! Gives me goosbums every time!

[@joaquindonoso5481]

and remember... no species last forever !!!ENTERS EPIC CHORUS!!!

[@Tombola1993]

Love that documentary. Love how the creatures are designed and how some of the episodes are story driven and that some of the main creatures are used as characters. And I like the coming of age plots of Land of Giants and Next of Kin.

[@goldenscribe4993]

For 160 million years the dinosaurs ruled this world. While living in their shadows where a group of animals that couldn't have been more different. These were our ancestors small furry creatures called mammals clinging to safety wherever they could. But the mammals time would come. 65 million years ago volcanic activity started to poison the atmosphere. The last dinosaurs were already living on a sick planet, when there nemesis arrived from outer space. A meteor 10km wide slammed into earth to mark the end of the reign of dinosaurs..this series is about what happened next... Such a great intro and a great series ^^

[@thejurassicchicken1445]

millions of years later, ants, eat baby birds.

[@theweirdguy124]

The nostalgia was really hitting holy shit i need that soundtrack now

[@tyranitararmaldo]

The opening is godly.

[@m.wallace2705]

Andrewsarchus and Entelodonts are now considered closer related to whales & hippos than to pigs & sheep. Andrewsarchus in particular was very close to Entelodonts (though whether it evolved into them is uncertain) and hippos still retain some Entelodont-like traits.

[@monsterzero666]

The sabor tooth episode is like the prehistoric version of the lion king

[@alanrag01]

This was my childhood! XD I still have my VHS of it, oml the memories~

[@ray-0249]

Alan Aguayo I remember I pulled an all nighter watching these documentaries when I was 7-8 I remember the one with the tera-saur that took that long journey to find a mate only to die alone😭

[@greenhorn6582]

Gastornis is now seen as a peacefull plant eater, which used its huge bill to dig for roots and crack seeds and nuts.

[@milchesarreal6964]

I loved the Walking With series cuz they hold no bars when it comes to darker elements Its as natural as it gets

[@Axgoodofdunemaul]

I'm glad you mentioned the musical score. Probably the best for any such documentary.

[@abetheconservationist595]

I was 9 when I saw the scene where the Gastornis chick got devoured by the giant ants and I was really disturbed.

[@frostbitetheannunakiiceind6574]

same lol

[@HarryDaveyHD]

I feel like the Australopithecus 3D models naturally look more fake because we’re trained to recognised human features, it’s easier to see what makes them look fake than it is to see those same features in other animals

[@animebaby1084]

It's called the uncanny valley effect.

[@niklasl3880]

Also, they have fur.

[@capgangchannel6309]

Walking with beasts is my favourite of all of the walking with series.

[@Wolf6119]

I love how subtly ominous the very last line of this series is, as they show the modern-day humans meandering about the museum poking at fossils and patting mammoth statues. "No species lasts forever."

[@Jarod-sm5rf]

Wolf6120 i know right? It scared and had shocked and awe at the same time. But I believe we humans will never go extinct. Were WAY to stubborn for that.

[@Untrustedlife]

99% of species that ever existed have gone extinct. Humans will go extinct, eventually.

[@RockManIAm]

Untrustedlife Possibly. However, humans have the ability to craft armor, medicine, and possibly immortality. Unlike other species, we could become physical gods if we're given enough time.

[@Walamonga1313]

There's already plenty of drug resistant bacteria that could cause disease and death among us. There's also genetical malfunctions like cancer. And of course, there's other humans ready to kill their own.

[@Animusprimalemperor6257]

Don't forget about climate change!

[@michaelandrews117]

All these reviews are doing is reminding me how good the soundtrack is

[@speedracer2008]

I love the name given to the main Smilodon in the Latin Spanish dub of the series. He's called Diente Partido (Broken tooth).

[@RRW359]

I LOVED Saber tooth also, but I didn't get the impression that they were trying to make Smilodon look awesome as much as they were showing how invasive species can DOMINATE new environments.

[@hehaeugh8027]

This was probably the most traumatic series of the "walking with" series

[@dinosaurdundeeog1462]

It is important to note that we now know that gastornis was a herbivore with the niche of a giraffe mixed with a parrot thanks to closer study at it's beak and body structure.

[@dairemckenna6408]

The saber tooth baby killing thing isn't that weird, that's exactly what male lions do when they take over a new pride to ensure their lineage lives on and their oppositions offspring won't be threats to their offspring

[@niklasl3880]

Yes, they simply looked at modern lions and copied their behaviour for that episode.

[@M259-u3c]

@@niklasl3880 also its a thing so they can mate earlier

[@johnh.mcsaxx3637]

Andrewsarchus and Entelodonts are now thought to have been closely related. Both are closest to hippos, rather than to sheep or pigs.

[@tyrannotherium7873]

Indeed they are

[@msagzjr.4641]

The saddest moment from this show for me is when Half tooth finds his own Cubs killed by one of the brothers And it's even more sad when there's another scene where the the mother of two of the Cubs calls to them but there's no answer and you realize that they're dead

[@king_crossbreed7810]

we now know that Gastornis is a herbivore because its beak is very blunt and flat which emplys that the bird ate fruit and other soft plants

[@bennettfender1546]

King_Crossbreed well it could have occasionally eaten small animals for extra protein.

[@greenveilgaming1149]

King_Crossbreed for the most part yet though it could have quite possibly been an occasional omnivore

[@bronzedemon3862]

I'd pay to see someone make a hyper-violent parody video of "Sabre Tooth" in the Disney lion king style. That would be hilarious

[@daccotaduchess2194]

YES! We should set up a Go fund me!

[@LoudmouthReviews]

Yes this series did show cruel imagery in a few spots but that really helps enhance its lifelike feel. The real world is a cruel place filled with unfair death and suffering. Good nature documentaries shouldn't shy away from this if they want the audience to have a real picture of the nature world they are filming. The prehistoric world was certainly just as cruel and I love that the Walking with series didn't shy away from that in order to make the series more pleasant to children or easily offendable audiences. Nope it presents raw reality or at least as close to raw reality as we can piece together through fossil evidence

[@ek9509]

4:55: That is a good point. I kind of find it a disappointment, too. But, as the narrator says, the mother is only doing what she's supposed to do. To give her unborn calf the best chance in life, she must shatter the three-year-old bond she has had with the original calf.

[@captainsnookinc2118]

The 1st episode is the one that stand out to me the most, I just love the creatures and it had very good atmosphere it truly has a helpless and dark vibe and I love it. It's easily my favorite.

[@nycholasrandolph9780]

When you were talking about the smilodons and they kill the cubs and mate with the mothers of the cubs, lions do to same in modern day

[@frogglen6350]

Yeah. But it's still really dark. Lol. Bears do the same too

[@fzzy5739]

the music in this series really makes my heart pounds and actually kinda scared me as a kid. i love it so much.

[@philipskouhus5856]

This series has one solid soundtrack

[@kevinpoe8137]

Am I the only one who saw the Australopithecus as nightmare fuel, seriously they gave me nightmares as a child

[@danielcooper3332]

Now you have the Cats trailer for Nightmare fuel.

[@DalekTheSupreme]

Walking With Dinosaurs remains my favorite of the series for sheer nostalgia, but Walking With Beasts is a great series in its own right, and the theme music is probably the most catchy tune I have ever heard that does not incorporate lyrics.

[@ElazarY]

Like if you think Gorgonopsids are cool.

[@andrew7955]

We need a remake of this Walking series

[@hugothedog5258]

Baby bird: *gets eaten by ants* HoopsAndDinoMan: Now this is an avengers level threath

[@Mical21]

It is tho

[@wd3185]

Although I really love _Sabre Tooth_ my favorite episode is definitely _Whale Killer_ probably solely because of the Basilosaurus.

[@dtxspeaks268]

I know this is an old documentary, but Andrewsarchus isnt a sheep relative and entelodonts aren't pigs. In fact, not only are Andrewsarchus and entelodonts closely related to each other, but their closest living relatives are cetaceans and hippos! Great video and I love your reviews!

[@Evergreenoutsider10]

I remember this series! I also loved the story of Half Tooth. Man that brings back memories

To me this is one that i realy dislike

[@ripzoh169]

I've just ordered Walking with Dinosaurs and Beasts on DVD ahh nostalgia...

[@silari4719]

This bloke certainly doesn't sound like he's a TV or movie critic, or even if he is he certainly isn't letting it show very much, but it's nice to see someone reviewing something for what it is, rather than nitpicking all the tiny little flaws and plot holes. It's really nice to see.

[@bkjeong4302]

Fun fact: The show got Basilosaurus’s habitat reversed. Its anatomy, as well as it’s fossils being in Egypt, made it clear before the show that it was a coastal predator of shallow bays and mangrove swamps. This was actually known before even WWD, let alone WWB. So the areas where it supposedly goes only when desperate are actually it’s normal habitat. Also, terror birds never actually lost out to Smilodon. They were already extinct by the time Smilodon entered South America, and South American predator guilds in general collapsed before big cats and canids invaded South America. In fact that whole episode is horribly inaccurate, and they literally went against established fossil evidence for Smilodon behaviour! The plot could never actually have happened because Smilodon did not live in prides (male and female skeletons are identical in size aside from the males having a penis bone, so there was no sexual dimorphism and thus no lion-like harem structure).

[@steadyalbatross]

I wonder if BBC would revisit this series with more accurate creature behavior and habitats

[@tec-jones5445]

@Michael Whittmann youre right in that Smilodon and Titanis did meet, but Titanis never met humans. Titanis went extinct around the beginning of the Pleistocene, between 3.1 to 1.8 million years ago. The earliest evidence of humans in the Americas dates between 13,200 to 15,500 years ago, long after Titanis went extinct.

[@danielflanard8274]

I love the Cenozoic era. It's a shame that people forget about the other creatures of prehistoric times.

[@skipdoescomments3900]

YES! Finally a documentary takes hyaenodons consideration.

[@otismeehan8985]

It's nice to finally see the Walking With Series get the review recognition it deserves. I actually remember watching this show when it first came on the Science Channel (before I got it on DVD years later), and I'm still surprised that I forgot about the ground sloth attack scene.

[@danielsantillan7775]

one of the only things i learnt from WWB was that a sheep in wolf's clothing is a thing

[@HenrythePaleoGuy]

Lol

[@paleo_master14]

As a kid, I really loved this show, I actually thought they went back in time and took the footage there!! 😂 this show is also beautiful, the animals are amazing and Now I watch it every weekend!

[@ILLPictures]

You made my childhood, Hoops. When I was 6, I watched A Dinosaur Story, and I loved it! You're the reason my channel exists!

[@samanthagibson5791]

In England its just called Walking with Beasts. Second point, using an ape costume for the 4th episode has its own problem. Non-human apes have different skull shapes and sizes which cannot easily be hidden as ours are the bigger skulls. Another commenter noted we see problems with computer generated humans or close to humans quicker so both approaches have a problem

[@nikothehusky2384]

This is one of my childhood favorites

[@willardstark8902]

My top 3: Walking with monsters 2: Walking with dinosaurs 1: Walking with beasts

[@kram9863]

I watched this when I was like 6 years old, that includes the baby bird being stripped of its flesh.

[@dominicpeterson5018]

Kram listening to other people’s reactions, I’m unsure how I wasn’t traumatised.

[@salemslot8297]

This show made me hate ants lmaooo

[@Cope_N_Cry]

I know, but I got over it

[@KingDrakoTyrell]

My brother owned the entire series when we were young, and somehow that was the only one of the scenes I saw.

[@ldblokland463]

I remember having watched this series as a kid. Don't remember the Baby-bird killing scene... Maybe because it was probably repressed by my brain.

[@andrewobrien8325]

I have great memories of the walking with series. I have always loved to find out what I could about prehistoric life, I remember when I was a kid I took a serious injury that meant I couldn't walk for a couple of months and Walking with Beast was on. It was greatly informative and a enjoyable to watch, I always wanted to see a Bassilosaurus and an Entelodont skeleton and two years ago I got my wish. Still need to go see the markings of giant insects of the scottish coast but oh well. Walking with Beasts is defiantly better than Walking with dinosaurs because I feel it's a more unknown world, it has an air of unfamiliarity and I remember watching the making of episode and I think they summed up best why Walking with beasts was better, mammals have more variety, you show a picture of an Allosaurus to some guy on the street, there is 90% chance they'll call it T-rex. There are precious few mammals you can do that with. Anyway Walking with Beasts gets a 9 out of 10 from me.

[@lauracoles5595]

This show is amazing, the stories, the characters, the effects and damn that score. This is better than wwd. Saber tooth is a masterpiece

[@domsquaaa4323]

Walking with dinos was legit my childhood and my whole basis of Dino knowledge don’t know how I missed the other shows like this

[@jimmybob154]

AAAYYYY

[@SebastianGonzalez-jc4wz]

My favorite WWB animal was the Chalicotherium.

[@tuko4082]

I love the theme music

[@t.m.83]

I have an interesting introduction with this series. I was introduced to this series by, not the show itself, but Season 2 of Prehistoric Planet. Yeah, I remember watching this on what used to be Discovery Kids and it wasn't til a while later when I heard about the series season 2 was based on. By the way, they really should release season 2 on dvd. So, yeah that's how I was introduced to this awesome show.

[@tomurg]

That ant part really traumatised me as a child.... 😭

[@useruseruseruser6777]

I was absolutely terrified

[@stegotyranno4206]

+Goji Saurian reminded me of them eating my dog buddy

[@azelfdaboi5265]

Megatherium uses smack! it's super effective! Smilodon fainted!

[@Bosschoice95]

Megatherium gained 700 mammal-bucks

[@ericexplorations]

I think that next they should do Walking With Different Types of Humans Imagine a nature documentary on "karens"

[@martinlaird4738]

The baby bird thing properly fucked me when I watched this, I was 6 years old lol

[@Trike71171]

Am I the only one that wish we got to see megalania in this series or the walking with caveman series

[@otisplatt1296]

Nice review. Sabre Tooth is my favourite episode too!

[@carlotemplo5281]

OH WHEN I FIRST CAME TO THE CRETACEOUS ERA I EXPERIENCEd FRIGHT AND TERRAH!

[@umbra756]

It's interesting to see the differences between the UK and US releases, here it's just called Walking with Beasts.

[@ZemplinTemplar]

Nice review ! 8-) I think "Walking with Prehistoric Beasts" was the North American broadcast title for the series. Here in Europe (including the UK), it was just "...with Beasts". I like this series better than Walking with Dinosaurs too. :-) I think this is the pinnacle of these BBC-produced, Impossible Pictures-made documentary series about prehistoric life. Walking with Monsters had further improved CGI and some creative new segments (without cutting to talking heads), but Beasts is still my absolute favourite. :-) I liked Walking with Cavemen too, but that one felt, but that was quite different.

[@explainedprehistory2266]

Ah, the coolest prehistoric mammals documentary ever IMO! :) BTW, I think WWB generally feels a lot different than WWD. Anyone else? Good in it's own, different style.

[@babidawl162]

I agree with you Sabre Tooth is my favorite episode too

[@alexander.tahtadjian]

Ashley Lauren same here...it was perfection.

[@yux.tn.3641]

this series is under-rated...

[@Jarod-sm5rf]

When I saw the baby bird being eating I wanted to save it.

[@unicorntomboy9736]

Me too. I wish the mother bird was there but wasn't for some reason

[@HeadHunter854]

CGI apes were terrifying

[@unicorntomboy9736]

Especially in the fight with Hercules, with their angry faces I did like how they gave names to certain individuals. Same with the saber tooth cats with half Tooth

[@ultimate_animal_showdown]

Saber Tooth Is My Fav Episode Because Not Only Smilodon Is My Fav Animal But The Episode Was The Most Epic

[@jedavisLV426]

I forgot how deep and intense this was, I watched this at a very young age, a few scenes were pretty traumatic ngl 😅

[@PackHunter117]

Also Smilodon has been discovered to live and hunt in forests and jungles like Leopards and Jaguars not savannas like lions

[@miquelescribanoivars5049]

That's Smilodon fatalis. S. populator was quite different in morphology and probably behavior.

[@Cybermat47]

The virgin WWB Australopithecus VS the chad WWC Australopithecus.

[@novustalks7525]

I love this and walking with dinosaurs . I learned so much from them

[@canethevelociraptor501]

My favorite of the "Walking with" series. And that's coming from a guy who enjoys dinosaurs a bit more than the Cenozoic mammals. BBC did a really good job on this.

[@dragonzilla6482]

There were two other documentaries that were made after Walking with Beasts and both are set in the Pleistocene. However they both use the same animations but one of the them has it's own creatures. They are Wild New World and Monsters Wet Met however episode one of Monsters We Met has some inaccuracies. Now if anyone have any objections to these documentaries, please don't be aggressive just tell why you don't like in a calm friendly way. Thank you. :)

[@Garnondorf]

Andrewsarchus is a sheep-relative?! Thought it was only known to be an ungulate...

[@dtxspeaks268]

It's actually a relative of hippos, entelodons and cetaceans

[@tijanamilenkovic3425]

​@@dtxspeaks268which are still ungulates

[@PhuongNguyen-uv6ji]

I thought i was the only one traumatised by the gastornis baby scene

[@jellyfrenchfries8610]

How weird... I used to watch this series on Netflix as a kid and I don’t remember that ape episode.