Dinosaur Planet (TV series)

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Dinosaur Planet is a four-part American nature documentary first aired on Discovery Channel in 2003. It was hosted by Scott Sampson and narrated by Christian Slater.

Dinosaur Planet depicts dinosaurs living in various parts of the world (Asia, North America, South America and Europe) during the Late Cretaceous, using CGI (just like Discovery Channel's earlier When Dinosaurs Roamed America and BBC's Walking With Dinosaurs).

Contents

[edit] Episodes

[edit] White Tip's Journey

The pack of a female Velociraptor named White Tip has been killed by another pack, and she must find a new one. She tries to hunt a herd of Prenocephale, but gets head-butted -- Velociraptor cannot hunt by themselves. She is later chased by an Oviraptor and an angry Protoceratops. And lizards are too fast for her to hunt. Luckily, the Protoceratops that chases her stops in mid-chase to fight a rival, resulting in the death of the rival. White Tip eats the carcass, only to be driven off by a Velociraptor pack. She decides to join them after they've eaten their fill. The pack's leader is Broken Hand. The only other male is Bluebrow, and there are also two other female Velociraptor in the pack. When White Tip joins them, Bluebrow welcomes her, but Broken Hand stops Bluebrow from doing so and they fight. Broken Hand loses, and is driven away. Bluebrow becomes the new leader. He takes the pack on a hunt for Protoceratops eggs. The two females divert the adult Protoceratops's attention while White Tip and Bluebrow steal the eggs. But White Tip is still at the bottom of the pecking order, and must wait her turn to feed. A few months later, White Tip has laid her eggs. She cannot go hunting with the others. The others chase a Shuuvia, but an Oviraptor catches it first. Because the pack didn't catch anything, White Tip goes hungry. She tries to stalk a Deltatheridium, but is interrupted by Broken Hand, eating two of her five eggs. She manages to chase him away. The next day, her young hatch. She goes hunting with the others. This time, they attack baby Oviraptor, using the same trick as they used with the Protoceratops. They also see Broken Hand getting rammed to death by a herd of Prenocephale, but they make no move to help him. That night, there's heavy rain. Next day, the pack goes to hunt adult Protoceratops. White Tip pounces on one, but gets knocked to the ground. Bluebrow attacks another, and the Protoceratops bucks, throwing him to the ground and biting his arm. As Bluebrow struggles to get free, the two females leap to help him. But before anyone can do anything, a landslide buries Bluebrow, the Protoceratops and the two female Velociraptor alive. White Tip goes back and takes care of her babies -- this time she's not alone.

[edit] Pod's Travels

A male Pyroraptor named Pod is one of the smaller dinosaurs where he lives. Titanosaurus, Iguanodon and Tarascosaurus are all giants compared to Pyroraptor. Then one day, Pod and his pack are swept to sea by a tsunami while escaping from an Iguanodont stampede. Only Pod and one other Pyroraptor survives. The next day, Pod's companion is eaten by a Plesiosaurus. Though exhausted, Pod arrives on a beach and faints. When he wakes up, Ichthyornis, Allodaposuchus and mini Pyroraptor are squabbling for his "carcass". He scares them away easily, but he cannot join the pack of mini Pyrorptor, as they're terrified of him. He finds that all the animals on the island are dwarf species of the animals he's used to. Pod manages to find food in the form of a Iguanodon carcass. In a last-ditch attempt to join his own kind, Pod climbs to a high ledge and cries out. His call is answered by a pack of mini Troodon. He proves himself to them by killing a mini Tarascosaurus, and the mini Troodon accept him. Pod is now the apex predator.

[edit] Little Das' Hunt

The program starts with a flock of Orodromeus escaping from a pack Troodon. One Troodon is blasted into the air by a geyser -- a clue to things to come. Meanwhile, a young Daspletosaurus, Little Das, keeps ruining hunts. Just as his mother is about to kill a young Maiasaura named Buck, Little Das charges in excitement, forcing his mother to let go of Buck. Meanwhile, the highland animals -- Orodromeus, Troodon and Quetzalcoatlus -- are beginning to sense something in the air: a volcano. As the Daspletosaurus track down wounded Buck, they are barricaded by a herd of Einiosaurus. Buck makes it through, but a few more minutes of stalking and Buck collapses. The volcano erupts, and the highland animals are first to be affected, but the smoke reaches the lowlands, completely enveloping and suffocating the dinosaurs. The program later shows a brief cameo of a young Tyrannosaurus hunting Edmontosaurus -- and it's behavior is similar to that of Little Das...

Animals seen in brief cameo:

[edit] Alpha's Egg

Alpha the Saltasaurus hatches a day earlier than her siblings, because an Alvarezsaurus and a Notosuchus cracks her egg, only to be scared away by an adult Saltasaurus. Meanwhile, Dragonfly, an Aucasaurus, is also born. The next day, the rest of the baby Saltasaurus hatch, and they rush for the forest, dodging Alvarezsaurus and Notosuchus. Alpha survives, and travels along with the adult Saltasaurus. Some Aucasaurus attack, and Alpha comes face to face with Dragonfly. Luckily, a dragonfly flies by and Dragonfly chases it. (Hence his name). As Alpha enters adolescence, she meets Dragonfly again. This time, they're separated by a stream. She learns quickly never to stumble -- stumbled Saltasaurus quickly becomes food. When the herd moves to a plain, two Carcharodontosaurus attack. Alpha dodges them and arrives at the breeding ground. Dragonfly has mated as well. When Alpha moves away from the breeding ground, Dragonfly and his mate attack. Alpha whips the female Aucasaurus with her tail, then rams Dragonfly. But Dragonfly dodges and bites Alpha. Alpha falls, and squashes Dragonfly under her weight.

[edit] External links