The Ballad of Big Al
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The Ballad of Big Al (distributed as Allosaurus: a Walking with Dinosaurs Special) is a combination biography-sequel for Walking with Dinosaurs . It focuses on an Allosaurus (Allosaurus fragilis) named Big Al and his constant struggle to survive in a world filled with danger.
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[edit] Narrative
Animals featured are:
- Allosaurus
- Stegosaurus
- Dryosaurus
- Othnielia
- Ornitholestes
- Diplodocus
- Unidentified small pterosaurs (possibly Anurognathus)
- Apatosaurus
- Brachiosaurus
- scorpion (live acted)
- dragonfly (live acted)
- salamander (live acted)
- fly (live acted)
- iguana (live acted)
The special begins at the University of Wyoming, showing the bones a sauropod followed by an Allosaurus named Big Al. The film then travels back in time showing a nest containing some eggs. Al and his siblings hatch and are helped out of the nest by their mother. She brings them to a river bank and the hatchlings start to hunt for insects. When the mother leaves the hatchlings temporarily, a year-old Allosaurus comes and kills one of them.
Al is then shown at one year old. He is trying to hunt a flock of Dryosaurus. He hasn't yet learned how to ambush so he fails to kill one of the swifter, smaller dinosaurs. Later he snatches a lizard from a branch. Al comes across two Allosaurus stuck in a natural Predator trap which were lured there by the smell of a dead Stegosaurus.
Three years pass, and a herd of Diplodocus are migrating across a prehistoric Salt Lake. Al is joined by several other Allosaurus and they attempt to bring a weak member of the herd down. Al is harmed twice, once tripping, once falling down, as a Diplodocus whacked him.
A year passes by, and Al is shown drinking at a pond. He discovers the scent of a female Allosaurus. She is not interested, but he persists. She savages him, injuring his arm and breaking his ribs, but he escapes being killed. Later the dry season comes, Al is attempting to hunt a flock of Dryosaurus. Whilst ambushing them, he trips on a log, and badly breaks his right middle toe. As the dry season turns to a drought, Al's inflamed injury gets worse and soon, unable to hunt, he dies in a dried-up riverbed. He is said not to have reached full maturity.
[edit] Evidence
A "making of" documentary was made called "Big Al Uncovered". It focuses on the discovery and pathologies of the Allosaurus specimen nicknamed Big Al.
[edit] American and Book Versions
[edit] American
The American version was renamed Allosaurus: A Walking with Dinosaurs Special, along with combining the evidence with Al's life. Also they took out the one of the trapped Allosaurus and the birds and reptiles behavior, and shots of Al living in the 21st Century.
[edit] Book
A children book was made, called Allosaurus! The Life and Death of Big Al, and it differs from both the American and UK versions in some aspects.
- Al's sibling was killed by a male Allosaurus on the show, while it was killed by an Ornitholestes in book.
- The Stegosaurus was shown dead in the show, while it was alive and struggling (trying to fight off the Allosaurus pair) and soon died in the book.
- In the show at the sixth year, Al is hunting Dryosaurus, in book, Othnielia.
- Al tripped on a log in the show, while he tripped on mount of dirt in the book.
[edit] BBC Game
The BBC launched a online Role-Playing Game involving Big Al.
[edit] Links
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