| The Ballad of Big Al | |
|---|---|
| Format | Documentary |
| Created by | Tim Haines, Jasper James |
| Narrated by | Kenneth Branagh |
| Theme music composer | Ben Bartlett |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Tim Haines |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Other shows in the Walking with... series |
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.
Contents |
Animals featured are:
The special begins at the University of Wyoming, showing the bones of 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 (fortunately, Al isn't the victim).
Al is then shown at two years 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 a dead stegosaurus and an Allosaurus waiting for death in a pit of sticky mud. Meanwhile, another Allosaurus also gets stuck. She struggles to free herself, but fails. Al luckily avoids the same fate as he had learnt to avoid carrion. The trapped Allosaurus pair are stuck forever and die.
Five years pass, and a herd of Diplodocus are migrating across the prehistoric salt lake. Al is joined by several other Allosaurus and they attempt to bring a weak member of the herd down. Once the herd leaves the sick Diplodocus, the Allosaurs gather. Al is struck down by the neck of the Diplodocus. The pack wait for a few hours until the Diplodocus is brought down by heat exhaustion and his illness. Though they feed, within the hour an adult female Allosaurus scavenges the kill.
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 gets too close. She finally injures his arm, breaks his ribs, and deforms his right hand, though Al is lucky enough to escape with his life. Later the dry season comes, and 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 limp from the fall gets worse and his right middle toe is now badly infected, and soon, unable to hunt, he dies in a dried-up riverbed, where two hatchling Allosaurus are hunting for bugs and come across his emaciated carcass. He is said not to have reached full size, dying as a mature adolescent.
A "making of" documentary was made called "Big Al Uncovered". It focuses on the discovery and pathologies of the Allosaurus specimen nicknamed Big Al.
The Ballad Of Big Al won two 2001 Emmy Awards [1] including Adelphoi Music Ltd's Andrew Sherriff and Ashley Bates for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Non-Fiction Program.
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.
A children's 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.
The BBC launched an online Role-Playing Game involving Big Al.
The Ballad of Big Al is part of a series of BBC documentaries that also include:
The following are Walking With... series specials:
The following are similar programs, produced by the BBC:
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