Monsters We Met

Monsters We Met
Narrated by

Ian Holm (UK Version)

William Hootkins (US Version)[1]
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 3
Broadcast
Original channel Animal Planet

Monsters We Met is a documentary produced by the BBC and later aired on Animal Planet in 2003 (under the title, Land of Lost Monsters) but also had footage from Walking with Beasts and Walking with Cavemen both made by BBC but the footage only appeared on the US airing. The show used computer-generated imagery to recreate the life of the giant animals that lived during the last ice age and explains how early humans encountered them. It also features humans as the main reason to the extinction of all great animals.

Episodes

Episode 1: Eternal Frontier (Montana,[2] United States, North America, 14,000 years ago)

It starts with animals living during the Ice Age. It also shows how humans became top predators and started hunting mammoths on the continent with deadly spears. We also had to compete with other predators like the short-faced bear and the saber-toothed cats. We destroyed them by depleting their food supply, and making them starve to death. Later after realizing what they done to the great beast's demise they hunted not all the time and then there were no more extinctions in the Americas. That wasn't until pioneers from Europe like Christopher Columbus, several conquistadors and lots of horses were brought by the conquistadors arrived in North America. Howevever horses are returning to the land of which they evolved in. Also inventing the gun, which in North America, was used primarily for hunting big game animals like the bison. By 1893 only 500 wild buffalo remained, marking the end of the megafauna in the Americas.

Note: This episode used most of the extinct mammal models from Wild New World, as well as some archive footage.

Episode 2: The Burning (Australia, 65,000 years ago)

It starts by showing how humans migrated to Australia. We also hunted the native wildlife. We encountered the huge birds and the giant lizard, megalania. A megalania kills two humans and in revenge, the tribe plans on setting fire to the fields and vined forests to burn the giant lizard and other beasts to extinction. We then start to colonize other lands in the New World. While after the burning the of forests, most of the animal species survived the forest fires, this also changed the habitat of Australia as it is today. Marsupials, small lizards, birds and other animals are doing better than their counterparts who all died in the fire.

Episode 3: The End of Eden (New Zealand, AD 1208)

It starts with humans populating New Zealand. We encounter the giant moa. We start to see it was harmless. We then discover Haast's eagle, which hunts moas and starts to target us. We then start to steal the moa's giant eggs and go after the adults for food. We then realize we brought a huge amount of animals to extinction. The program has a part with footage of most of the animals shown in the series and starts to ask the question that if we can't live with these monsters, are we monsters ourselves? The program then ends on Easter Island about the aftermath of New Zealand's old world with the giant birds gone and forests as so did the early settlers of New Zealand.

Note: This Episode used footage from the previous 2 episodes, "Walking with Cavemen", "Walking with Beasts" and Wild New World.

See also

Monsters We Met 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:

References

  1. ↑ http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/land-of-lost-monsters/285067
  2. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1085208/?ref_=ttep_ep1
  3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZCcvuwc8n0

External links