2001 British television documentary series
Walking with Beasts
, marketed as
Walking with Prehistoric Beasts
in North America, is a 2001 six-part
nature documentary
television
miniseries
created by
Impossible Pictures
and produced by the
BBC Science Unit
,
[4]
the
Discovery Channel
,
ProSieben
and
TV Asahi
. The sequel to the 1999 miniseries
Walking with Dinosaurs
,
[5]
[1]
Walking with Beasts
explores the life in the
Cenozoic
era, after the
extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs
, particularly focusing on the rise of the
mammals
to dominance. The UK version of the series is narrated by
Kenneth Branagh
, who also narrated
Walking with Dinosaurs
, and the US version is narrated by
Stockard Channing
.
Like
Walking with Dinosaurs
,
Walking with Beasts
recreated extinct animals through a combination of
computer-generated imagery
and
animatronics
, incorporated into
live action
footage shot at various locations. It was more challenging to create convincing effects, both computer graphics and animatronics, depicting mammals owing both to fur and more moving bits and to audiences being more familiar with how mammals look and move than they were with
dinosaurs
. The visual effects of
Walking with Beasts
, like those of
Walking with Dinosaurs
, received praise. The series won numerous awards, including a
BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Award
, a
Monitor Award
, a
RTS Television Award
and a
Primetime Emmy Award
.
Walking with Beasts
was accompanied by a companion book,
Walking with Beasts: A Prehistoric Safari
, written by the executive producer
Tim Haines
, and a two-part behind-the-scenes companion series,
The Science of Walking with Beasts
. Also released were several children's books and the video game
Walking with Beasts: Operation Salvage
. In 2007?2011 an exhibition based on the series featuring fossils, life-sized models and behind-the-scenes information was held at different locations throughout the UK.
Premise
[
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]
Walking with Beasts
follows the previous series
Walking with Dinosaurs
(1999) in showcasing prehistoric life in a
nature documentary
style. Beginning in Germany 49 million years ago (in the
Eocene
),
Walking with Beasts
tracks animal life, particularly the rise of the
mammals
to dominance, in the
Cenozoic
era. The series also gives some insight into
human evolution
, with
Next of Kin
(episode four) being devoted to
Australopithecus
and
Mammoth Journey
(episode six) including both
Neanderthals
and
anatomically modern humans
.
Production
[
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]
Pre-production, research and writing
[
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]
The final episode of
Walking with Beasts
,
Mammoth Journey
, was filmed in
Yukon
, Canada
[6]
After the success of
Walking with Dinosaurs
, the executive producer
Tim Haines
conceived
Walking with Beasts
as a sequel. The intended goal of the series was to introduce the general public to the fascinating mammals (and other animals) of the Cenozoic era, typically less represented in popular culture
than dinosaurs
.
[7]
The budget of
Walking with Beasts
was £4.2 million,
[1]
[a]
one of the most expensive documentaries ever made
[1]
but much lower than a feature film with comparable visual effects needs. Tim Haines attributed the completion of the series despite this to solid planning.
[8]
Research in preparation for
Walking with Beasts
was conducted full-time for nearly two years by the geologist Paul Chambers and the zoologist Alex Freeman. Like
Walking with Dinosaurs
,
Walking with Beasts
was set to consist of six episodes which meant that six suitable settings had to be chosen for the programme.
[9]
Chambers and Freeman picked the six settings of the programme based on the amount of good fossil evidence, position in the time line and number of interesting animals.
[9]
[10]
The settings of some episodes had been picked already before any research was required, such as doing an episode on
woolly mammoths
and an episode on
indricotheres
. For much of the process, Chambers and Freeman were considering more than six settings, which meant that some potential episode ideas were forced to be abandoned. Among the abandoned ideas were an episode set in Australia, based on fossils from the
Riversleigh World Heritage Area
.
[9]
After the selection had been narrowed down to six settings, selecting which animals would appear in each episode was a straightforward process.
[10]
After Chambers and Freeman had decided upon suitable settings for the programme, the filming locations for
Walking with Beasts
were chosen by the assistant producer Annie Bates over a nine-month period. Bates first spoke with
palaeobotanists
to figure out suitable locations that were sufficiently similar to the intended ancient landscapes. After determining a comprehensive enough selection of possible filming locations, Bates traveled to the different sites with a video camera to shoot test footage, which was then viewed by the producers to get an idea of the terrain.
[9]
Filming locations for
Walking with Beasts
included
Florida
,
Mexico
,
Java
,
Arizona
,
Brazil
,
South Africa
and
Yukon
.
[11]
In order to write the storylines for the series, producers Jasper James and Nigel Paterson watched numerous nature documentaries on modern animals. They wanted to avoid episodes simply becoming "lists of animals and how they lived" and instead wanted them to draw viewers in and make them want to know what would happen to the animals next.
[10]
Chambers and Freeman also worked on the storylines, with the goal of ensuring that as much inferred behaviour as possible of each animal was showcased in the series.
[9]
In the end, each episode of
Walking with Beasts
ended up with a different type of story.
Next of Kin
(episode four) for instance follows a group of
Australopithecus
going through rough times and
Land of Giants
(episode three) follows a young
Indricotherium
[b]
for the first few years of its life. Details of the plot and how animals behaved were guided by fossil evidence; James maintained in behind-the-scenes material that no details in the storylines of
Walking with Beasts
were based on fiction.
[10]
Special effects and filming
[
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]
Maquettes
of
Deinotherium
(left) and
Australopithecus
(right), used to create the computer models in
Walking with Beasts
Chambers and Freeman worked with sculptors to create accurate reconstructions of the animals in the series. Relevant specialist
palaeontologists
and other researchers were consulted for each animal to gather advice on behavior and appearance. For some of the animals featured in
Walking with Beasts
, no models had ever been made before.
[9]
The model makers also worked based on drawings and photographs of fossil material. Each
maquette
took several weeks to create. The finished maquettes were scanned into computers with 3D.
[12]
The textures of the animals were designed by skin designers, with advice from researchers. For some of the animals in
Mammoth Journey
(episode six), cave paintings could give an idea of real life colors but for most others the patterns were educated guesswork.
[9]
As in
Walking with Dinosaurs
, the computer graphics for
Walking with Beasts
were created by the visual effects company
Framestore
.
[13]
Animators worked closely with researchers; experts were brought in to look at the movements of each animal to ensure that they moved accurately and advice was gathered on what behaviours each creature could have exhibited.
[9]
Animating the animals in
Walking with Beasts
was more difficult than in
Walking with Dinosaurs
owing to mammals having more moving bits than dinosaurs, such as whiskers, eyebrows and various floppy and wobbly parts. Additionally, the production team believed audiences would be more critical of the movements of mammals than they had been of dinosaurs since viewers would be more familiar with how mammals move; it would thus be easier to spot inaccurate movement.
[13]
The most difficult creature to animate in the series was
Australopithecus
, which in terms of their movement had to appear "more than an ape but less than a human".
[13]
Puppet heads of various animals used for certain shots in the series
Filming
Walking with Beasts
took four or five weeks.
[10]
Filming was usually a matter of gathering location shots where the computer-generated animals would then be inserted later. Sometimes it was necessary to replicate the impact the animated animals would have on their environment?such as footprints left in the snow by a woolly mammoth. Not all parts of filming the series were entirely imaginary, as
Walking with Beasts
also made extensive use of
animatronics
and puppets for close-up shots.
[10]
The animatronics and puppets in
Walking with Beasts
were created by special effects company
Crawley Creatures
, the same company responsible for the animatronics in the preceding
Walking with Dinosaurs
. On account of many of the animals in
Walking with Beasts
having fur or hair and requiring more complex facial expressions, creating the animatronics for
Walking with Beasts
was more difficult than for the previous series. During production, the animatronics team grew from seven to eighteen and additional support was brought in through hiring specialist out-workers.
[11]
As with the computer graphics, experts were also consulted for some of the practical effects. Among the scientists consulted were archaeologist and anthropologist Michael Bisson, an expert on
Middle Palaeolithic
tools, who helped craft some of the tools shown being used by Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans in the series.
[1]
The animatronics were created and used over a period of one-and-a-half years. In total there were over 40 different animatronic elements used, most of which were animatronic heads of animals. The broad movements of the animatronics were controlled by puppeteers, while their more subtle movements were remote-controlled and operated via
servo motors
.
[11]
Australopithecus
was in some close-ups portrayed by actors with prosthetics. Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans were consistently portrayed by actors also in non close-up shots, the Neanderthal actors wearing prosthetics.
[11]
[14]
The prosthetics used by the actors were also made by Crawley Creatures.
[11]
Sound design and music
[
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]
The sound design for
Walking with Beasts
was done by Kenny Clark. Clark and his partner Jovan Ajder began the process by recording
foley sound effects
, such as footsteps. Then, Clark and Ajder began constructing a sound library through recording their own sounds and contacting web-based FX companies as well as companies around the world. After a great collection of different animal sounds had been assembled, different sounds were mixed together, cut up or played backwards to create creature sounds. The noises of
Leptictidium
were
otter
noises, pitch shifted and reversed, and the sounds of
Gastornis
were made by a
monkey
and a
rattlesnake
, slightly edited.
Megatherium
was voiced through goat noises, though considerably lowered in pitch,
Embolotherium
were voiced by
walruses
and
rhinos
,
Macrauchenia
by donkeys,
Indricotherium
by bears and rhinoceroses and
Chalicotherium
by a
hippopotamus
.
Australopithecus
was initially planned to be voiced through harmonised human voices, an idea that was abandoned in favour of
monkey
sounds. The
Woolly Mammoths
were voiced by
elephants
and
Smilodon
were voiced by
lions
and
tigers
. The final sound mixing was done by
Chris Burdon
, who combined a total of 64 sound tracks (including narration, music, animal sounds and background noises) to produce one final
stereo mix
for the series.
[15]
Ben Bartlett
, who had previously worked on
Walking with Dinosaurs
, composed the music for
Walking with Beasts
. The composition process began with Bartlett and the directors (Jasper James and Nigel Paterson) viewing the different episodes together without sound and determining specific scenes that stood out as especially requiring music. Bartlett approached
Walking with Beasts
differently than he had
Walking with Dinosaurs
; the score in the previous series often included sophisticated themes and orchestral sweeps to reflect the grandeur of the dinosaurs. When it came to the Cenozoic, Bartlett found the era much harder to characterise, concluding that the "beasts" were less "refined" than the dinosaurs before them. As a result, the score of
Walking with Beasts
intentionally disobeys standard rules of sophisticated harmony, focusing on simplicity but also at times having "big blocks of sound [crashing] in uninvited".
[16]
Episodes
[
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]
Walking with Beasts
[
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]
BBC One
aired the series weekly on Thursday nights, with a regular of repeats the following Sunday afternoon. In 2010, the series was repeated on
BBC Three
in
omnibus
format, as three-hour-long episodes.
[18]
The Science of Walking with Beasts
[
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]
A two-episode companion documentary,
The Science of Walking with Beasts
, aired in November 2001 on BBC One. This series featured interviews with palaeontologists and explanations of how the fossil record and modern day descendants have informed what is known about the animals depicted in
Walking with Beasts
, as well as brief sections showing the development of the CGI and animatronic animals used in the series.
Reception
[
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]
The first airing of
New Dawn
, the first episode of
Walking with Beasts
, on BBC One attracted 8.5 million viewers and a 35% audience share. Though this fell short of the first airing of
Walking with Dinosaurs
(15 million viewers), it was considered a major success owing to 2001's more competitive broadcasting environment and due to being 2.6 million viewers above the average audience of BBC One during the time slot.
[19]
Reviews
[
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]
Walking with Beasts
was praised for its effects. Both
Paul Hoggart
, writing for
The Times
, and
Nancy Banks-Smith
, writing for
The Guardian
, concurred that the series showed technical brilliance and stunning computer reconstructions. Banks-Smith however criticised the narration, writing that it had not "advanced beyond chalk and blackboard" and that it was "so clearly addressed to a clever but cloth-eared child that you felt yourself dwindle and shrink". Jennifer Selway, writing for the
Daily Express
, noted that although the technology and effort that went into
Walking with Beasts
was "breathtaking", its subject matter did not hold the same appeal as the dinosaurs and that the production team perhaps should have made "Walking with More Dinosaurs" instead.
[20]
Awards
[
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]
Walking with Beasts
won a
BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Award
for Enhancement of Linear Media, a
Monitor Award
for Film Originated Television Specials - 3D Animation, a
RTS Television Award
for Multi-Media and Interactive and a
Primetime Emmy Award
for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour of More).
[21]
Walking with Beasts
was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special and
BAFTA TV Awards
for Best Sound (Factual) and Best Visual Effects & Graphic Design.
[21]
In other media
[
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]
Books
[
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]
A companion book to the series, titled
Walking with Beasts: A Prehistoric Safari
(titled just
Walking with Prehistoric Beasts
in the United States), was authored by Haines and released in 2001. The book is a coffee-table book which explores life in the Cenozoic through the same settings and animals as in the series itself and it contains sidebars with facts and is illustrated with stills from the series.
A Prehistoric Safari
was positively reviewed in the book review magazine
Publishers Weekly
.
[22]
In addition to the larger companion book, there were also several children's books released to accompany the series:
Walking with Beasts Annual 2002
(a longer hardback book),
[23]
Walking with Beasts: 3-D Beasts
(with
3D images
)
[24]
and
Walking with Beasts: Survival!
by
Stephen Cole
, with pictures from the series.
[25]
Walking with Beasts: Survival!
was released in the United States under the title
Walking with Prehistoric Beasts: Photo Journal
.
[26]
There was also a
Walking with Beasts
sticker book
.
[27]
Exhibition
[
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]
Gastornis
models from the
Walking with Beasts
exhibition
Woolly rhinoceros
models from the
Walking with Beasts
exhibition
An exhibition based on
Walking with Beasts
was launched by the BBC in 2007. The exhibition featured life-sized models of many of the animals that appeared in the series,
[28]
information on the science behind
Walking with Beasts
,
[29]
original animatronics and puppets from the series,
[30]
real fossils,
[30]
as well as various activities for visitors.
[28]
The exhibition was first held at the
Horniman Museum
in London from 10 February to 4 November 2007.
[28]
It was later at the
Aberdeen Science Centre
in
Aberdeen
, Scotland, from 23 March to 30 September 2009
[29]
and then at the
Herbert Art Gallery and Museum
in
Coventry
, England from 2 July to 30 October 2011.
[30]
Video game
[
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]
Walking with Beasts: Operation Salvage
is a
CD-ROM
video game
for
Windows
developed by Absolute Studios and published by
BBC Worldwide Ltd.
on 23 November 2001 as a tie-in to the series. A
top-down shooter
,
Operation Salvage
is set in 2026 after mankind's discovery of
time travel
. Players take the role of an agent of the World Wildlife Bionetwork (WWB), travelling back in time throughout the Cenozoic, observing different animals and fighting an organisation that is trapping the different creatures.
[31]
[32]
The game received mixed reviews:
7Wolf Magazine
gave it 4.3 out of 10 and
Absolute Games
gave it 40 out of 100.
[32]
Interactive version
[
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]
Walking with Beasts
aired as an interactive programme during its original UK broadcast, the first time the BBC had developed an interactive service for a non-sports programme. Among the various interactive features accessible through viewers' remote controls were the possibility to switch between narration by
Kenneth Branagh
and Dilly Barlow, to access figures and facts through pop-ups, and to view behind-the-scenes material.
[5]
Website
[
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]
An accompanying website to the series was launched in 2001. The
Walking with Beasts
website featured extensive behind-the-scenes information on the production of the series, information on the fossil evidence used to reconstruct the animals and their environments, fact files for the animals, numerous articles on palaeontological topics such as climate throughout the Cenozoic and the
extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs
, as well as various games. Games included the "Shoot the Fish experiment", where players could experiment with evolution through a simulated fish population, games dealing with topics such as camouflage and fossilisation, as well as
jigsaw puzzles
with different animal skeletons.
[33]
Notes
[
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]
- ^
a
b
Some sources give alternate figures. According to behind-the-scenes material from the later series
Walking with Monsters
(2005),
Walking with Dinosaurs
,
Walking with Beasts
and
Walking with Monsters
cost a total of £15 million to make.
[2]
Walking with Monsters
had a budget of around £3 million
[2]
and
Walking with Dinosaurs
had a budget of £6.1 million.
[3]
- ^
a
b
Indricotherium
is today generally considered synonymous with the genus
Paraceratherium
.
- ^
Gastornis
is today generally believed to have been herbivorous
- ^
The viewing figures are 7-day data, including the original Thursday broadcast and Sunday repeat for the six main episodes.
- ^
a
b
c
Not reported in the weekly top 15 programmes for four-screen viewer ratings.
References
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]
External links
[
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