#dinosaur media

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

I decided to stop dividing before the 60s for sanity reasons, and I lumped 60s 70s for having basically the same vibe across the decades

#dinosaurs #dinosaur media #fictional dinosaurs #jurassic park #palaeoblr

[lil-tachyon]

Recommend dinosaur media besides Jurassic Park?

Dinotopia: All the books are super fun, but the first and last are the best. Just some rambling, cozy journeys through an imagined land of prehistoric beasts and eclectic architecture. The middle two books are still great in terms of visuals, but they lean too much into narrative stuff and I don't think that's Gurney's strong point. The writing feels a lot more like a child's first chapter book. Maybe that's what he was going for, I'm not sure.

Xenozoic Tales: Long time fans of the blog will at this point be tired of me recommending it, but I'm not going to stop because most people I talk to (even other terminally-online SFF artists) still haven't read it. It's obviously super pulpy but it really grows into itself toward the end and is able to handle some more mature ideas without ever taking itself too seriously. Highly recommend.

An Alphabet of Dinosaurs: Just a great collection of Wayne Barlowe's paleoart. It's a 10-minute read and it's aimed at kids but you're buying it for the art and its one of the only Barlowe books you can reliably pick up for less than $10 so I'd say it's worth it. Good chance your library may have it, too.

Dinosaurs by Thomas R Holtz Jr: Very accessible non-fiction work on dinosaur biology and cladistics. It's probably a bit dated now (came out in 2007) and the art is very hit-or-miss (about half the illustrations are obvious products of the era of early digital art when everyone was photobashing and throwing these awful digital textures onto everything, ugh...) but it remains a fun and informative read. If anyone has a more contemporary but similarly thorough dinosaur book, please let me know! I know there have been a lot of huge discoveries, especially from China, since this book came out.

C. M. Kosemen's (keep track of how many times that name appears on this list) and @simon-roy 's Dinosauroids: This was a HUGE influence on what I wanted to draw and what kind of stories I wanted to tell when I first found it and middle school and it still totally holds up. Check it out here!

Walking With Dinosaurs: Huge, multi-part BBC documentary from 1999 that presented stories about Mesozoic fauna as if it was a contemporary nature documentary. The CGI for which it was initially so famous is very dated now but the practical effects are great and it's honestly the narration and presentation that sells it anyway. Also recommend Walking With Monsters which is the same thing but for the Paleozoic. People routinely upload both series on youtube, they're not hard to find.

All Yesterdays by Jon Conway, C. M. Kosemen, and Darren Naish: Unique and outrageous reconstructions of dinosaurs and other paleofauna that challenge our preconceptions and highlight the limits of our understanding of their appearance and behavior. Also really cool for me personally because in my lifetime I've seen this book go from a neat project by people I followed on deviantart to being (rightly) considered a landmark in paleoillustration.

Dino Run: This game bangs and I pity the kids who weren't around in 2008 when this took over the internet for a brief but wonderful period

The Rite of Spring segment from Fantasia: From the big bang to the climactic end of the Mesozoic, all set to Stravinsky. Apparently the only Disney media I enjoy is stuff that The Mouse just does not give a shit about because this one's also on youtube.

That's some stuff off the top of my head, should be enough for now. I may add more if I think of it. Some parting thoughts:

C. M. Kosemen's youtube channel is great for learning about what I'll call "esoteric paleontology" for lack of a better term. Also he just does lots of weird, eclectic videos that I find interesting.

I don't hesitate to recommend Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal because he's literally never disappointed me and everyone I know says it's great, but I personally have not yet gotten around to watching it.

I don't promote pseudoscience, but I do think David Peters is a funny guy with weird, neat ideas. TLDR this one guy has a bunch of fringe theories about pterosaur biology and believes that because literally no one else agrees with him that he must be being censored by "mainstream science." Don't believe any of it, just enjoy the weirdness.

Any time you can pick up a dinosaur or other paleofauna book secondhand, I recommend you do it. Tons of outdated and cheap books that nonetheless contain great illustrations. That kinda stuff is a constant source of inspiration for me.

The Land Before Time is probably still great. It's been over a decade since I last watched it, but I have fond memories. Maybe time for a rewatch...

#dinosaurs #paleoart #dinosaur media #wayne barlowe #cm kosemen #send me an ask!

[balanceoflightanddark]

Dinotopia Lost

Alright, so a while back I made a post describing how sentient predatory dinosaurs were handled in the original Dinotopia books. I mentioned a novel called Dinotopia Lost that actually focuses on the predators of the Rainy Basin along with an intriguing premise about pirates landing on the normally peaceful island, and how I considered making a post about it should I get the opportunity.

Well, that opportunity is now.

Written by noted sci-fi writer Alan Dean Foster, Dinotopia Lost can best be described as a crossover between Pirates of the Caribbean and The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

...no, I'm not kidding. It's a pretty accurate description of the book.

Swept up by a freak storm, the pirate ship Condor, lead by the fearsome Captain Brognar Blackstrap and his first mate Smiggens, is marooned on Dinotopia. Deciding to make the most of their impromptu visit, they come across a family of Struthiomimus and immediately take them captive to sell them to the highest bidder, believing them to be a rare species of animal. Naturally like all dinosaurs on the island, they are sentient, but aren't able to communicate this at all to the newcomers. To make matters worse, the pirates not only decide to make a foray into the dangerous Rainy Basin, but they also kidnap a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex.

One of the Struthies manages to escape her bonds and manages to relay the incident to Treetown, securing help from Will Denison, a Skybax rider and one of the protagonists from the original books. Along with a Protoceratops named Chaz, the three make their way into the dangerous Rainy Basin in pursuit of the pirates. Things get complicated though when the juvenile Tyrannosaur's gigantic parents are on the prowl, and tension begins to run within the ranks of the pirates. Along with an oncoming monstrous storm on the horizon, it's a race against both time, man, and beast as the heroes try to rescue the captives from Brognar's clutches.

Already the premise is pretty intriguing. Dinotopia as a setting is depicted as a utopian society where pacificism is the norm. So the idea of a group of pirates, a decidedly not pacifistic career, landing on their shores is quite an interesting scenario. Does it work?

...well. Actually, it does. Captain Brognar and his crew (especially Smiggens) are arguably the stars of the novel since the first half details them exploring the wilderness and encountering dinosaurs for the first time. Thing is, the majority of them aren't portrayed as your typical swashbucklers. They're a motley crew that comes from many nations, all brought together since society had rejected them (one almost got arrested for stealing bread for his family). While Brognar comes the closest to being your stereotypical pirate captain, the narrative makes it clear that he's the one that brought everyone together, a figure that the crew both admires and fear in equal measure for his courage, his temper, and his surprisingly quick thinking. He's not exactly the best person to work under, but you can understand why anybody would respect him.

His first mate Smiggens is the opposite. He's the only one that comes from a learned background, which puts him at odds with the others when he gets curious about the island they landed on. Including Brognar, though the captain does have a good deal of respect for his reliability. It's also Smiggens who's the first to realize that the Golden Age of Piracy is ending since their fleeing from a galleon was got them in this mess in the first place. Hell, it's a fact many of the pirates do admit as the story progresses and that many of them, outside of Brognar and his most violent followers, actually resent their lot in life. Brognar's just that much of an influence that they believe they don't have much of a choice. They're not entirely bad people, just caught up under really bad circumstances.

Their opposites in the Dinotopians bring this out. The novel does a decent job of introducing the society they live in. Especially with Will Denison as a daredevil looking to make a name for himself. He's reckless, taking the opportunity to go save the family without much backup aside from Chaz and Keelk (the escaped Struthiomimus). But he's not completely out of his depths since he's had his fair share of adventures in the past, and works more as a diplomat than an action hero you might expect from a story like this. Especially once he gets to the Rainy Basin and encounters the pirates where he tries to negotiate with them to...varying degrees of success.

His opposite is Chaz, a young translating Protoceratops who has a bit of a chip on his shoulder due to an incident involving Will's father and the famous translator Bix when they initially arrived in Dinotopia. Chaz is stuffy, not really used to going out into the wilderness and hasn't gotten the experience of his peers. He does mean well mind you, but he's not gonna be happy about it. Thing is, he's not one to back down and when Will is captured by the pirates, he's one of the most adamant that the human gets rescued. Even braves the teeth of the carnosaurs to translate for Will.

As for the carnosaurs, they're the other real stand out stars in this novel. Like I mentioned before, how Gurney handled them as choosing to live like their ancestors but aren't above negotiation is handled well here. The society of the Rainy Basin denizens are given a lot of focus which is actually very engrossing. For one, there are laws that basically say that everyone that ventures into the Rainy Basin is fair game for the carnosaurs (which makes sense given the amount of warnings and common sense everyone practices around that place). Even then, the carnivorous dinosaurs don't actually hunt most of the time since most of their diet consists of dying dinosaurs that have made pilgrimages to various graveyards throughout the rainforest (won't stop them from hunting, but it's explained as an innate predatory instinct). They also deeply respect the boundaries of each other, actively avoiding fights and even eating alongside one another if there's enough meat for everyone.

And they do have a strict code of honor. Crookeye and Shethorn, the two parent tyrannosaurs, willingly work with Will to find their kidnapped daughter after some negotiations. While Will is a bit nervous about working with them, Chaz assures the humans that no carnosaur will go back on their word. While there is some tension due to the understandable worry and anger of the parents, they do come to respect Will, Chaz, and Keelk. Even giving them names in their tongue, which is a great honor in itself. They naturally consider the party friends by the time they depart ways.

Turns out giving the heroes names in their tongue is the best thing they could've done since Will is able to use what he's learned of their language to communicate with Prettykill, the juvenile. Prettykill has just as much of an attitude like her parents, but amplified by her poor treatment and being separated from her family. It's a very understandable emotion that Will is able to sympathize with. It's especially easy for readers to see the tyrannosaurs not necessarily as monsters but a concerned and scared family trying to get back together. Especially since we get a foil in Keelk, the Struthie who is worried sick to death about her parents and siblings being held captive and almost runs herself to death trying to get help.

Which honestly one of the big themes of the novel: looking past the surface and finding what unites instead of dividing. The carnosaurs do have a form of society that, while different from the civilized Dinotopians, still have a lot of the same customs and values. The heroes and tyrannosaurs are united in their concerned for their loved ones being kidnapped and wanting to do the right thing. Even the pirates are humanized, with Will's previous experiences being a newcomer to Dinotopia being used as a comparison to how the pirates view the dinosaurs as either animals or monsters. Hell, Smiggens actually ends up wanting to stay in Dinotopia since he knows there's no future for the crew in the outside world, and manages to convince the vast majority of the crew along with Will's convincing. Plus the majesty of Dinotopia awes them into rethinking their violent ways.

A particular favorite character of mine is a good example of this: Tarqua. Tarqua is an elderly Deinonychus who had chosen a life of an ascetic. He's the first dinosaur to speak directly to the pirates, even causing them to pause a bit when he demonstrates his capability to use martial arts.

...yes. This book has a Deinonychus who meditates for most of his time, delivers some actually relevant philosophy (making him a literal Philosoraptor) and knows martial arts.

And yes, it's just as awesome as it sounds.

As a whole, I definitely believe Dinotopia Lost is worth a read. The themes and story are well executed and the characters while not perfect (a vast majority of Brognar's crew aren't that well developed and Will only gets involved around the mid-point) are still able to carry the story and are well done and developed overall. I really do think Foster does a good job of bringing Dinotopia, in particular the Rainy Basin, to life and does justice to such an interesting concept.

#dinotopia #dinotopia lost #alan dean foster #dinosaur #dinosaurs #dinosaur media #paleomedia #tyrannosaurus #struthiomimus #protoceratops #deinonychus #pirates #pirate books #dinosaur books

[dinosaurguy]

You know her? 😏

Art by: Yachter on yachter - Hobbyist, Digital Artist | DeviantArt

#not my art #amazing #awesome #dinosaurs #dinosaur media #dino crisis #jurassic park #dinosaurios #art #fanart

[digital-broccoli-pubishing]

A fascinating article about how dinosaurs introduce the concept of cosmic horror to children.

#dinosaur #cosmic horror #dinosaur media

[fleebites]

steg 🖤

#traditional media #stegosaurus #dinosaurs

[alethianightsong]

"I miss when movies weren't political-"

ALIEN is about a megacorporation coercing some salvagers into transporting a dangerous creature without telling them what it is, all because the creature could be a great bioweapon for them. When a survivor of this failed transport mission wants reparations, they screw her over to avoid a scandal.

ROBOCOP is about another mega-corporation experimenting with a cop's body and declaring him their property, trying to reduce him to an obedient killing machine who can maintain the status quo for them.

JURASSIC PARK is about a rich billionaire going all out to make a dinosaur-themed amusement park, not caring about the real-world implications of resurrecting giant lizards. He also underpays ONE guy to maintain the entire park's security systems so predictably, that one guy betrays him at a crucial moment.

The best movies weave their politics with plot & character, so you can enjoy them as entertainment but can also notice the themes. Movies without themes wind up being all spectacle and no substance, just noise and color like Michael Bay's Transformers franchise. Yeah, they make money, but they'll be forgotten in 2 generations.

#transformers #anti capitalism #barbie movie #barbie the movie #robocop #alien #aliens #alien 1979 #jurassic park #dinosaurs #socialism #capitalism #politics #wokeness #antiwoke #horror #feminism #themes #media literacy #mad max #mad max fury road #ceo #megacorporation #megacorporations #underwater 2019 #eat the rich #the hunger games #stockton rush #andrew ryan #i am legend

[hiratelier]

MMMMM energon nugget

'scuse my handwriting; I tried to make it look neat haha

#mine #comic #maccadam #transformers #transformers g1 #elite trine #g1 skywarp #g1 starscream #g1 thundercracker #skywarp #starscream #thundercracker #guys this chicken nugget audio has been looping in my head for AGES #behold. the dinosaur-shaped energon nugget #i should draw more silly comics like this sometime #hiratelier media #certified smash hits

[bunjywunjy]

Have you watched Dead Sound's Dinosauria series? I feel like you might really enjoy them, they are on his YouTube

GOD YES. it's my all-time favorite dinosaur series. he really lets the animals just be their own ambassadors with natural behaviors and background music, but it will open your ribcage and rearrange your guts anyway.

if you haven't seen the series, do yourselves a favor and watch it right now

#the last tyrant and old buck may be my favorite piece of dinosaur media ever

[foolishlovers]

anything can be a good omens au if you’re unhinged enough

#share ur wildest au ideas in the reblogs/comments if u want to pls #i’m still stuck on my h2o just add water au #crowley as rapunzel? gut-wrenching the hunger games au? superstore au with all the found family vibes? #riverdale au but they’re the parents oblivious to their kids establishing new time lines left and right #jurassic park au and they’re both dinosaurs just trying to munch on some grass #ineffable wives in a the wilds au making out on the beach while everyone else is fighting for their lives #glee au they’re teachers from another school reporting mr shue for being creepy af #crowley knows all the dances to high school musical in a modern family au #desperate housewives au but they don’t have any annoying husbands #barbie fairytopia au with rainbow wings do i need to say anything more #love island au they have a fake dating arrangement to get social media famous but they fall for each other anyways #claire’s au aziraphale gets his first piercing crowley shoots it #durex au crowley and aziraphale meet filming an ad for- [gunshot] #ok lemme stop here #good omens #aziracrow #gomens #good omens fics #good omens au #foolish talks #to write

[pansylair]

🩸 MIMIC 🩸

#gore cw #dromaeosaur #dromaeosauridae #dinosaurs #paleoart #horror art #illustration #happy new year i’m bored of uninspired and outdated dinosaur/paleo mainstream media so made this

[transformers-synergize]

How does your Wheeljack feel about King-Kong?

I G1 one enjoyer I see, I get the references ;)

Ok, but to answer the question, yes, he does in fact like King Kong, along with many other pieces of human cinema, especially the ones with giant monsters or dinosaurs. wheeljack is always looking for inspiration for new projects/inventions, and being on Earth has provided him with tons of new inspiration.

#transformers fan continuity #wheeljack #sparkplug #ratchet #transformers #transformers synergize #tfs #ask answering #text post #the dino robot is just a drone/normal robot so it dose not have a spark #Wheeljack was both excited when he found out dinosaurs were onces real and disappointed to find out they were all gone #Ratchet dose not approve of the tiny dino robot hes worried its either going to explode or bite someone and give him more repairs to do #Wheeljacks likes big cool thing that can do cool stuff #wheeljack and sparkplug bein besties havin a movie night #i don't think kingkong in my continuity would be called kinking sorta going for all media and brand names are either parodies or made up

[atempause-art]

ghost

#art #artists on tumblr #traditonal art #mixed media #dinosaur #skeleton

[sunsis]

Genuinely what a beautiful time to be a Black kid. When I was a little girl I never imagined getting quality representation beyond the stereotypical bestie or comic relief. Racists can rage all they like as long as Black kids get to smile

#representation matters #black representation #black media #black excellence #spiderverse #little mermaid #entergalactic #moon girl and devil dinosaur

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

how well do the Tim Haines documentaries (walking with dinosaurs, prehistoric beasts, etc) hold up today?

"additionally, is there anything that the Time Haines documentaries get wrong that we knew was wrong then but they just put in anyway for some reason?"

There is *so much* in the walking with series that is wrong, both at the time of making and today. In fact, this is practically a dissertation level analysis required.

The biggest things:

they did not feather their dinosaurs. they should have. yes, even in 1999.

their tyrannosaurus model is a joke

Utahraptor SHOULD NOT BE IN EUROPE tf

torosaurus? a rare ceratopsian? instead of triceratops? you're just being needlessly edgy

Unholy Mammal Bias Batman

Humans did not become bipedal because of grass. We spread across Africa because of grass, but we were bipedal before then

oh yeah, Grass evolved in the Cretaceous after all

The Maastrichtian wasn't a "dying world". there was a slight decrease in megafaunal diversity. This happens all the time, and dinosaurs had bounced back from such a dip before. This is also very North America centric - other continents had no such dips. Nonavian dinosaurs would not have gone extinct without the asteroid.

they skip the paleocene and are extremely lopsided in how they present the Cenozoic

Walking with monsters is somehow the best paleozoic documentary that currently exists and also represents the paleozoic TERRIBLY

#walking with #tim haines #walking with universe #walking with dinosaurs #palaeoblr #media review

[machetelanding]

#funny #humor #tweets #social media #calvin and hobbes #comic strips #comics #f-14 #tomcat #fighter jets #tyrannosaurus rex #dinosaurs