Paleoworld
Paleoworld | |
---|---|
Genre | Documentary |
Narrated by | Ben Gazzara (Season 1), Nick Schatzki (Season 2 and Season 3) and Ted Maynard (Season 4) |
No. of seasons | 4 |
No. of episodes | 50 |
Production | |
Running time | 24 minutes |
Release | |
Original network | The Learning Channel (TLC) |
Original release | September 28, 1994 – 1997 |
Chronology | |
Related shows | When Dinosaurs Roamed America, Beyond T-rex, Valley of the T-rex and The Ultimate Guide: T-rex |
Paleoworld is an American documentary television series that aired on The Learning Channel from 1994 to 1997. The series focuses on paleontology and comprised 50 half-hour episodes. It was the first television series dedicated to paleontology that spanned multiple seasons.[1] The series is now owned by the Discovery Channel, along with other documentaries such as Beyond T. rex (1997), When Dinosaurs Roamed America (2001), Valley of the T. rex (2001), and Dinosaur Planet (2003).
Spin-off
Paleoworld never returned for a fifth season. However, TLC released a new series about dinosaurs the following year (1998) as a spin-off to the series, When Dinosaurs Ruled (called Jurassica in some countries).
Reception
Season 1 (1994) featured a smooth style and was narrated by Ben Gazzara. This series had lots of musical scenes, and some consider it to be an extremely calm and relaxing show. It also uses much more Paleoart than later series. Season 2 (1995) and Season 3 (1996) lost the musical element (as well as changing narrators), which resulted in a more conventional-style nature documentary. Even so, Seasons 2 and 3 were still perceived as maintaining the quality standard. For Season 4 (1997), the series changed narrators again, and viewers felt the show suffered a drop in quality, shifting from being musical and calm, to full-on and repetitive. Consequently, Season 4 was cancelled mid-season. The show never returned for a fifth season.
Release
Many DVDs and VHS tapes have been made with episodes from the series; however, most have been discontinued and are no longer available to purchase. Three DVDs of Paleoworld with five episodes on each were released in Australia in 2002, and a five-disc set with 15 episodes from the series was released in the US and Canada. The three-disc set was also re-released in 2010.
List of episodes
Season 1 (1994)
Season 2 (1995)
Season 3 (1996)
Season 4 (1997)
Related programs
- The Animal World (1956, narrated by Theodore von Eltz, directed by Irwin Allen)
- Dinosaurs: The Terrible Lizards (1970, directed by Wah Ming Chang who reedited a new version of this same film in 1986)
- The Great Dinosaur Discovery (one-hour-long original version, 1973, produced by Steve Linton and directed by John Linton, this Brigham Young University documentary follows paleontologist James A. Jensen while he discovers new dinosaur specimens at the Dry Mesa Quarry, in Western Colorado)
- The Great Dinosaur Discovery (24-minute-long educational version, 1976, produced by Steve Linton and directed by John Linton)
- Horizon: The Hot-Blooded Dinosaurs (1976, season 13 / episode 2, narrated by Paul Vaughan, written and produced by Robin Brightwell & Robin Bates)
- Dinosaurs: Fun, Fact and Fantasy (1982, with Derek Griffiths as the voice of Dil the Crocodile, directed by Clive Doig)
- Dinosaur! (1985, hosted by Christopher Reeve, directed by Robert Guenette)
- Dinosaurs! – A Fun-Filled Trip Back in Time! (1987, narrated by Josette DiCarlo, hosted by Fred Savage, directed by Ray Cioni & Kelli Bixler; claymation footage from the 1980 short film Dinosaur directed by Will Vinton)
- The Infinite Voyage: The Great Dinosaur Hunt (1989, season 2 / episode 2, narrated by Fritz Weaver, directed by Lionel Friedberg)
- The Great Dinosaur Hunt (1991, narrated by Kenneth Welsh, directed by Tom Radford & Andy Thomson; in spite of sharing a similar title, this documentary is completely different than the Infinite Voyage programme: that one was released in 1991 within the GoodTimes Home Video collection of VHS tapes, edited by Radford and Thomson with the same reels obtained during the filming of The Hunt for China's Dinosaurs)
- The Hunt for China's Dinosaurs (1991, narrated by Peter Thomas, directed by Tom Radford & Andy Thomson; this documentary was first aired as a NOVA programme on February the 5th, 1991, and was edited by Radford and Thomson with the same reels obtained during the filming of The Great Dinosaur Hunt)
- Dinosaur! (1991, four-part miniseries, hosted by Walter Cronkite, directed by Jim Black & Christopher Rowley; in spite of sharing the same title, this four-part miniseries has nothing to do with the TV documentary film that was hosted by Christopher Reeve in 1985)
- The Dinosaurs! (1992, four-part miniseries, narrated by Barbara Feldon, directed by Trudi Brown & Kathi White)
- Dinosaurs: Messages in Stone (1993, hosted by Leslie Nielsen, directed by John Robichaud; this documentary was re-released in 1998 under the title Dinosaur Park)
- Eyewitness: Dinosaur (1994, narrated by Andrew Sachs, produced by Ben Southwell)
- Dinosaurs: Myths & Reality (1995, hosted by Fred Applegate, directed by Graham Holloway)
- Dinosaur Hunters (1996, written and directed by Kage Glantz credited as Kage Kleiner, narrated by Michael Carroll, a National Geographic documentary about the 1990s AMNH expeditions led in the Gobi Desert by paleontologists Mike Novacek and Mark Norell)
- The Ultimate Guide: Tyrannosaurus rex (1996, narrated by Will Lyman, directed by Jane Armstrong)
- Beyond T-Rex (1997, narrated by Michael McNally, directed by Charles C. Stuart)
- T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous (1998, directed by Brett Leonard)
- When Dinosaurs Ruled (1999, six-part miniseries, narrated by Jeff Goldblum, directed by Tony Mitchell)
- Walking with Dinosaurs (1999, six-part miniseries, narrated by Kenneth Branagh, directed by Tim Haines & Jasper James)
- Walking with Beasts (2001, six-part miniseries, narrated by Kenneth Branagh, directed by Jasper James & Nigel Paterson)
- When Dinosaurs Roamed America (2001, narrated by John Goodman, directed by Pierre de Lespinois)
- Valley of the T. rex (2001, narrated by Stephen Kemble, directed by Reuben Aaronson & James McQuillan)
- The Ballad of Big Al (2001, narrated by Kenneth Branagh, produced by Tim Haines & Jasper James)
- Chased by Dinosaurs (2002, hosted by Nigel Marven, directed by Tim Haines & Jasper James)
- Horizon: The Mystery of the Jurassic (2002, narrated by Jack Fortune, written and directed by Jonathan Renouf)
- Walking with Cavemen (2003, four-part miniseries, hosted and narrated by Robert Winston, directed by Richard Dale & Pierre de Lespinois)
- Sea Monsters (2003, three-part miniseries, hosted by Nigel Marven, directed by Jasper James)
- Dinosaur Planet (2003, four-part miniseries, narrated by Christian Slater, hosted by Scott D. Sampson, directed by Pierre de Lespinois)
- Before We Ruled the Earth (2003, two-part miniseries, narrated by Linda Hunt & John Slattery, directed by Pierre de Lespinois)
- Walking with Monsters (2005, three-part miniseries, Kenneth Branagh, directed by Chloe Leland & Tim Haines)
- Prehistoric Park (2006, six-part miniseries, narrated by David Jason, hosted by Nigel Marven, directed by Sid Bennett, Karen Kelly & Matthew Thompson)
- Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia (2007, narrated by Donald Sutherland, directed by Marc Fafard)
- Dinosaurs Alive! (2007, narrated by Michael Douglas, directed by David Clark & Bayley Silleck)
- Jurassic Fight Club (2008, 12-part miniseries, narrated by Erik Thompson, directed by Kreg Lauterbach)
- Clash of the Dinosaurs (2009, four-part miniseries, narrated by Jason Hildebrandt, directed by Nick Green)
- Bizarre Dinosaurs (2009, narrated by Peter Cullen, directed by Jenny Kubo)
- Dinosaurs Decoded (2009, narrated by Michael Carroll, written, produced and directed by Dan Levitt)
- Prehistoric Assassins (2010, two-part miniseries -"Claws and Jaws" & "Blood in the Water"-, narrated by Phil Crowley, written and produced by Sean Dash)
- Prehistoric (2010, four-part miniseries, written and produced by Sven Berkemeier)
- Last Day of the Dinosaurs (2010, narrated by Bill Mondy, directed by Richard Dale, this documentary reuses footage from Clash of the Dinosaurs)
- Land of Dinosaurs (2010, directed by Lee Dong-hui)
- Tyrannosaurus Sex (2010, narrated by Michael Carroll, directed by Gabriel Gornell)
- Dinosaurs, Myths and Monsters (2011, written and hosted by Tom Holland, directed by Jamie Muir)
- Planet Dinosaur (2011, six-part miniseries, narrated by John Hurt, directed by Nigel Paterson)
- Extinct: A Horizon Guide to Dinosaurs (2011, hosted by Dallas Campbell, directed by Penny Palmer, this documentary reuses Horizon footage)
- Dinosaur Revolution (2011, narrated by Rick Robles, directed by David Krentz & Erik Nelson)
- Dinotasia (2012, narrated by Werner Herzog, directed by David Krentz, Erik Nelson and David E. Duncan, Dinotasia utilises used and unused footage from Dinosaur Revolution)
- Adventures of Ceratops (2014, two-part miniseries, directed by Hong Sang-woon, Kim Hwan-gyun & Lee Dong-hui)
- Dinosaur Britain (2015, two-part miniseries, hosted by Ellie Harrison, directed by Gareth Johnson)