A brand-new documentary series all about dinosaurs landed on Netflix earlier this month (6 March), and it's safe to say it's reignited many people's childhood obsessions with the ancient reptiles.
From the first dinosaurs to the last, the Morgan Freeman-voiced and Steven Spielberg-produced documentary series examines their 165 million years on Earth and the forces that shaped their evolution.
Across four episodes, The Dinosaurs charts evolution from early proto-dinosaurs to the giants of the late Cretaceous, mixing familiar names like Stegosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex with newer finds and showing how species adapt to a shifting planet on land, in the air, and at sea.
From feathered pioneers to ocean predators, it builds toward the only survivors still around today, which are, you guessed it, birds.
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The documentary, which uses visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic, the team behind the spellbinding ABBA Voyage, has received an impressive 100 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer. Check out the official trailer here:
While the hype has been seemingly never-ending for the dino doc, some palaeontologists have now come forward to address the Netflix programme's allegedly 'misleading' details.
Taking to the Palaeontology thread on Reddit, one person asked: "Palaeontologists of Reddit, is the new Netflix documentary The Dinosaurs worth watching?"
It didn't take long for many supposed experts to rush in to share their verdicts, with one writing: "Some of the information presented could be pretty misleading.
"Some scenes also have omitted context that could have increased their educational value. I just wish they explained some things better. There are also some species that aren't given proper identification."
The Redditor declared that some of the info shown was 'a bit bare-bones,' adding: "It also semi-accurately shows that the dinosaurs' rise to dominance was because of the Triassic mass extinction (the 'evolutionary superiority' framing did hurt the accuracy quite a bit though)."
They added in a separate comment that the series was a 'shallow' watch but not a 'terrible' one.
Another viewer liked the range of lesser-known creatures getting screen time, from Procompsognathus to Tanystropheus, and thought the visual effects did a solid job bringing them to life.
Still, they echoed that the narration had 'varying accuracy' and some characters were 'dull'.
They concluded: "Worth a watch... just wish the script for the narration was better."
A third critic found the supposed mispronunciations 'disappointing', while others barely clocked them.
And a fourth claimed the series was 'overly dramatic' and had 'little educational value'.
Others, however, couldn't have disagreed more, with one viewer saying they were moved to tears by the finale.
"The bird/dinosaur montage and comparing behaviours made me very emotional and reminded me how resilient and successful dinosaurs were and still are today," they admitted.
Meanwhile, Dr Steven Brusatte, a palaeontologist and professor at Scotland’s University of Edinburgh, told TODAY.com: "This is a technically and scientifically impressive series that clearly is one of the best dinosaur series that’s ever been made."
He continued: "The CGI dinosaurs are, generally speaking, lifelike and realistic, and while I can quibble with little things as a scientist, we have to accept that there is so much artistic license that must go into making programmes like these, because there is so much we don’t know about exactly how dinosaurs behaved and moved and sounded and interacted, as the fossil record is limited."
Giving praise for the narrative of The Dinosaurs and how it doesn't just portray them as vicious warriors, he concluded: "It’s a story of dinosaur evolution over time, and as a scientist who has studied dinosaur evolution and written about dinosaur evolution for the public, I always love seeing media that embrace that historical narrative of dinosaurs changing and adapting, and not just dinosaurs as monsters biting and scratching and fighting."
The Dinosaurs is currently available to stream on Netflix.
Topics: Animals, News, World News, Netflix, Documentaries, TV And Film
Rhiannon Ingle