National Geographic's Dino Death Trap review


Dino Death Trap is one of the more well-known palaeo-documentaries under National Geographic's released in 2007, the same year as fellow well-known ones Sea Monsters and the cenozoic doc Prehistoic Predators. It's also the one that introduced the early tyrannosaur Guanlong and early ceratopsian Yinlong to me, as with many others. Might I also add it was released under the banner Dinosaurs Unearthed, shared with the documentary about Edmontosaurus, Dino Autopsy (which we will eventualy get to eventually).


The documentary is about palaeontologists from both sides of the Pacific like the iconic Xu Xing and the Tyrell Museum's David Eberth discovering a trove of fossils the Middle Jurassic of northwestern China 160-155 million years ago and working to determine how they fit in dinosaur evolution since not many dinosaur fossils are preserved from the era, in particularly a whole column with layer upon layer of dinosaur skeletons. At the end of the doc we are treated to a CG reconstruction of what was theorised to happen: ash from a volcanic eruption created a mire that trapped herbivores, which in turn trapped the carnivores.

I will be honest and just get this out of the way: I wince at the Xinjiang setting of the doc (and even crediting a Forestry department), given its an open secret the Chinese government is committing literal genocide on cultures of the region, so I can't help but wonder if deals went on that contribute between crews and such atrocities. (See these links for where you can donate to stop this.)


The Jurassic China sequences are pretty decently filmed, but nothing stands out aesthetically or . They're filmed in Chile due to the Araucaria trees seen in it. Really, so many other dinosaur documentaries film there: Walking with Dinosaurs, Prehistoric Park, When Dinosaurs Roamed America, and the Imax doc Giants of Patagonia, hell even the Jurassic World: Dominion Prologue. Let me know if I'm missing anything that uses the exact loocation. 

I do like the eruption sequence at the end, though. It's a pretty visually good event that helps add something to the documentary it would have otherwise lacked.

The colours of the dinosaurs aren't that bad. The Guanlong in particular is a nice shade of green that contrasts well with the yellows and reds of its head.

But I will be honest: the CG is not very good. Most of the movements are too fluid yet stiff at the same time and lack any real heft and bulk, asnd the details are too smooth and nondescrip. The anatomy is also pretty bad: some of the dinosaurs, like the T. rex, seem to have their arms way too inwards for instance, and the ornithopod seen throiugout it stands too upright. And do I need to mention everyone has pronated hands?


There is one thing I do feel is unique for Dino Death Trap: throughout the special we see dinosaurs on a kind of family tree. It's like a page from a book on them come to motion, and it helps it appears in other National Geographic docs from the time onwards.


A lot can change in fifteen years, but Dino Death Trap is rather unique as many of the fauna, here unnamed would be named in the next couple of years afterwards. For instance, the herbivorous ceratosaur is left unnamed, but now it's given the official genus name Limusaurus, just two years after the premiere.

The biggest Science Marches On is the premise. Death Trap suggest it was simply just mud flats the dinosaurs kept getting buried in, but in 2010, a new paper revealed these pits were actually giant trackways, no doubt made by Mamenchisaurus.

Meanwhile, the sphenosuchian Junggarsuchus (which seems to have lips at that too) is described an ancestor of modern crocs. Not even close, pal. it's only a distant relative.

Otherwise, what is there to say about Dino Death Trap? Maybe its that I like the voice of narrator Salvatore Vecchio, or they actually show CG development and concept art (and nearly included feathers on the T. rex!).
Not bad for 2007...

  • Accuracy - 7/10
  • Aging - 7/10
  • Presentation - 5/10
  • Visuals - 5/10
  • Music - 8/10
  • Rewatchability - 4/10
Overall, Dino Death Trap is a competent documentary that does a decent job of showcasing an oft-underrepresented time and has a fun focus on the science, but doesn't do enough to make itself truly memorable and worth discussing, although many including me still have a special place in my heart.

See Also

Sources

  • Black, Riley (2010). "Tracks of Giants Created Dino Death Traps". Smithsonian Magazine.
  • Eberth, D.A.; Xing, X.; Clark, J.A. (2010). "Dinosaur death pits from the Jurassic of China". PALAIOS. 25 (2): 112–125. Bibcode:2010Palai..25..112E. doi:10.2110/palo.2009.p09-028r. S2CID 131520314

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