Coming Attractions: Life on our Planet and Indiana Dinosaur Museum

Hello, and welcome back to Mesozoic Mind. I'd like to tell y'all about recently announced new palaeo-media you may want to keep an eye on and check out once they come. The reason I didn't mention them here is that I posted about them on Twitter before a man child bought and ruined it earlier.

Life On Our Planet

Hoo boy, consider me excited for this. This is a documentary narrated by God Morgan Freeman to stream on Netflix in late 2023 about the entire history of life on earth, done across eight parts. Not much is shown in the trailer, which is for more nature docs in general, but that's not a problem for me.

I'm very excited for it, as the format will allow for not just the Mesozoic, but creatures of the Palaeozoic and Cenozoic to shine. Did I mention the effecrs are being done by ILM? Without the constraints of film execs breathing down their neck like the other dinosaur project they do, the visuals and designs look truly amazing, whether its a pair of the giant Arthropleura, dinosaurs like Maiasaura and (an admittedly oddly-coloured) Anchiornis*, and both sabretooth cats and the terror bird Titanisas seen in the begining. Oh, and the requisite mammoths and T. rex also show up. Just look at them all!




I just hope its a Prehistoric Planet-style one and not a talking head-centric show with only a few minutes of actual reconstructioin sequences in situ. Also, the Titanis sequence makes me worry its gonna be another one of those "smilodon beats the terror bird because mammals better" seen in most docus about it.

* it's mostly the cyan colour that I find offputting, although the orange on the head is accurate based off presrved pigments (yes, the red ones were lies)

Indiana Dinosaur Museum


The state of Indiana isn't known for fossil finds, let alone fossil museums save for those in Indianapolis (Children's Museum and State Museum), but that could change in the future. Right now in South Bend, local entrepenuer Mark Tarner, best known for being in the confetionary business with South Bend Chocolste Co., has began constructing a new museum for dinosaurs after years of stalled progress, to feature over 600 to 800 fossil specimens Tarner dug up in a Montana ranch, apprently from the Jurassic (although I previously thought it was inevitably going to be Late Cretaceous stuff). It will also apparently feature live animals like turtles standing in for living fossils along with exhibits on local ecology. It should be opening up at a minimum in 2024 (and hopefully that's the case).

It's always welcome to have more dinosaur/fossil museums in the world, especially in a state which lacks such things. However, while I don't expect Carniegie quality from the start, part of me feel like its gonna be an overly commercialised mess, with cheap animatronics as the major draw and not much emphasis on actual education. It doesn't help it will have attached to it a chocolate factory/store, which while *might* be a major draw to it, isn't exactly something you'd asscociate with dinosaurs and might draw potential visitors away from it instead.

I am excited for both. I'll keep tabs on them, and so should you. Don't fall victim to hype, though.

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