Mesozoic Mind

I like The Dinosaurs , Netflix's spinoff/sequel to the otherwise-mediocre Life on our Planet  that's not to be confused with PBS' 1992 series. Dare I say it, it's even better then Surviving Earth . But this isnt to say it's perfect. It often oversimplifies evolution and is way too focus on interspecies fights. Here's what I would do if I were making it. General Rename the series from the generic The Dinosaurs. Call it…  Age of the Dinosaurs . I would further away with the “Le Epic Clash of Evolutionary Dynasties” angle that LOOP was huffing. No taxa goes unnamed, everything is by name or an onscreen title. Rise Rhyncosaurs are deopixted going extinct not because of conifers alone, but because the low-lying ferns they were specialized in eating were mostly replaced with new low-lying flora (such as conifers) they couldn't eat, much like the stegosaurs of the Early Cretaceous in the same documentary. Replace the Procompagnathus with a young Liliensternus . Th...

Two years. Two years at Mesozoic Mind , through ups and downs and bringing you the best I could give you, and expanded my horizons in life, to go where I could only dream of. To celebrate, here's what I made for all of you readers as a gift: remaking Walking with Dinosaurs for the 21st century as I'd do it. Yeah, I know, people stopped doing this kind of thing years ago, but what the heck, I wanted to do it myself, and I only really do the big ones for special occasions like these. The episodes would be quite different from the origials in setting, but would stil have enough rocognisable creature archtypes and plot beats to show which corresponds to which. Although I still see fit to tell you which is which. Also, please forgive any anachronisms in the lineups I have created. I tried my best to avoid them. Also also, the pictures used here serve to get an idea of what things would feel or look like, not be direct representations. Episode One - Archosauria Art by Olmagon Set in...

We made it to 75 posts and 10,000 views and beyond everyone! To celebrate that and the launch of the new Mesozoic Mind Discord server (oh yeah, that's now a thing), here is a two-in-one: a new instalment of Palaeo-Redo, and a new Random Palaeo-Work idea of the Day. First up is Palaeo-Redo , this time if my selected work were made by me or updated. This time, what better to commemorate the start of my blog writings then my first big breakthroughs, Dino Lab  and  Cameron and his Dinosaurs . My idea for Dino Lab  (both I and II) is to make it a full series about six episodes long set on a whole campus, with both indoor and outdoor facilities to conduct the experiments with the dinosaurs, not just indoor ones that just raise all sorts of welfare concerns I have with the present version. Each episode and the experiments within them would focus on a different topic. Senses Locomotion Feeding and Hunting Sociality Communication Internal Organs The expanded runtime woul...

Yeah, I'm just gonna say it: while its definitely an incredible doc, Prehistoric Planet does falter in some spots. Some groups get shafted entirely, and the series' jumping around locations a la Planet Earth doesn't help give a connection to the animals in my humble opinion. But hey, no work is perfect. Even Walking with Dinosaurs had quetionable creative choices and designs. Here's how I would make the already great Apptle TV+ show into downright, absolute god-tier material in my book, while still retaining as much as I can. In my version, episodes are done by regions or continents instead of environments, as I feel unlike the original, mine can maintain a better sense of focus and continuity. Also, rather then the same intro with the Oxford T. rex over and over each episode, each one is different with a different skeleton of a Mesozoic creature featured. So without further ado, in honour of 6000 views, here's how I would Palaeo-Redo (trademark pending) Prehisto...

Hello, and welcome back to a Palaeo-Redo instalment for Mesozoic Mind, where I try and look at how I would either do a palaeo-work if I were making it, or how I'd remake and update it. Given that we celebrated our first anniversary with it, how about we do Jurassic Park? The Lost World: Jurassic Park Starting off  The Lost World , I would actually split the film into a two-parter film for more breathing room for the story. The first part would move the freeing of the captured dinosaurs more to the climax, with the finale being the village chase and the escape. The ending is of the bull T. rex, as well as several other dinosaurs (three  Triceratops , some raptors, procompsognathus , and a Mamenchisaurus  just for a full other Lost World homage), being captured and ready for transport. The second part (no doubt released in 1998) would be about the dinosaurs on the mainland in San Diego and the efforts to recapture them (the much beloved Roland Tembo helps out with this) an...

Hello, everyone (and boy there's little chance of topping the previous Stratigraphy post for a long time, like holy $#!+). Today, we're gonna do our second instalment of Palaeo-Redo. Specifically, we're gonna give a makeover to the 2007 Imax documentary Dinosaurs Alive!  by Giant Screen Films, also the source of the roaring dinosaur so many use on the internet. While I haven't reviewed  Dinosaurs Alive yet, I will tell you there isn't much in the way of Dinosaurs being alive in the film through CG sequences, which are fairly short and few, with most of the doc focusing on palaeontologists of the American Museum of Natural History. While not a bad idea on paper, the fact that there isn't all that much dinosaurs (what people pretty much come for) in it makes it in my opinion a bit of a letdown, not helped by a sluggish pace that makes it hard to get through. This is a shame, as the models for the prehistoric life are all pretty good. But what if things had gone a...

For my birthday (well weekend afterwards) in 2021, me and my mother went to the Royal Ontario Museum, and several times afterwards. I loved all of it, but me being me, I looked most forward to the museum's dinosaur gallery, the James and Louise Temerty Galleries of the Age of Dinosaurs. They were good, but I did feel they could be better, and with some of if not a lot of the info and exhibit design outdated to the 2000's, it's due for a renovation. Now today we're doing something new: Palaeo-Redo , where I reimagine works of palaeo-media, both as I would have done or could be improved. And without further ado, I present... The Ahmed Family Gallery of Dinosaurs ! The new gallery will be themed around the jaws and teeth of dinosaurs and their diets and evolution. In one direction, if you arrive from the Dawn of Life Gallery, the axis would be the latter and how environmental change impacted them. In the other direction, is the anatomical differences between clades of dino...