Director: Kate Bartlett

Summary: The creators of 'Walking With Dinosaurs' tell the story of the complete dinosaur fossil which was found in Wyoming in the USA. Research found that the fossil was one hundred and forty-five million years old. This programme recreates the life and times of that dinosaur.

This WALKING WITH DINOSAURS special uses advanced computer animation to bring a 145-million-year-old dinosaur to life on the screen. Found in Wyoming, USA, the creature, dubbed Big Al, was discovered as a nearly complete skeleton. The viewer can follow Big Al from birth to death, as he struggles to survive in a harsh environment populated by relentless predators. A second programme focuses on the amazing discovery of Big Al's remains.

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The Ballad of Big Almanages the tricky feat of making the viewer feel concern--even sympathy--for a 10m-long, razor-fanged carnivorous predator, an Allosaurus from 145,000,000 years ago. That it does so without resorting to Disney tactics makes its achievement all the more admirable--despite the title, these creatures thankfully don't even speak, let alone sing. In fact, Big Alscores precisely because it takes a resolutely low-key, restrained and intelligent approach to a subject that can all too often end up being sentimentalised.

The programme contains two separate half-hour segments originally transmitted as Walking With Dinosaurs"specials" The first is a biopic of Big Al, the allosaurus whose remarkably complete skeleton, found in Wyoming in 1991, allowed scientists to piece together an accurate picture of the creature's life. We follow Al from his hatching out of an egg, then at regular stages through his development into an almost fully grown adult. Almost being the operative word since, since after suffering a series of injuries Al becomes too ill to hunt and suffers an arbitrary, unspectacular demise (all the more believable and touching for it) in late adolescence.

The second programme is a "making of" documentary, showing how scientists analysed Al's bones and came up with a plausible series of adventures for him. It's easy to forget that these recreations can only be educated supposition--the camerawork and narration (by Kenneth Branagh) exactly mimic actual wildlife documentaries about living species, while the computer-generated depiction of the dinosaurs is never less than utterly convincing. We're in danger of taking this kind of dazzling FX work for granted, but Big Alfreshens it up by putting it at the service of a well-structured, very specific narrative.

The programme doesn't hold back on realities of the Jurassic period's harsh, kill-or-be-killed ecosystem, but while it carries an official warning about "mild wildlife horror", Big Alsensibly never dwells on the gory stuff. The most graphic section is also, strangely, the most alluring, as a hungry pack of Allosaurs patiently stalk a herd of colossal Diplodocus across a dry salt lake. The images of these enormous creatures trotting and lumbering along against a stark white background have a surreal, dreamy beauty--the spell abruptly broken when an ailing Diplodocus collapses, exhausted, and the ravenous Allosaurs quickly move in for their bloody feast. --Neil Young

Aspect Ratio:	16:9 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Animated Menus, Photo Gallery, Scene Selection, Storyboard Comparison
Subtitles:	Dutch
Year:	2000
Release Date:	June 4, 2001
Runtime:	63 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	B B C D V D 1066
Keywords:	Special, With, World, Big, Ballad, Living, Walking, Dinosaurs, Universe, History, Natural, Al
Genre:	Living World/Universe