''Land of Giants'' and ''The Giant Claw'', marketed together as ''Chased by Dinosaurs'' in the United States, are two special episodes of the

nature documentary A nature documentary or wildlife documentary is a genre of documentary film or series about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures, usually concentrating on video taken in their natural habitat but also often including footage of t ...

television series ''

Walking with Dinosaurs ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' is a 1999 six-part nature documentary television miniseries created by Tim Haines and produced by the BBC Science Unit the Discovery Channel and BBC Worldwide, in association with TV Asahi, ProSieben and France 3. Envi ...

''.'''' Created by Impossible Pictures and produced by the

BBC Natural History Unit The BBC Studios Natural History Unit (NHU) is a department of BBC Studios that produces television, radio and online content with a natural history or wildlife theme. It is best known for its highly regarded nature documentaries, including '' ...

, the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

and

ProSieben ProSieben (, ''sieben'' is German for "seven"; often stylized as Pro7) is a German free-to-air television network owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media. It was launched on 1 January 1989. It is Germany's second-largest privately owned television company ...

, ''The Giant Claw'' was first broadcast on 30 December 2002, followed by ''Land of Giants'' on 1 January 2003. The two episodes stars British wildlife presenter

Nigel Marven Nigel Alan Marven (born 27 November 1960) is a British wildlife TV presenter, naturalist, conservationist, author, and television producer. He is best known as presenter of the BBC miniseries '' Chased by Dinosaurs'', its sequel, '' Sea Monsters ...

as a " time-travelling zoologist", interacting with dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures, a drastic change in presentation from preceding entries in the '' Walking with...'' franchise. As with previous documentaries in the ''Walking with...'' franchise, ''Land of Giants'' and ''The Giant Claw'' recreated extinct animals through a combination of

computer-generated imagery Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the use of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, simulators, and visual effects in films, television programs, shorts, commercials, and videos. The image ...

and

animatronics Animatronics refers to mechatronic puppets. They are a modern variant of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films and in theme park attractions. It is a multidisciplinary field integrating puppetry, anatomy ...

, incorporated into

live action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ...

footage shot at various locations. The choice to include a presenter was made to more easily allow audiences to see the scale of the creatures shown in the episodes. Both episodes have Marven on a purposeful journey; in ''The Giant Claw'', Marven searches for the long-clawed ''

Therizinosaurus ''Therizinosaurus'' (; meaning 'scythe lizard') is a genus of very large therizinosaurid that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now the Nemegt Formation around 70 million years ago. It contains a single species, ''Theriz ...

'' and in ''Land of Giants'' he searches for the enormous ''

Argentinosaurus ''Argentinosaurus'' is a genus of giant sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Argentina. Although it is only known from fragmentary remains, ''Argentinosaurus'' is one of the largest known land animal ...

'' and ''

Giganotosaurus ''Giganotosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Argentina, during the early Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 99.6 to 95 million years ago. The holotype specimen was discovered in th ...

''. The visual effects of the episodes were praised, with both episodes together winning the

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Outstanding Animated Programme in 2004 and ''The Giant Claw'' winning a

BAFTA TV Award The BAFTA TV Awards, or British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the BAFTA. They have been awarded annually since 1955. Background The first-ever Awards, given in 1955, consisted of six categories. Until ...

for Best Visual Effects in 2003. The success of ''Land of Giants'' and ''The Giant Claw'' spawned further prehistoric miniseries starring Marven: '' Sea Monsters'' (2003) and ''

Prehistoric Park ''Prehistoric Park'' is a six-part nature docu-fiction television mini-series that premiered on ITV on 22 July 2006 and on Animal Planet on 29 October 2006. The programme was produced by Impossible Pictures, who also created ''Walking with Di ...

'' (2006). For his role as the presenter of ''Land of Giants'' and ''Sea Monsters'', Marven was nominated for a

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

Programme award.

Premise

''Land of Giants'' and ''The Giant Claw'' sees time-travelling zoologist

travel back in time to encounter and interact with prehistoric life. Marven seeks to solve palaeontological mysteries through direct observation. In ''The Giant Claw'' he searches for the obscure dinosaur ''

''. Because of its giants claws, Marven mistakenly initially believes it to have been an enormous carnivore. In the ''Land of Giants'', Marven seeks to track down ''

'', one of the largest dinosaurs to ever live, and observe how they were hunted by the giant predatory dinosaur ''

''.

Production

''Land of Giants'' and ''The Giant Claw'' were created by Impossible Pictures, creators of the original 1999 series of ''

''. The same technologies used to restore the animals in the previous series were used to reconstruct the prehistoric creatures and environments showcased in the specials, with computer-generated animals and animatronics being used for the animals and background footage being shot in real natural environments. The visual effects were created by visual effects company

Framestore Framestore is a British animation, visual effects company and creative studio based on Chancery Lane in London. Formed in 1986, it acquired (and subsequently merged with) the Computer Film Company in 1997. It works on feature films and telev ...

, which had also worked on previous installments in the ''Walking with...'' franchise, including the original ''Walking with Dinosaurs''. Because grass had not yet evolved in the Cretaceous, the location team had to look for filming sites where there was no grass. Filming locations included

Fraser Island Fraser Island ( Butchulla: ) is a World Heritage-listed island along the south-eastern coast in the Wide Bay–Burnett region, Queensland, Australia. The island is approximately north of the state capital, Brisbane, and is within the Fras ...

in Australia and

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the Archipelago, archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitant ...

(including the lava-covered slopes of Mount Teide, prominently figuring in ''Land of Giants'') in the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, :es:Canarias, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to ...

. The decision to include a wildlife presenter, ''The Giant Claw'' being the first time a wildlife presenter had ever been depicted interacting with computer-generated dinosaurs, was made to more easily allow the audience to see the true scale of the creatures shown in the programme.

Tim Haines Tim Haines is a screenwriter, producer and director who is best known for his work on the BBC popular science shows ''Walking with Dinosaurs'', ''Walking with Beasts'', and ''Walking with Monsters''. He is co-creator and executive producer o ...

, the creator of ''Walking with Dinosaurs'', had seen Nigel Marven's work with modern-day reptiles and approached him about the possibility of producing a programme in which Marven travelled back in time to meet dinosaurs, a prospect which Marven was enthusiastic about. Haines and Marven first discussed the prospect of producing the specials on 11 September 2001, the meeting being held at the exact same time as the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

in New York. In one segment of ''The Giant Claw'', Marven is chased by

velociraptor ''Velociraptor'' (; ) is a genus of small dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 75 million to 71 million years ago. Two species are currently recognized, although others have been assigned in th ...

s and has to climb up a tree to escape. While climbing, Marven accidentally put his finger under a vine before stepping on it, which led to one of his fingernails being pulled off. In order to protect himself from infection, Marven then had to wear a bandage on his finger. The bandage and injury was incorporated into the story of the episode, with a ''

Mononykus ''Mononykus'' ( , sometimes ; meaning "one claw") is a genus of alvarezsaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now Asia on the Nemegt Formation, about 70 million years ago. ''Mononykus'' was a very small theropod, estim ...

'' being depicted as biting Marven's finger.

Episodes

Reception

Reviews

Paul Hoggart Paul Hoggart is a British journalist and novelist. Early life and career Hoggart spent some years as a further education lecturer at Kingsway College and then Woolwich College in London before moving into journalism as a book reviewer, featur ...

gave ''Land of Giants'' and ''The Giant Claw'' a positive review in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'', calling them "stunningly animated". The episodes was also positively reviewed in the '' Sunday Express''. The ''Sunday Express'' review called the them "beautifully produced" with "breathtaking" animation and also called Marven's performance "incredible convincing" and worthy of an

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

Awards

In 2003, ''The Giant Claw'' won a

for Best Visual Effects. In 2004, ''The Giant Claw'' and ''Land of Giants'' won the

for Outstanding Animated Programme. For his work in ''Land of Giants'' and in the subsequent miniseries '' Sea Monsters'', also part of the ''Walking with...'' series and produced by Impossible Pictures, Nigel Marven was nominated for a

Programme award in 2004 for best presenter (factual).

Successor series

Following Marven's work on ''The Giant Claw'' and ''Land of Giants'', he was approached by Jasper James, producer of both episodes and director of ''Land of Giants'', about the prospect of producing a standalone series where Marven travelled to different prehistoric seas and swam with ancient sea creatures. Marven was enthusiastic and agreed to partake in the project. The series, titled '' Sea Monsters'', was announced by the BBC on 29 July 2003 and first aired in November the same year. In addition to ''Sea Monsters'', both Marven and James returned to prehistory with the series ''

'', also created by Impossible Pictures. ''Prehistoric Park'' is unconnected to the '' Walking with...'' series and was produced by ITV, ProSieben,

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily ...

and M6. Marven starred in the series and James served as executive producer. ''Prehistoric Park'' took a year to film and first aired in July–August 2006. It is today considered a

cult classic A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

Notes

References

External links

* {{BBC Natural History Unit BBC television documentaries Discovery Channel original programming Documentary television series about dinosaurs 2000s British documentary television series 2002 British television series debuts 2003 British television series endings Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program winners Television series by BBC Studios Walking with... pl:Wędrówki z dinozaurami#Powrót dinozaurów