What Killed the Mega-Beasts?
Wow! This Discovery Channel documentary uses high-end (not quite Monsters Inc., but getting close…) animation to bring to life the out-sized creatures that populated the world between two- and fifty-thousand years ago. Live action and animation are blended smoothly to create truly excellent scenes of monster-sized beavers, and of Native American mammoth hunts – truly a spectacle to be seen and very well executed. These animated sequences are seamlessly blended with the Disc…very Channel’s usual high-quality documentary fare: well-spoken and respected scientists from a variety of fields clearly elucidate both the nature of the mega-beasts and their demise.
The documentary presents five examples of the mega-beasts of yore – the aforementioned 17ft long, 900lb monster beavers are only one of them. The presentation of different monsters is interspersed with discussion on three theories as to why these creatures no longer exist, and implications their extinction has for our own future.
Interesting content and great animation create a documentary that is palatable to all ages and levels of knowledge.
Video
Exceptional quality through-out. Its always wonderful to watch documentaries that are backed by gobs of funding – great camera work, great sound, good video mastering, top-notch post-production. Awesome colours, no grain, and overall very watchable.
Audio
Straight 2.0 does the job very well for a primarily verbal documentary. You won’t be blown away in the animated action sequences, but given that this is a documentary, chances are that’s not your goal. As it is, the overall sound quality is an excellent complement for this production – clear and professional.
Final Thoughts
If you are into documentaries, paleosciences, etc – pick this up. The science isn’t too deep, but the animated/live-action visualizations make it worth seeing.
