Prehistoric Planet on Apple TV +: “Dinosaurs Are Not Monsters”

This series, a prehistoric planet, takes viewers back 66 million years to rediscover our world and the dinosaurs that inhabit it, with spectacular precision, accompanied by Hans Zimmer’s original music.

Meet the paleontologist who served as the series’ chief consultant, Dr. Darren Nish, and showman Mike Ganton and Tim Walker.

AlloCiné: How did you create this series and why did you turn to John Favreau to help you produce it?

Mike Ganton: It all started in Africa, ten years ago, when I was filming a series with Sir David Attenborough. He was in ecstasy in front of these fantastic pictures of wild animals and a large space. For him it was the biggest show on the planet. But I wondered if there was no more to shoot, and it was then that I said to myself that we could make a dinosaur series more real than life, but in this real environment, in these magical landscapes that Africa can offer.

The combination of the latest computer graphics and the majesty of nature has produced only spectacular results. This is the result, the first show to be held about 66 million years ago, but shot in a completely natural setting and in the XXI.^E Century. I met John Favreau 2-3 years ago in one of Apple’s offices. From our first discussion we realized that this association was created Prehistoric planet Blessed by the gods.

Of course, this shooting was not helped by Covid. But thankfully, a major part of the job was creating digital dinosaurs. That said, it was a headache to shoot different series of this series on location and all over the world, especially since we have such a numerous and diverse environment, from forest to desert, to glacier landscapes and so on.

Tim Walker: I was completely overwhelmed by this project when I learned about the association of all these geniuses like Mike Ganton, John Favreau and Apple. We can not miss such a dream team. Dr. Naysch was crucial to making the dinosaurs we were going to create as realistic as possible. But in this adventure we have also encountered other specialists such as zoologist and climatologist.

The experience of John, who worked on The Lion King and the Jungle Book, proved necessary to have perfect mastery of the computer graphics of the various dinosaurs you will encounter. It is really as if we managed to travel through time in an unusual car and set up our camera in the middle of these glorious creatures.

We decided to shoot realistically. For example, if you came across a T-Rex, you would not be able to shoot it up close. So we were able to keep our distance, depending on the dinosaur we were shooting.

Dr. Darren Nish: I think the time is right for this series because never before have so many new species of dinosaurs been discovered than now. We discover a new specimen of dinosaurs every week and it’s really wonderful. That’s about 50 new dinosaurs by the end of the year.

Thanks to new technology, we can also better understand the behavior that these dinosaurs had in addition to their physical appearance. This brings us closer to the age of the dinosaurs with us. This series really presents a new perspective on that time and those creatures. And especially with new species of dinosaurs that you have never seen before because they have just been discovered.

Why are we fascinated by the age of dinosaurs?

Dr. Darren Nish: Because they are the most physically impressive creatures with their morphology, unique appearance. It really forces us to travel to another planet to observe them. I think it’s also because of the fear that inspires them. Imagine a T-Rex head the size of a medium-sized man, imagine what power it has.

I am now fascinated by the duck-faced dinosaur with its long neck, which is part of the family of Hadrosaurs, such as the Amurosaurs, Angulomastacators, or Lavocatais. I can not stop being surprised every time we make a new discovery. I think this series is the most realistic to get acquainted with the world of dinosaurs.

I also hope that this series will show you the weakness of the world in which we live and how we can one day disappear like these creatures. So we have to realize this and do everything we can to maintain order in our environment.

Tim Walker: I was part of an expedition that completed the discovery of the creatures mentioned by Dr. Naishi in Mongolia, and I too am amazed by these dinosaurs. But what is most fascinating and a community favorite is the T-Rex. I hope you will discover a new, more realistic vision for T-Rex. Will surprise you. I hope our series will awaken a new generation of curiosity that will introduce them to a fantastic and magical world.

Mike Ganton: Dinosaurs are the coolest creatures in the eyes of children. I also think the mystery of their existence and why they disappeared makes their myth even more fascinating. Because nothing is clear in this area and the true history of dinosaurs is still unclear. We are trying to answer some of the questions we still have in this series.

Finally, I hope that with this series we will show you that dinosaurs are not monsters, but just fantastic creatures that occupied our planet before our arrival. We almost tried to humanize them. If the series will work with the public, we can come back with a new season as there are many dinosaurs to show you.