It’s mildly insane that a straight-to-streaming BBC miniseries narrated by David Attenborough sports more interesting and realistic CGI dinosaurs than an installment in the only dinosaur-centric movie franchise Hollywood has seen fit to give us. Not that the abysmal Jurassic World: Dominion was a high bar to clear, but 2022’s Prehistoric Planet cleared the hell out of it. Taking the same tack as 1999’s Walking With Dinosaurs, Prehistoric Planet presented itself as a traditional nature documentary, with narrated footage of creatures going about their daily lives.1 The visual effects are phenomenal, the individual stories are compelling, and the science is updated to reflect the most recent findings, feathered dinosaurs and fuzzy pterosaurs and all.2 Prehistoric Planet was believe it or not one of my favorite pieces of filmmaking last year.
And it is back from extinction!3 Attenborough, along with executive producer Jon Favreau and effects company MPC (The Jungle Book, The Lion King), are bringing a second season to Apple TV+ on May 22nd, and I could not be happier. In a culture that is increasingly averse to science, it’s nice to see something so unapologetically dorky and passionate and awe inspiring. I am Lewton Bus‘ Senior Dinosaur Correspondent, so I’m legally required to be pumped about this, but this is some seriously great news. Meanwhile, you have a few months to watch or rewatch season one in anticipation.
My wishlist: Baryonyx, Therizinosaurus, and the weirdo bat-winged Yi.
