Prehistoric Beast

''Prehistoric Beast'' is a ten-minute-long experimental animated film conceived, supervised and directed by Phil Tippett in 1984. This sequence is the first film produced by the Tippett Studio, founded by Tippett. Made with the go motion animation technique, scenes from ''Prehistoric Beast'' were included in the 1985 full-length documentary '' Dinosaur!'', first aired on CBS in the United States on November 5, 1985.

Content

Set 65 million years ago in what is now the Canadian province of Alberta, this short film depicts the chase and predation of a ''Monoclonius'' (also known as ''Centrosaurus'' --the synonym name-- see below) by a ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (or a closely related genus; see below). The short opens with a tracking shot in the middle of a forest at night: the ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' is busy eating and finishing an '' Edmontosaurus'' carcass. The next morning, a herd of ''Monoclonius'' is seen grazing. One member wanders into the forest to find more food. It finds a field of flowers and begins grazing. It wanders in further and starts to be hunted by the same ''Tyrannosaurus rex''. The ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' steps on a twig, which makes the ''Monoclonius'' wary. The ''Monoclonius'' lets out a trumpet to signal the herd, then, possibly curious, keeps walking deeper into the forest. It soon stumbles upon the remains of the ''Edmontosaurus'' killed by the ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' and becomes a little scared. While the ''Monoclonius'' ponders over the carcass, the ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' sneaks up from behind. The ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' begins the battle by attacking the ''Monoclonius'' and biting hard on its back. The ''Monoclonius'' manages to break free from its enemy's jaws and gores the ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' in its shin with its nasal horn, but this apparently enrages the ''Tyrannosaurus'' which then goes for broke and corners it near some trees. The ''Monoclonius'' lets out one last cry before it is presumably or possibly killed. The ''Monoclonius'' herd start to call out for their missing member, not knowing at first that it is killed. The ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' is last seen trying to find a place to sleep and digest its meal.

Inconsistency

The film is set 65 million years ago in what is now Alberta, in modern Canada. This is consistent with the presence of the carnivore dinosaur shown in the short if we consider that the carnivore corresponds to the genus ''Tyrannosaurus''. Indeed, in the mid-1980s when the short was released, tyrannosaurs (including ''Tyrannosaurus'', ''Albertosaurus'', and ''Daspletosaurus'') were considered as an extant species in North America 65 million years before the present. It also is correctly depicted with two fingers on each hand. Currently, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event that engaged the extinction of tyrannosaurs and other non-avian dinosaurs is admitted to have happened far before, approximately 66 million years ago.

However, the herbivore dinosaur in the short is a ceratopsian and it might be identified as a ''Monoclonius''. But it also could be a ''Centrosaurus''. Some scientists already have suggested that both genera, ''Monoclonius'' and ''Centrosaurus'', are synonyms (the same dinosaur). Specimens of both genera, whether or not synonymised with ''Centrosaurus'', are found in close stratigraphic ranges: from 77 million years ago (Ma) to 74.8 Ma for ''Monoclonius'' and from 76.5 Ma to 75.5 Ma for ''Centrosaurus''. Even if considered as separated genera --not synonyms; not the same dinosaur-- ''Centrosaurus''' temporal range is completely overlapped by Monoclonius' own temporal range (of course only in the cases when the affected fossil remains are attributed to ''Monoclonius''). Whether or not ''Monoclonius'' is a synonym of ''Centrosaurus'', none of them were extant populations of dinosaurs in the period where the short is set. This is 65 million years ago.

The temporal range of specimens in the ''Tyrannosaurus'' genus does not overlap with that of ''Monoclonius''/''Centrosaurus'' (even though these dinosaurs --''Tyrannosaurus rex'' and ''Monoclonius''/''Centrosaurus''-- both lived in North America in the upper Late Cretaceous). The latter spans in a stratigraphic range where several carnivore dinosaurs were morphologically very similar to ''Tyrannosaurus rex'', sharing the same period and geographical area than ''Monoclonius''/''Centrosaurus''. A few examples of such carnivore dinosaurs are the genera ''Daspletosaurus'' or ''Gorgosaurus'' (also called ''Albertosaurus''). Thus, ''Prehistoric Beast'' cannot be considered as a scientifically consistent short film because even if the meat-eater shown in the film was assumed to be one of such tyrannosaurids, like ''Daspletosaurus'' or ''Gorgosaurus''/''Albertosaurus'', for example, none of them lived 65 million years before the present day (which is the period back in time where the film's action is supposed to be set).

When some of these ''Prehistoric Beast'' sequences were added to the 1985 documentary '' Dinosaur!'', Christopher Reeve, who hosted the show, named both animals respectively ''Monoclonius'' and ''Tyrannosaurus rex'', thus being inconsistent. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that a 1993 Canadian documentary titled ''Dinosaurs: Messages in Stone'' reused special effects sequences from ''Dinosaur!'' and ''Prehistoric Beast'' under authorization. In the ending credits of ''Dinosaurs: Messages in Stone'', the affected species by the reused sequences are mentioned as ''Edmontosaurus'', ''Daspletosaurus'' (or ''Gorgosaurus''/''Albertosaurus''), and ''Struthiomimus'', thus being consistent for considering the meat-eater as a ''Daspletosaurus'' (or ''Gorgosaurus''/''Albertosaurus'').

Prelude of a full-length documentary

''Prehistoric Beast'' was only released in specialized animation festivals, but it convinced Robert Guenette and Steven Paul Mark to request Tippett's skills in order to transform it in a full-length documentary. They then asked Tippett to realize new sequences with other dinosaur species, and the ''Prehistoric Beast'' material was added to the new one, resulting on '' Dinosaur!'' in 1985. Tippett had already participated in ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980), animating the tauntauns seen in the film, and his experimental work on ''Prehistoric Beast'' and ''Dinosaur!'' served to the animated dinosaurs sequences he made some years later for '' Jurassic Park'' (1993).

Digital re-release

On April 6, 2011, the Tippett Studio had published on its YouTube official channel a digital restoration of the short.

Legacy

As for the subsequent documentary '' Dinosaur!'', Phil Tippett, while making ''Prehistoric Beast'', received assistance from ILM stop-motion animators Randy Dutra (who made the dinosaur molds and skins) and Tom St. Amand (who made the inner articulated metallic skeletons of the dinosaurs).

In the 1933 film ''King Kong'', a ''Stegosaurus'' attacks the film characters and after having killed it by gun fire one of the characters identifies it as being "a prehistoric beast". This line, taken from the film, inspired Phil Tippett when giving a title to his 1984 animated short film.''Movie Magic: Behind the Scenes - Dinomania'' (The Discovery Channel, 1996) An excerpt from this ''King Kong'' scene is shown in the final 1985 documentary ''Dinosaur!'', as a reference to ''Prehistoric Beast'', the short sequence by which it was preceded.

References

External links

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* {{IMDb title, 0439543, Dinosaur!

1980s historical films
1980s stop-motion animated films
Films about dinosaurs
Animated films without speech
1984 films
Films set in Alberta
Animated films about dinosaurs
Films directed by Phil Tippett
Films set in prehistory