Watching the BBC series on 'Planet Dinosaur', perfectly narrated by John Hurt, I have to say that the graphics, and the story, are somewhat gripping. However .........................
Since when could a multi-tonned object with leathery wings take off from a standing start, as shown in the last programme ? Is it really likely that a huge long-billed flying dinosoar could exist outside of a very specific eco-system ? What is the evidence for weird dinosaurs with colourful wings that a) were loving towards each other, and b) stayed with their eggs until they hatched ?
The graphics make a great story but where is the real science ? To me, it's all a bit like 'Jurassic Park' - great entertainment but ................. ? I know the Beeb didn't make the programme and, looking at the credits, it was mostly supported by an assortment of people from American institutions, but it is surely wrong to present such a programme as fact when it is nothing of the sort. This was more an exercise in attracting an audience than in disseminating real scientific truth. Lots of hyperbole, amazing graphics and the propogation of a view of the world that is barely, if at all, supported by the facts that separate us from the world of more than 100 million years ago.
Given that our understanding of our own country's history of less than a thousand years ago is a little blurry, how can we possibly have any real knowledge of what was happening one hundred thousand times as long ago ? Yes, we can make guesses but to present such as fact ?
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