The Ancient Ones - A Retrospective Look Back

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It's been a decade now since David made his first film, The Ancient Ones. In this essay, he reflects on how it was made, and what and how it could be changed if he had his current filmmaking knowledge. This essay was published directly on David's website on May 27, 2021.

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In May 2011, I made my first short film, titled The Ancient Ones. Running almost six and a half minutes long, the film is about three prehistoric men who hunt woolly mammoths in Europe during the ice age. I wrote, produced, directed, edited, and starred in the film, with two of my friends, Matt and Dakota, acting alongside me. The Ancient Ones was made for a freshman high school history class project – part of it was for my final grade, and part of it was for a “history fair.” And now, in 2021, a decade later, I decided to look back on it. How does my first ever film project hold up? There is much to cover here, from pre-production, production, post-production, and the release.

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Before I really get into the making of The Ancient Ones, I feel that I must go over my passion for and history with movies and filmmaking. I have loved movies for as long as I can remember. And some of movies that I watched, whether these were on VHS or DVD, contained behind-the-scenes documentaries that detail how they were made and what went into the development. Watching these making-of films fascinated me. Then, when I was ten or eleven years old, my brother and two of his friends came across my parents’ video camera and had fun with it by making a short slapstick comedy. I participated in it, and I believe that’s what planted the seed for my dream to be a filmmaker.

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After trying to come up with film ideas over the years, my first chance came in May 2011, near the end of my freshman year at Grants High School in Grants, New Mexico. For part of our final exam in history class, we had to make a project for the history fair, in which students would do projects pertaining to either the history of New Mexico, or history in general. When I saw that one of the projects could be a movie, I immediately jumped at the opportunity, and decided to make a movie about prehistoric people. My parents kindly purchased a digital camcorder and a tripod for me to use on the project, and I asked some of my classmates to star in it. Although I was beyond excited to be making my first movie, I had no idea what I had undertaken.

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Let’s start with pre-production. First of all, when I wrote the script, it did not adhere to the screenplay format. It was more like a script for a stage play rather than a film. In addition, the script had bad exposition, or how information is relayed to the audience, such as the opening line of, “This marks the twentieth unsuccessful hunt.” I wouldn’t learn about exposition or the proper screenplay format until I attended college. But from what I wrote, I at least had a story and plot down. The original plot had four characters, whereas the final film has three. I had asked three friends to be in it, but they kept changing their availability, didn’t show up, or simply said that they couldn’t participate at the last minute. Though I was disappointed, I was very glad that Matt and Dakota were able to help.

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Now, onto production. We shot The Ancient Ones over two days – one day was simply shooting the scene where Dakota’s character, Buushi, wakes up my character, Ka-mu, in a tent, and everything else was filmed the second day. We filmed in my backyard and the surrounding area behind my house. Although the film is supposed to be set in Europe 20,000 years ago, the filming locations didn’t match the geography and settings of ancient Europe at all. Grants has high desert terrain, so you see a brown clay ground and desert foliage. In addition, houses and other modern-day structures can be seen in several shots. The tent in which Ka-mu sleeps is merely a camping tent with cardboard mammoth tusks surrounding it and a brown bed sheet on top of it. And another thing to mention to that there are several shots in the film where I am wearing my glasses. My vision is blurry without them, so it was simply a matter of forgetting to take them off before the camera rolled. So, all in all, it doesn’t look very convincing that this film is set during the ice age.

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In addition to the setting, I think the characters could definitely be improved in terms of portrayal, both in acting and outward appearances. None of us were actors. Many of the lines had a weak delivery (especially from me), and we rarely shot more than one take. A lot of this is because we were on very limited time, so we had to keep going with filming at a fast pace. As to outward appearances, it’s obvious that Buushi’s beard is made of paper, and it looks odd since Ka-mu and Adjuk (Matt’s character) lack facial hair all together. Plus, the costumes mostly consisted of large brown bath towels, wrapped around us like tunics to represent fur clothing. We wore these towels, whatever shorts we were wearing the days we filmed. and our footwear ranged from brown slippers to sandals. None of these are like the clothing worn by ice age humans at all. And, the spears the Adjuk and Buushi use are mere wooden garden tools with their heads replaced with paper spearheads. If I had more time, I would have tried to make or get more elaborate costumes and props.

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As mentioned above, the only pieces of equipment I used for the actual filming of The Ancient Ones were a digital camcorder and a tripod – a very cheap one at that. The tripod, with the camera on it, fell over at least twice during filming. And since Matt, Dakota, and I were the only ones on the set, we took turns being the camera man (though my brother was the cameraman for the day we shot the tent scene). Whenever one of us was off screen, we would work the camera. In shots where we were all in frame, we had to position the camera carefully. One shot and scene that had to be removed was when the three hunters discuss how they have enough food from killing a mammoth and a cave bear. It was removed because the camera only recorded our bodies from the chest down. Of course, there was the above issue of seeing modern day buildings in the background, and that since it was all shot on a camcorder, the picture quality wasn’t the greatest. And since we didn’t have any sound recording gear, we had to rely on the camera’s built-in microphone to capture the sound. It didn’t help that we shot The Ancient Ones in May, when New Mexico gets really windy, and the wind is extremely apparent whenever you hear the naturally recorded sound.

 

Despite all this, possibly the easiest sequences to film were the ones involving the animals.

The animals featured in the film are supposed to be animals that ancient Europeans encountered during the ice age – mammoths, a bison, and a cave bear. These were brought to life via stop motion shot in my backyard and inside my house. The animals used were non-articulated toys from my collection. If I had more time and money, I would have hoped to have more articulate models – at least ones where the legs move. In addition, the mammoth toys ranged from detailed plastic models to small stuffed animals. Looking back, I wish I just stuck to the more detailed toys. I would also take more pictures to help give the illusion of movement and lock my camera down for the stop motion sequences.

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And now, we get to post-production. I edited The Ancient Ones on Windows Movie Maker, the program I was most comfortable with using at the time. However, there’s only so much you can do on that program. For instance, I couldn’t have more than one separate audio track, so during the scene where the mammoths first show up, I had to mix the music and audio in a different program, export it, and then add it to the Windows Movie Maker project. And speaking of music and sounds, I used copyrighted music tracks. Back then, I didn’t have much familiarity with copyright laws. It doesn’t help either, that I had intended to put the film on YouTube, where many user-made videos that I saw at the time used copyrighted music. Looking back, I would have used different music – either public domain, royalty free tracks, or ask someone to compose an original soundtrack. In addition, several sound effects were of rather poor quality. And so, I wish I had done a better job at mixing the audio, since there are parts where the music and sound effects drown out some of the natural sound and dialogue.

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Some clips of The Ancient Ones were specifically shot to incorporate a blend of stop-motion and live action. However, this was another example of not knowing what I was doing. I tried to blend both with a green screen computer program that I downloaded, but the video files I used from my camera were not compatible with said program, so I had to abandon the mixture of animation and live action. Since the green screen program wouldn’t work the way I wanted it to, I had to take a still image of the setting, and then put in the animal(s) I needed for the scene, without the live-action cast in the shot at all. These include the bison chase, mammoth hunt, and cave bear attack. And in many of these instances, you can see that the original backgrounds from these photos weren’t completely removed.

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These issues, mostly the attempt of blending stop-motion and live-action, led to staying up until four o’clock in the morning, on the due date, to finish the movie. And then, I had to spend a few extra minutes to put the finished product on a flash drive and DVD. I was able to turn it in on time, and The Ancient Ones was submitted to the history fair and part of my final grade. Thankfully, my film was well-received by my friends, my teacher, and the history fair judges. It won first place in the movies section of the history fair (I still have the certificate), and I got an “A” grade for the project. And thus, the film wasn’t a total failure.

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All in all, I was proud with how the film turned out. But I still wish I could go back and make the changes listed above. However, there is no way that I can do that now, unless I were to completely transform it by redubbing the dialogue, remixing the sound, and (in some way) improving the picture quality. The computer that I used to edit The Ancient Ones crashed just a couple of months after finishing the project, and I didn’t save the video files to another spot. The only things that survive are the photographs of the stop-motion mammoth sequences. But thankfully, I burned several DVDs of The Ancient Ones (mostly to share with my family) and uploaded the film to my personal Facebook account, so I was able to save the final product in those ways.

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 In conclusion, even though I have some regrets and wishes of doing things differently, I don’t hate The Ancient Ones at all. As my first film project, it is special to me, but there are several ways that it could be improved. And now, after making more films since then, and after studying film at Santa Fe University of Art and Design, I feel that I have definitely improved as a filmmaker. I can better apply my skills and knowledge in any project I do now. I have a better grasp on screenwriting, operation and treatment of film equipment, and editing. So, for a first film project, especially one made as a teenager, I would consider not consider The Ancient Ones a masterpiece, but a good piece of work to kickstart actual filmmaking. In fact, it might be fun to do a remake of this film in the future, using my current knowledge and skills as a filmmaker.

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The Ancient Ones can be viewed on my Facebook account, my Vimeo account, and my official website.

Alpha: A Howling Good Film

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At the request of a good friend, David wrote a review of the 2018 film Alpha. Though he wrote it in January 2021, and sent it to his friend, this is the first time the review has been publicly published, on February 28, 2021.

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           As a Christmas 2020 gift, I received the 2018 film Alpha on Blu-ray. Set in Europe, 20,000 years ago, during the last ice age, Alpha follows a young hunter, who gets separated from his hunting party, as he befriends an injured wolf, separated from her pack. I recently came around to watching it. And it’s a really good film. I’m not saying so just because I love all things prehistoric. I’d like to go over all my thoughts on Alpha, from the story and characters, to visuals and accuracy. And be warned, there are spoilers for the film ahead.

           As mentioned above, the film takes place in Europe, 20,000 years ago. The earth is in the last ice age during this time. The protagonist is a young hunter named Keda, played by Kodi Smit-McPhee. During his first bison hunt with his clan’s hunting party, one of the bison turns on Keda, and flings him over a cliff. Keda falls down onto a ledge, falling unconscious in the process. The rest of the party thinks that Keda is dead, and eventually leave.

            A day or two later, Keda regains consciousness, climbs down the ledge, and ventures to find his way home. On the way, he is chased by a pack of wolves. He manages to injure one of them, and he evades the rest of the pack by hiding in a tree. Keda spends the night in the tree, waking up to find the injured wolf still there. He prepares to kill it but has mercy on the poor creature. They find shelter in a cave, where they both heal from their injuries. During this time, they initially are wary and hostile towards each other. Keda soon establishes dominance over the wolf. After spending several days in the cave, Keda and the wolf are well enough to disembark. He tries to get her to leave him alone, but the wolf follows him around.

            Eventually, Keda names the wolf Alpha, and the two form a bond and hunt together. They face several dangers together, such as thin ice, the brutal winter weather, and savage ice age animals. Through thick and thin, and despite their waning health, Keda and Alpha make it back to Keda’s clan. The medicine woman of the tribe heals both Keda and Alpha, and it’s revealed that Alpha was pregnant the whole time, giving birth to a litter of pups inside the medicine woman’s tent. The film ends with Keda with the hunting party again, but this time, they are joined by other wolves, establishing that wolves will eventually give rise to man’s best friend.

             I enjoy the character dynamics and portrayals in Alpha. Keda and Alpha, being the main characters, have the best developed relationship in the film. Keda learns more about his inner strength, thanks to being out in the wilderness with no one except the wolf. Kodi Smit-McPhee does an excellent job bringing Keda to life and showing how the character develops. Alpha, the wolf, is well done, too. She is played by Chuck, a male Czechoslovakian wolfdog, and it impresses me at how well Chuck was trained. There are a few instances in which Alpha is computer generated, such as scenes where she and Keda go hunting, and when she defends him from a cave lion. Also, through Keda and Alpha’s bonding, they develop some activities that we would see in modern human-dog relationships. For instance, when Keda throws a stick at Alpha to shoo her away, she grabs it and runs up to him with it, essentially playing the first game of fetch.

            The other characters who are of some importance are Tau and Rho, Keda’s father and mother, respectively. Tau is the clan’s leader, and the leader of the hunting party. A good chunk of the first act is about the relationship between Keda and Tau. Tau believes that Keda has inner strength and is excited to have his son join him in the hunt. On the way to the hunt, Tau tries to prepare Keda, by trying to have him slay a wild boar that they catch on the way, and by demonstrating how a good leader leads by using wolves as an example. Rho, on the other hand, only appears in the beginning and end of the film. It’s clear that she loves her son, but she has some doubts about Keda being ready for the hunt, saying that he “leads with his heart, not his spear” (which is shown when Keda can’t bring himself to kill the boar on the way to the hunt). When Keda and Alpha return to the clan, both Tau and Rho are beyond relieved, happy, and proud that Keda has returned. Despite these nice scenes, we only get one brief scene of Tau informing Rho about Keda’s supposed death. I think it would have been nice to have more scenes of Rho and Tau mourning their son together, with Tau perhaps agreeing with his wife’s doubts. It would have made the scene in which Keda returns have a slightly stronger impact.

            There are other characters, too, such as Kappa, Keda’s friend who is killed by a cave lion, and a friend of Tau, who leads another hunting party (I am blanking on the name). While it would have been nice to get to know these characters a little more, and see whether or not they believe in Keda, I know that the relationship between Keda and Alpha is the heart of the story, and is, therefore, the primary focus of the movie.

            And for one last detail about the story, I need to mention that there are two versions of Alpha that are on the Blu-ray disc: the theatrical cut, and the director’s cut. The two cuts are very similar to each other, but there are some notable differences. In the theatrical version, we begin with the bison hunt, and the opening scene ends with Keda going over the cliff. It then jumps back to one week earlier, where Tau is testing the young men of the tribe to see if they’re ready for the hunt. In the director’s cut, the testing scene is first. And also, the English translation of the fictional language that the characters speak is different in some areas. In one scene, Keda wakes up one morning to find Alpha licking his face and trying to cuddle with him. In the theatrical cut, Keda calls Alpha a stinky animal. In the director’s cut, Keda says he forgives Alpha for her aggression and attack on him earlier. And last of all, after Alpha gives birth to her pups, there are differences. In the director’s cut, the film fades out, and then there’s a shot of Keda and his fellow hunters, walking towards the camera with wolves in toe. In the theatrical version, an additional scene comes in between these parts. In this scene, Keda and Alpha watch Alpha’s pups play with each other. So, in the end, I like both cuts of the film, and it’s hard to pick which one I like better. Both versions have great acting, good scenes, and great visuals.

            The visuals of Alpha are very well done. One of my favorite shots in the movie is where it shows Alpha pouncing onto the ice of the frozen lake, trying to help Keda. The filmmakers shot on location in Iceland and Canada. In fact, one of the locations in Canada was Dinosaur Provincial Park, in Alberta, a place I visited many, many years ago. There are several beautiful shots of the ice age landscape, sometimes showcasing the various animals that lived during that time.

            I enjoyed the ice age fauna, or kinds of animals, showcased in the film. The animals that we see in Alpha are woolly mammoths, woolly rhinos, steppe bison, vultures, cave hyenas, cave lions, wild boars, and wolves. Most of the animals are portrayed fairly accurately. The only major issue that I saw was that the cave lion had large canine teeth akin to a saber-toothed cat. The cave lion did not have these in real life, and it was not a member of the saber-tooth family. Other than that, the only nitpick I have with the fauna of Alpha is that I wish they had more screen time. But once again, since the story is about Keda and Alpha, I acknowledge that the ice age animals are not the focus of the movie. But it would have been nice to see more scenes with woolly mammoths and woolly rhinos, and I would have enjoyed seeing other ice age animals of Europe, such as prehistoric horses and the Irish elk. Last of all, I really enjoyed the three scenes with the cave hyenas. If I’m not mistaken, Alpha is one of the few, if not only, instances in which they appear in non-educational media in recent times.

            Next, I want to discuss the Keda’s people. One of the most notable things is that no one speaks English. As mentioned earlier, all dialogue that is spoken is of a fictional language, translated into English subtitles. Since the English language would not be created until many thousands of years later, it makes great sense that it is not used here. The clothing of Keda and his people are also fairly accurate to what we know about clothing of the people from the ice age, wearing woven, fur-lined clothes that would keep them warm. The hunters also use stone-tipped spears in their hunt, which look just like the ones that have been found at dig sites. Overall, I applaud the filmmakers for the amount of research put forth for Alpha, especially since it’s a work of fiction and not a documentary.

            All in all, Alpha is a very good film. I enjoy the relationship between Keda and Alpha, the mostly accurate depiction of ice age Europe (from its animals to its people), and the great visuals. It’s a great fictionalized, though well-researched and imaginative, story on how man tamed wolves to be the first dogs. I would definitely recommend this film for people who love all things prehistoric, anthropologists, dog lovers, and anyone who appreciates a “boy and his dog” kind of tale. Watch the film if you haven’t, and let me know what you think.

A Tribute to Non-Jurassic Park Dinosaur Films/TV Shows​

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In this list/countdown, David goes over some of his favorite movies and television shows about dinosaurs, that are not a part of the Jurassic Park franchise. It was originally published on July 21, 2020, on Facebook, and then it was uploaded on this website on February 28, 2021.

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It’s no secret that I love dinosaurs! For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been fascinated by them and the new discoveries that are made every year. And, as such, there are many films (from fiction to documentary, from short to feature length, from theatrical to direct-to-video to television) that are about these great beasts. And as much as I love the Jurassic Park films and franchise, this list/essay is a tribute to some non-Jurassic Park dinosaur films and series that I enjoy now and/or as a child. And like my Favorite Documentaries List, this will be in no particular order.

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1. Walking with Dinosaurs (British Broadcasting Corporation/Impossible Pictures, 1999, directed by Tim Haines and Jasper James) - To kick off this list, this six-part documentary mini-series from 1999 is a childhood classic. It’s done in the style of a nature documentary, where there is only a narrator (Kenneth Branagh) describing what is going on. Walking with Dinosaurs showcases the rise and fall of the dinosaurs, with each episode having a particular focus on one particular genus of dinosaur or prehistoric reptile. All in all, I think Walking with Dinosaurs holds up. For a project from the late 1990s, the visuals are impressive. Like Jurassic Park, Walking with Dinosaurs uses a mixture of animatronics (life-like robotics) and computer-generated imagery (CGI) to bring the prehistoric creatures back to life. The soundtrack by Ben Bartlett is also wonderfully composed, and helps capture the tone and mood of the scenes. And while much of our knowledge on prehistoric life has changed within the 21 years since the debut of Walking with Dinosaurs, I still consider it to be a fine piece of work. And if you enjoy this one, I recommend the other entries in the Walking with... series, like 2001’s Walking with Beasts, 2005’s Walking with Monsters, and others.

2. Prehistoric Beast (Tippett Studio, 1984, directed by Phil Tippett) - Prehistoric Beast is a ten-minute stop motion short directed, written, animated, and produced by special effects artist Phil Tippett. Tippett also worked on other projects, such as Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Jurassic Park. The film is short and simple, depicting a Tyrannosaurus rex hunting a Monoclonius (which is now believed to be synonymous with fellow ceratopsian Centrosaurus), a horned dinosaur related to Triceratops. The film only relies on its visuals to tell the story - the only exposition we get is a brief bit of text indicating the setting (Alberta Canada, 65 million years ago), and there is no dialogue or narration. The animation by Tippett is very well done, and the setting feels so real. If I do have to make one criticism about Prehistoric Beast, it’s that Monoclonius and T. rex did not coexist with one another (the former living about 75 million years ago, and the latter living 68 to 66 million years ago). Other than that, I highly recommend Prehistoric Beast for fans of dinosaurs and stop motion animation. The short is available for viewing on YouTube.

3. The Valley of Gwangi (Morningside Productions/Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, 1969, directed by Jim O’Connolly) - This classic from 1969 can very simply be described as dinosaurs vs. cowboys. But on a deeper level, it’s about T. J. and Tuck, played by Gila Golan and James Franciscus, respectively, and various other men discovering a forbidden valley where prehistoric creatures still roam. One notable resident of this valley is Gwangi, an Allosaurus which the characters capture and bring back to star in their rodeo. However, Gwangi escapes and goes on a rampage. Gwangi’s life, and the film, ends when he is trapped inside a burning building and is crushed by the falling debris. The effects for the prehistoric creatures were achieved through stop motion by the late great Ray Harryhausen, who did stop motion effects for films such as One Million Years B. C. (1966), Mighty Joe Young (1949), The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), and Jason and the Argonauts (1963), just to name a few. One of the main highlights of the stop motion sequences is when Gwangi is lassoed by the men. It still very much impresses me how they were able to achieve it. While The Valley of Gwangi was not a film I watched when I was very young (having first seen it as a teenager), it is very much a dinosaur classic, and a Harryhausen classic.

4. Planet of Dinosaurs (Deathbeast Productions, 1978, directed by James Shea) - Planet of Dinosaurs was a film that I first saw on DVD when I was seven or eight years old. The film, set in an unspecified time in the future, follows the crew of a spaceship that crashed on an uncharted planet that is like Earth, but appears to be millions of years younger and populated with dinosaurs. The crew must survive the perils of the planet, namely a large Tyrannosaurus rex that stalks them for part of the film, and only hope that they can be rescued. Sources say that most of the budget, which was rather small, went into the stop motion dinosaurs. And it shows! The dinosaur sequences are very memorable, well animated, and fun to watch. On the other hand, the acting is not the greatest, and the dialogue is a bit cheesy at times. However, I believe that most people remember it for the dinosaur/creature effects. And, in addition to The Valley of Gwangi and other old dinosaur movies, Planet of Dinosaurs was an initial inspiration to want to be a filmmaker, with a goal of mine being to remake old dinosaur movies. While I do not have this goal anymore, I still have to credit Planet of Dinosaurs and other old dinosaur films for being an inspiration for my film career.

5. Dinosaur 13 (Statement Films/CNN Films & Lionsgate, 2014, directed by Todd Douglas Miller) - Although I have already discussed Dinosaur 13 on my Favorite Documentaries list, I feel that it deserves to be on this list, as well. To keep this brief, this documentary is about the discovery and great legal battle over Sue, a Tyrannosaurus rex specimen discovered in South Dakota in August 1990. Sue was found on land owned by Maurice Williams, and he agreed to let Peter L. Larson and his crew at the Black Hills Geological Institute, excavate the fossil. However, the Sioux Native American tribe, of which Williams was a member, claimed that they owned the fossil. What followed what a lengthy legal case over the ownership of Sue. The court ruled that Sue belong to Williams, who then put the fossil up for auction. The winner was the Field Museum of Chicago, where Sue is still on display to this day. As stated in my previous list, I love the cinematography and music of Dinosaur 13. Both are gorgeous and help drive the emotions home. I still highly recommend this film, especially if you are interested in paleontology, law, and all things South Dakota.

6. The Land Before Time (Amblin Entertainment & Sullivan Bluth Ltd./Universal Pictures, 1988, directed by Don Bluth) - The Land Before Time is definitely a childhood classic for not just me, but several other people. Directed by Don Bluth, and executive produced by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, this animated film from 1988 depicts the journey of five young friends - Littlefoot (an Apatosaurus), Cera (a Triceratops), Ducky (a Saurolophus), Petrie (a Pteranodon), and Spike (a Stegosaurus) - who must find their way to a lush, predator-free paradise called The Great Valley. They must find it because all of the dinosaur herds are heading there, since the land in which they currently live is suffering severe famine and drought. Plus, a large earthquake separates them from their families. During the film, Littlefoot and the others must learn to get along (as dinosaurs tend to stick to their own kind) and avoid the dreaded Sharptooth, the Tyrannosaurus that killed Littlefoot’s mother. The animation is well done, and you feel the emotions the characters go through. And the musical score by the late James Horner is great, too. However, one criticism I do have is that some of the editing is a little bit sloppy at times. There are a few scenes in which the characters speak but their mouths don’t move. The scene in which Sharptooth first attacks the characters has scenes shown in the wrong order - Sharptooth gets blinded by a thorn striking his eye during the chase, but there are scenes where he has both eyes open or one eye shut before being blinded. And last of all, there are scenes from the climax and ending that appear out of order. But other than that, I still hold The Land Before Time as a good film. And because it spawned twelve direct-to-video sequels, I think it’s fair to say it’s one of the best known children’s dinosaur films, and one of director Don Bluth’s most famous films.

7. When Dinosaurs Roamed America (Evergreen Films/Discovery Channel, 2001, directed by Pierre de Lespinois) - When Dinosaurs Roamed America is a two hour long documentary special that premiered on Discovery Channel in 2001. Similar to Walking with Dinosaurs, the special has segments that focus on a particular dinosaur or dinosaurs in a specific time era. In fact, both programs have some of the dinosaurs in them. And while When Dinosaurs Roamed America is like a nature documentary like Walking with Dinosaurs, there are parts where the narrative is interrupted by interviews with paleontologists who give insights on fossil finds of the settings of the segments. The special is narrated by John Goodman. He does a fine job narrating, although there are a few moments where he incorrectly pronounces certain names of creatures. The computer-generated dinosaurs look great for their time, too. And this is one of the first, if not the first, documentaries to depict raptors with feathers. All in all, I have fond memories of When Dinosaur Roamed America, and I recommend giving it a watch.

8. When Dinosaurs Ruled (Wall to Wall Television/The Learning Channel, 1999, directed by various) - When Dinosaurs Ruled is a short series that ran on The Learning Channel (TLC) in 1999 for five episodes, with an additional episode airing in 2000. The series, narrated by Jeff Goldblum, had different directors for each episode, hence why it says “directed by various” at the top of this entry. Each episode focuses on dinosaurs and dinosaur discoveries on a different continent. The first episode is about the dinosaurs of Africa, the second is about dinosaurs of Europe, the third is about dinosaurs of North America, the fourth is about dinosaurs of South America, and the fifth is about dinosaurs of Australia and Antarctica. The sixth episode, which was not narrated by Jeff Goldblum, focuses on dinosaurs of Asia. The dinosaurs are brought to life through specially-made computer animation, the filming of already-built dinosaur animatronics, and occasional stock footage from other shows. The series also has interviews with several paleontologists, who weigh in on theories presented in the episodes, as well as discuss discoveries relevant to the episodes’ focus. The first five episodes were released on DVD, with the sixth episode only having a television broadcast. I enjoyed the DVD release growing up. It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I learned of the Asian dinosaurs episode. Outdated theories and outdated dinosaur reconstructions aside, the only criticism I have with this series is the use of dinosaur footage that doesn’t match what the dinosaurs look like. For instance, some of the episodes use clips of Tyrannosaurus rex to illustrate a dinosaur that isn’t Tyrannosaurus rex. But other than that, I do enjoy When Dinosaurs Ruled, with the North American dinosaur episode being my favorite. I recommend giving the series a watch.

9. The Good Dinosaur (Pixar Animation Studios/Walt Disney Pictures, 2015, directed by Peter Sohn) - The Good Dinosaur was released in 2015, the same year as Pixar’s hit film, Inside Out. In all honesty, I like The Good Dinosaur more than Inside Out. In the film, it shows a what-if story in which the asteroid that hit the earth 66 million years ago missed the planet, and the non-avian dinosaurs never went extinct. From this premise, we follow a young Apatosaurus, named Arlo, who gets separated from his family and home. This is due to a small human child, who is later named Spot. Arlo hates Spot, blaming him for not only separating him from home, but also for the death of his (Arlo’s) father. Arlo and Spot must find their way home, eventually bonding and coming to care for each other. I like how it shows that dinosaurs became more intelligent. Arlo and his family are farmers, growing crops and raising chicken-like creatures. During the journey home, Arlo and Spot meet a T. rex family who own a large bison herd. In addition, there are plenty of emotional scenes, particularly when Arlo says good-bye to Spot, and reunites with his family. One thing that must be discussed about The Good Dinosaur is the animation. While the characters have a very stylized, cartoony look, the backgrounds are very well made. They’re so well made that it’s hard to believe that they are not live action. With that said, the cartoony characters sometimes look out of place when placed against the realistic backgrounds. And about the story, there are a few generic plot points and character arcs, such as Arlo facing his fears of the world, the fact that the film features the death of a parent, and the main character finds himself lost in an unknown area and must find his way home. But despite these elements, and though it received mixed reviews from critics and audiences, and was the first Pixar film to be a box office disappointment, I still really enjoy The Good Dinosaur. Even though the film doesn’t meet the same level of excellency as other dinosaur media and Pixar’s other films, such as Toy Story and Up, I am always happy to watch this film any day!

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And now, before I end this piece, I’d like to go over a few honorable mentions, again in no particular order.

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1. Dinosaur (Walt Disney Pictures, 2000, directed by Eric Leighton and Ralph Zondag) - Like Walking with Dinosaurs, Dinosaur is another childhood classic of mine. I distinctly remember seeing the film in theaters. The film is about an Iguanodon named Aladar, who is raised on an island by a clan of lemurs. However, Aladar and the lemurs are forced to leave their home when an asteroid strike destroys it. As Aladar and the lemurs search for a new home, they come across a large, mixed-species dinosaur herd on their way to the Nesting Grounds, the last place untouched by the asteroid’s devastation. Along the journey, Aladar’s kind, compassionate ways conflict with the survival-of-the-fittest philosophy of Kron, the herd’s leader. Like Walking with Dinosaurs, this film utilizes live action, on-location backgrounds with computer generated dinosaurs. While the computer animation on the dinosaurs may not look as good as it did 20 years ago, when the film was released, I still find the blending of the live action and CGI well done. Dinosaur is also commendable for bringing some distinctive species to the big screen for the first time, with the most notably one being Carnotaurus ( which means “meat-eating bull”), acting as the main antagonist. And probably the best aspect of the film is the soundtrack by James Newton Howard. It is breath-taking, and helps set the tone of each scene. However, Dinosaur suffers a few clichés, such as Aladar being the kind of hero who always knows what’s right, and having Kron being the harsh, arrogant leader who never changes his ways. Despite a few issues, I’m still fond of Dinosaur. As stated before, I remember seeing it in theaters, and I still consider it a childhood classic.

2. Dinosaur! (Phillips Mark Productions & Robert Guenette Productions/CBS, 1985, directed by Robert Guenette) - Not to be confused with the similarly titled Disney feature, Dinosaur! is a documentary that first premiered on CBS in 1985. Hosted by Christopher Reeve (best known for portraying Superman), the documentary explores the life of dinosaurs (based on the science at the time), dinosaurs in popular culture, and then-new theories and speculations about dinosaurs (including the possibilities of living dinosaurs). When discussing dinosaur life, the documentary showcases stop motion segments created by Phil Tippett, who made the aforementioned Prehistoric Beast. In fact, Dinosaur! uses some footage from Prehistoric Beast. For the documentary, the newly made sequences primarily focus on a two Hadrosaurus (duck-billed dinosaurs) who raise their baby. The new segments feature other dinosaurs, too, such as Brontosaurus, Struthiomimus, Deinonychus, Tyrannosaurus, and Monoclonius (as mentioned above in Prehistoric Beast). Though I do enjoy this documentary, there are a few errors in it. Not all of these dinosaurs coexisted at the same time and place (with Brontosaurus living in the Jurassic, Deinonychus living in the Early Cretaceous, and Hadrosaurus, Monoclonius, Struthiomimus, and Tyrannosaurus living at different times of the Late Cretaceous). The dinosaurs depicted are not accurate by today’s standards (such as the featherless Deinonychus and Struthiomimus), and Christopher Reeve states the wrong year for some dinosaur movie releases (such as saying the 1925 film The Lost World was released in 1922, the 1933 King Kong being released in 1932, and Gertie the Dinosaur being released in 1919 and not 1914). Despite these errors, I think that the documentary holds up pretty well. It’s a fun film to watch. And for another interesting fact, I was first introduced to the stop motion scenes of Dinosaur! through and old CD-ROM game called 3-D Dinosaur Adventure. Some of the segments of Dinosaur! were a part of a “dinosaur movie” section, in which players could watch video clips of dinosaurs with some of them being from Dinosaur!. So, after seeing Dinosaur!, it was nice to see where these segments came from.

3. Dinosaurs: The Terrible Lizards (AIMS Media, 1970/1986, directed by Wah Chang) - Dinosaurs: The Terrible Lizards is an educational stop motion animated short created by Wah Chang, a special effects artist who worked on the original Star Trek series and the 1974-1976 series Land of the Lost. In fact, some of the dinosaur models used in Dinosaurs: The Terrible Lizards would later go on to be used in Land of the Lost. You may have noticed that I listed two years for this film. This is because it was originally released in 1970, and a revised edition was released in 1986. The latter version was the one I watched as a kid. In Dinosaurs: The Terrible Lizards, we, the audience, are shown on where dinosaurs have been found, a brief history of life on Earth, and various dinosaurs brought to life via stop motion. One of the main highlights of these segments is a fight between a Tyrannosaurus and a Styracosaurus as a volcano erupts far away. The film concludes with how no one really knows for sure what happened to the now-extinct dinosaurs, but that studying their fossilized remains can help solve mysteries on how they lived. Differences between the two versions include different narrators and different scripts, different soundtracks, different depictions of Earth’s life history segment, and that some dinosaur segments are put in a different order than they were in the original, with the T. rex vs. Styracosaurus fight taking place as the climax of the 1986 version, rather than just after the middle of the film in the 1970 version. As stated before, the 1986 revised edition was the one I watched as a kid. When I watched it back then, I was both enticed by it, and scared by it. I think it was because that while I loved dinosaurs back then as much as I do now, the music and stop motion creeped me out a little. But as an adult, I now greatly appreciate both elements. There’s just a certain charm to stop motion that I can’t explain. And the soundtrack does fit the mood and tone of the film. While Dinosaurs: The Terrible Lizards is a rather outdated documentary, it’s still fun to watch, and both versions can be found on YouTube.

4. You Are Umasou (Aija-do Animation Works, 2010, directed by Masaya Fujimori) - You Are Umasou is an anime film released in Japan in 2010. I watched it on YouTube with English subtitles a few years back. Based on a Japanese children’s book, it’s about a Tyrannosaurus rex named Heart. He’s raised by a Maisaura, a Late Cretaceous hadrosaur, who finds his eggs floating down a river. Heart spends his early years with his adoptive mother and brother, Light. When Heart is still young, he learns that he is a carnivore, and runs away from home. Years later, when Heart is an adult T. rex and a full-fledged predator, he comes across a freshly-hatched Ankylosaurus, saying that he looks delicious (with Umasou meaning delicious or delicious-looking in Japanese). However, the baby Ankylosaurus thinks that Umasou is his name, and he sees Heart as his father. Though Heart initially intends to eat Umasou, the little dinosaur grows on him, and Heart learns to become a parent, just like how his adopted mother raised him. While the animation of You Are Umasou is great, the designs are extremely cartoony. Many of the dinosaur characters don’t look like the species they are supposed to be, with the T. rex characters looking a bit like a cartoony Godzilla. In addition, there are some very strange creatures in the film, such as a sloth-looking dinosaur, and what appear to be dinosaur goats. However, the story tugs at the heart strings, with a particular emphasis on how family matters, no matter what you look like. You feel Heart’s emotions, particularly as he goes from planning to eat Umasou, to seeing him as his adopted son. If you’re into anime and dinosaurs, I do recommend this one.

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With that said, I hope you enjoyed reading this piece. It was fun write about these dinosaur films/TV series. And if you have any suggestions on dinosaur movies or shows I should check out, let me know in the comments. Thank you for reading!

My Favorite Documentaries

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In this list/countdown, David lists his favorite documentary films. It was originally published on January 11, 2020, on Facebook, and then it was uploaded on this website on February 28, 2021.

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As a filmmaker, I plan on making documentaries as one of the main focuses of my career. As such, I have seen several documentaries, from wildlife to behind-the-scenes of movies. And so, this list you’re about to read is about my favorite documentaries (in no particular order).

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1. They Shall Not Grow Old (Warner Bros./WingNut Films, 2018, directed by Peter Jackson) - This film, the first actual documentary from Peter Jackson, one of my filmmaking heroes, is one of the best documentaries I have seen. It was made to commemorate 100 years of the end of World War I, and it’s told through archival recordings of interviews conducted with WWI veterans, although there are no talking heads, as per other documentaries. However, the main highlight of They Shall Not Grow Old is that Jackson takes the old footage shot during WWI and colorizes it like never before. It’s so well done that as I watched it for the first time, I seriously couldn’t believe that I was seeing colorized footage instead of reenactments. In addition, sounds of weapons and colors of the uniforms are depicted accurately. Peter Jackson is a WWI aficionado, possessing military uniforms and weapons used during WWI. From this film, I learned about what it was like to be a British WWI soldier, from being recruited and being trained, to fighting in the trenches, to what it was like after the war. It’s a must-see for all war buffs, Peter Jackson fans, and documentarians. Also, to give everyone an enormous heads up, the film shows raw, nitty-gritty footage of war. At times, it can get very graphic, violent, and intense. With that said, I must quote TV disclaimers by saying, “Viewer discretion is advised.”

2. Africa’s Elephant Kingdom (Discovery Channel Pictures, 1998, directed by Michael Caulfield) - Africa’s Elephant Kingdom was definitely something I watched a lot as a kid. I had it on VHS, and now I’m glad to have it on DVD. The documentary is about the lives of a herd of elephants in Amboseli National Park in Kenya. The film shows elephant mating rituals, how elephants protect each other, and the hardships of a draught, among other things. Unlike a typical wildlife documentary told by a narrator who simply describes what’s going on, the film’s narration, provided by Avery Brooks, is told through the eyes of an old bull (male) elephant. The stunning cinematography and gorgeous soundtrack are key highlights of the film, especially with how the crew was able to get close ups of not just the titular fauna, but other species of African wildlife, such as one shot where a black rhinoceros comes up to the camera and sniffs it. Looking back on it, I do believe that Africa’s Elephant Kingdom is one of the central reasons as to why elephants are my favorite living animal. Check it out if you love elephants, enjoy gorgeous African settings, and like watching nature documentaries.

3. Lost in La Mancha (IFC Films, 2002, directed by Louis Pepe and Keith Fulton) - Now, we get into a documentary about filmmaking. The history of this film goes back to the mid to late 1990s, where director Terry Gilliam was aiming to make his passion project, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. The documentary Lost in La Mancha was made to be the behind-the-scenes documentary of Gilliam’s film. As the documentary shows, the whole process of making the film had problems. For instance, there were concerns about actors showing up for rehearsals and getting a “soundstage” with horrible acoustics - and they had to keep within a $32 million budget. But things really went downhill during production - sound recording was ruining by flying aircrafts, a flash flood changed scenery and damaged equipment, and the actor cast to play Don Quixote, the late Jean Rochefort, suffered a hernia in one of his spinal discs, and had to leave the production. Since the flood and the illness of Rochefort were not considered “acts of God” as per the insurance policy, Gilliam lost the rights to his own film and screenplay to the insurance company. Though Gilliam eventually got the rights back and finally released The Man Who Killed Don Quixote in 2018 (with a slightly different story and a different cast), Lost in La Mancha is a clear view on how Murphy’s Law (anything that can go wrong will go wrong) can affect a film’s production. I highly recommend it to filmmakers. And heads up, there are many F-bombs dropped in this documentary, particularly whilst the film is in the production phase. And as a side note, I have heard that there is an upcoming sequel to this documentary, called He Dreams of Giants, about the now-released film’s behind-the scenes, and I hope to see it once its released and give it my thoughts.

4. Puma: Lion of the Andes (National Geographic, 1996, produced by Hugh Miles) - Like Africa’s Elephant Kingdom, this television documentary from National Geographic was something I watched a lot as a kid, particularly when I was six to seven years old. Puma: Lion of the Andes is a 56 minute film about a wildlife photographer, Hugh Miles, and the relationship he forms with a wild puma, also known as the cougar, panther, catamount, and mountain lion. Before Miles made the film, it’s said that no one was able to get up close to a wild puma, considering how elusive they are. Like the aforementioned Africa’s Elephant Kingdom, the music and cinematography are major highlights of the film. The music is hauntingly beautiful and quite grand, beautifully complimenting the gorgeous shots of Torres Del Paine National Park in Chile, where the documentary is set. The film not only informed me (and by extension, any audience member) that mountain lions are present in South America, but of other organisms that I did not know about, such as rheas, Andean condors, and guanacos, the wild ancestor of the llama. And again, like how Africa’s Elephant Kingdom helped fuel my love for elephants, Puma: Lion of the Andes helped fuel my fascination for mountain lions. Watch it if wildlife documentaries and cats are your cups of tea. (Note: I have listed a producer instead of a director because neither the end credits nor IMDb list a director.)

5. The Sweatbox (Xandu Films, 2002, directed by Trudie Styler and John-Paul Davidson) - If you’re lucky to come across The Sweatbox, then you’re in for another documentary about the troubled production of a movie. This documentary is about how a Disney movie titled Kingdom of the Sun was transformed into what we now know as The Emperor’s New Groove. Why do I say that people are lucky to see this? The film was never given an official, final cut release; the only way to see it is via a leaked workprint online (with some scenes that are absent), whether it’s on YouTube or another site. Basically, Kingdom of the Sun began development and pre-production in the mid-1990s. It was directed by Roger Allers, the co-director of 1994’s The Lion King. The film was described to be an epic musical, like The Lion King. Like how Elton John helped write songs for The Lion King, Allers contacted British musician Sting to compose songs for Kingdom of the Sun. Sting agreed, so long as his wife, Trudie Styler, could make a documentary about the making of the film. Though Allers, Sting, and company worked very hard on Kingdom of the Sun, Disney executives were concerned about it underperforming and falling behind schedule, so they brought in another director, Mark Dindal, to add comedy to the film and to help progress the film along. What was especially hard for the crew was that after showing Disney executives a very rough cut (which consisted of a few animated scenes and storyboards), the executives told them that the film was not working. As the deadline drew nearer and nearer, Allers asked for more time to complete the film. But when he was denied a six-month extension, he left the project, and it was up to Dindal and his crew to use two weeks to retool Kingdom of the Sun, which became a buddy-comedy now known as The Emperor’s New Groove, released in December 2000. Basically, The Sweatbox demonstrates executive meddling in the film industry, and the depiction of executive meddling is said to be one reason why Disney has not given the documentary a proper release. If you can find it on YouTube or elsewhere, give it a watch.

6. Dinosaur 13 (Statement Films/CNN Films & Lionsgate, 2014, directed by Todd Douglas Miller) - So, here we talk about a documentary that strikes a chord with me personally. It’s about dinosaurs and it’s about a famous case from my home State of South Dakota. Dinosaur 13 is about the finding, unearthing, and enormous legal battle of Sue, the nickname of a Tyrannosaurus rex specimen found outside Faith, South Dakota, in 1990. The fossil was found by its namesake, Sue Hendrickson. Hendrickson and Peter Larson of the Black Hills Institute excavated the fossil. Larson and the Institute received permission from the owner of the land, Maurice Williams, to unearth the remains. Then, in 1992, the FBI came to the Black Hills institute and confiscated Sue’s remains, placing them in Rapid City for a few years. What followed was a long legal battle over ownership of the fossil. The Sioux tribe, of which Williams is a member, claimed ownership of Sue. Also, Williams said that the Black Hills Institute only paid to excavate and clean the fossils, not own them, despite videos showing that Williams was recorded saying that he would be okay with the Black Hills Institute displaying the fossil. After a lengthy, several-year case, Williams was granted ownership of Sue, and Larson was sentenced to two years in prison for issues not exactly related to Sue. Williams decided to send Sue into an auction in New York City. Then, in October 1997, the fossil skeleton was sold to the Field Museum of Natural History Chicago, who won it in an auction with a bid of $7.6 million. The Field Museum then paid about $8.36 million for the rest of Sue (as they also had to pay the auction house), with backing from McDonald’s and the Walt Disney Company. Thankfully, Sue is still on display at the museum to this day. As stated before, I love Dinosaur 13 because of its paleontological subject matter, and that it ties into my home State of South Dakota. I enjoy the mix of actual footage of the excavation, confiscating, and auction of Sue, with some short reenactments and beautiful shots of the South Dakota landscape. And the musical score by Matt Morton helps drive the emotions home. In conclusion, I recommend this documentary to not only dinosaur fanatics, but anyone interested in law, fossil hunting, and people who appreciate all things South Dakota.

7. Grizzly Man (Discovery Docs & Real Big Productions/Lionsgate, 2005, directed by Werner Herzog) - In Grizzly Man, director Werner Herzog explores the life and death of Timothy Treadwell, a man who had spent 13 summers living amongst grizzly bears in the Alaskan wilderness. Herzog also gives his personal opinions on Treadwell, saying the he may have been unstable. And some of the interviews conducted with friends of Treadwell seem to concur with this assessment. Herzog is also shown listening to the audio of the deaths of Treadwell and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, by none other than a bear. Seeing Herzog disturbed really says something for the grisly (no pun intended) deaths of Treadwell and Huguenard. The film shows many of the tapes that Treadwell himself shot over his summers. It’s quite impressive to see just how close he got to these wild bears, even though he violated park regulations by doing so. I was also surprised to learn that he befriended some foxes during at least one of his stays in the wilderness. What I like about the documentary is the gorgeous cinematography of the Alaskan wilderness. I’ve always wanted to go there. In addition, viewers learn more about Timothy Treadwell. I had only heard of him via an Animal Planet TV series (the name of which I don’t remember right off hand), and there, it didn’t give a lot of details about his personal life. Lastly, I like how one can gather a cautionary tale out of Treadwell’s experiences and eventual death. So, I recommend giving it a watch, particularly if you’re into animal documentaries and Werner Herzog films. But be aware, there is a lot of swearing in this picture.

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Now, before I end this note, I’d like to list some honorable mentions (again, in no particular order):

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1. What Killed the Mega Beasts (Discovery Channel, 2002, directed by Chris Lent) - What Killed the Mega Beasts is a television documentary that first aired on Discovery Channel in 2002. The documentary looks into the extinction of Pleistocene megafauna (such as the woolly mammoths, the giant ground sloth, and the marsupial lion, just to name a few), and the three main theories about their extinction: chill (the climate changed too drastically), kill (humans hunted them to extinction), and ill (disease wiped out the Pleistocene megafauna). Seeing this documentary when I was just six years old, not only did it introduce me to said theories, but from What Killed the Mega Beasts, I learned about prehistoric mammals I had never heard of beforehand, such as the aforementioned marsupial lion (Thylacoleo carnifex) and the giant beaver (Castoroides ohioensis). And, in all honesty, this film was my first exposure to New Zealand, where it discussed the great moa birds. It’s funny, since I had actually seen The Fellowship of the Ring when it was first released to theaters, but I had no idea that it was filmed in New Zealand. Also, I would end up moving to New Zealand in 2008. With that said, if you’re interested in seeing proposed theories of extinction, learning about new species, and appreciate all things prehistoric, I recommend viewing this one.

2. A tie between Raising the Mammoth (Discovery Channel, 2000, directed by Jean-Charles Deniau) and Land of the Mammoth (Discovery Channel, 2001, directed by Emmanuel Mairesse) - These two Discovery Channel documentaries both center on the Jarkov mammoth, a woolly mammoth specimen that was found by the Jarkov family in Siberia, and excavated and studied by a team of scientists led by Bernard Buigues. In Raising the Mammoth, narrated by Jeff Bridges (who also narrated Lost in La Mancha), we learn about the discovery of the Jarkov mammoth, the evolution of the elephant family tree, the life of the prehistoric pachyderms, and, primarily, how the Jarkov mammoth was excavated and lifted from the ground. In Land of the Mammoth, narrated by Avery Brooks (who also narrated Africa’s Elephant Kingdom), while also exploring into the discovery of the Jarkov mammoth and elephant evolution, primarily delves into how the mammoth may have lived its life during the last ice age. If you like mammoths and all things Pleistocene, I recommend giving these both a watch!

3. Thomas & Friends: 70 Years of Friendship (HiT Entertainment/Mindfruit Studios, 2015, directed by Cassandra Chowdhury) - Oh, Thomas the Tank Engine. One of my favorite things ever! If you’ve read my long post from 2017 about the then upcoming changes to the series, then you know why I love this little blue engine. But I digress. 70 Years of Friendship is a short documentary (about 30 minutes) on the official Thomas & Friends YouTube channel. Released in 2015, the film was a part of the celebration of 70 years of the Thomas franchise. In case you didn’t know, before there was the beloved TV series, the Thomas stories started off as a series of children’s books called The Railway Series, first written by Reverend Wilbert Awdry in 1945. 70 Years of Friendship contains interviews with several people who are (or were at the time of the doc’s production) involved with Thomas the Tank Engine (such as then head writer Andrew Brenner and then producer Ian McCue), people who were involved with making Thomas toys, and several fans from around the world, both young and old. There are also interviews with adults who work with train-related activities (such as model railroads, tourist railroads, etc.), where they reflect on how popular Thomas is. One of the most surprising interviews is with Rick Sigelkow, the co-creator of Shining Time Station, Thomas’ American spin-off. There’s also an interview with Christopher Awdry, Wilbert Awdry’s son, in which he reads one of his favorite Thomas stories, “Thomas Comes to Breakfast.” In addition to covering a history of the Thomas franchise, the doc also give some behind-the-scenes glimpses at Sodor’s Legend of the Lost Treasure, one of the two Thomas & Friends specials released in 2015. To me personally, it not only shows what’s gone into making Thomas the Tank Engine, both past and present, but it shows the impact that the whole franchise has had ever since 1945. And this year, 2020, the Thomas franchise is celebrating 75 years! I know the show has changed a lot since 2015, but I have good faith that Thomas’ 75 anniversary celebration will be something to remember. And so, as a Thomas fan, I recommend watching 70 Years of Friendship!

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Thank you very much for reading through this post. If you’ve seen any of these documentaries, let me know your thoughts on them. And if there are any documentaries that you recommend seeing, tell me in the comments.

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