WALKING TALL
Looking forward to the prehistoric past? That will be easy this week, as the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena is invaded by people who dig all things dinosaur-related. Inspired by the award-winning 1999 BBC/Discovery Channel documentary, “Walking with Dinosaurs: The Living Experience” brings dinosaurs back from extinction – almost.
Thanks to the combined talents of paleontologists, animatronics engineers, theatrical artisans and gifted puppeteers, 15 life-sized dinosaurs from the Mesozoic Era come to life in what has been called a “dazzling spectacle” by audiences in Australia and Canada, where more than half a million people witnessed the production.
Directed by Scott Faris (who helped bring “Chicago,” “Cats,” and other mega-hits to the New York stage), this is a guided tour of the ancient past that turns monsters of mystery into living, breathing animals that cared for their young and fought predators and other natural elements to survive for nearly 200 million years.
The production has a human guide to narrate the dinosaurian interaction with humor and accuracy, but he is not the primary focus of the show. As any 8-year-old would tell you, it’s the dinosaurs that capture your imagination. It’s the dinosaurs that master the stage.
One cautionary note. Smaller children might find the predatory nature of some dinosaur behavior a little intense without advance dinosaur exploration. But well-prepared kids who understand these dinosaurs look real but are only puppet facsimiles of animals that went extinct 65 million years ago should be fine.
Need a brush-up course on dinosaur-ology before you head to the Arena? Check out these helpful links to bring you up to speed.
Walking with Dinosaurs
http://www.abc.net.au/dinosaurs/default.htm
This Web site was created to help viewers inspired by the 1999 documentary to gather more information. So it’s in sync with many of the dinosaurs you’ll see and hear about at the live action show. Look for Q&A, dinosaur updates, even a terrific, no-gore game that lets you be the T. rex youngster looking to eat – or be eaten.
Discovery Channel Dinosaur Guide
http://dsc.discovery.com/guides/ dinosaur/dinosaur.html
After the success of “Walking with Dinosaurs,” the Discovery Channel stepped up to supplement the documentary with additional material kids and families might want. A great place to “bone” up on dinosaurs, big and small. Its best feature? A running, and usually up-to-date, report on the latest dinosaur news reports and discoveries around the world.
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History dinosaur primer
http://paleobiology.si.edu/dinosaurs/index.html
Like experts in most scientific fields, not all paleontologists agree on the finer points of dinosaur theory. If you’re hoping to look beyond the reach of “Walking with Dinosaurs,” look to the National Museum of Natural History’s outstanding dinosaur primer for a slightly different – but entirely reliable – point of view. If you’re feeling a little rusty when it comes to your grasp on the Mesozoic, this site will help bring the concept down to size.
Scholastic’s dinosaur primer
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/dinosaurs
Searching for something to share with a slightly younger audience? Scholastic, one of the world’s biggest publishers of young reader material, offers this Web site to parents, teachers and students ready to explore educational dinosaur fun. It includes quizzes, build-a-dinosaur interactive displays, and other activities to make learning about dinosaurs fun, especially for kids.