Let's face it, dinosaurs will always be cool, so a docuseries focused on the prehistoric beings is never a bad idea. But this one, which arrives on the Netflix schedule in March, comes from Steven Spielberg and the team behind Life on Our Planet, and based on the trailer for The Dinosaurs, it looks like those of us with a Netflix subscription are in for something really special.
Once upon a time, it seemed impossible that someone could turn Michael Crichton's dinosaur-focused thrill-ride of a novel into a worthy live-action movie adaptation, and yet, Steven Spielberg found a way. More than thirty years later, Jurassic Park is still a film beloved by generations both for the story it tells and for the thrilling way it brings dinosaurs to life on screen. We might've also doubted that a documentary series about dinosaurs could fully capture what the planet might have looked like during their reign, but from the trailer below, it appears Spielberg, Dan Tapster, Keith Scholey, Alastair Fothergill, and others may have found a way, once again.
"Witness the rise and the fall of nature's greatest empire."
It's an ambitious tale to try to tell in a documentary, especially factoring in the visuals on display here. As we see in the thrilling trailer, this documentary -- directed by Nick Shoolingin-Jordan, with Dan Tapster, Keith Scholey, and Alastair Fothergill serving as showrunners -- is delivering its own exciting visual imagining of what Earth may have looked like during the time of the dinosaurs. Whether they roamed the earth together across varying climates and landscapes, or faced off against one another in what had to have been ground-shaking battles, it's a sight that's almost impossible to fathom... almost.
While Shoolingin-Jordan directed the 4-episode series, Steven Spielberg, Keith Scholey, Darryl Frank, and Justin Falvey are serving as executive producers. Oh yeah, and did I mention Morgan Freeman is narrating? The beloved actor and famed documentary narrator, who also voiced Life on Our Planet, is back to guide us through this new documentary (dinomentary series? Docusaurus? We can work on that.)
Each of the four episodes is expected to be an hour long, and Netflix has The Dinosaurs rating set at TV-PG, mentioning "violence" and "fear" as the reasons, which sounds about right for a dinosaur-related documentary (at least one that's not about dinosaurs named cute things like Little Foot and Ducky). So while this might be a fun documentary to watch with the whole family, parental guidance is suggested, especially if you have young ones who might not be ready for dino carnage and chaos, even in an educational context.
What To Watch While You Wait
The Dinosaurs hits Netflix in about a month, but if your appetite is piqued for educational documentaries, Netflix has some other options.
- Stream Our Universe (2022) on Netflix.
- Stream Our Planet (and Our Planet II) on Netflix.
- Stream Life on Our Planet on Netflix.
- Stream Our Oceans on Netflix.
And if you're here because you're a Jurassic Park fan, be sure to check out the Jurassic Park episode of Season 2 of The Movies that Made Us.
You can set a reminder for The Dinosaurs for its March 6 premiere on Netflix.
