Now that Clash of the Dinosaurs has been out for a couple weeks, the scientists involved have had a chance to see it... and it's not pretty. Matt Wedel, one of the paleontologists behind the fine, enthrallingly-titled blog Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week, posted a scathing review today. He describes the process of being contacted by Dangerous, Inc. (the production complany behind the series), consulting with them, and filming his talking head segments. He includes emails and diagrams that he sent Dangerous. As he does on the blog, he went to great lengths to explain sauropod anatomy. I can't imagine working on the series and not being totally thrilled and thankful to have an engaged scientist consulting me.
Instead, the producers took his efforts to debunk the old, tired, dead-in-the-water idea that sauropods had "two brains" and flipped it to make it wound like he endorsed the idea. Really. Read his righteous anger here.
That this kind of spectacle-over-science is done by what is supposedly a science channel is a complete shame. Complete, bitter, miserable freaking shame.
I'm glad the Onion came through when I needed a laugh today.
I saw Wedel's post and cheered him for it.
ReplyDeleteI sat through the first episode but opted not to try another.
At least it was considerably better than Jurassic Fight Club (facepalm).
The more I think about this, the more it chaps my hide. Aren't the sciences under attack enough without having an ostensibly pro-science TV channel pulling shenanigans like this?
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