Hi. Remember Phil Tippet's 10 minute experimental stop motion short from 1983 to 1985, Prehistoric Beast? Well, I'll tell ya. You are in Alberta, Canada, 65 million years ago. Well, that's way before Terrence and Phillip from South Park. In a Late Cretaceous moonlit night, strange animal sounds reverberate through the forest of conifer trees. A cunning, carnivorous Tyrannosaurus Rex, aka T-Rex, tears the last shred from a recent duckbill kill, meaning, she gotta hunt again and again and again.
When dawn broke, a small herd of horned ceratopsian dinosaurs, called Monoclonius grazes near T-Rex's territory, and an incautious member, searchin' for more of his favorite flower food, wanders into the woods anyway. He was focusing too intently on his flower treat and isn't aware that T-rex's approaching. When he senses danger at last, it's too late for Mr. Monoclonius. He tried and tried and tried to keep his single horn and protective frill towards T-rex, but she's too agile and determined for him.
Despite a valiant struggle and a single on-target thrust by Monoclonius' horn, it's inevitable for the outcome, and unaware of the violent drama that has now claimed one of their own, the rest of Monoclonius' herd munches idly away, while T-Rex prepares for next time.
It's very hard to discuss Phil Tippett's Prehistoric Beast without you being carried away by it, for it's ten minutes of dinosaur bliss for you guys. In addition, Phil Tippett's Prehistoric Beast is retro, for it's made between 1983 and 1985.
Well you guys, it's virtually flawless, technically speakin', and it's nothin' short of beautiful, artistically speakin'. From the incredible skies full of pinks and purples, to the humid richness of the forests, Prehistoric Beast by Phil Tippett unfolds in a new world that looks totally real and epic and yet totally better than real and epic.
It's some kind of enhanced reality, like some gret painter might achieve, and even the lighting effects would totally do a Renaissance master proud of. In daytime, the shafts of light from the sun, could filter through the forest canopy and cast dappled patterns on the skins of dinosaurs.
At nighttime, the cold silver moonlight reveals their nocturnal activities with an eerie sheen. The very near-perfect music may be ominous and anticipatory but ain't obtrusive, and the camerawork is consistantly and totally epic, inventive and full of energy. Dinosaur's-eye point of view scenes from both predator and prey, may have heighten the life or death scenario.
T-rex's vision is sure and steady, always fixed confidently ahead, while Monoclonius' eyes dart back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, as he desperately tried to find a way out of the forest. During the fight, the "Cameraman" may seem to struggle to keep the thrashing dinos in frame, just like a real wildlife photographer would while shootin' some kind of lion p'wning a gazelle on the Serengeti plains of Africa.
And then, there are the dinosaurs. The Stop-Mo Animation Puppets are totally amazing and epic, especially Mr. Monoclonius. In its painstaking detail, its wrinkles and scars and warts and patterns---the horned dinosaur can hold its own against anything in Jurassic Park.
It's gotta be one of the all-time best stop-mo puppets, and T-Rex is very nearly his match. All those great qualities could be wasted, however, if the animation is not also of the highest caliber, but of course it is, you guys. T-Rex is simultaeously stealthy and powerful, and Monoclonius' gait is perhaps the best stop-mo ceratopsian walk cycle ever done in a stop-mo dino movie.
Yeah, Prehistoric Beast is totally a labor of love and it shows, you guys. There ain't gotta be no argument--you guys, it's one of the most successful attempts ever made to convey in the stop-motion medium the grandeur of dinosaurs and their environment. If you watch, you must underscore just how fortunate it was for Steven Spielberg, Universal Studios, and fans of the dinosaur movies that Phil Tippett stayed aboard on the biggest, greatest, coolest, most awesome, most spectacular, most ambitious, most totally epic, most groundbreaking, most amazing, most influential, and most ultimate dinosaur movie of all time and of our lives....JURASSIC PARK!!!!!
But wait, I forgot to tell ya about the production and people responsible for it! It's the mid-1980's, folks, Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) was finally completed and Mr. Phil Tippett said, "I need a break from feature work and I'll begin a personal project I've been thinkin' 'bout." Phil Tippet once said words out of his mouth, "I had been working pretty intensively at ILM for a number of years and I took about nine months off and made my own project, Prehistorc Beast."
Somewhat like Ray Harryhausen's unfinished Evolution of the World, Prehistoric Beast was originally concieved as a totally ambitious effort. Phil recalled that "I wanted to make a dinosaur feature for quit
When dawn broke, a small herd of horned ceratopsian dinosaurs, called Monoclonius grazes near T-Rex's territory, and an incautious member, searchin' for more of his favorite flower food, wanders into the woods anyway. He was focusing too intently on his flower treat and isn't aware that T-rex's approaching. When he senses danger at last, it's too late for Mr. Monoclonius. He tried and tried and tried to keep his single horn and protective frill towards T-rex, but she's too agile and determined for him.
Despite a valiant struggle and a single on-target thrust by Monoclonius' horn, it's inevitable for the outcome, and unaware of the violent drama that has now claimed one of their own, the rest of Monoclonius' herd munches idly away, while T-Rex prepares for next time.
It's very hard to discuss Phil Tippett's Prehistoric Beast without you being carried away by it, for it's ten minutes of dinosaur bliss for you guys. In addition, Phil Tippett's Prehistoric Beast is retro, for it's made between 1983 and 1985.
Well you guys, it's virtually flawless, technically speakin', and it's nothin' short of beautiful, artistically speakin'. From the incredible skies full of pinks and purples, to the humid richness of the forests, Prehistoric Beast by Phil Tippett unfolds in a new world that looks totally real and epic and yet totally better than real and epic.
It's some kind of enhanced reality, like some gret painter might achieve, and even the lighting effects would totally do a Renaissance master proud of. In daytime, the shafts of light from the sun, could filter through the forest canopy and cast dappled patterns on the skins of dinosaurs.
At nighttime, the cold silver moonlight reveals their nocturnal activities with an eerie sheen. The very near-perfect music may be ominous and anticipatory but ain't obtrusive, and the camerawork is consistantly and totally epic, inventive and full of energy. Dinosaur's-eye point of view scenes from both predator and prey, may have heighten the life or death scenario.
T-rex's vision is sure and steady, always fixed confidently ahead, while Monoclonius' eyes dart back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, as he desperately tried to find a way out of the forest. During the fight, the "Cameraman" may seem to struggle to keep the thrashing dinos in frame, just like a real wildlife photographer would while shootin' some kind of lion p'wning a gazelle on the Serengeti plains of Africa.
And then, there are the dinosaurs. The Stop-Mo Animation Puppets are totally amazing and epic, especially Mr. Monoclonius. In its painstaking detail, its wrinkles and scars and warts and patterns---the horned dinosaur can hold its own against anything in Jurassic Park.
It's gotta be one of the all-time best stop-mo puppets, and T-Rex is very nearly his match. All those great qualities could be wasted, however, if the animation is not also of the highest caliber, but of course it is, you guys. T-Rex is simultaeously stealthy and powerful, and Monoclonius' gait is perhaps the best stop-mo ceratopsian walk cycle ever done in a stop-mo dino movie.
Yeah, Prehistoric Beast is totally a labor of love and it shows, you guys. There ain't gotta be no argument--you guys, it's one of the most successful attempts ever made to convey in the stop-motion medium the grandeur of dinosaurs and their environment. If you watch, you must underscore just how fortunate it was for Steven Spielberg, Universal Studios, and fans of the dinosaur movies that Phil Tippett stayed aboard on the biggest, greatest, coolest, most awesome, most spectacular, most ambitious, most totally epic, most groundbreaking, most amazing, most influential, and most ultimate dinosaur movie of all time and of our lives....JURASSIC PARK!!!!!
But wait, I forgot to tell ya about the production and people responsible for it! It's the mid-1980's, folks, Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) was finally completed and Mr. Phil Tippett said, "I need a break from feature work and I'll begin a personal project I've been thinkin' 'bout." Phil Tippet once said words out of his mouth, "I had been working pretty intensively at ILM for a number of years and I took about nine months off and made my own project, Prehistorc Beast."
Somewhat like Ray Harryhausen's unfinished Evolution of the World, Prehistoric Beast was originally concieved as a totally ambitious effort. Phil recalled that "I wanted to make a dinosaur feature for quit