Ancient Earth (2017– ) User Reviews

Not bad, just not good - OK

[davidvandekerk · 5/10 · 23 June 2017]

How do you rate something when you REALLY enjoy the subject but the program is just OK? I gave it a five. I watched it all the way through. There was nothing really wrong with it, but besides the subject matter being really interesting there was nothing really right with it.

To begin with, it is REALLY short. Whole geologic ages covered in (minus titles) about ten minutes and they didn't even bother with the Jurassic.

The content was general. Quick conclusions, not a long explanation. It was at a Wikipedia page level or less. Nothing new or exciting.

The animation was OK - not great but I have enjoyed and repeatedly watched older documentaries that have far worse animation.

The three talking heads were OK. I didn't recognize any of them. It's not like they got Bob Bakkar and Phil Currie. These were ... unknowns ... and didn't have the character and presence.

If CuriosityStream wants to have original content that can go up against Walking With Dinosaurs or Planet Dinosaur then you need to put the time, money and content into it. Otherwise you're left with this.

That's not a Eudimorphodon!

[mike-ryan455 · 4/10 · 23 June 2017]

I was watching the part on the Triassic when they showed an Aetosaur being chased by a pack of Coelophysis and they started talking about Eudimorphodon and how it took to the air as they showed a huge pterosaur overhead and I looked at the show and turned and said "That's not a Eudimorphodon! It's a Quetzalcoatlus." This isn't a subtle distinction and really told what was wrong with the whole show. Even an armchair paleontologist like me knows that Quetzalcoatlus dates to the very end of the Cretaceous while Eudimorphodon dates to the Triassic, 220 million years ago. That's about 150 million years in between. Quetalcoatlus was long necked, toothless, nearly tailless and had a really long, pointed beak. Eudimorphodon means "true dimorphic tooth" because they had a huge mouth of very distinctive teeth. They also have short necks and long tails.

It's not just a matter of making one mistake. The whole show was obviously made by someone who didn't know dinosaurs. They just downloaded some 3d models, loaded them in Blender and called it good without getting any scientists to check it. Of course the results are really lame. I could go on and on but what's the point? They made it too cheaply and didn't fix their mistakes.

Could be interesting if it weren't so appallingly produced

[naiveamoeba · 2/10 · 23 March 2023]

SPOILER ALERT: All the dinosaurs die.

This show could be okay. However there are many production and delivery mistakes that make it barely watchable.

• The sound is awful. The mix is terrible and there's just continuous blaring strings over the top of everything. It doesn't need music, but it especially doesn't need music if it's going to drown out the dialogue.

• "Glorious 4K" is a lie. You can actively see the MPEG4 compression on it. Even in fairly still settings like the talking heads, you can pause it at any point and their face will look like it's been pixellated for anonymity. The sound is also poor quality. This happens on the TV app and desktop.

• The animations are comically bad. It's like something from Encarta 98. I was shocked to discover this was only produced a few years ago.

• The episodes are SO SHORT! Seriously, I was expecting to sit down to a half hour, perhaps 45 minute episode. And then they're all 10-15 minutes. Less than you might even expect from a YouTube video, which would probably have more love put into it.

• Curiosity Stream is just generally broken. The app glitches out and shows the wrong information. This isn't the fault of Ancient Earth, just thought I'd continue the list.

In short, it's amateurish.