Post by DinoLord on Jun 20, 2011 23:05:19 GMT
The day before I left for London, I found something called "Dinosaurs Unleashed". After a bit of searching, I found out that it was an animatronic dinosaur exhibit. I thought that since the NHM's dinosaur hall was going to be closed during my vacation anyways, I might as well go to as many other dinosaur exhibitions as possible, so I booked a ticket online. From the pictures it looked okay.
It was a long trip to the O2. When I got there, it to ok quite a bit of walking to get there. Along the way, I saw some promotional material for the exhibit. It started off with large cardboard stands.
Then, I saw a large Ornithocheirus model clutching a banner advertising the exhibit. From this, I thought the exhibit would be decent. I guess first impressions aren't always right.
When I entered the exhibit, I was greeted by a tall man with piercings and a mohawk and a shorter, nerdier looking man. There were no other visitors there. They took my ticket and then asked if I wanted a tour. They said that it was something that would disprove most people's notions of dinosaurs, in a slightly cocky voice. After a short little introductory video, the mohawked man started the tour and we entered the main exhibit. He explained that he wasn't a paleontologist, but did design some of the animatronic dinosaurs in the exhibit.
"May I point out any inaccuracies with the dinosaurs?" I enquired.
"Sure, but I don't know if you'll find any," the mohawked man replied.
"Challenge accepted," I thought to myself.
Since I don't want to stay up all night typing, I will just mention a few inaccuracies in what he said.
Placerias:
The mohawked man said that Placerias looked like a hippo, and lived like one too. The model itself is not too bad.
Postosuchus:
After explaining Placerias, the guide talked about Postosuchus. Apparently, the model was used in Walking With Dinosaurs. According to him, Postosuchus could rear up and run on only its hind legs.
The animatronic models so far were okay. But this was about to change.
Plateosaurus:
I told the man that the Plateosaurus was inaccurate because the wrists couldn't bend like that. He looked utterly dumbfounded. But he was open to my comments. Since I didn't want to get on the guy's bad side too quickly, I left out how the proportions of the model were awful.
"Welcome to the Jurassic period," the guide said.
I looked at the two Diplodocus:
The first thing I checked was the hands. Just as I had suspected, they were wrong. I explained this to him, and he acted like a kindergartener who I was explaining graduate level quantum physics to. In addition, the nostrils are wrong too.
Then I noticed a Deinosuchus (not pictured) in the water! I mentioned it to him. He said that they had to put it there because it was the only part of the exhibit with water.
Then came the two Ornitholestes.
When it came to these, the mohawked man was actually informed. He knew about how the nose crest was wrong and how they were too large. However, he didn't know about how the wrists were wrong.
The next dinosaur was the Megalosaurus.
Even though it looked like a blundering oaf and something that Schleich would churn out. However, I didn't say anything about it for fear of angering the guide too quickly. I only mentioned the wrists.
Then came some Othniela.
They were pretty good. But what came next was an atrocity.
Gallimimus:
It wasn't the bunny wrists or lack of feathers that horrified me. It was that Gallimimus was featured alongside Diplodocus! And people wonder why the public knows so little about dinosaurs...
After that atrocity was the Stegosaurus.
It was okay. I left out the horrible proportions, once again for fear of angering the mohawked man too quickly. However, I did mention the lack of the throat guard and the incorrect wrists. When he explained the temperature control method, I shot it down.
"Well what you're saying is just a theory. And I personally like the temperature regulation explanation," he said. This was when the tour started to turn a bit sour.
Iguanodon:
This one was okay. I pointed out the wrists, but forgave them because it was a recent discovery. He ignored my words of forgiveness.
Then it came to two identical blank theropod heads.
These were for kids to experiment with dinosaur colorations. I told the guide about how scientists had found out the colors to some feathered dinosaurs. He didn't buy it though, despite all logic.
Then he came to the Cretaceous dinosaurs. He went straight to the Velociraptors (left of the Ankylosaurus).
He said that they could glide with their feathers. Once again, he listened to my rebuttal with closed ears. He didn't explain the rest of the Cretaceous dinosaurs, and ended the tour right there.
I then had some time to walk around and look at the exhibition myself. The first thing I noticed were two life-sized skull casts of Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops.
I noticed how the Triceratops' horns were facing the wrong way. Given how expensive fossil casts can get, I saw it as a waste.
Then I had a look at the T. rex and Triceratops animatronic models.
The Triceratops just looked ridiculous with its overly tiny head and backwards pointing horns. The T. rex was also a bit cartoonish, but that was to be expected.
After that, there was a little CGI aquarium. Most of it was junk, but they had some nice fossils and fossil replicas.
Fishes and plesiosaur tooth:
Dragonfly:
Pterodactylus:
Ammonite and trilobite:
When it was all done, I took the quiz that they had. One of the questions was this:
"What modern animal is the ancestor of Deinosuchus?"
That is a direct quote.
When the places meant to educate the public about dinosaurs are so full of errors, who could blame the general public for knowing so little about dinosaurs? At least pointing out the inaccuracies was kind of fun. Later, I was asked if I was a university student. I'm sure that they just loved me.
It was a long trip to the O2. When I got there, it to ok quite a bit of walking to get there. Along the way, I saw some promotional material for the exhibit. It started off with large cardboard stands.
Then, I saw a large Ornithocheirus model clutching a banner advertising the exhibit. From this, I thought the exhibit would be decent. I guess first impressions aren't always right.
When I entered the exhibit, I was greeted by a tall man with piercings and a mohawk and a shorter, nerdier looking man. There were no other visitors there. They took my ticket and then asked if I wanted a tour. They said that it was something that would disprove most people's notions of dinosaurs, in a slightly cocky voice. After a short little introductory video, the mohawked man started the tour and we entered the main exhibit. He explained that he wasn't a paleontologist, but did design some of the animatronic dinosaurs in the exhibit.
"May I point out any inaccuracies with the dinosaurs?" I enquired.
"Sure, but I don't know if you'll find any," the mohawked man replied.
"Challenge accepted," I thought to myself.
Since I don't want to stay up all night typing, I will just mention a few inaccuracies in what he said.
Placerias:
The mohawked man said that Placerias looked like a hippo, and lived like one too. The model itself is not too bad.
Postosuchus:
After explaining Placerias, the guide talked about Postosuchus. Apparently, the model was used in Walking With Dinosaurs. According to him, Postosuchus could rear up and run on only its hind legs.
The animatronic models so far were okay. But this was about to change.
Plateosaurus:
I told the man that the Plateosaurus was inaccurate because the wrists couldn't bend like that. He looked utterly dumbfounded. But he was open to my comments. Since I didn't want to get on the guy's bad side too quickly, I left out how the proportions of the model were awful.
"Welcome to the Jurassic period," the guide said.
I looked at the two Diplodocus:
The first thing I checked was the hands. Just as I had suspected, they were wrong. I explained this to him, and he acted like a kindergartener who I was explaining graduate level quantum physics to. In addition, the nostrils are wrong too.
Then I noticed a Deinosuchus (not pictured) in the water! I mentioned it to him. He said that they had to put it there because it was the only part of the exhibit with water.
Then came the two Ornitholestes.
When it came to these, the mohawked man was actually informed. He knew about how the nose crest was wrong and how they were too large. However, he didn't know about how the wrists were wrong.
The next dinosaur was the Megalosaurus.
Even though it looked like a blundering oaf and something that Schleich would churn out. However, I didn't say anything about it for fear of angering the guide too quickly. I only mentioned the wrists.
Then came some Othniela.
They were pretty good. But what came next was an atrocity.
Gallimimus:
It wasn't the bunny wrists or lack of feathers that horrified me. It was that Gallimimus was featured alongside Diplodocus! And people wonder why the public knows so little about dinosaurs...
After that atrocity was the Stegosaurus.
It was okay. I left out the horrible proportions, once again for fear of angering the mohawked man too quickly. However, I did mention the lack of the throat guard and the incorrect wrists. When he explained the temperature control method, I shot it down.
"Well what you're saying is just a theory. And I personally like the temperature regulation explanation," he said. This was when the tour started to turn a bit sour.
Iguanodon:
This one was okay. I pointed out the wrists, but forgave them because it was a recent discovery. He ignored my words of forgiveness.
Then it came to two identical blank theropod heads.
These were for kids to experiment with dinosaur colorations. I told the guide about how scientists had found out the colors to some feathered dinosaurs. He didn't buy it though, despite all logic.
Then he came to the Cretaceous dinosaurs. He went straight to the Velociraptors (left of the Ankylosaurus).
He said that they could glide with their feathers. Once again, he listened to my rebuttal with closed ears. He didn't explain the rest of the Cretaceous dinosaurs, and ended the tour right there.
I then had some time to walk around and look at the exhibition myself. The first thing I noticed were two life-sized skull casts of Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops.
I noticed how the Triceratops' horns were facing the wrong way. Given how expensive fossil casts can get, I saw it as a waste.
Then I had a look at the T. rex and Triceratops animatronic models.
The Triceratops just looked ridiculous with its overly tiny head and backwards pointing horns. The T. rex was also a bit cartoonish, but that was to be expected.
After that, there was a little CGI aquarium. Most of it was junk, but they had some nice fossils and fossil replicas.
Fishes and plesiosaur tooth:
Dragonfly:
Pterodactylus:
Ammonite and trilobite:
When it was all done, I took the quiz that they had. One of the questions was this:
"What modern animal is the ancestor of Deinosuchus?"
That is a direct quote.
When the places meant to educate the public about dinosaurs are so full of errors, who could blame the general public for knowing so little about dinosaurs? At least pointing out the inaccuracies was kind of fun. Later, I was asked if I was a university student. I'm sure that they just loved me.