1 Triceratops, 2 T-Rexes, 30 Boners, Infinite Nerdgasm
Check out this astounding stunt from the popular German game/entertainment program, Wetten, Das..? wherein three life-sized dinosaurs crash the party:
(Via Cathy Tree Harris, thanks!)
Okay, first things first, I think we can all agree that cuffed blue jeans are probably not the way to go when you’re wearing the most incredible baby T-Rex costume puppet ever friggin’ made in the history of EVAR. But still. Holy shit, right? Someone over at Geekologie sums up my own feelings about this clip quite well:
Let me tell you: when that [baby T-Rex] first came running out I thought it was CG. But it wasn’t. And neither were my 30 boners! My God, I’ve never wanted to be part of a live studio audience so bad in my life.
Seriously! Well, it turns out that if you live in the UK, US, Canada or any number of cities in Europe, you can have your Brachiosaurus and meet it, too. The dinos in that clip are only three of over 10 species featured in a spectacular live arena show spin-off of the cherished BBC series Walking With Dinosaurs. Creature designer Sonny Tilders and his crew used their extensive knowledge of puppetry arts and animatronics to bring these long-extinct giants back to life.
Coilhouse field trip, anyone?
(More photos and clips after the jump.)
October 7th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
GREATEST THING I’VE SEEN ALL WEEK. MONTH. MAYBE YEAR.
October 7th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
I just peed myself a little bit. That… oh wait… make that 31 boners.
October 7th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
My heart is racing and this is freaking AWESOME! I adore dinosaurs with the same passion as both a 5-year-old and an archaeologist but even I think I would have scheißen meine Hosen had I actually been there.. Field trip!!
October 7th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
*cries* The closest show to me (DC) was last month! My life is an unending pit of despair…
October 7th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Holy shit, so badass: Do want.
That, good friends, was very awesome indeed.
October 7th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
The look on that kid’s face when the adult T. Rex comes out and turns towards him says it all.
Also, I was waiting for the adult to hork up a big piece of half digested meat, after the nose rubbing. THAT would be an awesome puppet.
October 7th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Those dinos are simply jaw-dropping.
I completely missed the show when it was in Philly last year.
Uber Paleo-Nerd Fail.
October 8th, 2009 at 12:16 am
I LOVE DINOSAURS.
With my boy parts. Thankfully, there’s no sex offender law for buggering an animatronic T-Rex. You just need a really tall ladder.
October 8th, 2009 at 8:08 am
I keep trying to come up with intelligent words here, and all the brain will muster is:
WANT! WANT! WANT!
October 8th, 2009 at 8:47 am
I find it almost physically painful to criticize something so spectacular, but where are the feathers? Paleontologists strongly suspect that many therapods, including good old T.rex, [url=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feathered_dinosaurs”]possessed feathery hides [/url]. Some theories speculate that this would be particularly true of juveniles, who might lose their feathers as they mature.
This is not yet a completely accepted idea, but it does have enough currency in the paleontology community that I’d expect simulated dinosaurs in the year 2009 to at least make a nod in its direction, especially if they have a juvenile T.rex.
I was pleased, though, to see the baby Rex exhibiting bird-like behavior in the first video, at around 3:14.
October 8th, 2009 at 10:57 am
WOW. I SO wanna see how they built those incredible critters!!! But yeah, those blue jeans…WTF were they thinking?! Oy vey!
October 8th, 2009 at 11:15 am
The show is incredible..if you get the chance to go DO IT! being up close to those puppets really makes you realise the size of those creatures!
October 8th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Dang! Missed it. This would’ve been fantastic to behold, live and up-close!
The first Jurassic Park still gives me happy tingles!
October 8th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Holy smack! Incredible armatures and puppeteering! The baby T-Rex’s performance was really excellent.
October 11th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
i’m officially joining this field trip!
October 18th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
I was lucky enough to get a personalized backstage tour of “Walking with Dinosaurs” when the show was in Victoria, BC. These dinosaurs are amazing up close, with lifelike hide, individually crafted eyes, and even battle scars. For the really big dinosaurs, part of the bodies are partially inflated.
Each dinosaur has three puppeteers – one to drive or wear the body suit. one to control the body movements, and one to control the facial expressions.
I’ve put up an interview with the head puppeteer of the show that was aired on CBC Radio.
http://www.futuresoon.com/2009/06/walking-with-dinosaurs.html
This show is amazing, well worth the $80 plus tickets. And the great thing is that the show is always evolving, with new dinosaurs added periodically.
And if you though that was great, get ready for the next show from the creators of the show: King Kong.
October 21st, 2009 at 7:13 am
Saw this show in Liverpool and it was very impressive. It really made me want to be 9 years old so I could I could stop thinking about how it all worked and just enjoy it.
As we were leaving I saw a clearly overawed little boy look up at his Mum and say
“I can’t believe we’ve seen a real dinosaur!”.
She obviously didn’t have the heart to correct him. I wouldn’t have either.