Animal Armageddon

Animal Armageddon
Genre	Documentary
Narrated by	Michael Carroll
Theme music composer	Alan Ett
Country of origin	USA
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	8
Production
Executive producer	Jason McKinley
Running time	45 minutes
Production company	Digital Ranch Productions
Original release
Network	Animal Planet
Release	February 12 (2009-02-12) – September 24, 2009 (2009-09-24)

Animal Armageddon is an American paleontology-based documentary television miniseries that originally aired from February 12, 2009 (2009-02-12) to September 24, 2009 (2009-09-24) on Animal Planet. All the prehistoric scenes are created 100% in Lightwave. It is produced by Digital Ranch Productions and all the computer graphics are designed and created by Radical3D.

Reception

The show was entered for Emmy consideration in many categories in 2009. It failed to be nominated in any. CommonSense Media praised the program, giving it four stars out of five and saying that "the show's stunning CGI makes ancient geology and evolution as enticing as any thriller" and that "If you think ancient geology and fossilized biology are about as interesting as, well, a box of rocks, then you've never experienced anything like this impressive series. Even if you can't recall a single fact from high school science class, you'll emerge from each hour-long episode with a general idea of Earth's make-up, its prominent inhabitants, and the theories behind the monumental disasters that threatened life's survival at various turning points in the planet's history. The series' CGI literally brings the ancient past to life, giving viewers an amazing visual image of life long ago." The show maintains a rating of 7.7 out of 10 on IMDb.

Animals

Ordovician Extinction

• Astraspis
• Cameroceras (identified as Straight Nautiloid)
• Climatius (identified as Acanthodian)
• Isotelus (identified as Giant Trilobite)
• Leonaspis (identified as Common Trilobite)
• Megalograptus (identified as Eurypterid)
• Pterygotus
• Trocholites (identified as Coiled Nautiloid)

Devonian Extinction

• Bothriolepis
• Cheirolepis
• Dunkleosteus
• Eusthenopteron
• Ichthyostega
• Materpiscis
• Tiktaalik
• Trilobites, Nautiloids, Acanthodians and Osteostracids

Permian Extinction

• Acanthodians
• Dicynodon
• Lystrosaurus
• Proterosuchus
• Thrinaxodon
• Sauroctonus (identified as Gorgonopsian)

Triassic Extinction

• Desmatosuchus
• Eudimorphodon
• Megazostrodon
• Rutiodon
• Staurikosaurus
• Gorgonopsian (cameo)
• Proterosuchus (cameo)
• Thrinaxodon (cameo)
• Lystrosaurus (cameo)
• Dicynodon (cameo)

Cretaceous Extinction

• Alamosaurus (unidentified)
• Byronosaurus
• Cretoxyrhina (identified as Shark)
• Deinosuchus (identified as Phobosuchus)
• Dromaeosaurus
• Edmontosaurus (identified as Hadrosaur)
• Mortoniceras (identified as Ammonite)
• Mosasaurus (identified as Mosasaur)
• Opisthocoelicaudia (identified as Titanosaur)
• Protoceratops
• Purgatorius
• Quetzalcoatlus
• Tarbosaurus
• Triceratops
• Troodon
• Tyrannosaurus
• Velociraptor

Pleistocene Extinction

• Acinonyx pardinensis (identified as Sumatran Leopard)
• Elasmotherium
• Gigantopithecus
• Modern Human
• Owen's Panther (identified as Puma)
• Panthera leo spelaea
• Stegodon
• Woolly Mammoth (after extinction)

Modern Extinction

• Future Cockroach
• Future Rat
• Modern Human
• Peregrine Falcon
• Other creatures

Episodes

Episode	Time	Explanation	Locations
Episode 1 Death Rays	450 million years ago Ordovician	A dying star in the milky way explodes, sending gamma rays slamming into the Earth. Air molecules are shattered, realigning into toxic chemicals that block out the sun, changing the climate dramatically. Our ancestors, Astraspis, must adapt or die in order to survive. It is not until thousands of years later that the global cooling ends. 70% of lifeforms are extinct, including the majority of straight nautiloids, paving the way for new species, like Pterygotus, to take their place.	Las Vegas, Mexico, Eastern Seaboard, Northern Europe
Episode 2 Hell on Earth	377 million years ago Devonian	A superplume volcanic eruption causes increased temperatures worldwide. Animals must adapt or die in order to survive. As their habitats evaporate, Tiktaalik, one of our ancestors, must adapt to land life in order to survive. The superstorm continues for 1.2 million years before it burns out. Most of the placoderms, including the enormous Dunkleosteus, are wiped out by this catastrophe; only Bothriolepis survive and Descendants of Tiktaalik emerge as the first amphibian appears. Ichthyostega becoming the dominant vertebrates through the upcoming Period.	Siberia, Italy, Greenland, Morocco, Pennsylvania
Episode 3 Doomsday	65 million years ago Cretaceous	An asteroid the size of Mount Everest is about to end the age of the dinosaurs, followed by powerful earthquakes, megatsunamis, and a lethal rain of flaming rocky debris during the first 24 hours. The episode closes with a view of Earth plunged into a fiery red ball of baked rock, making it look like a red giant. This impact event sends several species of dinosaurs and pterosaurs to the brink of extinction, including Tyrannosaurus rex, Hadrosaurs, Triceratops, Byronosaurus, Edmontosaurus, and Troodon. However, when the initial blast is over, it appears that the mammals, Purgatorius, are getting along somewhat better than usual.	Alaska, Mexico, Montana, Texas, West Africa, Mongolia, Alberta
Episode 4 Panic in the Sky	65 million years ago Cretaceous	Wildfires, acid rain, earthquakes, global darkness, and snow storms spell death for the dinosaurs during their last year. In the first 24 hours after the asteroid impact, wildfires consume much of the United States around the Gulf of Mexico. Later, weather patterns bring sulphur and acid rain, killing off many animals on land and sea. After the rain stops days later, the world is engulfed completely in total darkness for up to 4 months, long enough to kill of most of the plant life, and all the herbivores starve to death, and also it is too dark for herbivores to see to feed. After the darkness has cleared, global temperatures drop to freezing worldwide. A year after the asteroid impact, earth is close to being a dead planet: every dinosaur, pterosaur, ammonite and marine reptile is now extinct; the sea is almost lifeless; just a few species of fish and sharks remain. Years later, life on earth slowly recovers as the Purgatorius from the previous episode emerges.	Mexico, Alaska, Texas, China, Mongolia, Alberta
Episode 5 The Great Dying	250 million years ago Permian	250 million years ago, the Siberian Traps erupt into an active volcano. The eruption of the Traps causes land ecosystems to be put under serious stress, due to severe climate change caused by basalt flow volcanic eruptions in Siberia. This modifies the chemical composition of the atmosphere. The result is the largest mass extinction in Earth's history. Most Gorgonopsids, Dicynodonts, and numerous other creatures became extinct. However, Proterosuchus and Thrinaxodon (the ancestors of archosaurs and mammals, respectively) both manage to survive the mass extinction, and go on to become extremely successful, inheriting the Earth, as well as fighting with each other for supremacy during the succeeding Triassic Period.	Siberia, Kansas, South Africa, Egypt, Arizona
Episode 6 Strangled	200 million years ago Triassic	Volcanism starts as Pangaea starts to break up (Eurasia splitting from Gondwana along the Appalachians). Scorching lava, suffocating heat and toxic gas violently causes a mass extinction 200 million years ago. Pangaea is filled with exploding volcanoes until 200,000 years later, when many species have gone extinct, allowing the dinosaurs to take the dominant role.	Eastern Seaboard, Arizona, South Africa
Episode 7 Fire and Ice	74,000–10,000 years ago Pleistocene	The eruption of Lake Toba 74,000 years ago kills the giant mammals in prehistoric Asia. The lava and ash starts in Sumatra, but soon spreads to the rest of the world, driving Elasmotheriums, Sumatran leopards, Asian pumas, European cave lions, Gigantopithecus, and Stegodons to extinction. Our ancestors, the earliest Homo sapiens, also nearly become extinct. However, humans manage to survive, although they do suffer a genetic bottleneck in their population. However, the extinction of all of these other creatures then paves the way for new species, such as the woolly mammoth, to replace them.	Chicago, Sumatra, Vietnam, India
Episode 8 The Next Extinction	Future Holocene	An asteroid like the one that killed off the dinosaurs strikes New York City. The human race has to revert to the nomadic people that their ancestors were.	New York City, Mexico, Arizona, Siberia

Sound

Animal sound effects in Animal Armageddon were produced like the filmmakers of Jurassic Park. For example, Tyrannosaurus and Tarbosaurus both had a low pitch roar, which was produced by combining a walrus and an Asiatic lion together. For Velociraptor, a parrot screech was added with a combination of a chimpanzee and a yellow warbler. For Lystrosaurus, the creators used an African Elephant and combined it with a bison and a cheetah. For Desmatosuchus, a combination of a frigate bird, a gull, and an leopard was used.

External links

• Official website
• Animal Armageddon at IMDb