Life has found a way to allow natural historian extraordinaire Sir David Attenborough and The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau to team up for an all-new dinosaur-filled extravaganza on Apple TV Plus.
Apple has just released the first batch of trailers for Prehistoric Planet, a five-part documentary series set to be released on the Cupertino company’s streaming platform over five successive nights from May 23 onwards.
Featuring the narration of Attenborough, and being a co-production between Favreau, Mike Gunton and BBC Studio’s Natural History Unit, Planet Earth, the Apple TV Plus exclusive promises to “transport viewers over 66 million years in the past to discover our world and the dinosaurs that roamed it."
If you’re a fan of Jurassic Park or Walking With Dinosaurs, you look to be in for an audio-visual treat. With Hans Zimmer handling the score and special effects by MPC (the wizards behind the live action Jungle Book and Lion King adaptations), the human talent involved is almost as gigantic as the lumbering lizards the series stars.
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Those who are sticklers for historical accuracy will find Prehistoric Planet makes a greater effort than previous dinosaur series to bring its stars to life just as they would have walked on Earth. The show promises to show a more nurturing side of the fearsome Tyrannosaurus Rex than has been depicted in TV or film before, while anatomical accuracy, such as feathered youngsters and breathing-sack-reliant sauropods, are seen in the trailers.
It’s interesting too that Apple is choosing a different release strategy for Prehistoric Planet – its five night cadence suggests Apple is attempting to create a televisual event of the same kind once seen in traditional terrestrial broadcast. It shows the company has lots of faith in the material, looking to build up a sustained buzz that will have a halo effect over the rest of the streaming services’ output.
Prehistoric Planet is yet another feather in Apple TV Plus’s cap for 2022. It’s looking like a sterling year ahead for subscribers, who have the likes of Martin Scorsese’s Killer’s Of The Flower Moon and Taron Egerton’s Tetris to look forward to, as well as the Henry Cavill-starring spy thriller Argylle from Matthew Vaughn, and Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, starring Joker’s Joaquin Phoenix.
