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Paleoworld (Jurassica in Europe) is an American documentary television series that aired on The Learning Channel from 1994 to 1999. The series focused on paleontology and comprised 50 half-hour episodes spread over four seasons. It was the first multi-season television series dedicated to paleontology.[1] Clips from the series were frequently used within other paleontology programs aired by the Discovery Channel and other channels owned by the Discovery Network.
| Paleoworld | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Documentary |
| Narrated by | Ben Gazzara (season 1) Nick Schatzki (seasons 2 and 3) Ted Maynard (season 4) Susan Rae (Europe) |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 49 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Production company | New Dominion Pictures |
| Original release | |
| Network | The Learning Channel (TLC) |
| Release | September 28, 1994 – 1999 |
| Related | |
| When Dinosaurs Roamed America, Beyond T-rex, Valley of the T. rex and The Ultimate Guide: T-rex | |
Reception
editSeason 1 (1994) featured a smooth style and was narrated by Ben Gazzara. This series had many musical scenes, and some considered the show calm and relaxing; it also used much more paleoart than later series. Season 2 (1995) and Season 3 (1996) lost the musical element (as well as changing the narrator to Nick Schatzki), which resulted in a more conventional-style nature documentary. Even so, Seasons 2 and 3 were still perceived as maintaining the quality standard. For Season 4 (1997), the series changed narrators again (this time to Ted Maynard), and viewers felt that the show suffered a drop in quality, shifting from being musical and calm, to full-on and repetitive. Consequently, Season 4 was cancelled mid-season, and the series was ended.
Spin-offs
editIn July 1997, a kid-friendly version of the show called Bonehead Detectives of the Paleoworld, hosted by Rebecca Budig and Danny Tamberelli, aired as a part of Discovery Channel's "Discovery Kids" slot on Sunday mornings. It lasted for only one season (July 1997 to May 1998), and it consisted of just 18 episodes.[2]
In August 1999, TLC aired the 6-episode mini-series When Dinosaurs Ruled, hosted by Jeff Goldblum. This was a Paleoworld spin-off which combined clips from older Paleoworld episodes along with segments describing new discoveries.[3]
Release
editCurrently, the entire series is not available for purchase. Many DVDs and VHS tapes have been made with episodes from the series; however, most of them have been discontinued and are no longer available to purchase. Three DVDs of Paleoworld with five episodes on each were released in Australia in 2002, and a five-disc set with only 15 episodes from the series was released in the US and Canada. The three-disc set was re-released in 2010.