Death of the Megabeasts (2009)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Main Menu Audio Featurette-Making Of
Rating
Year Of Production	2009
Running Time	92:53 (Case: 106)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (61:03)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Franco di Chiera
Studio Distributor	SBS Madman Entertainment	Starring	Franco di Chiera John McCourt Deanna Abbott Josh Abdullah Gerard Ashwin Tarlia Bennett Heath Bergersen Justine Graham Robert Graham Trevor Jamieson Glen Moore Bronwyn Newland Glen Ridley
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	Ash Gibson Greig

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	Yes
Subtitles	English (Burned In)	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

Most people will have heard of a Tyrannosaurus Rex or a Brontosaurus but how many people in Australia have heard of our own 'megafauna' such as the Diprotodon (Giant Wombat) or Procoptodon (Giant Kangaroo). I certainly was not really aware of them until this DVD arrived for review. These species lived in Australia until much more recent times than the Dinosaurs roamed the earth, dying out less than 60,000 years ago. This documentary recreates those and other species using CGI, in a similar way to Walking with Dinosaurs. The focus of the documentary is a scientific investigation into why these huge beasts died out when they did. Rather than present this in a dry, scientific manner the documentary presents it like a 'true crime' documentary with a voiceover, dramatic music and the revealing of clues. This makes the show very watchable especially when combined with the CGI recreations. My two young boys (5 & 7) were fascinated by this show.

This is a quality production with much effort involved in finding appropriate locations to shoot backgrounds relevant to the era, quality CGI work and an interesting and engaging approach to the subject matter. This version of the documentary is longer than when it was shown on television, running over 1.5 hours. The show is a co-production between SBS, a French TV network and National Geographic Channel. It was nominated for an AFI award for visual effects.

Recommended

Video

The feature is presented in 1.85:1 16x9 enhanced widescreen. I believe this would be the original aspect ratio.

The picture was clear and sharp throughout. Shadow detail was good.

The colour was very good with no issues to report.

Artefacts included some mild MPEG compression artefacts during fast motion and some occasional edge enhancement.

There are no subtitle streams however yellow subtitles are burned in for foreign languages.

The layer change occurs at 61:03 and was not overly noticeable during playback.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio is very good.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand.

    The music is suitable dramatic and tension building, adding significantly to the atmosphere.

    The surround speakers were well used for megabeast noises and atmosphere.

    The subwoofer added bass to megabeast noises and the music.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

The menu is still and simple but includes music.

Resurrecting the Megabeasts (9:07)

A short making of featurette that covers the technical aspects of fitting the CGI into real environments, motion capture approaches and some discussion of locations and other factors. Worth watching.

The local release is all region and seems to be the only choice currently.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is very good.

    One extra.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall