The process of evolution is well enough understood at this point to speculate about future directions and not seem totally ridiculous.
In his book, "AFTER MAN", Dougal Dixon attempts to model a possible world some 50 million years hence and does so reasonably convincingly. He also worked on the series "The Future is Wild" some twenty something years later and the scope is much more ambitious. I would have given it more time and attempted to show greater depth than the makers of the series did. Much of it seemed glossed over and the rational for many of the various creatures was sketched out a little too loosely. If anything I would have liked to see it projected still farther into the future as changes in the sun cause the Earth to become very different.
While I don't think comparisons with Walking with Dinosaurs are totally fair, the difference in production values between the two is evident, but so far as depicting the habits of animals that have never been seen alive, their intent is pretty much the same. The future shown here is plausible.
This series is better viewed on DVD than broadcast because a lot of little points go by quite quickly and many of the comments from scientists are somewhat subtle and deserve closer scrutiny. One will realize that many of them are in disagreement with several of the models presented in the series.
In his book, "AFTER MAN", Dougal Dixon attempts to model a possible world some 50 million years hence and does so reasonably convincingly. He also worked on the series "The Future is Wild" some twenty something years later and the scope is much more ambitious. I would have given it more time and attempted to show greater depth than the makers of the series did. Much of it seemed glossed over and the rational for many of the various creatures was sketched out a little too loosely. If anything I would have liked to see it projected still farther into the future as changes in the sun cause the Earth to become very different.
While I don't think comparisons with Walking with Dinosaurs are totally fair, the difference in production values between the two is evident, but so far as depicting the habits of animals that have never been seen alive, their intent is pretty much the same. The future shown here is plausible.
This series is better viewed on DVD than broadcast because a lot of little points go by quite quickly and many of the comments from scientists are somewhat subtle and deserve closer scrutiny. One will realize that many of them are in disagreement with several of the models presented in the series.