h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Ray Harryhausen Dinosaur Films - A87843289
Author: Bluebottle - U43530

A quick look at some of the most influential dinosaur films of all time.

<BB<

Hi <BB<

Having a quick read through, I noticed you call him "Ray" here: "The tar-soaked skeletal remains of sabre-toothed tigers and mammoths would, like fossilised dinosaurs, stay a profound part of Ray's imagination throughout his life" but other places call him Harryhausen, and even a Harryhaysen.



The first was influential science-fiction promoter Forrest J Ackerman, who led to his meeting close lifelong friend Ray Bradbury at a meeting of the Los Angeles Science Fiction League.
meeting [...] meeting = doesn't need the second "meeting"
= who led to his meeting close lifelong friend Ray Bradbury at the Los Angeles Science Fiction League.



Then project gave him experience
=
The project...



O'Brien asked Harryhausen to be the animator, with Obie supervising, which Harryhausen was delighted to do.
=
as Obie *is* O'Brien, this sounds like two different people. I suggest:
O'Brien asked Harryhausen to be the animator, with himself supervising, which Harryhausen was delighted to do.



swallow a cave man
=
caveman is one word and you could link to A21776619



Despite this, a prehistoric bird, the phororhacos, remained on screen into the finished film.
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that doesn't make sense to me, do you mean "Despite this, a prehistoric bird, the phororhacos, made it into the finished film."?



The animation was done quickly, within eight weeks, and in his autobiography An Animated Life, Harryhausen described it as as far as input was concerned, one of the most unrewarding experiences of my life.
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there's a double "as" there



twenty years earlier
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20 years earlier



We called in an 'Allosaurus' occasionally.
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We called it an 'Allosaurus' occasionally.



Hyman's son Kenneth Hyman had
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Hyman's son Kenneth had



sabre-tooth tiger = we've discussed the tiger/cat difference elsewhere, but it should be saber-toothed not sabre-toothed or sabre-tooth (multiple places)



Thanks for writing this <BB<

GB

Thanks for all the comments - changes made, the link added.
All changes straightforward enough, with I think the only one to comment on being the discussion about sabre-toothed tigers. Just to let anyone coming to this conversation aware of the discussion we had elsewhere, basically we agreed that though the animal commonly called the sabre-toothed tiger is not, actually a tiger and is correctly called a 'smilodon' or 'sabre-toothed cat', it is not uncommon for popular names to be wrong, for instance a 'killer whale' is a type of dolphin and not a whale and a 'koala bear' isn't a bear.

Several publications, including the Enclyopedia Britannica, use 'sabre-toothed' - I imagine it is a US/UK English thing: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/515146/sabre-toothed-cat


As Harryhausen called his model a 'sabre-toothed tiger', that's what I've called it. Similarly, he always called his Brontosaurus a Brontosaurus, even though the dinosaur is now correctly called an Apatosaurus.
(When a dinosaur is discovered, the first name is always the one used. As it is rare for complete skeletons to be found, often only a part of one, say a neck, is found and then later another part, say a hind leg is discovered, and it is only much later that it is realised that the two are the same animal. This happened with the Brontosaurus. In the case of the Eohippus, there is still some debate as to whether the Eohippus is the same animal or not as the Hyracotherium)

<BB<

I enjoyed this after having read The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms

I have a few questions:

What was the learning curve?

Why was the Warner Brothers workshop cheaper than in-house?

What is the key roping sequence in the Valley of Gwangi?

Is the apeman a troglodyte, or is the term troglodyte not accurate to describe them?

Did the Valley of Gwangi tyrannosaurus inspire the Jurassic Park tyrannosaurus?

Glad you enjoyed reading this - this article's an overview on his dinosaur films, and I expect I'll write about the other ones in more detail sooner or later.

I've removed the 'learning curve' bit from the text, but basically Harryhausen learnt a lot in his early days about stop-motion animation, from the need to control his environment (when filming outside, shadows moved while he was filming), how to design and construct armatures to support the models, how to actually make the rubber models and cook them the correct length so the rubber is pliable, but not saggy, how to move fur and feather without leaving fingerprints over the models, how much to move a model to make the movement realistic, how to give the impression of water, how to use an aerial brace to allow models to fly, how to combine live action with animation etc - the list goes on.


Why was the Warner Brothers workshop cheaper than in-house?
Had Obie or Harryhausen made the models, they would have made different models for the different dinosaurs, given them detailed skins and constructed complex armatures to allow them to be used precisely. This would take time and cost more than making the cheapest, quickest models they could get away with.

I've added a bit more about the key roping sequence in the Valley of Gwangi - watch it, it's a treat.

I've added a bit more about Trog too.

To an extent the Tyrannosaurus in 'The Valley of Gwangi' inspired 'Jurassic Park'. The sudden appearance of the T-rex pouncing on the ornimthomimus out of nowhere in 'The Valley of Gwangi' inspired the T-rex pouncing on the gallimimus. But the design of the T-rex is completely different and as a T-rex is the most famous dinosaur ever, even if 'The Valley of Gwangi' had not been made, I'm sure that Jurassic Park would have featured a T-rex as the baddy.

<BB<

Thanks <BB<

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