Walking with Dinosaurs − The Arena Spectacular

Walking with Dinosaurs − The Arena Spectacular was a live adaptation of the 1999 BBC television series Walking with Dinosaurs. The show played its last show on 22 December 2019 at the Taipei Arena.[1]

Production

Walking with Dinosaurs − The Arena Spectacular was created by Australian live entertainment company Global Creatures, with puppet design by The Creature Technology Company.[2] Artistic director William May is credited as the live show's creator.[3] The production cost $20 million to stage and used puppetry, suits, and animatronics to create 16 Mesozoic era creatures representing 10 species.[4] Each large dinosaur weighs several tons, and is operated by two "voodoo puppeteers" and a driver beneath the dinosaur who also monitors the hydraulics and batteries.[5] The smaller dinosaurs (marked by an *) are suits operated by the person in it, each weighing from 20–30 kg (44-66 lbs).[5] There are six puppeteers for these suits, which only have side views.[2] The nine prehistoric creatures featured are:

There was also the carcass of an ornithopod and a video sequence about the Ornithocheirus. Some of the dinosaurs initially did not have feathers, but they were later added after new research showed dinosaurs possessed plumage.[2] This also necessitated rewrites of the script, which were added to later iterations of the show as well as improvements in the animatronics, making them more responsive to puppeteers and giving them the ability to "eat" food and spray water vapor as "breath".[2]

Tours

Walking with Dinosaurs − The Arena Spectacular originated in Australia in January 2007 (as Walking with Dinosaurs: The Live Experience), and toured North America in 2007–10, Europe in 2010, and returned to North America until 2011. It also toured Asia beginning in December 2010. In 2011 the show came to its final destination of its first tour, New Zealand. In 2012, the show toured the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands.

Tour dates

North America

Walking with Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular tour dates
Date Venue City
11–15 July 2007 Tacoma Dome Tacoma
18–22 July 2007 Spokane Arena Spokane
25–28 July 2007 Rexall Place Edmonton
1–5 August 2007 Scottrade Center St. Louis
8-12 August 2007 Air Canada Centre Toronto
16–19 August 2007 Wachovia Spectrum Philadelphia
22–25 August 2007 Schottenstein Center Columbus
5–9 September 2007 Philips Arena Atlanta
12–16 September 2007 Bi-Lo Center Greenville
19-22 September 2007 Verizon Center Washington DC
26–30 September 2007 Norfolk Scope Arena Norfolk
3–6 October 2007 Continental Airlines Arena East Rutherford
10–14 October 2007 LJVM Coliseum Winston-Salem
17–21 October 2007 Sommet Center Nashville
25–28 October 2007 American Airlines Center Dallas
8–11 November 2007 ALLTEL Arena Little Rock
14–18 November 2007 Cobo Arena Detroit
28 November-, 2007 MTS Centre Winnipeg
5–9 December 2007 Bradley Center Milwaukee
26–30 December 2007 HP Pavilion at San Jose San Jose
3–6 January 2008 ARCO Arena Sacramento
9–13 January 2008 Thomas & Mack Center Las Vegas
16–20 January 2008 Rose Garden Arena Portland
9–13 April 2008 North Charleston Coliseum Charleston
11–15 June 2008 Xcel Energy Center St. Paul
25–29 June 2008 Quicken Loans Arena Cleveland
30 July – 3 August 2008 Madison Square Garden New York City
7–17 August 2008 United Center Chicago
26–28 September 2008 Staples Center Los Angeles
10–14 December 2008 Van Andel Arena Grand Rapids
30 July – 2 August 2009 Pepsi Center Denver
September, 2009 Gwinnett Arena Duluth
31 March – 3 April 2010 First Interstate Area Billings
28 July – 1 August 2010 Allstate Arena Rosemont
16–19 August 2010 Wachovia Spectrum Philadelphia

UK

Walking with Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular tour dates
Date Venue City
20–22 July 2018 Metro Radio Arena Newcastle-upon-Tyne
26–28 July 2018 Arena Birmingham Birmingham
31 Jul–1 Aug 2018 Echo Arena Liverpool
3–4 August 2018 Manchester Arena Manchester
7–8 August 2018 Motorpoint Arena Nottingham
10–11 August 2018 FlyDSA Arena Sheffield
14–19 August 2018 O2 Arena London
22–23 August 2018 First Direct Arena Leeds
25–28 August 2018 SSE Hydro Glasgow
29 Aug–2 Sept 2018 SSE Arena SSE Hydro Belfast Glasgow
3–26 September 2018 SSE Hydro Glasgow
19–23 December 2018 3Arena Dublin
27–30 December 2018 SSE Arena, Wembley London

Reception

Elliot Wagland from Huffington Post UK called the show "an enchanting way to spend an afternoon", saying that it "stunned" his son into silence.[6]

In other media

Promotion

The soundtrack of the show, composed by James Seymour Brett, was first released by ABC Classics in 2007.

In the United Kingdom, the British tabloid newspaper The Sun, released 'Walking with Dinosaurs: The Making of the Live Experience' on DVD for free, when the show was touring the country in June 2009. In addition to The Making of the Live Experience, the original 1999 series and follow-up series, Walking with Beasts, were also distributed by The Sun.

When the show was touring, various forms of merchandise were made, such as toys, cups, clothes and posters.

TV Shows

In 2009, three of the animatronic dinosaurs appeared on Top Gear series 13, episode 6.

While in the United States, the adaptation appeared on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation season 11 episode 6.

The Arena Spectacular also appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show season 12, episode 4.

References

  1. ^ "Walking With Dinosaurs - The Arena Spectacular". British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 8 December 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d "245 million years of history on stage". Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  3. ^ Griffin, Michelle (6 January 2010). "William May, dinosaur creator, dies". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 November 2025.
  4. ^ ""Stepping into the world of dinosaurs:" Sneak peek of "Walking with Dinosaurs" arena spectacular!". FOX6Now.com. 15 October 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  5. ^ a b "Behind-the-Scenes of 'Walking with Dinosaurs' | BBC America". BBC America. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  6. ^ "Walking With Dinosaurs (REVIEW): Prehistoric Monsters Roar Into The 02 In Spectacular Style". HuffPost UK. 2 January 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.