This post began because my husband is not fascinated by dinosaurs. He seemed a bit baffled as to why I’d want to write a story about dinosaurs.
Note: Should a dinosaur wander through my back yard, be assured that I will be out there taking pictures until either the huge reptile ambles away or eats me, whichever comes first.
Unlike many things which have adult origins — technology, philosophy, history — all the “ologies” and “osophies” that attended my education and subsequent research — my passion for dinosaurs goes all the way back, back, back in time to when I was four or five years old and my Aunt Ethel took me to see “Fantasia,” the original, not the later remake.
Who remembers in “Fantasia” the history of the earth, starring the rise and fall of the dinosaurs? It is set to Igor Stravinsky’s brilliant “The Rites of Spring.” The music itself might be enough, but with the Disney artists on their best game, it was something else and embedded itself in my mind for a lifetime.
None of the movie’s graphics were generated by computers. All of them … each frame … was drawn by human artists. The music was played live by an orchestra full of real musicians. Contrary to popular opinion, special effects were not invented by Steven Spielberg.
I was just a little kid and it scared the bejeezus out of me. I had nightmares for years about dinosaurs hiding under the bed, in the hallway, in my closet. I couldn’t sleep without a nightlight because I was sure there was a dinosaur lurking, ready to grab me in giant jaws with teeth 9 feet long. I was a child of great imagination and excessive sensitivity.
As I got older, I began to read books and discovered lots of really cool stuff about dinosaurs, most important (to me) was that North America — what is now the middle of the United States had been giant reptile central, the heartland of the Brontosaurus, Velociraptor and other astonishing creatures. Wyoming was the hot point where Tyrannosaurus Rex ruled. Perhaps their legacy lives on in Washington D.C., but I digress.
When this was made, the whole asteroid thing was yet unknown, so the history of the earth is missing that piece of information, but I’m sure Disney’s artists would have happily included it had they known. Meanwhile, I’m totally whacked at the idea of the earth getting hit by an asteroid. I always have a good laugh when someone in some space lab mentions, casually, that there’s an asteroid headed our way, but not to worry, there’s no better than a 50-50 chance it will really hit us.
That we pathetic creatures, crawling around the surface of the earth, believe we are all-powerful and can control our destiny by technology is funny. Not only has this planet been hit by asteroids — not once but many times — but each time, the event precipitated the extinction of Earth’s dominant species. The dinosaurs lasted a lot longer than we have. Should one of those big hunks of space debris smack into us, I think it unlikely that all the computers, weaponry, technology or prayers we can muster will be of any use at all. Our collective ass will be grass without even the opportunity to text our best buddies about the impending big bang.
We will be gone, quite likely having had even less effect on our planet, in the final analysis, than did the dinosaurs.
Humankind has always suffered above all from the sin of pride. Hubris, as the Greeks called it. We think we are creatures of God and perhaps we are, but who said we are the only creatures of God or that He gave us a permanent free pass from extermination?
And this is what so fascinates me and probably always will. That these creatures, these huge, powerful creatures who ruled this planet for more years than we can comprehend were, in a single calamitous event, exterminated. Eliminated from the earth leaving just their bones by which to remember them. And we think we are so all-powerful. I bet they thought so, too.
Categories: #animals, Marilyn Armstrong, Movies, Nature, Science, Technology
So THAT explains it… I remember seeing Fantasia as a kid – but never remembered the dinosaurs. We had a ‘cut down’ version shown on free-to-air here at the start of the year and loved watching it again. Then, recently, it was repeated – only this time the dinosaurs were present. I never remembered seeing them or associated them with Fantasia before!?
Dinosaurs fascinated me as a kid, i loved learning about them and drawing them. 🙂
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If you can get to see the entire original and their second version from about 15 years ago, they are both very well done and sometimes pretty funny. Flamingoes with yoyo (the second one) is still a personal favorite as is “Dance of the Hours” starring Hippos and Crocodiles as ballet dancers (first version).
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I’ll look for the later one. My favourite was the dancing mushrooms (Sugar Plum Fairy). 🙂
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I’m not sure what is available. Disney keeps a tight lid on their animated features and they don’t let them roam without permission.
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well we still have cockroaches which were around when Rex was hissing and waving those tiny little hands..
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Cockroaches are forever!
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I have to wonder if some of those dinosaurs survived the cataclysm. Think about the Lock Ness Monster.
Leslie
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I have yet to see any proof that there IS any Loch Ness anything. But it’s a pretty lake.
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You’ve seen it Marilyn?
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No. Have you? Not the monster. I did see the lake. It is beautiful.
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I meant the lake, no we haven’t been there.
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On our honeymoon, we travelled far and wide 🙂
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Very nice, lot of memories from that….
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The titans died out as did most of those who’d headed into evolutionary cul-du-sacs, a bit like Koalas and pandas have now, but a great many of the smaller ones survived and thrived. We call em’ by different names now though . . . duck-billed platypuses, sharks, crocodiles/aligators, a lot of sea creatures with exoskeletons eg horshoe crabs, lobsters, snakes, and the ultimate descendants – birds. 😀
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I know many evolved into birds and some paleontologists think that dinosaurs had feathers. I don’t think they’d fit on my feeders.
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🙂
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If a dinosaur ever comes through your backyard, the squirrels will charge at it and shoo it away. They are not about to let some overgrown lizard take their food…
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That would make a GREAT set of photographs! Sort of “photographer died while photographing dinosaurs” and I’d probably get a lot of hits on the blog — if someone else wrote the story!
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Is it synchronicity that just yesterday I resurrected my old TV with VHS slot and determined to watch all my 200+ old VHS movies and then get rid of them? I put the TV in the kitchen while I cooked and first movie I drew was Jurrasic Park! I’ve watched just about 15 minutes of it.
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The movie scared Garry half to death. He’s afraid of snakes and a Tyro Rex is generically similar to a really really big snake. He sat on the sofa with a pillow in front of his face, peeking out to see if it was safe to watch.
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Awwwww. 🙂
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I couldn’t finish watching it. When they lowered the live steer into the pen it did me in…
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I remember Fantasia from my childhood. Dinosaurs were a fact and everywhere. They even found footprints on the side of a mountain near the local village of Lommiswil in Switzerland
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They really got around! They have found a whole lot of the Rex’s in Wyoming which apparently was underwater mostly at that point. In fact, the whole world was hot and jungly. Were you afraid of them too? I was sure they were out to get me.
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I think it was more fascination on my side. I remember seeing the first skeleton in the London Natural History museum, it is enormous.
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And I think I saw the first REAL skeleton in the New York museum of natural history. Same thing. So gigantic. I can see why Noah felt the ark just couldn’t handle that much weight. “Sorry, Dinos. If we take you, we’re gonna need a bigger boat. This craft isn’t nearly big enough!”
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Duke versus Godzilla? What do you think?
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Very interesting post. I haven’t seen the movie.
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You should see it and also the second version they made about 15 years ago too. Both are great in their own way. Funny and also, beautiful. Great music, too.
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I will. Thanks
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Regards your first paragraph, I’m fascinated by Dinos. Don’t recall commenting about you writing a piece.
Dinos and their kin – still scare the bee-jeezus out of me. Thanks, Jurrassic Park.
I would love to see Godzilla make a surprise visit to the Oval Office, maybe making a pizza delivery.
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I’d prefer it if he made a take-AWAY! 😉
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