Review for National Geographic: Jurassic CSI / The Truth About T-Rex

When I first saw the title 'Jurassic CSI' I had an image of a caveman version of Grissom solving crimes in the stone age. As amusing as that would be, that's sadly not what this show is. Dr Phil Manning decribes himself as a 'gonzo archaeologist' and despite his uncanny resemblance to the misguided godlike genius Karl PIlkington, he spends the series trying to uncover various mysteries about the dinosaur world.

These include just what colour they were, why did they grow to such sizes and why hasn't anything else since and how some managed to survive such horrific injuries. On the face of it, these don't seem that interesting, but his curiosity for these answers is infectious and it is simply fascinating watching him throughout. With the use of sophisticated scientific methods, some mainly used in the solving of crimes, he is able to discover the mysteries held locked in fossils. Many are mind-blowing such as the idea that there were dinosaurs with feathers and this may link them even closer with the theory that birds evolved from them.

Some sections are very reminiscent to the experiment elements that we see in CSI shows such as trying to discover how tough bones are. In this segment Karl.. I mean Phil Manning can barely scratch a bone with an axe and it demonstrates the viciousness of these attacks. What is more amazing is discovering that whereas a horse with that kind of injury would be dead in a few weeks without treatment, these creatures would live in for a number of years with this type of injury.

The two disks includes over five hours of entertainment and this includes a bonus episode The Truth about T-Rex. The episode (as you can guess) focuses on T-Rex and looks at this creature from a variety of methods. It would be nice if they created an episode like this focusing on a variety of dinosaurs as this was once again full of interesting information on the king of the dinosaurs and a nice addition to the set.

I enjoyed these shows, though I must admit at times I felt completely lost in the science and feel that maybe some interactive elements (not so much a dumbing down, but a thorough explanation) would have made this more enjoyable. Use of CGI animation to show the dinosaurs as they may have been is also great. The absence of extras is a shame as I would have liked to see how they created the CGI elements of the show and if there were any of sequences not included in the show, though the bonus T-Rex episode more than makes up for this.

Jurassic CSI is a great series of documentaries. For dinosaur fans it is packed full of facts and information that is very enjoyable in how it is presented. If you like documentaries in general you will enjoy and may even be astounded by what these investigations reveal.