|
''The Ballad of Big Al'' (distributed in the North American market as ''Allosaurus: a Walking with Dinosaurs Special'') is a combination biography-sequel for ''Walking with Dinosaurs ''. It focuses on an ''Allosaurus'' (''Allosaurus fragilis'') named Big Al and his constant struggle to survive in a world filled with danger. == Plot == The special begins at the University of Wyoming, showing the bones of a sauropod followed by an ''Allosaurus'' named Big Al. After the ghost of Big Al wanders the museum passing by his own skeleton and a nest of fossilized eggs, the film then travels back in time to 145 Mya showing the same nest. Al and his siblings hatch and are helped out of the nest by their mother. She brings them to a river bank and the hatchlings start to hunt for insects. When the mother leaves the hatchlings temporarily, a year-old ''Allosaurus'' comes and kills one of them (luckily, the victim was not Al). Al is then shown at two years old. He is trying to hunt a flock of ''Dryosaurus''. He has not yet learned how to ambush so he fails to kill one of the swifter, smaller dinosaurs. Later, he snatches a lizard from a branch. Al comes across a dead ''Stegosaurus'' and an ''Allosaurus'' waiting for death in a pit of sticky mud. Meanwhile, a female ''Allosaurus'', attracted to the ''Stegosaurus'' carcass, also gets stuck. She struggles to free herself, but fails. Al luckily avoids the same fate as he had learnt to avoid carrion. Unable to escape, the trapped ''Allosaurus'' pair die of exhaustion, their corpses left to ''Anurognathus''. Five years pass, and a herd of ''Diplodocus'' are migrating across the prehistoric salt lake. Al is joined by several other ''Allosaurus'' and they attempt to bring a weak member of the herd down. Once the herd leaves the sick ''Diplodocus'', the ''Allosaurs'' gather. Al is struck down by the neck of the ''Diplodocus''. The pack wait for a few hours until the ''Diplodocus'' is brought down by heat exhaustion and his illness. Though they feed, within the hour an adult female ''Allosaurus'' scavenges the kill. Al takes some remnants of the carcass for himself and leaves. A year passes by, and Al is shown drinking at a pond. His presence however makes other dinosaurs around the pond nervous and the smell of blood he brings with him puts off a pair of ''Stegosaurus'' that were attempting to mate. Away from the pond, he discovers the scent of a nearby female ''Allosaurus'' and issues a mating call. She is not interested, but Al's inexperience causes him to get too close, and the female attacks him. Al is lucky enough to escape from the ensuing fight with his life, although he sustains a torn right arm, ripped right claw and smashed ribs. Later the dry season comes, and Al is attempting to hunt a flock of ''Dryosaurus''. Whilst ambushing them however, a log falls in his path which he trips over and ends up breaking something in his right foot. As the dry season turns to a drought, Al's limp from the fall gets worse and his right middle toe -which he broke in the fall- has become badly infected. Soon, unable to hunt, he dies in a dried-up riverbed, where two hatchling ''Allosaurus'' are hunting for bugs and come across his emaciated carcass. He is said not to have reached full size, dying as a mature adolescent and that the process of his fossilisation was so perfect it preserved even the injuries and diseases he sustained in his lifetime including -amongst others- lumps where his ribs healed after their break and the raging infection on his middle toe. Animals featured are: *''Allosaurus'' *''Apatosaurus'' *''Dryosaurus'' *''Stegosaurus'' *''Brachiosaurus'' *''Ornitholestes'' *''Othnielia'' *''Anurognathus'' *''Diplodocus'' *Paramacellodus (live-acted by a Iguana) *Toad (live-acted) *Axolotl (live-acted) *Dragonfly (live-acted) *Scorpion (live-acted) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Ballad of Big Al」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|