Review of Issue 101 of Prehistoric Times

“Prehistoric Times”, the dinosaur fan and model collector’s must have magazine starts its next one hundred issues with an edition that balances the latest dinosaur replica news, fossil finds and discoveries with some thoughtful retrospectives on the inspirational artwork of Charles R Knight, a countdown of the top ten dinosaur cinema battles of all time and a wonderful insight into the attempts of fans of the original King Kong film to recreate a lost scene from the movie.

The front cover, shows part of the stunning painting of Tyrannosaurus rex in a stand off against Triceratops. The artwork was created by Charles R Knight and the full mural can be seen in the Field Museum, Chicago, we think.  Charles R Knight was one of the most important and influential illustrators of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals in the latter part of the 19th and the first part of the 20th centuries.  “Prehistoric Times” pays tribute to his ground-breaking artistic endeavours and features an interview with Richard Milner author of a new book highlighting the great man’s contribution.

“Prehistoric Times” Front Cover – Issue 101

Charles R. Knight’s work is celebrated in the latest edition of PT.

Picture credit: Mike Fredericks/Everything Dinosaur

“Prehistoric Times”

Amongst all the usual inclusions, letters from dinosaur fans and collectors, updates on new replicas plus some brief reports on the latest fossil discoveries there is the second part of the excellent “Tree Climbing Theropods” article written by Tracy Lee Ford. In this thoughtful piece, the author asks if some dinosaurs could perch, how did they get into the trees in the first place?  In addition, there is a detailed feature on one of our favourite lambeosaurines – Corythosaurus and a special section featuring that bizarre, toothed sea-bird Hesperornis.

Tying in with the magazine’s social media activities there is a run down of the top ten dinosaur movie fights of all time as suggested by readers and the third part of the story of Invicta dinosaurs researched and written by our own dear chum Anthony Beeson.

Packed with more things to excite a dinosaur than a palaeontologist’s rucksack after a visit to Lyme Regis at low tide, Prehistoric Times is an essential read.

To visit the “Prehistoric Times” website: Prehistoric Times.

Worth a special mention is the fascinating but all too brief article on the dedicated work of a group of King Kong devotees who are busily re-creating one of the lost scenes that never made it from storyboard into the finished movie – the infamous “Spider Pit” scene.  After being tossed into a ravine by the giant ape, the terrified men who have survived the fall; battle with an astonishing array of fearsome monsters.   Having discussed the original 1933 film with colleagues, we think that the scene was never added to the final film as it was thought to be too shocking.

Hopefully, we will be hearing more about the work of the King Kong fans in future editions and for the time being issue 101 of “Prehistoric Times” has more than enough contained within it to keep us going.