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Walking with Dinosaurs − The Arena Spectacular

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VOA report about the Arena Spectacular

Walking with Dinosaurs − The Arena Spectacular was a live adaptation of the award-winning television series Walking with Dinosaurs. Like the TV series, The Arena Spectacular has to recreate dinosaurs to the point of the viewers accepting the creatures as real. Created by late renowned Artistic Director and Visionary - William ‘Bill’ May. The show played its last show on 22 December 2019 at the Taipei Arena.[1]

Production

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Tyrannosaurus in the arena

Walking with Dinosaurs − The Arena Spectacular was created by The Creature Technology Company.[2] The production cost $20 million to stage and used puppetry, suits, and animatronics to create 16 Mesozoic era creatures representing 10 species.[3] 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.[4] The smaller dinosaurs (marked by an *) are suits operated by the person in it, each weighing from 20–30 kg (44-66 lbs).[4] 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

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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 UK, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands.[citation needed]

Tour dates

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North America

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

UK

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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

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Elliot Wagland from Huffington Post UK called the show "an enchanting way to spend an afternoon", saying that it "stunned" his son into silence.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "Walking With Dinosaurs - The Arena Spectacular". British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d "245 million years of history on stage". Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  3. ^ ""Stepping into the world of dinosaurs:" Sneak peek of "Walking with Dinosaurs" arena spectacular!". FOX6Now.com. 15 October 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  4. ^ a b "Behind-the-Scenes of 'Walking with Dinosaurs' | BBC America". BBC America. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  5. ^ "Walking With Dinosaurs (REVIEW): Prehistoric Monsters Roar Into The 02 In Spectacular Style". HuffPost UK. 2 January 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
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