A three-part British documentary film series about life in the Paleozoic, bringing to life extinct arthropods, fish, amphibians, synapsids, and reptiles. Narrated by Kenneth Branagh and using state-of-the-art visual effects, this prequel to Walking with Dinosaurs shows nearly 300 million years of Paleozoic history, from the Cambrian Period (530 million years ago) to the Early Triassic Period (248 million years ago).
The first episode begins with an illustration of the giant impact hypothesis: approximately 4.4 billion years ago when the Earth was formed, it is conjectured that a planet-like object referred to as Theia collided into the early Earth, dynamically reshaping the Earth and forming the moon. The episode then jumps ahead to the Cambrian Explosion, showing the first diversification of life in the sea.
The reptiles evolve, and the race for survival continues on land. Giant arthropods lurk in the Carboniferous forest, and sail-backed mammal-like reptiles fight for the survival of their young in the Permian.
By the late Permian period, a furry, ferret-like mammal had evolved onto two feet, vaguely resembling the human form. Could this be our ancestor?
