Sea Monsters, marketed as Chased by Sea Monsters in the United States, is a 2003 three-part nature documentary television miniseries created by Impossible Pictures and produced by the BBC Studios Science Unit, the Discovery Channel and ProSieben. Following in the footsteps of The Giant Claw (2002) and Land of Giants (2003), special episodes of the nature documentary series Walking with Dinosaurs, Sea Monsters stars British wildlife presenter Nigel Marven as a "time-travelling zoologist" who travels to seven different periods of time in prehistory, diving in the "seven deadliest seas of all time" and encountering and interacting with the prehistoric creatures who inhabit them. The series is narrated by Karen Hayley in the BBC version and by Christopher Cook in the American version. As with previous documentaries in the Walking with... franchise, Sea Monsters recreated extinct animals through a combination of computer-generated imagery and animatronics, incorporated into live action footage shot at various locations. The visual effects of Sea Monsters, as with previous series, received praise and won a BAFTA TV Award. For his role as the presenter of the series, Marven was nominated for a Royal Television Society Programme award. Though some reviewers praised Marven's energetic and enthusiastic "animal-grabbing" style of presentation, others considered a wildlife presenter to be unnecessary or even "patronising", paralleling debates on the merits of wildlife presenters in documentaries on modern-day animals. A companion book, Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Predators of the Deep (published as Chased by Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Predators of the Deep in the United States), was co-authored by Marven and Jasper James, producer and director of the series. The book received positive reviews, with reviewers noting that though it was based on a TV series, it also stood on its own as an information source about extinct sea creatures. In 2011, an exhibition based on the series, the Sea Monsters Exhibition, was held at Bournemouth International Centre in Dorset. In addition to imagery from the series, the exhibition featured full-scale models of both modern and prehistoric sea creatures as well as behind-the-scenes information on how the animals were reconstructed and brought "back to life".
Premise Following in the footsteps of The Giant Claw (2002) and Land of Giants (2003), special episodes of the nature documentary series Walking with Dinosaurs, Sea Monsters sees time-travelling zoologist Nigel Marven travel back in time to encounter and interact with prehistoric life. Whereas both of the previous specials took place on land and were confined to a single setting, Sea Monsters focuses on the aquatic life of seven different geological periods between 4 and 450 million years ago. Travelling on this prehistoric safari with his boat, The Ancient Mariner, Marven aims to dive in the seven deadliest seas of all time, searching for the most dangerous sea creatures to ever live. The titular prehistoric "sea monsters" encountered throughout the series include the giant orthocone (Cameroceras), an enormous primitive cephalopod, the armor-plated giant predatory fish Dunkleosteus, the giant pliosaur Liopleurodon, the early whale Basilosaurus, and megalodon, the largest shark to ever live. The series culminates in the "deadliest sea of all time", the Cretaceous ocean. Dubbed "Hell's Aquarium", this sea is determined to be the most dangerous due to the sheer number of different predators present, including 17-metre (56 ft) giant mosasaurs (Tylosaurus). In addition to providing information on the animals encountered, Marven's presence also serves to provide a sense of scale and dread throughout the series. Like the previous specials, Sea Monsters is a definite step away from traditionally narrated documentaries, such as the original 1999 series of Walking with Dinosaurs. In comparison with the original series of Walking with Dinosaurs, Sea Monsters is considerably more action-oriented, with Marven frequently interacting with the animals. Though entertainment and adventure is a bigger focus than in previous entries in the franchise, the series still ultimately aims to be an educational documentary, weaving facts into the action and intending to teach viewers about the extinct animals it portrays.
Production
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