TV Reviews : Plodding Documentary on Filmdom Dinosaurs

Even if you’re such a nut about dinosaurs that you’re not the least bit tired of seeing TV shows about them, “Hollywood Dinosaur Chronicles” on the Discovery cable channel is likely to prove disappointing.

The one-hour documentary (at 6 p.m. Sunday) is the centerpiece of an entire evening of prehistoric-related programming on the channel. It will be preceded by “The Search for the Thunder Lizards” at 5 p.m. and “A Whopping Small Dinosaur” and 5:30 p.m.; it will be followed at 7 p.m. by an episode on dinosaurs from “The Nature of Things” series.

The only world-premiere show among the offerings, “Chronicles” unfortunately relies almost entirely on public-domain footage and a few trailers. According to a press release, the show “traces the cinematic representation of dinosaurs in film and video”--but it traces with a pen that often fails to write after “King Kong” (1933).

There is no “chronicling” or even a mention of such significant dinosaur-starring films as 1940’s “One Million B.C.” In fact, the program skips from “King Kong” (represented only by its trailer) to the Japanese monster movies of the late ‘50s (trailers again, natch), mentioning only one film in between--”The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms” (represented only by a poster!).

Despite an abrupt start, indifferent narration (by actor Doug McClure) and its later patchiness, “Chronicles” actually settles down at one point into an interesting segment that takes up about one-third of the hour--on special-effects wizard Willis O’Brien. His stop-action dinosaurs are seen evolving from a crude 1914 silent to “King Kong,” with several fascinating scenes from “The Lost World” (1924) and the uncompleted “Creation” (1931) in between. Considering its obviously limited budget, “Chronicles” might have been better off if it had devoted the entire hour to describing the career of this important innovator.