By Kenn Gold

To be honest, after coming off of four days at Comic Con in which no less than 3 versions of big screen CGI dinosaurs were presented in various panels, I didn’t have high hopes when I sat down with the screener DVDs of The History Channel’s new series.

Boy was I surprised.  Combining state of the art CGI technology with the latest in forensic science, the series moves through best guesses and plausible scenarios to depict an epic battle to the death between two dinosaurs.  The premiere episode, Cannibal Dinosaru, begins with palentologists studying the bones of a Majungatholus from Magagascar, the apex of the carnivore food chain that once lived on the island.  Weighing in at a ton, the 9 foot tall, 28 foot long beast had ornamental horns on it’s head and a massive tail that it swung to do some serious damage. 

The show balances expert opinion from overlapping fields of paleontology and its sister sciences to depict what likely was going on when the dinosaurs walked the earth.  Assumptions that the mail may have had color banding like a male bird, and ideas about the mating rituals of the species based on comparitive brain size become reality.  Combining surprisingly detailed movement as the dinosaurs size up their opponents, the imagery alone is enough to draw you in.  The series of course lives up to it’s name and culminates with the all out battle to the death between a male who wants to mate, and female mother of the species who is protecting her honor and her young

The episode lives up to its title, and quite honestly were some of the best special effects that I’ve seen in a very long time. 

Jurassic Fight Club premieres tonight on The History Channel, and depicts recreations of historic battles between the dinosaurs that once roamed the Earth.