MEMBER REVIEWS: 1) A nice introduction to the Cambrian explosion and early evolution. Starts with the Cambrian explosion, and the various creatures that had evolved. It is Vertebrates vs. Arthropods vs. Mollusks. Showing the fossils of the Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rockies, they explore how unlikely survival of piciea was to evolve into us. The arthropods-giant bugs-ruled. Then they go to the Soom Shale in South Africa, and the conodonts, descendants of piciea when the mollusks ruled. After that came snowball Earth. The arthropods came back, but reached their limits, leaving the way clear for the vertebrates to take over on land. There is lots of good evolution, and many fossils to be seen, and also lots of good animation showing all the weird creatures living in the Cambrian. It is worth watching more than once.

2) This focuses on the Cambrian Explosion over 500 million years ago, when the land was barren and everything lived in the oceans. You get to see all the weird animals and plants around at that time, and which ones evolved into humans. The CGI is well done, and looks pretty natural, for depicting things we only know directly as fossils. It is 2003, so they miss some of the most up-to-date information (all life was only slime before the Cambrian, not!), but it is still pretty good, and you find yourself wondering which will win, insects, mollusks or vertebrates. (Hint: we are vertebrates.) You go to the Burgess Shale, and other interesting places. It is worth watching, and if you want to know more, read “Wonderful Life: the Burgess Shale and the Nature of History” by Steven Jay Gould (1989). It is somewhat outdated, but still a good read.