So, we were lucky enough to get to see Walking with Dinosaurs - the live experience - last weekend. What an awesome thing it was, too!

This Gen-X-er was one happy camper. When I was a boy, the best effects in movies were basically baby alligators and gila monsters dressed up to look like dummosaurus and whatthehellkindofdinosauristhatus !

So being metres away from something as well constructed and detailed as the monsters in this show was sensational. It was certainly aided by the huge sound system really driving the T-Rex roar straight through your stomach lining…

And then there was my kids’ response to it.

Oh, they enjoyed it ok, sure, but they were also very disappointed there were no FIGHTS. (Youngest Son complained all the way home).

And to be honest, I guess they have a point. I mean, how could you have a T-Rex and a Torosaurus in the same arena and not have a goring or two, followed by the herbivore losing a limb to the carnivore in a shower of blood? I guess that was another just $5 million that the producers weren’t prepared to spend …

Still, for ME, it was enough just to look at the marvellous craftsmanship.

The other thing that made me chuckle (and demonstrated the difference between Gen X and Generation Z, who are basically kids under 13) happened several times: here would be this enormous specimen of dino-kind, and Youngest Son would have his head cranked around 180 degrees looking at the monitor screen, complaining “Why don’t they put it on the screen??”

Kids these days …