Apple TV’s Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age — the third outing for the epic Prehistoric Planet docuseries — steps away from dinosaurs to focus on the Pleistocene age’s long-extinct species with names like Megalonyx jeffersonii, which is really just a fancy way of saying a snow sloth. The detailed episodes, narrated by Tom Hiddleston and executive produced by Jon Favreau, are a marvel (pun-intended), using high-resolution photogrammetry and drone-mapping to display the landscapes of the incredible locations visited by the production (over 15 countries!). But arguably the most impressive feature is one you’ll never see onscreen: the use of technical reference puppetry.
Puppeteer Brian Fisher explains technical reference puppetry in layman’s terms to us as something that “provides a physical asset that you can frame up on,” he says. “It’s incredibly useful for sizing, for scale, and for scope.”
In the age of AI visuals, using puppetry and practical effects may sound, well, prehistoric. But the reference puppetry used here actually gave producers and crew members a special advantage while shooting this season’s five cinematic episodes. Plus, Fisher adds: “Most importantly is the character behind it. As the puppeteers and the puppet builders, we were able to imbue a character, and surprise the camera and directors and producers, so that it raises different questions as they’re filming, and it can then feel as natural and realistic as possible because we are there to give it that character.”
Apple TV
Each installment of Prehistoric Planet takes years to put together, notes Fisher, who is also a BAFTA winning Creature & Special Effect Supervisor and has worked on everything from HBO’s fantasy drama His Dark Materials to Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. He is speaking with TV Insider over Zoom from his Wales office while holding up various creature parts, like a baby stegodon, and a massive gigantopithecus head. “I think ‘puppetry’ as a singular word has a lot of different connotations, and people have a lot of preconceived notions about what that is,” he says. “If I say to someone, ‘Oh, I’m a puppeteer,’ they might think of The Muppets, or, over here, Punch and Judy, or like, kids shows, which are all valid puppetry, but I think the misconception is that this job [technical reference puppetry] exists, or how it functions.”
While shooting, they’ll first film a “puppet pass,” where they’ll film outside with Fisher and other puppeteers manning the faux creatures. Next, they’ll shoot without the puppets entirely for a “clean” shot. Then, the visual effects are added. But without the puppets, none of it would feel nearly as authentic as it does onscreen.
And leaving the dinosaurs behind meant that this season’s adventures were aimed towards animal behaviors that appear to be quite similar to our modern-day creatures. Replicating that realism — especially in the distant cousins of familiar beasts — only made jobs like Fisher’s even trickier. How do they make sure they’ll get it right? “It’s a lot of me and the other puppeteers watching lots of natural history,” he says.
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Fisher mimics the woolly rhinoceros for us, as an example, pretending to walk in deep snow while looking around. “It’s got this very powerful shoulder movement as it’s moving, so there’s muscularity, and that causes its head to sway slightly because its head is so heavy,” he explains, while manning the rhino head. “And so you really practice those movements, and you get that into your body, so that as you’re walking along, you know that your strides are the correct length.”
Around 60 puppets were created for Ice Age, some as delicate as a butterfly, and others the gorilla-like gigantopithecus. They’re each built a bit differently, but most are comprised of materials like sculpted clay, thermoplastics, lightweight resins, and Plastazote foam.
The production traveled around the globe, spending days in Chile, New Zealand (both sides!), Greenland, Scotland, America, Australia, Thailand, and South Africa, which meant the puppets had to be more than flexible — they had to be portable. “Every puppet that we built, even the biggest ones, had to be broken down and put into suitcases, and then traveled out,” Fisher says. “[The questions became,] can you make it look good? Great. Now, you’ve made it look good, can you make it durable? Now, can you make it durable and be able to break down into a thousand million pieces that go into these suitcases, and then whoever is puppeteering it on-site can rebuild it on-site and make it work?” No one wants to be the one to lose a digit or horn in transit, after all.
Apple TV
There were climate challenges, too, of course, from gale force winds in Scotland to one of the puppets literally melting in the Australian sun. “[Each puppet] needed to be lightweight and eco-friendly and transportable, but also as simple as possible to fix because things happen all the time,” he notes.
Despite all of these numerous challenges, it’s clear that the final effect is worth every detail, and it’s something that Fisher strongly believes in. “The use of practical and digital in a blend has always been a thing that exists in one way or another,” he says. “It’s [about] finding a nice equilibrium…. They were brave to embrace it…. We did the first couple of sequences, and they started saying, ‘Yeah, we can feel it, we can imagine it, we’re getting something we didn’t have before.’ So, I’m grateful that they took the risk and embraced it so wholly. It’s lovely to be part of such a holistic experience and a bigger-than-yourself performance.”
See above for an exclusive behind-the-scenes clip on the making of Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age.
Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age, Streaming now, Apple TV
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