Enjoyable junk science prehistoric history

Paleontologists either enjoy a good belly laugh with this movie or if lacking a sense of humour are appalled by the abominable junk science. "Set in a non-existant prehistoric past..." is absolutely correct.

When the earth was only 500,000,000 years old and still relatively molten, a wandering rogue mini-planet, about the size of Mars, impacted earth at an estimated 30 degree oblique angle. Earth was shattered but in a surprisingly short amount of time, thought to be only one month, coalesced back into a planet, but bigger thanks to aborbing the rogue planet, Theia. However, debris spewed out from the impact also coalesced into the moon.

Gaining a moon was earth's lucky day Life as we know it today on earth would be impossible without the moon. The moon slowed the earth's rotation from a 10.5 hour day to today's 24 hours. The moon has been saving the earth's butt many times over by serving as a shield, blocking asteroid impacts. Unfortunately the moon can't intercept every asteroid and missed a big one that ended life on earth 250 million years; ago another big one that ended the age of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. An asteroid left a huge hole in Arizona, probably forever. An possible comet exploded over Siberia back in 1900 or so.

By the way, I loved that Ray Harryhausen stop motion pleiosaurus stomping through the coastal village. Buutttt.....real Jurassic Age pleiosaurus did not have the ability to waddle on land like today's walrus and seals. A pleiosaurus would have been stranded on its belly, its flippers to weak to lift it off the ground, much less propel forward. But in water, a pleiosaurus would have swam with the deadly grace of a shark.