The most famous dinosaurs in Utah are the dead ones, the ones whose fossilized bones you can see at world-famous sites like Dinosaur National Monument near Vernal, or the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry National Natural Landmark near the San Rafael Swell.

If you've always wished, however, that you could hop in a time machine and visit an era when a dinosaur might go thundering past before your eyes, then you may have an interest in "Walking with Dinosaurs," the arena show that's scheduled to shake the bleacher seats at EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City next week.

"Walking with Dinosaurs," which uses enormous animatronic puppets to depict ancient creatures like Tyrannosaurus rex, is adapted from a groundbreaking six-part BBC documentary that shares its title. At the time of its production, the BBC's "Walking with Dinosaurs," which is narrated by actor Kenneth Branagh and first aired in 1999, was the most expensive BBC documentary ever filmed.

Like the TV version, the live show presents the ancient inhabitants of Earth in the flesh. Just the way that they appeared in their own time -- well, sort of. Master puppeteer Graeme Haddon said that the appearance of the dinosaurs reflects current scientific theories, but that there's only so much authenticity that's possible.

The team that built the show's dinos, Haddon said, "did a huge amount of research into shape and size and coloration." On the other hand, he said, "The skeletal structure is all that anyone really knows."

Tim Haines, who directed the BBC series and served as a consultant to the arena version, said in an interview with the Web site DVDTalk that not really knowing what dinosaurs actually looked like makes it easy to criticize any depiction of them. On the other hand, Haines said, "That's what turns people on to this subject to start off with ... If (viewers) ask the question 'How do we know all that stuff?' that's great, I'll send them to a museum and they'll find out, or they'll go to books and find out."

All creatures great and small

"Walking with Dinosaurs" has a script with a narrator who describes each new dinosaur to the audience and shares information about the period when that dinosaur roamed the Earth. Producer Wayne Jelly said that the show has 15 dinosaurs from 10 different species, which were selected to depict the evolutionary history of dinosaurs over the roughly 200 million years of their existence.

Most viewers won't be surprised to learn who's the main attraction. "T-rex has a leading and starring role," Jelly said.

The rest of the dinosaurs are a mixed prehistoric bag. The largest is Brachiosaurus, a plant-eating dinosaur that scientists estimate may have weighed as much as 86 tons. Like all of the dinos in the show, the Brachiosaurus puppet is built to scale: more than 40 feet tall and nearly 80 feet long.

(There's a reason that the show can only be performed at indoor arenas. You need a lot of elbow room to maneuver a 40-foot-tall puppet.)

The smallest dinosaur in the show is the carnivorous Liliensternus. Scientists estimate that its average weight was around 280 pounds, comparable to a college or pro football defensive lineman.

There also are two dinosaurs with strong Beehive State ties. The carnivorous Allosaurus, nicknamed the "lion of the Jurassic," is a star at Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry -- nearly three-quarters of all the fossilized bones that have been excavated there are Allosaurus remains. And "Walking with Dinosaurs" also features the Utahraptor, discovered in 1993 in the central Utah's Cedar Mountain Formation.

The carnivorous Utahraptor was much larger than its better-known kin, the Velociraptor (popularized -- and dramatically oversized -- in the movie "Jurassic Park"). A mature Utahraptor would have stood taller than an average human at 6 feet, 6 inches, with a length of about 21 feet and weight of approximately 1,500 pounds.

Jelly said that "Walking with Dinosaurs" is intended to be a mix of education and spectacle. So, in addition to expecting a science lesson, families should be prepared for dinosaurs that are loud and scary-looking.

Haddon said that, on the rare moments when he's away from the control room during a show, he'll almost always see parents trying to talk frightened children into going back to their seats.

On the other hand, he said, every now and again "you'll see some kid among 6,000 standing up and roaring back."

Steel, foam and a guy in a dinosaur suit

Speaking of roaring, you might think that all prehistoric bellows are created equal, but Haddon said that each dinosaur in "Walking with Dinosaurs" has about 20 different sounds. And there's a team of as many as nine people controlling the movements of the larger dinosaurs -- eye, mouth and limb movements all have to be coordinated.

Each dinosaur has a steel skeleton, overlaid with foam. On top of the foam, there's a layer of latex and lycra that forms the dinosaur's hide. Haddon said that the hides have been handled by Hollywood visual-effects artists to look perfectly real, even at point-blank range. "You could put a (movie) camera right up against it," he said, without lessening the illusion.

The larger dinosaurs are mounted on motorized platforms that help them to move around the arena floor. The trickery with some of the smaller dinosaurs, however, is more old-fashioned. "Five of them are what we call suit characters," Haddon said.

It's just like it sounds. The Liliensternus, three Utahraptors and a baby Tyrannosaurus rex are performed by actors in suits. The job's not as easy as it might sound: Haddon said that the suits weigh about 90 pounds.

Publicist David Barber said that "Walking with Dinosaurs" has drawn more than 2 million people to its shows in North America. (Salt Lake City is the 37th stop on a 40-city tour).

Jelly thinks that the reason for that success is simple. "Children have an amazing fascination with dinosaurs," he said, "and I think that some of that stays with you when you're an adult."

Dinosaurs, it would seem, have no age limit. "It will entertain the kids, it will entertain the parents," Haddon said. Not only that, but you might even learn something.

"A lot of my friends come along," Haddon said, "and say, 'Wow, I never knew that about dinosaurs.' "

• Cody Clark can be reached at 344-2542 or cclark@heraldextra.com.

If you go

Walking with Dinosaurs

When: 7 p.m. Jan. 14-17; matinees at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Jan. 17; additional shows at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Jan. 18

Where: EnergySolutions Arena, 301 W. South Temple, Salt Lake City

Cost: $19.50-$75

Info: www.energysolutionsarena.com, www.ticketmaster.com, (801) 325-SEAT