Walking evolution’s path with ‘Cavemen’

Eye-popping computer-generated imagery, animatronics, special effects and a host of athletic actors in various stages of prehistoric hairiness add up to “Walking With Cavemen,� a fascinating exploration of human evolution airing Sunday.

Alec Baldwin serves as host in another of the lavish Discovery/BBC co-productions that include the Emmy Award-winning “Walking With Dinosaurs� and “Walking With Prehistoric Beasts.� Among the questions it tackles:

How did major climatic and geographical shifts, competition, violence, food preferences, tool-making and the harnessing of fire affect physical, social and emotional evolution? Why did so many branches of our potential ancestry wither away on the family tree?

How could one species not progress over the course of a million years beyond a simple, hand-held stone ax, while other hominids made huge leaps in adaptability and imagination?

And, finally, seemingly against all odds, how did one tiny twig on that family tree survive to become our pre-ancestors?

Skeletal remains of primates serve as anthropological signposts in this “ultimate survival show,� including those of “Lucy,� one of the earliest bipedal primates. Each skull or set of bones introduces dramatic vignettes to illustrate what life might have been like for certain members of the various species of hominids that evolved, beginning 3 million-plus years ago.

Lucy and her chimp-like Australopithecus afarensis tribe engage in a fateful conflict with violent rivals. The gentle, gorilla-like Paranthropus boisei is a unique “chewing machine� with enormous molars and jaws. Java Man munches on grubs and gooey spiders and confronts a King Kong-like, 10-foot-tall Gigantopithecus.

When Homo habilis stalks his prey, there’s a sudden spatter of blood on the camera lens to lend gory verisimilitude (the show, rated PG, is too intense for young children); a tribe of Neanderthals in Ice Age Europe ensures the survival of the next generation by bringing down a mammoth, though its own survival as a species is doomed.

Meanwhile, in Africa, another small tribe demonstrates brain power and imagination to meet the challenges of its harsh environment, the creative adaptability of its species key to the rise of modern Homo sapiens.

The narrative is a tad overheated at times, and stiffly moving mouths detract from actors’ otherwise remarkable ape-like prosthetic makeup, but this intriguing, vivid journey into the origins of mankind -- fueled by science, theory, informed speculation and the impressive efforts of its own creative team of Homo sapiens -- is well worth the trip.

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‘Running With Cavemen’

When: Sunday, 8 to 10 p.m., repeating 10 p.m. to midnight

Where: Discovery Channel

Rating: The network has rated it TV-PG (may be inappropriate for young children)