Issue Date: June 11, 2006
Bugging out
Kermit the Frog eats up the new BBC documentary series "Life in the Undergrowth."
THE PLOT: Acclaimed British documentarian Sir David Attenborough explores the miniature world of invertebrates using tiny lenses and computerized motion control. The BBC documentary, which originally aired in April on Animal Planet, gets down and dirty with an array of small creatures, including cicadas, neon glowworms and bat-eating centipedes.
Kermit:
Life in the Undergrowth "left me drooling for more," says this funny frog.
|
Insider's credentials: Kermit the Frog is the only "amphibian" with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The mild-mannered Muppet has made nine movies and was nominated for a best-song Academy Award. A well-known environmentalist, Kermit recently appeared in a Ford Escape Hybrid commercial.
OVERVIEW: "To a frog, Life in the Undergrowth isn't a movie, it's a menu! It left me drooling for more."
Episode 1: Scene 1: A Miniature World -- Attenborough remarks that if all back-boned animals vanished, the Earth would survive. But if invertebrates died off, "the land's ecosystems would collapse."
"And yet, we take these creatures for granted, except when they start eating the 2-by-4s under our homes. Undergrowth gives you a bug's-eye view of how they live."
Episode 1: Scene 3: Velvet Worm -- A leopard slug attracts a mate by excreting flavored slime. They engage in a bizarre mating ritual.
"I know this is a family publication, so I won't go into details. Let's just say if Twyla Tharp choreographed an upside-down ballet on bungee cords, I imagine it would look something like this."
Episode 2: Scene 6: Cicadas -- Millions of cicadas emerge after 17 years spent underground, sucking sap from tree roots. The brown bugs clamber up trees, molt and fly off to find a mate.
"Wow! Talk about your Las Vegas-style aerial all-you-can-eat buffet! Mmm-mmm!"
-- Frappa Stout
|
