Customer Reviews

The Future Is Wild

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I did not have high hopes for this series. I assumed it would be rather silly and was looking to be entertained by the strange and the bizarre. I did find those aspects but I found more as well.

These programs look at the possible evolution of life in the future without humans and in radically different environments. These speculative life forms are interesting but I expected nothing beyond wild, "artists' conceptions". The results are wild but they are based on informed speculation. However bizarre the hypothetical creature presented is, it is compared to current fauna with similar or analogous features. Those features are just taken further and the results are interesting to watch.

This program could be looked upon as a way to teach the fundamental ideas of natural selection in a new and different manner; looking to the future instead of the past.

Episode synopses appear below:

Disc One: 5 Million Years - Ice Age World

Welcome to the Future - This first episode sets out the suppositions. It postulates a world without humans in which natural selection has had free reign to produce bizarre new life forms. Three time periods are posited. The first is about 5 million years from now. The earth is in the grip of a terrible ice age and the life forms are adapted accordingly. The next scenario takes the opposite extreme. It takes place 100 million years in the future and is a hothouse world. To change things even more dramatically, the third epoch conceived is 200 million years in the future and takes place after a mass extinction event in which most species are killed and the few survivors adapt and radiate into the strangest life forms of all. Each period provides brief glances at some to the imaginary life forms of the future but none is examined in any real depth. This episode serves to set the stage for what is to come by giving the background.

Return of the Ice - This episode concentrate on an arctic environment about 5 million years in the future. Some of the life forms presented include a large rodent which travels in herds, a bird evolved to take the place of toothed whales and a large carnivore that preys on both of them.

The Vanished Sea - Taking place in the same ice age of the previous episode, this episode examines a completely different environment. The locus is the Mediterranean Sea with a big difference from the present day. It is all dried up and is now a salt desert supporting only specifically adapted animals. The ones examined closely in this episode are a large frilled lizard living on the salt flats, a descendant of the martin which is now a major predator and a highly evolved pig.

The Prairies of Amazonia - In this episode we visit yet another biome of the ice age of the future. This one is the vast grassland that occupies most of the continent of South America. It has replaced the Amazon and there are some new and different creatures but, by and large, these creatures face the same challenges that confront today's inhabitants of savannahs. We are introduced to a tool making monkey that bears some resemblance to a baboon, a large flightless bird which has become a top predator and a large rodent which has evolved defensive armor.

Cold Kansas Desert - The climate this time is the great desert of the North American Midwest. This desert, though, is frigid owing to the great ice fields. Here, we encounter a large rodent related to the ones of the grasslands of the previous episode. They feed on the same tubers as a small, burrowing descendant of the quail; one with a hive oriented social structure. These flightless birds are the principal prey of gigantic, carnivorous bats which roam the skies looking for easy pickings; they are the evolutionary successors to the buzzards.

Disc Two: 100 Million Years - Hothouse World

Waterland - An additional 95 million years has passed since the time of the previous disk and the world has changed a lot. It is a very hot and very moist world and life has had to adapt. This first episode takes place in a swamp environment. Huge descendants of turtles, the largest land animal ever to walk the earth, stalk the swamps looking for vegetation to eat. Trying to keep out of the way are terrestrial (amphibious) octopi. These mollusks have colonized the land seeking safety from large, predatory fish which use electricity on a scale not envisioned by our modern eels.

Flooded World - I like coelenterates as much as the next guy but this episode didn't do much for me. It focuses on the shallow seas of the hothouse earth. The major critters are a huge jellyfish that actually consists of a variety of creatures working together for the common good, a sea slug that has become as mobile as your average fish and a sea spider that exists to protect the big jellyfish.

Tropical Antarctica - Antarctica has migrated from its position over the southern pole and has become a lush, tropical jungle. Many of the depicted life forms are evolved from petrels. Some take the role of a hummingbird and another has evolved a noxious chemical weapon system. Very large insects are a major predator but smaller insects get their licks in as well. This was a pretty good episode.

The Great Plateau - This episode takes place on a mountain plateau that makes the Himalayas look like minor foothills. Its inhabitants include giant, blue birds with four wings, large spiders that build webs across canyons and which farm mammals and these curious mammals which are the last ones left on earth. It's another really good episode.

Disc Three: 200 Million Years - New World

The Endless Desert - It's a new world. Vulcanism and an asteroid strike have changed the planet immensely. The continents coming together to form a super-continent has also had an effect. Most of the earth is a vast desert. The wiping out of most species has provided new opportunities for a few. A termite has evolved to be adapted to hunting, agriculture and mining. Worms have it good as well and demonstrate both agrarian and hunting varieties.

The Global Ocean - One continent means that there is once ocean as well and this ocean has seen some major changes. Fish are virtually gone. Their multitudinous places in the ecosystems have been taken over by arthropods. Fish are not completely gone, however. Some have become real flying creatures that can breath air. Cephalopods are around as well and they have evolved. Their intelligence is greater and their camouflage is more effective. They can also get huge. Some things remain the same, however. Sharks are still efficient killers; they have just further refined their methods.

Graveyard Desert - More troubles in the desert are the theme of this one as we learn about scavenging beetles, scavenging worms, hopping snails and some carnivorous plants that feed on larger life forms than small bugs. This has been the only episode thus far where a plant is a significant part of the show.

The Tentacled Forest - Although most of the land is a great desert, there is a magnificent rainforest along the coast. In this environment there are more fish turned to land dwelling flying creatures, giant lichens which resemble trees, slime molds that hunt and a gigantic, walking terrestrial squid. To top things off, there is another squid which dwells in the trees and swings around like an ape. These are intelligent squids and the possibility is left open that they will further involve and become...civilized.

Travel to what the future MAY be like, 5 millions years from now, 100 million years from now and 200 million years from now. It is a solid mixture of science mixed with wonder as we shoot ahead, through an Ice Age, a heat wave lasting millions of years and many other changes that force animals to change and evolve to survive. Most of it is very interesting and while the DVDs have no extras, the episodes do, in the form of scientists explaining in detail what examples of animals in the past or in the present allowed them to design such wonderful new future creatures. They also talk about social behavior, changes to the climate and to the Earth's land mass itself.
Sometimes the CG looks a tad fake, but kiddies should enjoy it. Be warned, like many nature shows there are predators killing prey or animals 'failing' to survive.

The Future is Wild is easily one of the most original and unique consepts for a film in a while. Showing the world of the far far future. When humans has gone (how or why is not explained) and the world has returned back to the primitive world is once was. This DVD version of the movie is quite different then on Animal Planet. Some new details are added it is also missing completly the space prob. My guess is the space prob was just Animal Planets form of political correctness. The Future is Wild is extremely imaginative. The bizzare future animals it predicts are very cool. Scientist explaining laws of evolution and using examples of modern animals make this future world more probable. It takes three time periods. 5 million years, 100 million years, and 200 million years in the future. As expected the more time goes on the more bizzare the animals get. 5 million years we see giant swimming birds, giant running birds, giant bats, giant rats, running lizards, desert pigs, and rattlebacked rodents. This is a world of ice were creatures are scrambling to survive in the cold. 100 million years the world has warmed up. We see turtules bigger then the largest dinosaur, amphibious octupus, giant killer bugs, four winged birds, and poisionus birds. 200 million years in the future a mass extinction wiped out all mammels, birds, and reptiles. However we have swimming lobsters, super sharks, flying fish, hopping snails, plant worms, and squid that swing from tree to tree. All of this may seem to weird to be true but the world of 200 million years ago was just as different. These future animals are shown using computer animation in live action environments. While it is clearly inferior to framestones television projects the animation is good enough to serve its purpose. This 5 hour series spans over three discs. All are presented in anamorphic widescreen. DVD lacks any special features on the animation and has only 2 channels of sound. Theres more then enough disc room for a 5.1 track and at least some extras. This is a bit dissipointing but I still recommend The Future is Wild. It is a glimse at our possible future world. Remember Evolution Never Stops.

The Future Is Wild takes a peek into the future as we know it. There are three discs. The first one is set five million years into the future. It is the middle of another Ice Age. There is an introduction and four episodes. Every other disc has four episodes.

Episode 1: Return of the Ice

Shagrats stuggle to survive as they are stalked by hungry Snowstalkers. The Shagrat looks like a cross between a capybara and a lemming. The snowstalker is a white cat with sabre-tooth like fangs.

Episode 2: The Vanished Sea

The bottom of Europe and the tip of Africa has come together, blocking off the Mediterrainean from the Atlantic Ocean. This has caused all the water to evaporate, only leaving a salt flat.On this salt flat lives a family of cryptiles, lizard-like animals that run on two legs. Islands, have become small patches of land covered with crevases. On the crevases, lives the scrofa, a pig-like animal that is in constant danger.

Episode 3: Praries of the Amizonia

The amazon rainforest has died out and become a vast plain. On these plains, Karakillers hunt in groups to track down the Babookaris. Also, the rattleback has evolved from various marsupiels and has formed a fire-proof exterior.

Episode 4: Cold Kansas Desert

The rattleback is also making a stand in the Kansa desert. A bird species called the spinks, has adapted to underground life through the raging sandstorms. Also, the deathgleaners hunt for them on the surface like bats.

The second disc travels 100 million years into the future to find out more about the corse of evolution.

Episode 5: Waterland

The octopus family is taking its irst crawls onto land. The new name is the swampus. Their nest are located in plants, wich are in consistant danger of being toppled over by Torutons. Torutons are 120 ton creatures that feed on 1,323 pounds of food a day. Surprizingly, there closest relatives today is the tiny tortoise.

In the water, the lurkfish is always wating to shock its prey with 1,000 volts of electricity.

Episode 6: Flooded World

This episode is set in the shallow seas of the future. Many, many jellyfish have formed together to form the ocean phantom. In the ocean phantom's tenticles, the spindle trooper is always ready to get the food. By food, I mean the reef glider.

Episode 7: Tropical Antarctica

Antarctica has come north to the equator. As a result, it is covered with lush rainforests. These rainforests are home to spitfire beetles and spitfire birds. The flutterbird is also a welcome guest to this new Antarctica.

Episode 8: The Great Plateau

A great blue windrunner dominates the high altitudes of the new plateau. The plateau was formed when Australia when north and struck North America and Asia. The great blue windrunner is a four winged bird that relys on the silver spider for food. The silver spider relys on the last mammal ever, the poggle, to give them food. They feed the poggle until it is fat enough, and then they kill it and feed the poor creature to the queen.

On the final disc, The timestream eccelerates to 200 million years into an alien world.

Episode 9: The Endless Desert

100 million years earlier, a massive asteroid impact wiped out 95 percent of the Earth's life-forms. After the world recovered, Pangea II became the new land mass. The endless desert was home to a veriety of creatures like the terabyte, and antlike insect thet shot sticky goo at its prey. Its prey, meaning the centapede-like garden worm, was helpless. In the water, the gloomworm and the slickribbon live in a bloody world.

Eisode 10: The Global Ocean

With one landmass, there was one ocean. The ocean flish flew over this ocean and fed on the common silver swimmer. But the food chain dosn't stop there. The rainbow squid feasts on the flish and the Sharkopah considers the rainbow squid a delicacy.

Episode 11: Graveland Desert

This world is home to a one legged snail called the desert hopper. These creatures share their desert home with a menagerie of other aliens including the deathbottle, the grimworm, and the bumblebeetle.

Episode 12: Tentacled Desert

In this final episode, squids have evolved to immense sizes, and have moved onto the land perminantly. The megasquid is a perfect example. This beast is larger then an elephant! Though it is huge, its flaw is that it is not very smart. Its treetop dwelling relative, the squibbon, is very social and very smart. This species could even trigger another civilization...

This is the exact reason that the future is wild!

Realize that no one said this is "real". It's a movie about the FUTURE people.

That being said, I teach high school biology and environmental science and I find this to be an excellent and entertaining DVD series. I use it to reinforce principles like: Plate tectonics, Climate patterns, Adaptation, Desert formation, Biomes, Eusocial insect societies, and especially, Evolution. I could go on and on with the concepts that are applicable to this series. I have been using this series for 3 years now and I have yet to have a student complain about the series being boring or too "fake". I have had MANY students ask if this is real, to which I have to remind students that it is set in the future and therefore the animals can't be real but the concepts are real.

Why is this applicable to teachers? The DVDs introduce fictional creaures, many of which are absolutely fantastic, and then procede to explain how the amazing things they have come up with are already around on Earth right now, just in different forms. So the series really is about present animals as much as future animals.

I use it in high school, but it is just as useful for middle school. Please, if you are a science teacher, you owe it to yourself to see these DVDs. When you see how good a teaching tool they can be, you'll want to purchase these (or get your school media center to purchase them!).

As a tremendous fan of Dougal Dixon's "After Man", I was shocked to find out recently that "The Future Is Wild" had slipped under my radar. I now have both the TV series and the book derived from it. Surprisingly enough, I would recommend buying the book and skipping this DVD set.

Why? It would be easy to get down on the CG animation, which is mostly neither more nor less than mediocre. However, it really isn't too broken, and there are a few genuinely impressive shots scattered about. The main problem with this series comes from outside the CG department: When the program shows you the *same* 10 seconds of animation ten or more times (I am not making this up) in ten or twenty minutes, it becomes very difficult to keep a straight face. Sometimes the footage is tinted or *reversed right-to-left* in a feeble attempt at disguise, but most of the time it is simply one of three or four shots per species, played over and over and over again under different circumstances. The narration is also almost entirely narrative in nature - seldom explanatory - and riddled with awkward pauses, forced drama, and endless repetition.

Even given the limited amount of animation available, the show didn't have to be this way; much more sparing use could have been made of the animation by expanding the scientists' filmed explanations, as well as the excellent real-world footage which is used to explain the climatic changes and modern-day basis for their speculations. As it is, the series winds up as a shapeless, shallow circus leaning far too heavily on a sideshow.

I saw this on digital cable and found it to be wonderfully creative and well thought out. The Animation wasn't the best of the "Walking-With" Genre, but I still found it interesting.

Behavioral and physical aspects of these supposed creatures of the future are interesting and, as I mentioned earlier, well thought out.

My only gripe with this movie is that it is assumed that the climate gets too harsh for people in 5 million years, we leave, and that's where this starts. Now, be real. If humans haven't completely ravaged or destroyed the planet in 5 million years, we will be plenty advanced enough to survive a second ice age. If we could survive a first with stone working, animal furs and basic metallurgey, I think we could handle a second one 5 mllion years from now.

But if you can pretend that humans are gone and the planet isn't destroyed, you'll enjoy this, as I did immensly. The Future isn't Wild; just Ok.

I thought the series was pretty cool, if you're interested in this type of thing (which I am). Towards the end of the series, it begins to get more silly and kind of like a fantasy world instead of a partially-believable science-based world as you're supposed to think it is (that's how it seemed to me anyway). But definitely worth buying to watch every once in a while.

My son and I had watched the Animal Planet show and he was immediately fascinated by the concept of hypothesizing based on evolutionary precepts. He loves unusual animals of any kind and these definitely qualify. He is constantly asking questions about the theories and postulating theories of his own based on the science in the show. He loves it.

The Future is Wild is an entertaining, intellectually challenging, and creative attempt to forecast the planet's future five million, one hundred million, and two hundred million years into the future. A number of legitimate scientists lent their talents to the project, and the results are pretty good. Negatives? It starts with a premise (presented, very unscientifically as an incontrovertible fact) that there will be no humans at all in five million years. They also say that what they are proposing is not science fiction. Of course it is; but much that is science fiction uses hard science as a foundation for its predictions. Why deny it? Finally, for those viewers accustomed to the state-of-the-art, computer-generated graphics of the pre-historic Walking with Dinosaurs series, there will be some disappointment. The graphics of this post-historic series are not nearly as good. Still, the scientists and artists have given us something to talk about. And best of all, no one alive today will ever be able to prove them right... or wrong!