The Future Is Wild — Season 1, Episode 8: Tropical Antarctica
Documentary • 25 min • 1 season, 13 episodes • ★ 7.6/10
Episode synopsis
The episode is set in Antarctica, 100 million years into the future. The episode focuses on five species: (1) Roachcutter, a descendant of an undisclosed sea bird and one of the first species to colonise Antarctica. It feeds on the insects of the forest and flies incredibly fast and with brilliant agility; (2)Falconfly, a descendant of the wasp which preys on the Roachcutter and other birds; (3) Spitfire Bird, a descendant of an undisclosed sea bird which collects chemicals from flowers of the Spitfire tree which it then spits at enemies such as the Falconfly; (4) Spitfire Beetle, a beetle or mantis that gathers in groups of four to take on the appearance of a Spitfire flower; (5) False Spitfire Bird, an undisclosed sea bird that looks almost identical to the other spitfire bird but cannot fire chemicals. At this point in the future, Antarctica has moved so far north it is now on the equator and has grown a tropical jungle.
About The Future Is Wild
The Future Is Wild was a 2002 thirteen-part documentary television miniseries. Based on research and interviews with several scientists, the miniseries shows how life could evolve in the future if Homo sapiens left the earth. The version broadcast on the Discovery Channel modified this premise, supposing instead that the human race had completely abandoned the Earth and had sent back probes to examine the progress of life on the planet. The show took the form of a nature documentary. The miniseries was released with a companion book written by geologist Dougal Dixon, the author of several "anthropologies and zoologies of the future", in conjunction with natural history television producer John Adams. For a time in 2005, a theme park based on this program was opened in Japan. In 2008 a special on the Discovery Channel about the development of the video game Spore was combined with airings of The Future Is Wild. A film version of the series was picked up by Warner Bros.