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#2
10/26/2006, 10:14 AM
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You are probably referring to "Fastest Claw in the West", a BBC "Wildlife on One" program that was filmed in my lab two decades ago. In that program the producer wanted the program to open with David Attenborough sitting in his living room watching television. The theme music for "Wildlife on One" would come up and there would be a stomatopod swimming on the screen. Gradually the camera would move in on the TV screen and fuse with it. Then suddenly the stomatopod would swim toward the camera, smash the screen and swim out of the TV, make a left and swim onto a reef. I trained an O. scyllarus to break out of a small model of Attenborough's TV. We filmed dozens of rolls of 16 mm film at 500 frames/sec and got some spectacular shots of the animal blasting through the glass.
In the end, Attenborough saw the footage for the program and decided that he wanted to lead the series that year with "Fastest Claw". There was only a couple of weeks to cut together the film and the studio team could not make the doll house set of Attenborough's living room look like the real thing. In the end, they scrapped the idea and just zoomed in on the stomatopod striking cutting away the edges that included the television. For the opening of the program and during the credits, you see repeated slow motion glass smashing strikes except for the very last shot which is in real time and shows the animal actually breaking the glass, exiting and swimming out of frame. You occasionally can find the video tape for sale in the UK, but if you order it, remember that it will be in PAL format. I have only one viable (but not pristine) copy of a VHS tape of "Fastest Claw" left. It includes the Rubik's Cube trailer that was used to promote the series. I have offered it to anyone who finds an Odontodactylus cultrifer for sale and can get it to me alive. Roy |
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#3
10/26/2006, 02:11 PM
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Wow, i can't wait to see this video. I found this video on ebay for only 4,99 GBP and purchased it immediately.
Roy, i have sent some pics from O. cultrifer to our dealer in Bali. I hope they find some animals soon. |
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#4
10/26/2006, 04:50 PM
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Timmy,
Let me know how you like it. Some of the material is dated and a bit hooky, but some of the sequences I still like. Roy |
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#6
10/26/2006, 05:10 PM
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If that were legal, I would have been doing it long ago. The rights to the material are owned by the BBC.
Roy |
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#7
10/26/2006, 06:21 PM
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I think it might be time to have an updated film produced - Maybe a followup to "fastest claw"?
I have been watching / taping Blue Planet on Discovery Channnel's Animal Planet for the last couple of weeks - Last night's episode, "Seasonal Seas" had a 20 or so second spot with a mantis shrimp in it. Unfortunately it showed him scurrying across the sea floor only to be eaten by a flounder fish of some sort. |
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#8
10/26/2006, 06:26 PM
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We have shot several pieces for BBC and National Geographic over the past several years, but no programs dedicated to stomatopods. However, I have been discussing it with a few producers and you never know, something might develop.
Roy |
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#9
10/26/2006, 06:27 PM
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you can reproduce for personal use, any media you own. you cant sell the copies. and giving a physical copy away is iffy at best.
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#10
10/26/2006, 10:12 PM
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If all these copies start floating around, nobody will keep looking for the Odontodactylus cultrifer.
__________________
Jonathan |
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#11
10/27/2006, 01:56 AM
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Quote:
It was a Hemisquilla californiensis being eaten by a bat ray. I had been really excited, having spotted the mantis in the commercial, i was less than enthused when the mantis segment was 10 seconds, ending with him being eaten by a ray. the rest of the show rocked though, i especially loved the orcas 'tail-batting' the herring to stun them, and the little crabs, shown from plankton to adulthood. -Uriel |
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#12
10/29/2006, 12:05 AM
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I saw another really cool shot of a Peacock Mantis breaking glass. The Peacock is on the hunt and comes across a crab. The crab ends up holeing up in a drinking glass, and the Peacock was all over the glass trying to get to the crab before BANG, it destroyed the glass and took the crab home to dinner. I wish I could remember the series.
Is this another clip you shot Dr. Roy?
__________________
What have you done with my Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator Earthling? The memories of a man in his old age, Are the deeds of a man in his prime. Pink Floyd |
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#13
11/02/2006, 11:01 AM
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Now i saw the video and i like it very much. Some scenes are fascinating. I like the high speed shots most and the fight between the two P. ciliatas.
Nice technique to catch large spearers. I think i can use this method for my L. maculata, because he must move in a bigger tank. |
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#14
12/01/2006, 12:16 PM
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sounds like this video...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...s+shrimp&hl=en there is a clip you can view for free, the 4 minute video is $.50. |
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#15
12/01/2006, 12:29 PM
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This is footage lifted from "Fastest Claw". The commentary is total bunk!
Roy |
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#16
12/01/2006, 01:55 PM
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well the footage is what i was interested in. that footage is awesome. to bad you didnt own the rights to it. btw... your website with all the info on mantis shrimp is a great resource. thank you for putting it together. ive just obtained a 10g tank and i think a small mantis is in my future.
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#17
12/01/2006, 04:31 PM
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http://youtube.com/watch?v=mu6yrC6bjNo
NOt glass...but a formidable-looking sponge crab. Had a SC about that size. Dumped him in my platysoma tank, and about a month later found him faceless. This guy sure gets a headache before the O.S. dispatches him. I think the Maculata (I hope that's what it is) is MUCH more impressive though...probably just because it's easier to see the strike. EDIT - another cool vid - a peacock taking on a "flyer" crab...whatever that is... Last edited by mickey85; 12/01/2006 at 04:42 PM. |
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