Weird Nature Episode 1: Marvellous Motion (21st March 2002) BBC One VHS Rip

First broadcast: Thu 21st Mar 2002, 20:30 on BBC One London A six-part series exploring the natural world at its strangest. Dancing sea slugs, galloping crocodiles and bouncing bushbabies are on view in a look at movement. BBC Book: Weird Nature, hardback, £16.99 or £13.59 via [web address removed] John Downer's weird and wonderful wildlife world: page 16 Some top-flight photography captures the astonishing antics of this tree frog and other fantastic creatures Weird Nature 8.30pm BBC1 There are so many nature programmes these days that you may think nothing you see on the small screen would make you go "wow" any more. However, the creator of Supersense and Supernatural, John Downer, has come up with yet another extraordinary series to make viewers gasp. It explores strange behaviour in the animal world and starts with movement. Caterpillars roll backwards down a hill like tiny, green tyres, at speeds of 40cm/16in per second; lizards, frogs and snakes fly through the air with the greatest of ease variously using their webbed feet or folds of skin as wings to make these aeronautical leaps of faith; crocodiles gallop in ungainly but speedy fashion; and lemurs leap around as if they were furry pogoing punks taking part in a surreal ballet. Downer uses just about every photographic technique imaginable to show these creatures in motion and he's not above using music, unusual camera angles and stylised setups to get the desired effect. So a sequence about jumping beans is shot in a mocked-up toy shop where the playful beans ricochet off grotesquely painted puppets and set off mechanical robots, all to the sounds of a Mexican mariachi band. And the inspiration for everyone's favourite cartoon character, the Roadrunner, is pitched against a group of motorbike riders as it sprints along a desert highway pumping its tiny legs until it reaches speeds of 26mph. John Downer's wonderful world: page 16 (Jane Rackham) Contributors Director/Series Producer: John Downer