You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.
That film gave completely the wrong impression about the butaan project. It was a collaboration between me, Augusto Zafe and Gil Sopranes with regular help from Vincente Yngente. For some reason nobody from Polillo Island gets to say a word in the whole documentary. The first version was wildly inaccurate and deeply insulting to the people of Polillo, but thankfully when Animal Planet used it for Mutual of Omagh series they scrubbed the commentary and replaced it with something a bit better. But they couldn't change the image sequence.
I'm not saying Animal Planet/Discovery are racist, but how many of their shows are filmed in East Africa, and how many African presenters have they ever had?
That film gave completely the wrong impression about the butaan project. It was a collaboration between me, Augusto Zafe and Gil Sopranes with regular help from Vincente Yngente. For some reason nobody from Polillo Island gets to say a word in the whole documentary. The first version was wildly inaccurate and deeply insulting to the people of Polillo, but thankfully when Animal Planet used it for Mutual of Omagh series they scrubbed the commentary and replaced it with something a bit better. But they couldn't change the image sequence.
I'm not saying Animal Planet/Discovery are racist, but how many of their shows are filmed in East Africa, and how many African presenters have they ever had?
Daniel, I am rather discouraged with the overall direction Animal Planet (Discovery Networks) has taken in recent years.
They ran a special about a home here in the US that was supposed to be infested with so many snakes the owners were forced to abandon the home, yet they called upon a friend of mine to bring his captive specimens to the video shoot for "dramatic effect"
The recent broadcasts of the Rattlesnake roundups (It's a slaughter festival) and the gator hunting is disgusting.
sadly no DVD release of the Butaan "Lost Dragon" special yet.
__________________
"Where would we be without the agitators of the world attaching the electrodes
of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance?"
I'd never ever work with them again. One day I hope I'll finish my own butaan documentary, it will have a very beautiful presenter, no sign of me and lots more lizard footage!
I'd never ever work with them again. One day I hope I'll finish my own butaan documentary, it will have a very beautiful presenter, no sign of me and lots more lizard footage!
Sign me up.
I did notice on your youtube video "Joo-Jah Tree" that you seemed to intentionally keep your face out of frame, or am I mistaken?
__________________
"Where would we be without the agitators of the world attaching the electrodes
of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance?"
That film gave completely the wrong impression about the butaan project. It was a collaboration between me, Augusto Zafe and Gil Sopranes with regular help from Vincente Yngente. For some reason nobody from Polillo Island gets to say a word in the whole documentary. The first version was wildly inaccurate and deeply insulting to the people of Polillo, but thankfully when Animal Planet used it for Mutual of Omagh series they scrubbed the commentary and replaced it with something a bit better. But they couldn't change the image sequence.
I'm not saying Animal Planet/Discovery are racist, but how many of their shows are filmed in East Africa, and how many African presenters have they ever had?
hmm, i liked it..what was the wrong impression that they gave, it seemed the information about the species was accurate
For some reason nobody from Polillo Island gets to say a word in the whole documentary. ...
I'm not saying Animal Planet/Discovery are racist, but how many of their shows are filmed in East Africa, and how many African presenters have they ever had?
I don't think they're alone there. A few years ago I visited a cave on Flores that attracts reticulated pythons, known as Istana Ular (python palace). The wonderful guide we had, Hari (I hope that's the correct spelling of his name) made it all possible, driving us to the village, getting permission from the locals (the cave has significance in the local lore as the snakes are thought to represent the ghosts of ancestors) and permission from the farmer on whose property the cave is situated. On the way to the cave he proudly told us about taking Brady Barr and his film crew there the previous year and about how Barr copped a bad bite from one of the retics.
By coincidence, that very Barr episode was on TV within a month of my return from Indonesia, so I recorded it. I don't normally watch any personality based animal shows, but I thought it would be interesting to watch this particular episode. When the bite happens, you can even see Hari appear in front of the camera when he rushed forward to offer Barr help.
I watched the episode to the end and looked for Hari's name in the credits, perhaps even under the usual list of 'with thanks to', but it wasn't to be seen anywhere. I thought that was mean-spirited and it got me quite angry. I knew that there was no way that film crew would have been able to get to and into that cave without Hari's help. On top of that, the cave is one of the foulest environments one can imagine - thigh high guano and 'air' saturated with ammonia (not to mention the risk of diseases from the bats and guano), but Hari would have happily done that without complaint for a day's wages that would barely buy a music CD in the western world. Why not give the man at least a simple 'thanks'? Perhaps they figured that because he is brown and lives on the islands, he wouldn't own a DVD player. I hope it was an oversight, but even though Hari hadn't said anything about it (he was quite glowing about the whole experience) it left a bitter taste in my mouth.
I remember growing up in Central Luzon seeing a large monitor be brought in to my grandparents' village... I was about 10 years old and this thing was dark and massive it was caught in the mountains. I would'nt know which species of endemic monitor it was though. It was and is the only ever native varanid I have ever seen in the homeland.
Linear Mode
