The Octopus Show - Region 2 DVD

“What has no skeleton, eight arms and suction cups that would make Spiderman proud?”

A new age of ocean exploration is lifting the veil of mystery shrouding a creature of legend: the Octopus.

Dreaded by sailors through the ages, this other-worldly looking denizen of the seas is surrendering the astonishing secrets that have brought it almost mythical status. With footage of octopus species rarely, if ever, seen before, including one with giant eyes and another with antennae in place of suction cups, National Geographic takes viewers into the deepest realms of the ocean for a front-row view of The Octopus Show.

The Octopus Show helps viewers get their tentacles around this amazingly talented but little-understood creature. It follows the efforts of Mike DeGruy, a dedicated wildlife photographer, to capture these acrobatic but often shy animals on film, both in a laboratory-built ‘octopus gymnasium’ and in the wild, deep sea. His quest pays off, with riveting and rare footage of octopuses at work and at play.

It’s not surprising that octopuses have captivated both filmmakers and mythmakers alike. With their bulbous, floppy heads, big eyes, and long tentacles lined with suction cups, octopuses are attention-getting. But their looks aren’t the only thing that are striking. Octopuses also exhibit behaviours, from neon-bright flashing skin colours to breathtaking jet-propelled swims, that have made scientists sit up and take notice.

Only in recent years, however, have researchers begun to better understand these animals, which are members of an ancient group of animals called cephalopods. The other members of the group - squid, cuttlefish, and the chambered nautilus - typically have some kind of external or internal shell (in squids it’s a pencil-shaped internal structure called a pen). But the over 250 known species of octopuses appear to have completely lost their hard parts, evolving instead into a firm but flexible sack of tissues.

The flexibility pays off. As The Octopus Show illustrates, octopuses can squeeze into amazingly small spaces to hunt or avoid predators. Captive animals have been known to hide themselves in soft drink cans, aspirin bottles, and even under the plastic floors of aquaria. The ability to fit in a tight spot pays off when hunting, as octopuses can chase small crabs, shrimp, and fish into even tiny cracks, coaxing them out with their long tentacles.

Octopuses appear to inhabit virtually every kind of ocean environment, from shallow coastal waters to the deep sea. And they come in a dizzying array of shapes and sizes. Researchers believe the North Pacific octopus, known to science as Octopus dofleini, may grow to over 30 feet long and weigh 100 pounds. The smallest, on the other hand, is thought to be the Californian octopus (Octopus micropyrsus), which never gets more than an inch long.

Then there is the blue-ringed octopus of Australia and the South Pacific, which is noteworthy for another reason: its venom is deadly poison. A single bite from the golf-ball sized creature can paralyze breathing muscles, inducing death within minutes.

Many more kinds of amazing octopuses are still waiting to be discovered. Just recently, for instance, scientists accidentally discovered an octopus that has glow-in-the-dark tentacles. It will be years, however, before scientists understand why this and other octopuses do the amazing things they do.

Narrator:  SHARI BELAFONTE

Producer:  PECK EUWER with MIKE DEGRUY

Music Composed and Performed by:  EDDIE FREEMAN and MARTA VICTORIA

A Film Crew Production for National Geographic Television and Thirteen/WNET in Association with Trebitsch Produktion International, GmbH

For a preview clip from this documentary please visit:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/octopus/index.html

Reviews:

“This being the only show I've seen devoted entirely to octopuses, I have to say that it's excellent. And just as an animal show, it's still excellent. So...don't kill me if you don't like it, but I think it's worth the money and am considering getting one for my school.”

“The Octopus Show is also aesthetically beautiful, with supremely artistic photography and a very appropriate soundtrack (sort of a cross between Indian Sitar and Moroccan "Gnawa" music). Shari Belafonte's narration was fine and Mike DeGruy was in his usual charming form. I have always admired them for their behaviour and aesthetic appeal. Now I'm curious about their anatomy and physiology.”

FOR MORE INFO ABOUT THIS DVD:
http://www.froghopperdvds.co.uk/octopusshow