Creatures Fantastic

Creatures Fantastic is an educational TV show produced by Dorling Kindersley Vision in association with BBC Wildvision and the Discovery Channel. This series focuses on mythical beasts and events, examining their relevance to the modern world. It had a single series, with thirteen half-hour episodes, that aired in 1997. It was shown on The Discovery Channel and The Arts Channel. The entire series was released onto VHS.

Across both the UK and US releases, the programme was narrated by Zoe Wanamaker, with John Shrapnel providing the voice of the storyteller. The entire soundtrack for the series, including the opening and closing themes, were made by The Insects, a group who have created music for BBC nature documentaries and Aardman Animations.

The series is not based upon any book titles and didn’t spawn any associated media. It is possibly the least-known of DK Vision’s works, with most of the series considered lost media.

## Style

This series is the most different to the other three major productions by DK Vision. Almost nothing is filmed in front of the standard white backgrounds used in the other series, instead comprising either stock footage from other programmes or set-filmed sequences. These sets may be indoors or outdoors and are often combined with CGI.

The narrator provides information about the creatures and makes up the bulk of the spoken dialogue in each episode. The storyteller often voices the words of ancient writers or narrates more dramatic segments.

It is notable that Creatures Fantastic is widely considered to be the most adult of the Dorling Kindersley Vision series. While the other three main series (See How They Grow, Amazing Animals and Eyewitness) are considered universally suitable under BBFC guidelines, ten episodes of Creatures Fantastic were listed as PG on their VHS release. The other three episodes (Creatures of the Night, Spirits of the Forest and Man Beasts) were all listed as 12. Many episodes have graphic depictions of injury and death, and are considered unsuitable for young children.

Because Creatures Fantastic was partially made by BBC Wildvision, a lot of the stock footage in these programmes originate from BBC documentaries.

## Programmes

The thirteen episodes each explore a different type of creature or event, which can be broadly linked together. Sometimes a creature that could fit multiple episodes is only included in a single programme – for example, both the sphinx in Mythical Cats and the centaur in Mythical Horses could also fit within the remit of Man Beasts.

Season One

## Intro sequence

All thirteen episodes of Creatures Fantastic have the same introduction. After a brief introduction to the topic (generally 2-3 minutes), the sequence begins.

The sequence opens with an overhead view of a stone human face with fog sweeping over it. The camera zooms into where one of the eyes should be and enters a museum-like setting with two stone walls on either side. First the camera banks right past a picture showing Anubis tending to a mummy (from The Underworld episode); briefly visible on the right-hand wall is a cave painting of a horse (from Mythical Horses) but the facing wall has a screen showing a swimming mermaid (from Creatures of the Deep). The camera turns left and then right again in quick succession, passing a free-standing centaur boy playing a flute (from Mythical Horses) and a large screen showing Medusa (from Man Beasts), who hisses as the camera passes her. The camera flies straight across a T-junction - in the left-facing corridor is an image of Cerberus (from The Underworld), before passing through a wall of mist with the glowing green eyes of Grendel visible (from Creatures of the Night).

On passing through the mist, the corridor is much darker. Three screens on the left wall show, in order, the minotaur (from Man Beasts), Thoth (from Birds and Things with Wings) and a transforming werewolf (from Werewolves). The corridor curves slightly here as well. Two wall images of fire with a connecting flare follow this, with Pegasus flying through the flare and a free-standing unicorn just behind the flare (both from Mythical Horses). The unicorn is standing at another T-junction, this time on the right-hand side. On the wall here is an image of Noah's Ark (from Creatures of the Deep). The camera continues straight on, before turning left again - on the facing wall is a screen showing the goddess Venus emerging from the shell, with an attendant running out with clothes for her (from Creatures of the Deep). The camera finally finds itself in a larger chamber with a free-standing dragon (from Dragons), which douses the camera in flames. The flames then cut to the white title screen, where the title 'Creatures Fantastic' is already written - the specific episode title appears afterwards.

A total of five episodes are not represented at all in the intro sequence - Mythical Cats, The Apocalypse, Spirits of the Forest, Tricky Tricksters and Aliens.

## Availability

As of 2022, five episodes of Creatures Fantastic have been uploaded in full onto the internet where it is publicly accessible (Dragons, Mythical Cats, The Apocalypse, the Underworld and Aliens); another episode has a single soundless clip uploaded (Man Beasts) and a video showing the VHS trailers for all thirteen episodes has also been posted.

   Additionally, eleven episodes (all bar Mythical Cats and The Apocalypse) have been uploaded on the University of Auckland's TV and Radio Library. These episodes, which aired on the Maori Channel in 2004 and 2005, are only available in Maori language and are also only accessible to students from the university.

**Narrators** Zoë Wanamaker (primary narrator) • John Shrapnel (storyteller narrator)
**Episodes**: Creatures of the Night • Dragons • Creatures of the Deep • Mythical Cats • The Apocalypse • Werewolves • The Underworld • Man Beasts • Spirits of the Forest • Mythical Horses • Birds and Things with Wings • Tricky Tricksters • Aliens