Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows Toby (André De Vanny) at Sandy Bay High School deciding to clone a dodo. Elizabeth (Bridget Neval) overhears him telling Russ (Ben Schnideg) to get a dodo bone from the school laboratory. Russ is delayed and this gives Elizabeth time to soak a Tyrannosaurus rex (T-Rex) bone in axolotl tank water and exchange it with the dodo bone. Russ enters the lab and collects the wrong bone. Back in his makeshift laboratory, Toby injects a mixture that he has created into a tiny opening in the top of an egg.

Educational value points

• The clip uses music to help propel the storyline and support the science-fiction genre. The first piece of music in this clip, although original, includes a phrase of repeated piano reminiscent of a phrase from the 1960s science-fiction television series 'The Twilight Zone’. The ethereal choir is suggestive of an alien or otherworldly presence and has its antecedents in '2001: A Space Odyssey’(1968) and 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ (1977).

• This episode of the science-fiction children’s series 'Wicked Science’ focuses on the concept of cloning, a process that, in this application, refers to the artificial generation of a complete animal from the DNA material of one individual. In 1996 the first successfully cloned mammal was born, a sheep called Dolly (1996-2003). The process of cloning involves introducing a DNA sequence or a nucleus of a body cell into an egg cell without a nucleus, to prompt cell development.

• DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is a large molecule in a cell or viral nucleus that contains genetic material and transmits genetic characteristics. The structure of the DNA is characterised by two intertwined spirals bonded by hydrogen atoms as a double helix.

• An axolotl is a salamander, a tailed amphibian that is now on the world endangered list. Originally axolotls only existed in two lakes close to what is now Mexico City, but one has since been drained and the other is threatened by the expansion of the city. Axolotls are however still bred and sold worldwide in the aquarium industry and are common in school aquariums, as seen here. 'Axolotl’ is an Aztec word.

• 'T-Rex’ is a shortened form of 'Tyrannosaurus rex’, the North American dinosaur that existed around the end of the Cretaceous Period (136-65 million years ago). It was one of the largest biped carnivorous dinosaurs and grew to 15 m long. There has been controversy among experts over whether the ferocious 'Tyrannosaurus rex’, which weighed around 7 tonnes, should be considered a predatory hunter or a slow-moving scavenger.

• The dodo ('Raphus cucullatus’), referred to in this clip, was a flightless member of the pigeon family that grew to a height of 1 m. It was discovered on the island of Mauritius by Portuguese sailors in 1598, and was extinct by 1681. The dodo had lost the ability to fly, was easy to catch and was taken as food for the crew by passing ships. Dogs and pigs were also introduced to Mauritius at this time and accounted for the deaths of the last of these large but harmless creatures.

• Many scientists believe that reproduction technology offers the potential to clone an extinct animal. In 1952 scientists cloned a tadpole but, until Scottish scientists cloned the sheep Dolly in 1996, the cloning of mammals was only possible by using embryo cells. Since 1996 researchers have cloned many animals using nuclear transfer technology, but cloning is very difficult, costly, poorly understood and has a low rate of success.

• Cloning, especially the possibility of human cloning, is controversial for many reasons. Some religious people believe that by cloning, a scientist is taking over a responsibility that ought to exist with God. Cloning of animals has a low rate of success and those that survive have a higher risk of abnormalities. Human cloning poses questions about parenting responsibility and issues related to unpredictable outcomes of such experimental processes, as alluded to in this clip.

• This clip is from a series produced by Jonathan M Shiff Productions, which specialises in and is acclaimed for creating many children’s television series, such as 'Ocean Girl’ (1995), 'Thunderstone’ (1999) and 'Wicked Science’ (2003). 'Wicked Science’ won an AFI Award for Best Children’s Television Drama in 2004. Shiff was a lawyer before graduating as a director from the Swinburne Film and Television School. He established his film company in 1988.