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Wicked Science – Episode 1, The Gift (2003)

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clip She mixed axolotl DNA with T-Rex DNA education content clip 2, 3

Original classification rating: G. This clip chosen to be G

Clip description

Toby (André de Vanny) discovers that Elizabeth (Bridget Neval) has interfered with his DNA cloning experiment and is horrified to discover a ferocious and rapidly growing T-Rex has hatched from his egg. Will he and Russ (Ben Schmideg) survive the attack of the great T-Rex? What can Dina (Saskia Burmeister) do?

Curator’s notes

by Annemaree O'Brien

Elizabeth shows her evil nature and control of the situation in this clip. She has ingeniously tricked the well-meaning, excited Toby and put him in great danger – it’s great melodrama!

The high quality special effects typical of the series are quite spectacular in this scene. The T-Rex scene was constructed with the live action material, shot with the actors performing to a cut-out head of a dinosaur on the end of a stick. The realistic dinosaur, along with other special effects, was added later in post-production. Visual effects supervisor Barry Lanfranchi says that the dinosaur was based on a 30 cm model that was 3D scanned then reconstructed. A textured, sculptured model was created from hard plastic and scanned in sections. Then, using these scans, the skeleton of the dinosaur was built within a computer program which enabled the muscles to be constructed around the skeleton to make the skin and muscle movements look realistic. During post-production, the real actors and the computer-generated dinosaur, along with whatever else was needed, for example dust and debris, were all composited together.

Teacher’s notes

provided by The Le@rning FederationEducation Services Australia

This clip shows a malevolent Elizabeth (Bridget Neval) at Sandy Bay High School indicating to Toby (André De Vanny) that she has interfered with his dodo cloning experiment. Indeed, when Toby and school friend Russ (Ben Schnideg) get to Toby’s 'lab’, a rapidly growing T-Rex has hatched. When Russ recalls what happened at the school laboratory, Toby concludes that Elizabeth mixed T-Rex DNA with axolotl DNA which somehow accounts for its spectacular growth. The 'baby’ bursts out of the shed. The clip includes music.

Educational value points

  • This clip provides a modern-day science-fiction version of the traditional sorcerer’s apprentice fable written for a young audience. In this fable everything goes out of control when the apprentice secretly tries to use the sorcerer’s broomstick without knowing how to stop it. Here, Toby’s improbable discovery of a simple way to clone an extinct species goes spectacularly awry due to Elizabeth’s interference.
  • This clip shows how the drama, comedy and horror elements of science fiction often derive from blending the improbable with the familiar. Elizabeth and Toby are outwardly ordinary students and initially Elizabeth’s mischief seems funny. However, as the story progresses, Elizabeth and Toby’s supernatural powers are revealed and Elizabeth’s interference is seen to have catastrophic implications.
  • 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.
  • '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 defined as a predatory hunter or a slow-moving scavenger.
  • 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.
  • DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is a large molecule in a cell or viral nuclei 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.
  • The computer-generated T-Rex in the clip was added to the live-action footage in post-production. The computer program used a dinosaur model as a template and re-created three-dimensional lifelike changes to muscles and skin to make the monster look authentic. Post-production and visual effects supervisor Barry Lanfranchi was nominated for an AFI award for his work in this series.
  • 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.