''Monster Bug Wars'' is a

nature documentary A nature documentary or wildlife documentary is a genre of documentary film or series about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures, usually concentrating on video taken in their natural habitat but also often including footage of t ...

program, created and distributed by Beyond Television Productions, and televised on the

Science Channel Science Channel (often simply branded as Science; abbreviated to SCI) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel features programming focusing on science related to wilderness survival, engineering, man ...

in the United States, and SBS in Australia. The monster movie format features two kinds of

insects Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...

, arachnids,

myriapods Myriapods () are the members of subphylum Myriapoda, containing arthropods such as millipedes and centipedes. The group contains about 13,000 species, all of them terrestrial. The fossil record of myriapods reaches back into the late Silurian, ...

, and other

invertebrates Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordat ...

in gladiator style combat in a simulated natural environment. In intermittent breaks,

entomologists Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

educate the viewer about the strengths and weaknesses of the dueling arthropods. The opening narration is "In nature's fight pit, a host of ruthless bugs as bizarre as they are lethal slug it out in real-life battles to the death. Witness epic encounters between swarms of marauding assassins, and vicious one-on-one clashes where only one bug survives. The world of monster bugs is a jungle, where there's just one law: eat or be eaten."

Premise

The program highlights '' The Law of the Jungle'' involving two

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chiti ...

s of different species, both usually being carnivorous. They are shown fighting to the death with the victor devouring the victim in graphic detail. The program is noted for its use of dramatic theme music and unusual sound editing—during combat, the sounds of growling, screaming, war cries, and shrieks of agony, to name but a few, are heard. In addition, other military and ringside sound effects such as bells, bugles, whistles and alarms are occasionally added. Of course, none of these sounds are natural and are only added to enhance the dramatic effect. However, some viewers have stated these sound effects are silly and do nothing but make a good documentary program into something rather comical. It has been noted that season two has much less sound effects than season one. Despite the odd sound effects, the invertebrate specialists managing the animals for the series took great care to ensure all the interactions were those between species that naturally interact and prey upon one another in the wild. This was the result of hundreds of hours of field observation and years of experience with the various species. Like the vast majority of macro productions, this was filmed in a studio situation to allow for controlled lighting and camera operation. It utilized large natural sets which enabled the animals to behave as they would in nature. Between shots of the fight, the two entomologist hosts of the program narrate the action. Dr. Linda Rayor of

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

and Associate Professor Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry of

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

describe each arthropod's abilities that give it an advantage over the other. The entomologists often try to predict the winner of the two. The program is narrated by Henry Strozier. In Australia, the program began airing on SBS on November 14, 2012. It features re-voiced narration by Dr. Paul Willis of RIAUS, as well as a longer running time due to additional narrated footage. Eden began airing the series on February 29, 2016 in the United Kingdom.

Production

The series premiered in 2009. The first season started in 2011 and had a run of six episodes. The series was renewed for 2012 with another six episodes produced.

Episodes

Series overview

In the following episode listings, winners are in bold.

Pilot (2009)

Season 1 (2011)

Season 2 (2012)

Special (2012)

Monster Bug Wars Top 10 is a second season compilation episode released in July 2012. This episode included 10 already released bug fights that have been shortened. The following battles are listed below:

References

External links

* * * * {{cite web, url=http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2012/01/13/monster-bug-wars-how-its-made-a-z-stephen-hawkings-sci-fi-masters-on-tap-this-quarter-on-science-730212/20120113science02, title=Breaking News - "Monster Bug Wars," "How It's Made A-Z," "Stephen Hawking's Sci Fi Masters" on Tap This Quarter on Science, publisher=TheFutonCritic.com, accessdate=February 26, 2016 2011 American television series debuts 2012 American television series endings 2010s American documentary television series Television series about insects Television series by Beyond Television Productions Fiction about death games