TV series
2022 / 30 minutes
RATING: 9/10
The folks who brought you the documentaries Riot and the Dance: Earth and Riot and the Dance: Water are now hard at work creating a TV series and you can watch the pilot episode for free now.
This is God’s creation accompanied by a classical/rap soundtrack, and viewed through the eyes of a poet and an adventurer. The narrator, Dr. Gordon Wilson, shares that while he teaches a marine biology class, he “needed to go back to school for this film – scuba school!” Why?
“I don’t want to just sit back and narrate over some pretty picture. I wanted to get as close as I can to as many divinely crafted underwater miracles as possible.”
First up is an encounter with a round-eyed, chubby-looking, hard-shelled critter. Dr. Wilson can’t help but gush:
“I love turtles, their eyes, their beaks, their scales like tiles on a fancy floor. What hilarious cartoon characters they are, and what a fantastic cartoonist God is.”
Next up is a dip down into shark-infested waters, and with no cage to protect him or his crew. Isn’t that crazy? Wilson had this reply:
“Many, many people have asked why we got in that water with sharks, especially without a cage. The thing is they’re amazing. They have an extra sense – electroreceptors that detect even very small disturbances in the water. We saw them respond to a single leaf that landed on the surface of the water…. We need to stop being so distracted at how frightened you’re supposed to be, open your eyes and look intently and see their amazing design!”
This is creation depicted in a very unique light. Many a Christian nature film will focus more on rebutting evolution than celebrating creation. Or they’ll go in the other direction, and celebrate the creation but fail to mention the Creator. Riot and the Dance gets it right on both counts, with nary a mention of evolution, but all sorts of admiration expressed for the God Almighty who can make these marvels.
But in addition to the wonder and the intricate dance we see performed throughout all of God’s creation, there is also the riotous nature of our fallen world. So it is that we have deadly sharks. And also a giant water-bug that can liquify the insides of a frog many times its size and drink it like an “amphibian-flavored Capri Sun – a frog-shaped juice box.”
Afterward, we get to briefly gape at a breaching humpback whale, and then swim up close with sea cows. These are quick but amazing clips. And then we’re done. This is only a half-hour show, but the first of what they hope will be many. And I do too.
You can watch this pilot episode below for free, and if you like it you may want to rent their first feature film: Riot and the Dance: Earth. Their second, Riot and the Dance: Water, can be watched for free here.
