eruth66 See the following posting that I think explains what happened in the last episode of season 1:
Ref. Tom Flowers letter
If Shakespeare was baby sitting the day before the Lazuli were in the area then he would NOT have been babysitting again the following day (day of the surposed attack). This would have required him to go more than two days without food.
Tom Flower's letter (above) tells us the last day that Shakes was seen. He also suggusts that the events depicted in the borrow were based on two other documented events of a single meerkat fighting to protect their pups. Thus the filmmaker was showing "accurate meerkat behavior", but not what actually happened in the Whiskers borrow, (if anything), that day. They have admitted they were not there, thus no one could have been filming in the tunnels.
So you know the following:
-Shakespeare is missing ................................True
-Oxford and Cambridge do not know
where he is....................................................True
-They have not tried to tell us
that they do know..........................................True
-The meerkat shown in the tunnel with
the Pups was Shakespeare..............................False
They have been telling us the truth with the exception of the identity of the meerkat shown in the tunnel. Unlike Shakespeare he had no markings at all.
So did the attack happen as shown, probably NOT. This is further supported by Tom Flowers statement that the "producers must have been in a bind" for this portion of the show. So did the producers fall back on two other documented meerkat events... most likely.
Two full winters have passed since the first season was filmed. No one knows or has really seen anything that will answer our question of Shakes fate. If they had found any information it would have been shown as part of season 2. Even if they found Shakespeare's ID Chip we would have been told. All meerkats in the study have ID chips planted under their skin as pups.
No one would love to see this question answered more than myself, but he's gone. We need to remember him, but let him go.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: wsoconnell,
Like with Love, acceptance of the truth is blind..... I too have read the posts you have referenced
Post after post has told the same story, I saw where ccatz, on another post,watching the marathon, said that Shakespeare's markings were different in the beginning than later with the pups. I am sure it was noticed by many other viewers. We all want to know what happened to our little guy. I did read one letter fromthe researchers where they said a male meerkat resembling Shakes had been seen with another mob. How likely is that?
The UK AP does not discuss Shakes' presence after the snake bite...
Like others I would like to know who the brave little soldier was in the burrows with the pups. Probably one of the many unknown meerkats who die, while we only hear of the "stars". The pups lived...
There are some of us that choose to believe that Shakespeare is still alive and it is our right to do so. They told the viewers they would have the key to Shakepeare's fate in season two and they did not. They led us to believe that it was Shakespeare babysitting the day the Lazuli came calling. It was not. They led us to believe that Shakespeare had a fight with Big Si. He did not. It sounds like to me they are just making things up.
I am sure they don't know Shakespeare fate, but they should have told us that in the beginning. All they needed to do is be truthful. It makes one wonder why they didn't tell the truth in the first place.
I love meerkat manor and have enjoyed watching the show,and will continue to watch, but I am tired of them lieing to us.The producers of Meerkat Manor owe us viewers an appology.
I don't think they realize when they began this show how much of an impact it would have on the viewers. Dead or alive Shakespeare will always live in our hearts.
I agree they had no idea that shakespeare's character would touch the hearts of so many people.
So being the the people we think they have shown themselves to be will we see a "Shakespeare" return in season 3 to save the day? I would not be surprised. After all the filming of season 2 had already been completed before the question of the fate of shakespeare exploded and went on TV and appeared in newspapers in the US. Canada and the UK. Its the biggest question since "Who Shot JR".
This message has been edited. Last edited by: wsoconnell,
That sure would be great if that look alike was Shakespeare. We may never know the fate of shakespeare then again we may get our wish and find out that he is alive.
MKL4-I did a search for you. It looks like the address is jant2@cam.ac.uk. If this doesn't work you might do a search-Cambridge, zoology dept., email addresses, and his name is listed under T, of course. Hope this helps
First, I don't think we should be e-mailing the researchers or project managers for info. In the big picture, it is probably very annoying to them to get e-mails from fans about a single incident that happened two years ago. It's a TV show. They've got more important work to do.
Second, I think they had every intention of letting us know more about Shakespeare. Unlike Tosca, I think they believed they would actually find him. I think they expected him to either rejoin the Mob or that they'd find him somewhere else. Even find his chipped body. When a year passed and he still didn't show up they had no choice but to edit Season Two with what they had and they didn't have Shakespeare.
Forget the show. They have to put a "story line" together with what they've got. They'll use stock video of Meerkat Manor behavior to do that. The purpose of the show is to educate people on meerkat behavior in an entertaining way. Giving them names and telling stories gets us hooked. I don't think they anticipated what a hit Meerkat Manor would be and how involved the fans would be in the lives and well-being of the individual meerkats. Remember what Sean Astin narrated in the last ep when Blossom was taken by the Goshawk: 1 out of 4 pups dies. That's 25%. How many pups have died that we *haven't* seen? There have been deaths among adults we haven't seen too. But it would be unrealistic for there to be NO deaths either shown or mentioned. Real life isn't like that. There isn't always a happy ending.
I prefer to believe what was suggested by one of the researchers or production people...that there is a large meerkat of Shakespear's size and coloring that has joined a mob out of the research area where they are not allowed to go. I hope that at some time that mob ventures onto the research area where they can be caught and scanned for chips and that one of them will turn out to be Shakespeare.
But I'm not going to annoy the researchers and producers two years after the fact to go out and find one meerkat. They have jobs to do and we should let them do them.
Thanks for being the voice of reason, mlaiuppa. As much as I fervently hope for Shakespeare's safe return, I don't believe it serves any purpose to mob the researchers.(MM's producers, thats a different story..... ) I agree with you that they are genuinely mystified as to what happened to Shakespeare, and would be likely to share news of his fate if --and this is the big if--they could confirm it first. They *are* scientists, after all.
We also have to be careful and clear as to who "they" are when when we keep referring to what "they" have done or not done regarding Shakespeare's storyline and how MM fans were misled about expecting a resolution in Season 2. It's not the research team that came up with the storyline or put the footage together. They provided factual information from their research and access to the meerkats. It's the production team of MM that did the rest, and its *those* folks who "owe" the fans an explanation, apology, updates, etc.
On the bright side, the "controversy" with fans getting upset about Shakespeare's fate has been covered in popular media--he's clearly the breakout "star"! And with the production of a MM movie, maybe that's where we'll see our star again!
I think if people want to email the researchers that is their right to do so. If people want to find some answers then they have the right to ask questions. People may want to ask the researchers other questions besides what happened to Shakespeare and Tosca.I don't think anybody is bothering the researchers, if they were the researchers wouldn't have their email available.
They do have a storyline that they follow and will more than likely keep following it. That is there right.
I just believe animal Planet should not have said they would tell us the fate of Shakespeare when they did not know the fate themselves.
We may never know what happened to Shakespeare or Tosca. Their are some of us that choose to believe he is alive and dominant male of his own family and maybe Tosca is alive and the dominant female of her own family. Their those that choose to believe Tosca and Shakepeare are dead. We have the right to choose what we want to believe.
So anyone who wishes to email the researchers can because they want to and it is their right.
Nobody's rights to email or to believe what they want have been called into question. You get no argument here. And it seems that most are in agreement that its *Animal Planet* that's at fault for misleading the viewers, not the researchers. I'm the first to agree with you that AP owes its viewers an apology. But no one is talking about emailing Animal Planet, just the researchers.
And you're right, you have an email addy, so go ahead and write the researchers or anyone you choose. It's their right to read or not read and respond or not respond, just as its everyone else's right to opine on whether we should be considerate of the fact researchers have better things to do (like, say, research)than deal with a mess that they didn't create.
Clear? Then in the spirit of the season: peace on Earth, peace in the Kalahari and peace here on the forum.
I am neither mad nor I am aurguing with anybody. I am just stating my opinion as others have stated above. I don't believe we are annoying the researchers by asking questions. We have all been upset that we don't know what happened to Shakespeare and that Animal Planet lead us on. I do understand that the researchers don't know what happened to Shakespeare, but I still like to ask them questions and will continue to do so. I am hoping too that maybe the meerkat the researchers saw that looked like Shakepeare is him. I do agree that the producers of Meerkat Manor didn't realize how much people would love this show. I am quite caught up in the show. I have learned a lot about meerkats since watching meerkat manor. I have learned things that I did not know about meerkats. Yes in the spirit of the season peace on earth and peace in the kalhari and peace on this forum. By the way I hadn't heard about the meerkat movie. When is this going to be out?
See Pronker's post on the main forum called" 2 movie documentaries..." There's a link to an article about two movies currently in production--one's backed by miramax and the other by the same folks producing MM and presumably featuring the Whiskers.
I would like to put in my 2 cents now if I may. My problem with Animal Planets lying to us viewers and withholding this information until they were "busted" by many website users, is also that while we on the Internet where at least made aware of this entire situation, none of the other viewers were ever made privy to this information if they do not visit this website or have access to the Internet.
I think that AP should have come clean and prior to an episode of MM, posted that letter before the show, so all MM fans would know exactly what we know concerning the Shakespeare incident .
I also thought that there should have been mention to it on the Season 1 DVD. This is not entirely because I am angry because I have been lied to, though I am not thrilled about that.
This is due to the show being considered a documentary, and therefore there should not be any misrepresentations in it. But to make up a story line, that absolutely makes it a docudrama, which is fine, but then call it what it is!
I still want Shakes back and think, at least in my heart, that that is him on the outskirts of the researchers area! As for AP doing this on purpose, I don't think that they originally did, but the lie they can't get around anymore. That is on purpose. It is time to come clean to all fans. Not just a select few.
That's a very good point, Shakespeareforever. Its easy to forget that there are more fans of the show in total-all over the world!-- than there are on these or other MM forums. Since Season Three is in production now, perhaps the producers will take the opportunity to put together a special episode to address this issue, as well as other questions that have come up. Most hit reality shows have at least one "reunion" show or a clip show featuring highlights of the season. Some even have special preview shows leading up to the new season. I'll take anything I can get, especially since its not like we can get Flower or the other Whiskers making the talkshow circuit rounds like other reality tv stars do!
I have been hoping that the producers would address the viewers of Meerkat Manor and appologize for lieing to us. Most TV shows when they have a cliff hanger tell the viewers what happens in the next season. I do realize that Meerkat Manor is a reality show and that they can't get the Meerkats to follow a script, but they could have told us the truth that Shakespeare disappeared and they can't find him.
Ok, I hate to say it but the first letter does not seem to me to be from Tom Flower. Someone who leads a research project could at least spell correctly and not use so many grammatical mistakes. Draw your own conclusions about Shakespeare, because this letter is complete bull.
Just because Tom Flower doesn't spell well and makes Grammar errors doesn't mean this letter is not true.There are many people who do not spell well or know grammar very well. Alex Thorton basically says the same thing as Tom Flower. I have gone to google and typed in Cambridge University email addresses and found Alex Thorton's email address. I haven't located Tom Flower's yet, but I have emailed Alex Thorton to ask him if he has it. I will post it when I get it.
And researchers are very often too distracted to fine tune an email and are often not very good typists.
I believe it is authentic. I don't think many people knew who Tom Flower was until that letter was posted. I also know the person who wrote that letter and she is authentic too.
lp_dragon001, you seem to be like the people to like to do "drive by's" You come up with some sort of agrivating and obnoxious statement with the intentions of creating arguments. Well I for one will just leave it at that.
I for one am not going to argue with anyone. I just want to keep the peace. Let us all look forward to season three with happy thoughts. Maybe our wish will come true and Shakespeare will show up. Wouldn't that be absolutely wonderful?
Guys, I received an email from Alex Thorton. He told me that he doesn't want us to put his personal replys on this site, so if any of us email him do not copy and paste, just put what he said in your own words. I think it is fair and I intend to be careful in the furture.
I forgot to mention this, but Alex Thorton does not have anything to do with the programme, Meerkat Manor. He is just a researcher and they are allowing Animal Planet to film the Meerkats on the reserve and Animal Planet writes up its own storyline for the show. Alex Thorton will be happy to answer questions concerning Meerkats in general but can't answer questions about Meerkat Manor. You need to address those questions to Animal Planet at viewers_relations@discovery.com.
Topic Closed
They led us to believe that it was Shakespeare babysitting the day the Lazuli came calling. It was not. 
