AN EVOLUTIONARY, INTELLIGENT DOC.

Byline: David Kronke

Television Critic

Randy Olson, a former evolutionary biologist turned documentary filmmaker, entered his movie "Flock of Dodos: The Evolution and Intelligent Design Circus" with an obvious (some might say "educated") bias. But what he found surprised him: Those espousing an anti-scientific mind-set weren't the humorless Bible-thumpers he expected but rather, charming, modest individuals.

By contrast, he found many of the scientists he had rubbed elbows with were icy, arrogant people who couldn't capably communicate their views with mainstream America. And in this era in which spinning one's message has been elevated to an art form, the scientists' staunch refusal to believe that their field was under attack betrayed a stunning ignorance as to the way the world works.

"Flock of Dodos" follows the sort of cheeky yet humane documentary style pioneered by Morgan Spurlock ("Super Size Me," FX's "30 Days"), which seeks to find common ground between two contentious points of view. Here, Olson was inspired by his mother, who sent him press clippings on the debate on evolution -- which evolutionary scientists rancorously dismissed as no debate at all -- as to whether creationism should be taught alongside evolution in schools, a roundelay ratcheted up when the notion of "intelligent design" entered the dialogue.

The problem is, "science" only refers to something that can be proven through tests and inquiry, whereas "intelligent design" refers to a deity whose existence, by definition, cannot be proved or disproved. But the passion behind this discourse was proven at the recent Republican presidential candidate debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, where three of the 10 candidates declared their doubts in evolution and, therefore, their breaks with science and tilts toward religious faith.

Olson's film argues, in essence, that since most intelligent-design champions don't dispute many elements of evolution, if scientists could concoct a user-friendly explanation of Darwinian theory, this would not be as contentious an issue as it has proven to be. He charts the debate from the Scopes Monkey Trial, where Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan argued about evolution, to the late-'90s Kansas School Board clash to the more recent confrontation in Dover, Pa., where a judge appointed by President George W. Bush dismissed intelligent design as nonsense.

None of this would be as divisive as the media has portrayed it, Olson quotes one of his interviewees, if we all realized that the debate needs to be reframed, so that we're not "setting kids up to be anti-intellectual or have a crisis of faith -- neither one should be going on in schools."

Olson manages, through blithe narration and cheerful animation, to tamp down the huge stakes this debate usually necessitates.

Perhaps we all can get along, after all.

David Kronke, [phone]

[e-mail]

FLOCK OF DODOS: THE EVOLUTION AND INTELLIGENT DESIGN CIRCUS - Three stars

What: A wry look at the "debate" on evolution.

Where: Showtime.

When: 8:30 tonight; 1 p.m. Sunday.

In a nutshell: Entertainingly empathetic and sane.

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"Flock of Dodos," which debuts tonight on Showtime, includes the Scopes Monkey Trial, during which Clarence Darrow, left, and William Jennings Bryan argued over evolution.