Rocketships

A global quest for adventure, 45 years in the making all in stunning, original footage

By the end of the Ice Age - only ten thousand years ago - many great mammals had died out. The woolly mammoth, the dire wolf, the saber-tooth cat and others disappeared as a result of severe climatic changes that engulfed the planet. And yet other animals persevered. Today, they go on in dwindling numbers as the last of the Ice Age survivors. Scientists are piecing together their past while others work to safeguard the future of these living relics. Despite climate changes over the past 15,000 years and human predation, their descendants persist in a few unspoiled regions of the globe.

Filmed by Emmy Award-winning cinematographer Al Giddings, this timeless program takes a stirring look at the largest, tallest, longest-living things on the planet: trees. Stunning location footage captures the variety and the grandeur of the Pacific Northwest, the Florida Everglades, the Shenandoah Valley, and the Great Sonoran Desert. Quotations from Sierra Club founder John Muir and others who revere nature are interwoven with information on topics ranging from the function of forest ecosystems, to the effects of deforestation, to the integration of parks into urban landscapes.

While London was a swamp, and Paris, a fishing village, Istanbul, then known as Constantinople, reigned for a thousand years as the world's richest city. At the crossroads of Europe and Asia, it amassed more gold than both continents combined, and safeguarded Christendom's most sacred relics, including the True Cross and heads of the Apostles. Immerse yourself in the city that has endured more warfare than any other place on Earth: Istanbul. The world's oldest city, which spans the continents of Europe and Asia, holds many stories of intrigue. Intrigue in Istanbul is your ticket to one of the most subversive, decadent and magnificent journeys in history.

Documentary that takes a scientific and historical look at the story of Moses. Uses archaeological evidence from the stables of Ramses II to little-known Egyptian texts to seek answers to questions about Moses and his origins.

In June 1942, Japanese bombers tried to level the American presence on Midway Island in a bid to steam unimpeded toward the U.S. mainland. Yet the U.S. Navy had two aces up its sleeve: advance knowledge of Japanese plans and a dive-bomber that was nearly invulnerable to attack. When the smoke cleared after the U.S. ambush, four Japanese aircraft carriers -- the Kaga, the Soryu, the Hiryu and the Akagi -- lay on the ocean floor. The program shows how the U.S. Navy and private enterprise teamed up on a 1999 expedition that solved a half-century of military mystery: where exactly did the Japanese ships go down?

Documentary that explores the birth and growth of satellite espionage.

A super laser was a planet-destroying super weapon that often used several separate "super laser beams" combined together as a single beam. This devastating device was designed to destroy planets with one shot at full power. There were also smaller-scale super lasers of lesser power designed for use against capital ships. Yet another small-scale super laser was a type used by the Geonosians in their droid factories to melt iron ore.

Richard Feynman is one of the most iconic, influential and inspiring scientists of the 20th century. He helped design the atomic bomb, solved the mystery of the Challenger Shuttle catastrophe and won a Nobel Prize. Now, 25 years after his death - in his own words and those of his friends and family - this is the story of the most captivating communicator in the history of science.

Documentary of an underwater archaeological expedition led by French explorer Franck Goddio that explores the sunken ancient city of Alexandria, Egypt, where Cleopatra made her home over 2,000 years ago. The underwater exploration team uses advanced scientific methods to locate the remains of Cleopatra's sunken palace as well as the entire submerged Royal Quarters in the harbor of modern Alexandria. Also uses re-enactments, computer graphics and animation to present a picture of Cleopatra's life in ancient Alexandria.

Documentary looking at the ways which computer on-line services and the Internet have evolved, how they have been applied and the problems they can cause.

Documentary exploring the hundreds of species of life that thrive in total darkness at the hydrothermal vents along the Mid-Ocean Ridge, several miles below the ocean surface. Little food filters down from the surface and there is no sunlight to support photosynthesis.

Documentary reveals how fireworks are made, how they create their effects and how pyrotechnicians design and execute firework displays.

Explores the plans for the construction of the monumental dam on China's Yangtze River, the structure that when completed in 2009 will become the Three Gorges Dam. It is slated to be 610 feet high, 1.3 miles across, creating a reservoir 400 miles and the largest power plant in the world.

An entertaining documentary look at dinosaurs with Emmy Award-winning special effects, feature film clips and stills, commentary by leading paleontologists of the time, and an on camera as well as voice-over narrative by Christopher Reeve. Shot on location in Los Angeles and New York at the American Museum of Natural History

A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide.

BLACK SUNS: AN ASTROPHYSICS ADVENTURE is a documentary about chasing eclipses and science dreams. It chronicles the lives of two globetrotting African American astrophysicists, Dr. Alphonse Sterling and Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi, as they follow the two solar eclipses that occurred in 2012. Dr. Alphonse Sterling of NASA, stationed in Japan, had early success in the US, but left his home country to further cultivate his wide-ranging interests. Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi of the Florida Institute of Technology, is a scientist who beat the odds of poverty, and a poor early education, to get where he is today. The film is hosted by award-winning cultural astronomer Dr. Jarita Holbrook.

Filmmaker Peter Sasowsky examines the life and work of artist Joe Davis

A documentary about the study of plant sentience with original music by Stevie Wonder. Utilizing time-lapse photography, the film proposes that plants are able to experience emotions and communicate with the world around them.

Consisting of a single shot, Spiders on a Web is one of the earliest British examples of close-up natural history photography. Made by one of the pioneers of the British film industry, G.A. Smith, this short film details spiders trapped in an enclosure, and despite the title, does not actually feature a web.