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40 Episodes 1986 - 1986
Episode 1
Sun, Feb 2, 198627 mins
Opéra Vertical is a French documentary film released in 1982 by Jean-Paul Janssen featuring climber Patrick Edlinger and Jean-Paul Lemercier. The climbing scenes take place in the Verdon, a famous site for this sport. The film opens with a training session for the climber then shows the realization of the "Decomposing Angel" in which he voluntarily falls to show the usefulness of the rope. Finally, the final scene, of anthology, consists of a close-up shot of Edlinger who climbs in full solo and barefoot a difficult route of the Verdon above hundreds of meters of vacuum, all to lyrical music. This is "Wie Furchtsam Wankten Meine Schritte", the air for alto voice from the cantata BWV 33 by Johann Sebastian Bach, music not unrelated to the subject of the documentary: "that my steps were tottering and fearful" .
Episode 2
Sun, Feb 2, 1986
National Geographic looks at three generations of contemporary female ranch hands who are riding, roping and roughing it way out West.
Episode 3
Sun, Feb 2, 1986
Explorer looks at cranes who are consider by some to be messengers of the Gods.
Episode 4
Sun, Feb 9, 1986
Flocks of pigeons fly high above Brooklyn in an unusual urban sport.
Episode 5
Sun, Feb 9, 1986
Explorer goes on a tour of the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California.
Episode 6
Sun, Feb 16, 1986
Explorer goes to Singapore to look at the art of Chinese street musicians.
Episode 7
Sun, Feb 16, 1986
Explorer offers a salute to wildlife film-making pioneers Martin and Osa Johnson.
Episode 8
Sun, Feb 23, 1986
A four-year old chimpanzee named Kanzi demonstrates extraordinary language skills when manipulating geometric symbols called lexigrams.
Episode 9
Sun, Feb 23, 1986
Explorer goes to the famous British bell foundry in Whitechapel and investigates the use of bells.
Episode 10
Sun, Mar 2, 1986
Explorer goes to Japan in order to observe female abalone divers.
Episode 11
Sun, Mar 2, 1986
Explorer profiles Edward S. Curtis a famous anthropologist and filmmaker who studied the traditions of the Navajo, Kwakiutl, and Hopi Indians.
Episode 12
Sun, Mar 9, 1986
Explorer looks at footage of Teddy Roosevelt's exploration of the Amazon.
Episode 13
Sun, Mar 9, 1986
Explorer goes to Avery Island in Louisiana in order to witness the making of Tabasco sauce.
Episode 14
Sun, Mar 16, 1986
Explorer examines the art of falconry with birdmaster and conservationist Morley Nelson.
Episode 15
Sun, Mar 16, 1986
Episode 16
Sun, Mar 23, 198660 mins
When the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha sank over three hundred years ago, it set in motion a centuries-long treasure hunt. Loaded with tons of precious stones and metals, the ship went down off Florida's coast. Mel Fisher attempts to locate and then to salvage the untold riches aboard the Atocha.
Episode 17
Sun, Mar 30, 1986
Explorer goes to Nevada to look at cowboys and their life on the range.
Episode 18
Sun, Apr 6, 1986
Explorer visits the a remote pagan tribe in Pakistan.
Episode 19
Sun, Apr 13, 1986
National Geographic looks at the African wildlife artwork of zoologist Jonathan Kingdon.
Episode 20
Sun, Apr 13, 1986
Episode 21
Sun, Apr 27, 1986
Comet watchers go to Mauna Kea in Hawaii to view Halley's comet.
Episode 22
Sun, Apr 27, 1986
Explorer follows flying tankers as they work to battle a wildfire.
Episode 23
Sun, May 4, 1986
National Geographic follows a group of explorers as they visit an underwater vessel.
Episode 24
Sun, May 4, 1986
A conservationist work to protect virgin forests from destruction.
Episode 25
Sun, May 25, 1986
Explorer follows a golden eagle as it is learning to fly.
Episode 26
Sun, May 25, 1986
Explorer looks at the wildlife in a Central American rain forest.
Episode 27
Sun, May 25, 1986
Explorer goes to Greece to visit the monks and monasteries of Mount Athos.
Episode 28
Sun, Jun 1, 1986
Explorer looks at historical travel footage of Lawrence Copley Thaw and his wife Peggy as they sail from Paris to British India.
Episode 29
Sun, Jun 1, 1986
Explorer goes to Australia to follow divers as they test a sharkproof cage against a great white.
Episode 30
Sun, Jun 8, 1986
Explorer goes to the Telluride Hang Gliding Festival in Colorado.
Episode 31
Sun, Jun 15, 1986
National Geographic chronicles an annual log drive down Canada's Coulonge River.
Episode 32
Sun, Jun 15, 1986
Explorer looks at the history of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna which is home to the famous Lipizzaner stallions.
Episode 33
Sun, Jun 22, 1986
Explorer travels to the Chinese city of Suzhou considered by many to be the "Venice of the East".
Episode 34
Sun, Jun 22, 1986
Explorer follows the annual Australian yacht race from Sidney to Hobart.
Episode 35
Sun, Jun 29, 1986
Explorer examines Rembetika the Greek version of blues music.
Episode 36
Sun, Jun 29, 1986
An American championship skydiving team goes to China to take on a local team in a friendly competition.
Episode 37
Sun, Jul 27, 1986
A bike courier makes deliveries through New York City's gridlocked streets while dreaming of becoming a world-class racer.
Episode 38
Sun, Jul 27, 1986
Explorer visits the ship of René Morel who specializes in repairing stringed instruments using tools and techniques perfected in the seventeenth century.
Episode 39
Sun, Aug 3, 1986
Leo Dickinson and Norman Kent go to Florida to film an attempt to set a free fall parachute records involving 100 skydivers.
Episode 40
Sun, Aug 10, 1986
Explorer looks at the lives of water spiders and bitterlings.