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19 Episodes 1997 - 1997
Episode 1
Tue, Jan 14, 1997 60 mins
A look at the history of explosives, with demonstrations ranging from the simple firepower of flour to the destructive energy of nitroglycerin. Included: the experiments which helped Alfred Nobel produce and sell dynamite. Also: nuclear weapons.
Episode 2
Tue, Jan 28, 1997 60 mins
A search for Titanic's sister ship, the Britannic, which sank just four years after its more famous sibling. Included: robot cameras capture images of the ship's damaged hull, as historians try to determine whether the ship was sunk by a mine or by German torpedoes. Narrator: Stacy Keach.
Episode 3
Tue, Feb 11, 1997 60 mins
The four-part "Secrets of Lost Empires" begins with an attempt to build a replica of Stonehenge using Stone Age tools. Included: some 130 volunteers try to lift, move and arrange 40-ton concrete blocks, using ropes, wood and musclepower. Narrator: Stacy Keach.
Episode 4
Tue, Feb 11, 1997 60 mins
Part 2 of "Secrets of Lost Empires" speculates on how Incan masons---before the invention of the wheel---transported stones weighing up to 100 tons for use in building temples and other structures. Also: a visit to a present-day Peruvian village. Narrator: Stacy Keach.
Episode 5
Wed, Feb 12, 1997 60 mins
Theories on the construction of Egyptian obelisks, the 400-ton granite towers created at the time of the New Kingdom (1570-1070 B.C.), in Part 3 of "Secrets of Lost Empires." Included: tests are performed on an unfinished obelisk found in an Aswan quarry.
Episode 6
Wed, Feb 12, 1997 60 mins
"Secrets of Lost Empires" concludes with an attempt to re-create the canopy believed to have served as a roof above the ancient Roman Colosseum. A 15th-century Spanish bullring is the site of the experiment. Narrator: Stacy Keach.
Episode 7
Tue, Feb 18, 1997 60 mins
Astronomers discuss the search for planets outside our solar system in "Hunt for Alien Worlds," an often technical look at the study of what may---or may not---be orbiting distant stars. Included: a system of moons believed to contain the basic elements necessary to sustain life. Narrator: Joe Morton.
Episode 8
Tue, Feb 25, 1997 60 mins
A revealing look at the lucrative---and competitive---business of buying and selling prehistoric remains. Featured is a Federal case involving ownership of a valuable dinosaur fossil unearthed in South Dakota in 1991. Also: conflicts between scientific and commercial fossil hunting.
Episode 9
Tue, Apr 8, 1997 60 mins
A graphic look at a radical alternative to heart transplants developed by a Brazilian surgeon, in which an enlarged heart is reduced in size by the removal of a section of muscle. Included: U.S. cardiac specialists discuss the technique; patients are interviewed prior to surgery.
Episode 10
Tue, Apr 15, 1997 60 mins
"Kingdom of the Seahorse" is an underwater journey with the tiny creatures that bear "the head of a dragon" and the "tail of a monkey." Included: footage of male seahorses giving birth. Also: a trip to Hong Kong to detail the growing market for seahorses. Narrator: Tony Kahn.
Episode 11
Tue, Oct 7, 1997 60 mins
Exploring aggressive treatment applied to a 9-year-old boy clinging to life after a car accident. "You can't just plug them in [on life support] and walk away," says Dr. Jam Ghajar, a neurosurgeon seeking national adoption of treatment guidelines. Narrator: Roy Scheider.
Episode 12
Tue, Oct 14, 1997 60 mins
Climbing into the cockpit with Gen. Chuck Yeager as the pilot recounts his Oct. 14, 1947 flight through the previously-impenetrable sound barrier. Included: interviews with Yeager and other top pilots of the day who survived the often-fatal tests of experimental aviation technologies.
Episode 13
Tue, Oct 21, 1997 60 mins
Surveying the technologies used by British bomb-disposal experts in their battle against Irish Republican Army terrorists. Included: a visit to a British explosives center, where robots and blasts of water are used to disable bombs. Narrator: Hal Linden.
Episode 14
Tue, Oct 28, 1997 60 mins
"The Proof" documents the singleminded quest of Princeton mathematics professor Andrew Wiles, who toiled for eight years to prove Fermat's Last Theorem, a simple hypothesis that had stymied mathematicians for more than 350 years. Narrator: Stacy Keach.
Episode 15
Tue, Nov 11, 1997 60 mins
Sir David Attenborough runs with the pack to tell the story of "Wild Wolves," the hunters "banished by man to the most remote and barren of wildernesses." Included: footage of packs in North America, Europe and Asia; how wolves will survive in the modern world.
Episode 16
Wed, Nov 12, 1997 120 mins
Documenting the four-year construction of the Clark Bridge, which spans the Mississippi near St. Louis. Included: a segment on Alton, Ill., where the bridge is seen as a ticket to a stronger economy. Also: footage of the devastating floods of 1993, which halted the project for months. Narrator: Hal Holbrook.
Episode 17
Tue, Nov 18, 1997 60 mins
"Treasures of the Sunken City" joins a group of archaeologists as they dive off the coast of Egypt in search of the remains of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the world's first skyscraper and one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Included: the history of the structure; footage of divers exploring the extensive underwater ruins. Narrator: Hal Linden.
Episode 18
Tue, Nov 25, 1997 60 mins
Researchers dig through the snowy mountains of Iceland and Switzerland in "a battle to understand and control" the destructive powers of the "Avalanche." Included: a visit to Flateyri, Iceland, where 20 people were buried by 250,000 tons of snow in 1995.
Episode 19
Tue, Dec 2, 1997 60 mins
Three teams attempting to achieve the first nonstop, around-the-world balloon trip encounter unfavorable weather conditions and air traffic. Balloonists include airline executive Richard Branson and American Steve Fossett.