Topic: How the Earth Was Made

[Danae Cassandra]

HOW THE EARTH WAS MADE



The Complete Season One

Overview:
Spectacular on-location footage, evidence from geologists in the field, and clear, dramatic graphics combine in this stunning 13-part series from History to show how immensely powerful, and at times violent, forces of geology have formed our planet.

From the Great Lakes to Iceland and the San Andreas Fault to Krakatoa, HOW THE EARTH WAS MADE travels the globe to reveal the physical processes that have shaped some of the most well-known locations and geological phenomena in the world. With rocks as their clues and volcanoes, ice sheets, and colliding continents as their suspects, scientists launch a forensic investigation that will help viewers visualize how the earth has evolved and formed over billions of years.

Episodes:
San Andreas Fault
The Deepest Place on Earth
Krakatoa
Loch Ness
New York
Driest Place on Earth
Great Lakes
Yellowstone
Tsunami
Asteroids
Iceland
Hawaii
The Alps

The Complete Season Two

Overview
Spectacular on-location shooting, evidence from geologists in the field, and clear, dramatic graphics combine in SEASON TWO of this stunning series from HISTORY™ to show how immensely powerful, and at times violent, forces of geology have formed our planet.

This season, HOW THE EARTH WAS MADE goes back in history–from 4.5 billion years ago to today–peeling back layers of rock, filling up river canyons, parting the oceans, and leveling mountains and volcanoes to investigate the origins of some of the most well-known locations and geological phenomena in the world. With rocks as their clues and volcanoes, ice sheets and colliding continents as their suspects, scientists launch a forensic investigation that will help viewers visualize how the Earth has evolved and formed over millions of years.

Episodes
The Grand Canyon
Vesuvius
Birth of the Earth
Sahara
Yosemite
The Rockies
The Ring of Fire
Everest
Death Valley
Mount St. Helens
Earth's Deadliest Eruption
America's Ice Age
America's Gold

My Thoughts:
This is a History Channel documentary show, and I'll cop up front and say I love documentaries, especially nature and science docs.  This series of one hour geology docs is no different - I really enjoyed them.  Sure, there is a pattern of repetition that is done around where the commercial breaks happened.  These didn't bother me that much, and, looking at it from an educational standpoint, would be useful for pounding information into students.  I think this whole series could be good for basic geology lessons, probably fourth grade and up, depending on your student.  There were things that I hadn't heard of as well, like the Siberian Traps in season two, that were really interesting.  I suppose my criticisms would be that the show is rather America-centric, which I guess I should expect from a US-produced show, and that it only seems to have ran for two seasons.  I would totally watch more of them; there are lots of topics they could explore around the world.

So, if you like this sort of thing, check this series out, you'd enjoy it.  If you think it sounds dull, it probably will be for you.

Bechdel Test: Not Applicable (not fiction)

While Bechdel doesn't apply, I was very pleased to note that almost every episode contains one or two female scientists - geologists, vulcanologists, oceanographers, etc. - something excellent to demonstrate to girls that science is a field for women too.

Overall:  3.5/5

[Blair]

I only saw two episodes of this. I thought it was pretty good, though.