As a history buff, last year’s Expedition Week on the National Geographic Channel was thoroughly enjoyable. Last year relied heavily on Egyptian related programming which is lacking this year, but still plenty of watchable specials. Some of those have recently been uploaded to Hulu (presumable this year’s will also end up there at some point if you miss them). Here is a list of what you can expect with each program starting a 9:00 on the days listed below starting with tonight.
Monday: Expedition Great White
Not the most interesting program of the week (but I tend to find the social scientists more interesting than the biological one) but it does feature an inexplicable cameo from Paul Walker (yes the dude from Fast and Furious) as one of the deckhands.
Tuesday: Hunt for the Samurai Subs
History is fill with a lot of “What If’s (did you know Hitler won by one vote, what if one person decided to go the other way?). Here is one “What If” I never knew existed. During World War II, the Japanese had developed subs the length of a football field so advanced they could go around the world one and a half times without refueling or coming up for air and housed three fighter planes in air lock holders. The Japanese had planned to take them half way around the world to land a surprise attack on New York City and Washington DC. Luckily the US was able to capture them before they left the Pacific and then sank them to keep the Russians from developing the technology to build their own. Here, scientists try to locate those sunken subs.
Wednesday: The Ballard Gallipoli Expedition
The guy who discovered The Titanic moves to the Mediterranean where Dr. Bob Ballard is looking for warships off the peninsula in Turkey where one of the most bloody and controversial battles of WWI took place.
Thursday: Mars: Making the New Earth
Most expeditions are about uncovering the past, but here is a possible expedition that could take place in the future. It is a simple concept of if we are warming this planet without even trying, could we warm up Mars to the point it is habitable to humans? After watching this, it seems plausible. But the show leaves out one very important variable that isn’t even mentioned once: how exactly do we get to Mars? Check out a preview below:
Friday: The First Jesus
Despite centuries of fighting, Islam, Christianity and Judaism all have the same roots. It is just Muslims consider Mohammed is a prophet, Christians believe Jesus Christ is the son of God, and the Jews believe neither. A newly discovered tablet may make things even more muddled as a newly discovered tablet may have discovered a new Messiah that predates Jesus by a few years. It just that one very important letter has become illegible over time and some scientist try to figure out what it was.
Saturday: When Crocs Ate Dinosaurs
C’mon, with a title like that, do I really need to elaborate to get you to turn in? It’s about prehistoric crocodile who ate dinosaurs for dinner complete with CGI recreations.
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