Alien Planet
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| Alien Planet | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Speculative Fiction |
| Starring | See Scientists below |
| Country of origin | USA |
| No. of episodes | 1 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 2 hours with commercials |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Discovery Channel |
| Picture format | Unknown |
| Original run | May 14, 2005 – |
| Links | |
| Discovery Channel: Alien Planet Official website | |
"Alien Planet" is a two-hour special on Discovery Channel about two Internationally built robot probes investigating for alien life on the fictional planet Darwin IV. It was based on the book Expedition, by sci-fi/fantasy artist and writer Wayne Douglas Barlowe, who was also executive producer on the special. It premiered on May 14, 2005.
The show has very sophisticated computer-generated imagery, which is interspersed with interviews from such notables as Stephen Hawking, George Lucas, Michio Kaku, and Jack Horner.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Alien Planet starts out with an interstellar spacecraft named VonBraun, leaving Earth orbit. Traveling at 20% the speed of light, it reaches Darwin IV in 42 years. Upon reaching orbit, it deploys the Darwin Reconnaissance Orbiter, which looks for potential landing sites for the probes. The first probe, Balboa, explodes along with its lifting body transport during entry, because one of its wings failed to unfold. Two other probes, Leonardo DaVinci (nicknamed Leo) and Isaac Newton (nicknamed Ike), successfully land on the planet, and learn much about its bizarre indigenous lifeforms, including an apparently sentient species.
The robotic probes sent out to research on Darwin IV are called Horus Probes. Each Horus probe consisted of an 8 foot high, 40 foot long inflatable, hydrogen-filled balloon, which was covered with solar receptors, a computer 'brain', a 'head' covered with sensors, and several smaller robots that could be sent to places more dangerous for the probes themselves. The probes had a limited degree of artificial intelligence, very similar to the 'processing power' of a 4-year-old. All the real thinking was done by a supercomputer in the orbiting VonBraun. The probes were programmed with different personalities; Ike was more cowardly and skittish, while Leo was the risk-taker. The two probes are also equipped with a holographic message that will be sent to any sentinent life found on Darwin.
After the two probes inflate their gas-bags, they encounter a voracious Arrowtongue and watch it pursue a Gyrosprinter. Later that night, the twins find the wreckage of Balboa and are forced to split up, Ike studying the unique plantlife and Leo going after big game. Ike's voyage takes him to one of Darwin IV's pocket forests, where he encounters a flock of Trunk Suckers and their predator, the ruthless Daggerwrist. Before his research is finished, a massive hurricane-like storm hits and Ike must take to the sky, launching weather balloons. Ike goes to the mountain ranges and finds a herd of Unths, engaged in rutting-like behavior.
Afterwards, Leo finds a pair of strange Bladderhorns enganging in combat. He tries to communicate with one,but fails spectacularly and is knocked out by a mysterious creature Ike ventures to the meadows and gullies of Darwin 4, only to encounter a massive herd of Grovebacks and Littoralopes. It is here that he also encounters a pair of Skewers.
Leo gets destroyed by a mysterious and evasive unknown creature, and Ike, ordered by the VonBraun to search for Leo's attacker, hopes to find a new sentient species. Ike's route takes him across perilous terrain, and across the Ameobic Sea in his quest for Leo. As he embarks on his journey, one of the Grovebacks seen earlier falls victim to a swarm of Beach Quills. Ike then finds a pack of Prongheads hunting a Gyrosprinter, and then crosses the Ameobic Sea and encounters a herd of Sea Striders.
Ike manages to make contact after a harrowing experience with a Skewer, but the newly discovered Eosapien destroyed Ike after it intrepreted Ike's launch of its camera disk as an attack.
[edit] VonBraun
The cruise speed of the VonBraun is 20% the speed of light. At this speed it reaches the planet Darwin IV in 42 years. Once in orbit it deploys the Darwin Reconnaissance Orbiter and the landing probes. It also has artificial intelligence computers to act as the central command for the mission. Finally it has a large communication dish, deployed in orbit, for information transfer to Earth.
[edit] Darwin Reconnaissance Orbiter
The Darwin Reconnaissance Orbiter (DRO) was deployed in orbit around the planet Darwin IV. Its purpose was to look for potential landing sites for the landing probes and to map the entire planet.
