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One Strange Rock

One Strange Rock
★ 7.7/10•2018•47m•TV-G•Documentary
Similars

A mind-bending, thrilling journey exploring the fragility and wonder of planet Earth, one of the most peculiar, unique places in the entire universe, brought to life by the only people to have left it behind – the world’s most well known and leading astronauts.

StatusEnded
Runtime47m
LanguageEN
First Air DateMar 26, 2018

Episodes

Episode 1 - GaspE147m

Gasp

Our perfectly calibrated, breathing planet. For those privileged few who have seen Earth from space, the very first thing they notice is the thin blue line of atmosphere that clings to our planet and sustains life. The story of how the Earth creates and regulates that oxygen is mind-blowing. From snowflakes in the arctic to plankton, desert sandstorms, and rivers in the sky; an incredible chain of connections reveal just how incredible our home is. Everything connects so life and planet breathe together.

Mar 26, 2018

Episode 2 - StormE247m

Storm

A planet sculpted from cosmic violence. Earth is a very lucky planet. It has ended up the right size and in the right place. This only happened because of violent cosmic collisions. The crazy thing is, if things had been even slightly different, with more or less collisions, we wouldn't be here. We discover the moments that could have destroyed us, but instead made our planet what it is.

Apr 2, 2018

Episode 3 - ShieldE347m

Shield

Earth protects itself from the sun. The David and Goliath story of Earth's relationship with its greatest threat, our seemingly benign Sun. The Sun is the big violent boss of the Solar System, throwing out devastating particles and energy. Without several shields, one generated by our unique planetary core, another by our atmosphere, and a third by our interconnected weather systems… life on Earth would never have survived.

Apr 9, 2018

Episode 4 - GenesisE447m

Genesis

Earth gives birth to life. The building blocks of life are common across the universe, but life is rare. What's so special about Earth that it emerged here? Only here on Earth have we found the elixir of life; water in its three forms. But for life to emerge this isn't enough… huge tides created by the proximity of our perfect Moon, plate tectonics, volcanoes and lightning mean the Earth is a dynamic planet. It's a huge planetary chemical experiment, a bubbling cauldron that transforms dead minerals into deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA); the code for all life.

Apr 16, 2018

Episode 5 - SurvivalE547m

Survival

Earth, the great killer. Without the cycle of death and sacrifice, from cellular to planetary, life would not be here. From the deaths of stars, to planetary scale mass extinctions and the sacrifice of individuals for a greater genetic good, this is the story of how life evolved hand in hand with death. Death drives evolution. It's hardwired: from our cells to our landscapes, our colorful living planet is only possible because of it. Death leads to opportunity and biodiversity which ironically ensures life on the planet is never wiped out. It's not enough for our planet to be habitable… it also has to be lethal.

Apr 23, 2018

Episode 6 - EscapeE647m

Escape

We are all planets. Is it possible for intelligent life to escape destruction, either from the planet or ourselves? Or are we destined for extinction like 99% of all species before us? Our best chance of survival may be to escape earth and build another colony somewhere else. But there are real barriers: space radiation, microgravity and the bacteria inside us will conspire against us. And our DNA is coded for the conditions here on earth, so if we ever manage to colonize another planet those who are born there will evolve into another species.

Apr 30, 2018

Episode 7 - TerraformE747m

Terraform

Earth's great paradox. For our planet to become inhabitable for life, you already need life. Ever since life emerged, microbes, plants and animals have all sculpted the planet's surface and air in the strangest of ways; fish poop creates islands; dead animals create mountains; lichen drive continents. But life also has the power to destroy our world. We are changing the climate, but we are not the first to do so. Long before us, microbes froze the planet and almost wiped out all life. The difference between us and them is we are conscious of our actions.

May 7, 2018

Episode 8 - AlienE847m

Alien

The freak accident behind complex life. All life on earth started as single cell bacteria and stayed like that for 2 billion years. Successfully spreading across the planet. So even if we do find alien life, what are the chances of that life being complex – like us? Vanishingly rare… on our strange rock, it's all down to a freak event, which accidentally happened when one cell ate another to create a kind of cellular power pack: mitochondria. This almost miraculous event transforms earth into a complex interconnected food web based on a competition for food. And at the top of the pyramid sits us humans.

May 14, 2018

Episode 9 - AwakeningE947m

Awakening

Your brain is an anomaly. We tend to think that once the first life emerged it was inevitable that it would eventually evolve into us. But there is nothing inevitable about consciousness. For over 2 billion years no life on earth possessed a brain. And even today, 90% of life doesn’t have a brain. How life and our strange rock came together to create consciousness is a story of almost impossible and unnecessary coincidences….

May 21, 2018

Episode 10 - HomeE1047m

Home

There's no place like home. We wrap up the series with the story of NASA's most experienced female astronaut, Peggy Whitson, as she returns home to earth. We might possibly be the only intelligent life in the universe. Life is rare, complex life rarer, and intelligent life may be an evolutionary bad idea or dead end that is rarer still… and that means that it's possible that we humans may be the only thing in this huge and amazing universe that can appreciate its strangeness with awe and wonder.

May 28, 2018

Actors

Will Smith

Will Smith

Self - Host

Recommendations

Life on Our Planet
Human Planet
Planet Earth
Natural World
Our Planet
Planet Earth II
Great Migrations
Nature
Night on Earth
Our Universe
Prehistoric Planet
Life
The Blue Planet
NOVA
Planet Earth III
The Life of Mammals
Dynasties
The Americas
Walking with Dinosaurs
Life on Earth

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Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days
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Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure
Post Scriptum - An Optimistic Look at the End of the World
Hottest Place on Earth
Hustlers Gamblers Crooks
The Failed Experiment
The World's Deadliest Weather
Darwin's Dangerous Idea
Full Speed
Wildest Islands
Nightmares of Nature
Space Race
SABAN
Terenci: La fabulación infinita
Wild Austria
Louis Theroux's LA Stories
Mission to Space with Francis Bourgeois
Australie : l'Odyssée Sauvage