How the Earth Was Made: Complete Season 1 Blu-ray Review
"Don't know much 'bout geology. . ."
Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, October 26, 2010
The History Channel has a habit of creating series out of its supposed one-off specials, and that's exactly what it did with the geologically themed
How the Earth Was Made. While the initial two hour special dealt in broad and mostly general terms with the actual formation of the planet, traveling back billions of years in the process of doing so, the series, which has just completed its second season, tends to focus on specific elements of our planet's natural history, whether that be an actual location or some sort of phenomenon that affects us in some shape or form.
How the Earth Was Made is thankfully largely free of the apocalyptic excesses of so many other History Channel offerings, though of course death and destruction tend to rear their ugly heads in quite a few episodes. This series is marked by a nice variety of visual approaches, from CGI to lots of (sometimes spotty) archival footage to, of course, the ubiquitous talking heads which give us some context about what we're seeing.
How the Earth Was Made does a good job of making the sometimes dry subject of geology come alive, and it manages to impart a surprising degree of interesting information in an often captivating manner. This new Blu-ray release contains the 13 episodes which comprised the first season of the series, spread over three Blu-ray discs.
Disc One
San Andreas Fault. Californians who live along, or even near, the 800 mile long San Andreas fault are playing a dangerous game of chicken. Geologists and seismologists are certain we're way past due for a major earthquake event along this fissure in the planet, and when (not if) that happens, major destructive forces will be unleashed on some of the most notable (and pricey) real estate in the United States, including large swaths of San Francisco and Los Angeles. Scientists have been involved in a research project nicknamed Codename Shakeout to try to determine how a major earthquake along the fault might be predicted.
The Deepest Place on Earth. You might initially think this episode is going to deal with the Grand Canyon (which does indeed crop up in the second season of
How the Earth Was Made) or even Death Valley. But this intriguing episode actually ventures far beneath the ocean to Challenger Deep, an undersea fissure which is a feature of the Mariana Trench. The first part of this episode deals with the formation and really fascinating geology of the Trench itself, including some white knuckle recountings of 1960 explorations which almost resulted in the deaths of some scientists when one of the outer panes in their deep sea rig shattered. There's some beautiful footage (both CGI and real) of some of bioluminescent sea life that inhabits these formidable depths.
Krakatoa. I believe I've relayed this (to me, anyway) hilarious anecdote, but it bears repeating. In the late 1960s, one of the first big disaster films came out, called
Krakatoa, East of Java. Unfortunately after the film had been released, someone with an actual map discovered that Krakatoa is really
west of Java. Shortly after that discovery made front page news across the nation (times were considerably tamer then), Dick Cavett, in his late night talk show opening monologue, stated that the film had been renamed
Krakatoa, Way, Way, Way East of Java. Be that as it may, the eruption of this volcano in 1883 was one of the greatest disasters of the 19th century. So formidable was this eruption that its sound is thought to be the loudest ever in recorded history, having been heard over ten percent of the planet's surface. While that eruption destroyed Krakatoa, a "new, improved" volcano, Anak Krakatau ("child of Krakatoa" in Indonesian) has taken its place and is threatening to rain down destruction in even greater amounts than its father did over a hundred years ago.
Loch Ness. If you didn't get enough of this locale from History Channel's
MonsterQuest, this episode actually spends some time talking about the actual formation of this gorgeous lake, which hold more water than any lake in Europe. At 23 miles long and one mile wide, Loch Ness is about 700 feet deep, but is surrounded by some extremely mysterious rock formations. Investigating how these odd sandstones and other debris ended up around parts of Loch Ness reveals that Scotland and America were once literally joined at the hip. And lest you be disappointed, there
is indeed some information about venerable old Nessie imparted in this scenic episode.
New York. Interestingly, glaciers also play a role in this episode devoted to New York City, especially (perhaps most surprisingly) the island of Manhattan. Perhaps even more surprisingly, volcanic activity also rears its lava-filled head to account for the formation of the island. What may be astounding to some viewers is the thought of an ancient ice sheet over four times the height of the Empire State Building which once covered what is now New York City. This episode features lots of appealing stock footage of aerial flybys of the Big Apple. Unfortunately we get the "death and destruction" route at the end with an account of killer hurricanes which may destroy large sections of the island.
Disc Two
Driest Place on Earth. Once again you might think that Death Valley would be the subject of this episode, but instead the Atacama Desert in northern Chile is featured. Little known in the United States, this is an area which has almost no rainfall but which is right next to an ocean where penguins, of all things, frolic happily in 55 degree ocean water. It turns out that the Humboldt Current is largely responsible for both the frigid water and the lack of rainfall in the desert itself.
Great Lakes. These mammoth five lakes in America's northeast are the largest freshwater expanse on our planet, containing over 20% of all of Earth's fresh water. They also provide drinking water for around ten percent of the United States' population, and irrigation water for vast areas of the Midwest's farms. But how did they come to be? This episode has some interesting background on the Niagara Escarpment, a huge rockface next to the Falls themselves which provides geologists clues as to how 12 trillion tons of rock was carved out to make way for the lakes. While geologists discovered that there was evidently an ancient rock lagoon which provided a starting point for most of the lakes, they have been stumped as to what got Superior's watery ball rolling, as this huge lake lies outside of the lagoon. Delving into a seemingly bottomless pit in the middle of Superior's lake bed, the lowest place on the North American continent, helps to provide an answer.
Yellowstone. If you've ever been to this magnificent National Park and studied its geologic background, you already know that a vast portion of the park sits in a volcanic caldera which some say is long past due for a major eruption. What may shock you is the fact, imparted in this very interesting episode, that it wasn't until the late 1960s that scientists actually figured out that the Park was indeed inside a volcano! This area experiences around 5,000 earthquakes a year, and is an incredibly active volcano system, and if a major eruption ever takes place, chances are it will bathe the entire United States in feet of ash.
Tsunami. The apocalyptic tendencies of many History Channel series finally smash full force into
How the Earth Was Made like—well, like a tsunami. This episode, which strangely doesn't spend the bulk of its time with the relatively recent disaster in Indonesia, instead posits what would happen if a major event struck the United States. The big problem for scientists is learning how to predict these monster waves, which create their destructive fury not just with the initial blast of the wave itself, but with the persistent encroachment of huge volumes of water. There are some interesting historical accounts of tsunamis in this episode, including some from Japan in the 1700s, which are preserved by way of silkscreen illustrations.
Disc Three
Asteroids. Luckily this episode stays away from doomsday prophesizing about our imminent destruction at the hands of a "visitor" from space, and instead looks at the quite interesting historical phenomena left behind, especially in Arizona, by ancient collisions of asteroids. About 35 miles east of Arizona lies a huge crater which is so large the Washington Monument could easily fit inside it. Scientists had long thought the crater had been formed by volcanic activity, but in 1960 they finally figured out it was the result of a cataclysmic impact from an asteroid. This episode contains some brief, but fascinating, real life footage of actual asteroids entering our atmosphere, including a huge fireball over a sports stadium in Johnstown in the 1990s, and another episode in Canada in 2008.
Iceland Iceland isn't just about ice, as this visually spectacular episode makes clear. Volcanoes also play a large role in the island's history, as any air traveler in early 2010 may recall. In fact it's the interplay between fire and ice which accounts for Iceland's rather peculiar topography. If the island had been formed purely by volcanic activity, it really should resemble, geologically at least, Hawaii or Tahiti. What concerns scientists is the fact the ice has stood for millennia as a sort of firewall (pun intended) against volcanic destruction, and now with the threat of global warming and melting, volcanoes previously plugged by icecaps may now be able to erupt, causing worldwide devastation.
Hawaii. Look at a globe sometime and you'll be struck by the odd occurrence of these blips of land in the middle of an oceanic expanse. That very oddity and how it came to be is the subject of this episode, which also explores the undersea mountain chain which is part of the same geologic story which created the islands. In fact the islands are more like mountain peaks which simply rise far enough above the ocean to provide significant land mass. This episode, which focuses quite a bit on volcanic activity, describes the Hawaiian Islands as the place where "paradise meets hell."
The Alps. The immense height of several of the peaks which are part of the Alps at least hints at the mammoth geologic forces which brought this impressive mountains into existence. This episode has some interesting sidebars, including a fun bit on Leonardo da Vinci, who was fascinated by hearing stories of sea fossils being found at insane altitudes, and who himself journeyed into the mountains to look at these bony records, some of which are found as high as 7000 feet. In fact geologists have determined that a lot of the Alps once lay on the sea floor, and how the lowest became the highest is the subject of the scenically amazing episode. What may distress some mountain lovers is the fact that the Alps are slowly but surely decaying in on themselves. It turns out the glaciers which helped form the chain are also leading to its destruction.
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