INTELLIGENT LIFE IN NEW DISCOVERY CHANNEL WORLD PREMIERE,
SATURDAY, MAY 14, AT 8 PM (ET/PT)
Two-Hour Computer-Animated Special Features Top Scientists Stephen Hawking, Michio Kaku and J. Craig Venter, Plus “Star Wars” Filmmaker George Lucas, Discussing Life Outside Our Solar System
Alien Planet Clips
Growth Back, WMP, Large
Growth Back, QuickTime, Large
Life Form on Darwin, WMP, Large
Life Form on Darwin, QuickTime, Large
Explore Alien Planet - Discover the world of Darwin IV.
Mankind’s greatest adventure is only decades away: In our century, unmanned space
probes equipped with artificial intelligence will be sent to search for life on planets beyond our
solar system. But what will happen when we find it?
ALIEN PLANET takes viewers on a dramatic virtual mission of the future – a trip to a
fictional planet known as Darwin 4 — in a new Discovery Channel world premiere Saturday, May
14, 8-10 PM (ET/PT). Rooted in the latest scientific research from the NASA Origins Program,
NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Planet-Finder Mission and European Space Agency’s
Darwin Project, this special two-hour computer-animated program features some of the world’s
most renowned scientists, including Stephen W. Hawking, Michio Kaku and J. Craig Venter, plus
Star Wars filmmaker George Lucas, who discuss the possibilities of life outside our solar system
and deconstruct the animals on Darwin 4, based on the laws of evolution and physics. The
premiere of ALIEN PLANET kicks off Discovery Channel’s “Space Week,” May 14-21.
“The life we have on Earth must have spontaneously generated itself,” says Stephen W.
Hawking, physicist and author of A Brief History of Time. “It must therefore be possible for life
to be generated spontaneously, elsewhere in the universe.”
And, as the story unfolds, that would be Darwin 4, located 6.5 light years from Earth,
with two suns and 60 percent of Earth’s gravity. Having identified Darwin 4 as an environment
that could support life, Earth sends an unmanned pilot mission consisting of a “mother ship,”
dubbed Von Braun, and three probes: Balboa, da Vinci and Newton. Their goal: find and
assess any life forms on Darwin 4.
“We will be the bystanders much more so than we are today with our robotic emissaries,” notes
Dr. James Garvin, Chief Scientist, NASA. “But that’s okay … they’ll act more like us in the sense
that they’ll observe, mine the data, understand the anomalies and find the sweet spots.”
Darwin 4 is experienced through the "eyes" of the probes Newton (also known as Ike)
and da Vinci (nicknamed Leo), whose data are relayed back to Von Braun and then
communicated back to Earth. The biological and atmospheric data from the probes and mother
ship are relayed through computer voice simulation and on-screen readouts.
Initially, the expectation is to find microscopic life, but the probes soon find themselves
in the middle of a developed ecosystem teeming with diversity of life of all sizes – just like
Earth. “If you look at the diversity of what species look like on this planet, nature has come up
with better things than our best science fiction,” comments J. Craig Venter, of the J. Craig
Venter Institute, who successfully mapped the human genome.
The life that Darwin 4 supports tests the limits of technology and the intellects of the
greatest minds of our generation. It appears that life on the planet is bigger, faster – and more
dangerous – than we ever imagined. As Michio Kaku, one of the founders of string theory, and
professor at City University of New York, notes, “Chances are, when we meet intelligent life
forms in outer space, they're going to be descended from predators.”
Visually based on author/artist Wayne Barlowe’s book Expedition, and rooted in real-life
exploratory endeavors scientists have designed the planet of Darwin 4 (which lies in a known
star system), the probes and the spacecraft, as well as the various life forms found there. The
mission is brought to vivid life via state-of-the-art computer animation and visual effects by
Meteor Studios, the creative team behind the Emmy?? Award-nominated When Dinosaurs
Roamed America.
Among the scientists and others who comment on the mission to Darwin 4 are Hawking;
Venter; Kaku; Jack Horner, paleontologist, Montana State University; and Star Wars filmmaker
George Lucas. The scientists and evolutionary biologists who developed the mission and its
possible results include Garvin; Victoria Meadows, research scientist, NASA/JPL Virtual Planet
Laboratory; Randy Pollock, space instrumentation system architect, Hamilton Sundstrand; Joan Horvath, executive director, Global Space League; James Kirkland, state paleontologist, Utah
Geological Survey; David Moriarty, professor, Biological Sciences Department, California State
Polytechnic University; and Curtis Clark, professor, Biological Sciences Department, California
State Polytechnic University.
ALIEN PLANET will also be simulcast in high definition on Discovery HD Theatre, the
first-ever Discovery Channel/Discovery HD Theatre simulcast.
The producer of ALIEN PLANET is John Copeland ( Babylon 5). Executive Producer for
Discovery Channel is Tomi Landis. Executive producers for Evergreen Films are Pierre de
Lespinois and Frances LoCascio. Animation and visual effects by Meteor Studios. The writers
are Peter Crabbe and Steve Eder. The program is an Evergreen Films/Discovery Channel coproduction.
Discovery Channel is the United States’ largest cable television network, serving 89.8
million households across the nation with the finest in informative entertainment. Discovery
Networks, U.S., a unit of Discovery Communications, Inc., operates and manages Discovery
Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, Discovery Health Channel, Discovery HD Theater,
Discovery Kids Channel, Discovery Times Channel, The Science Channel, Discovery Home
Channel, Military Channel, Discovery en Español and FitTV. The unit also distributes BBC
AMERICA.
“We think other worlds, perhaps other earths, if you will, exist. We know of hundreds of other
planetary systems right now, and that may be the tip of the iceberg.”
-- Jim Garvin, Chief Scientist, NASA
“It isn’t conceivable, really, that there would not be life. Is it intelligent? I don’t know. That’s
a whole other issue...”
-- George Lucas, Filmmaker
“We have to mentally prepare ourselves for this big shock -- perhaps even being dethroned
from the center of the universe, the biological universe -- when we discover evidence of life in
outer space. At that point, there'll be another Copernican revolution, a biological Copernican
revolution when we realize that we're not the only game in town.”
-- Michio Kaku
“Finding life beyond earth -- it really is just going to be a matter of persistence. We'll probably
have to send a lot of probes.”
-- Jack Horner, Paleontologist, Montana State University
