Documentary AreaSimply the best Documentaries

A visually stunning journey to the end of the world with the hardy and devoted people who live there year-round. The research stations scattered throughout the continent host a close-knit international population of scientists, technicians and craftsmen. Isolated from the rest of the world, enduring months of unending darkness followed by periods when the sun never sets, Antarctic residents experience firsthand the beauty and brutality of the most severe environment on Earth. Capturing epic battles against hellacious storms, quiet reveries of nature's grandeur, and everyday moments of work and laughter, this unique documentary shows a steadfast community thriving in a land few humans have experienced. Using specially modified cameras and spectacular time-lapse photography, filmmaker Anthony Powell captures the splendor of the region like no film before. ANTARCTICA: A YEAR ON ICE gives testament to the planet's natural wonders, humanity's thirst for adventure, and the emotional extremes that accompany a year within the last pristine wilderness on the planet.

At 4.6 billion years old, the Solar System is our solid, secure home in the Universe. But how did it come to be? In this episode we trace the system's birth from a thin cloud of dust and gas. Shocked by a nearby supernova, the pull of gravity and natural rotation spun it into a flat disc from which the Sun and planets coalesced. It all happened in the space of 700 million years, during which the planets jockeyed for position, dodging the Late Heavy Bombardment of deadly asteroids and setting into the neat, stable system that we now realize might be a rarity in the universe.

Head beyond the Asteroid Belt for an out of this world experience. Welcome to Jupiter, home of high adrenaline adventure. Plunge into its mysterious depths. When you drop through the clouds it would get darker and hotter. At the center the temperatures are hotter than the surface of the sun and the pressures are unimaginably high.

Scientists investigate the way the Sun builds its power -- through fusion -- hoping to find a way to use fusion as a less dangerous and less radioactive waste-producing path to energy than fission. But there are some major difficulties along the way. Fusion really is the perfect way to make energy. We have millions of years worth of fuel. It produces no long-lived radioactive waste. If we can solve the engineering challenges, energy will become cheaper, more available for everybody.

Commander Stephen Hawking takes another journey in his space ship, the SS Hawking, this time to Venus, the Sun and out to the Eagle Nebula...but things don't always go according to the flight plan...

The sun gives us warmth and light. It is the fuel of life. Without the energy of the sun almost nothing grows, thrives or lives. But the sun was not put there for our benefit. It is not this big jolly ball of nice smiling down on us, wishing us all a good day. It is not our friend. The sun is a monster. A planet killer. And we don't see that side of the sun down here.
But eight astronauts, with over 1,000 days in space between them, can show us how being up there helped them understand the suns bright fury.