Inspired by his late mentor, Will Smith embarks on a 100-day, pole-to-pole odyssey that pushes him far beyond his comfort zone. Traveling alongside scientists, explorers, and local experts, he climbs remote mountains, dives beneath polar ice, and confronts the raw power of nature. The journey blends adrenaline and curiosity, revealing how extreme environments shape life—and how facing the planet’s edges can reshape us, too. In the first two episodes, the adventure begins with sweeping ambition and immediate immersion. Smith sets out on the global route with National Geographic, then plunges into the Amazon rainforest, tracking dangerous wildlife and learning from those who know the jungle best. It’s a vivid opening that sets the tone for a quest defined by discovery, risk, and awe at the natural world.
From the first flicker of life billions of years ago to the extraordinary diversity of animals alive today, Chris Packham embarks on an epic journey through evolution. Combining cutting-edge science, spectacular wildlife and vivid reconstructions of long-vanished creatures, he reveals how countless generations of innovation, adaptation and chance transformed simple cells into bodies capable of movement, reproduction, flight, intelligence and astonishing complexity. Along the way, familiar animals become gateways into some of the greatest mysteries in the history of life. In the first two episodes, Packham traces two remarkable evolutionary stories. In Kenya, he asks how a microscopic cell could ultimately give rise to the enormous, intelligent and highly social elephant, uncovering the crucial breakthroughs that made complex bodies, lungs, limbs and giant size possible. Then, in South Africa, the ostrich and its extraordinary egg open the door to the evolution of reproduction itself: From the origins of sex to the appearance of eggs, feathers and flight. Together, these episodes reveal that some of nature’s most spectacular creatures are the result of billions of years of unlikely experiments, lucky accidents and relentless adaptation.
In the first two episodes, the adventure begins with sweeping ambition and immediate immersion. Smith sets out on the global route with National Geographic, then plunges into the Amazon rainforest, tracking dangerous wildlife and learning from those who know the jungle best. It’s a vivid opening that sets the tone for a quest defined by discovery, risk, and awe at the natural world.