Discovery Alien Planet

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severian

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Not entirely sure if this is the correct place to post this thread, but I couldn't find an existing one, and it seemed like the best place for it.<br /><br />I'm guessing many of you have seen the adverts for Discovery's new program, Alien Planet, on the space.com website. If you haven't, check it out - it looks awesome.<br /><br />What I mean to ask, is does anyone know when or how someone from outside the US watch this? Is it going to be re-broadcast at all? I spent a while looking to no avail, but maybe someone else knows more.<br /><br />Also, discuss opinions of the program! :p
 
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jurgens

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you might be able to purchase the DVDs after it aires, or get someone in the states to make you a copy of the program.
 
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odysseus145

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I would imagine that if you get the Discovery Channel than you shouldn't have any problems seeing it. It comes on May 14 at 8:00 PM EDT.<br /><br />Future Airings:<br />May 14 09:00pm<br />May 14 11:00pm<br />May 19 08:00pm<br />May 19 11:00pm <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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5stone10

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thx - I'm putting these times in my Outlook calender now !
 
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najab

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Not necessarily, there are several <b><i>*very*</i></b> different Discovery Channel's out there.
 
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toymaker

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There is already a thread on this on SF.<br />Anyway In my opinion it was very good till the point when they included intelligent race/although primitive/ on the planet.This was uneccessery.
 
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centsworth_II

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I enjoyed the animation but eventually got tired of it. I have a couple of complaints. <br /><br />First, we have two little rovers on Mars, each with nine eyes. The advanced probe in "Alien Planet"<br />relied primarily on two eyes in a humanoid "head". It carried supplementary probes with other eyes and had radar but huge creatures were continually sneaking up and surprising it with no problem. I would have preferred a little more realism to the Hollywood scare factor.<br /><br />Also, As impressive as the alien creatures were, I found their design basically lacking in imagination. They were essentially dinasaurs. Perhaps it was done using existing dinasaur animation programs and just putting new skins on. That's what it looks like. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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tuckerfan

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The CGI work is nice, and the interviews with the scientists are nice, but I guess I'm too much of a space geek to find a lot of credible. (Surprise!)<br /><br />The first problem I have is with the probes themselves. They enter the planet's atmosphere using craft which look like variations of the space shuttle. Uh, yeah. You send a probe 6 lightyears from Earth and you use something as bulky as the space shuttle to deliver it to the surface. I don't think so. Then, when the actual probes are deployed (there's 3 shuttles, 2 survive, each one contains 1 probe), most of the shuttle is simply discarded. Seems to me that it'd make more sense to have those do something if you were actually going to use them. That way if the mobile probes end up getting clobbered by something on the planet, you've still got something there, returning data. I mean, it did take 42 years (according to the program) for the probes to get there, so you'd want to maximize your return. IMHO, a whole bunch of tiny little probes are going to be better than a couple of big probes. There's an orbiting mothership/relay station around the planet, which is what brought the probes there, and when one of the probes goes AWOL, the narrator seems to indicate that it's impossible for the mothership to find it, because of how small the probe is. Again, I don't think so. Given that the program takes place X number of years in the future (plus another 42 years for the probes to get where they're going), image resolution capabilities are going to be advanced enough for the mothership to spot the probe easy. I mean, for Og's sake we've apparently managed to find the Mars Polar Lander that got lost, and we haven't even managed to send anything to another solar system yet. Are we supposed to believe that we've figured out how to create sophisticated AI systems, travel at 20% of the speed of light, and other such wonders, but have lost the ability to make a decent camera?<br /><br />The next problem I have is with some
 
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5stone10

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<font color="yellow">I have a couple of complaints</font><br /><br /><br />First and foremost - Why do these shows insist on rolling out Michio Kaku every time ?<br /><br />That puts an instant downer on the proceedings.
 
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ehs40

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i thought it was a good show but i want to see the real thing. i didnt like all the guessing and what if's but it was still good
 
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cyrostir

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i saw the preview for that - imho - it looks really goofy - at least the "animals"/"aliens" do<br />
 
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lunatio_gordin

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? you mean you guys haven't seen it yet? The probes were cool, at least. NG's extraterrestrial was probably more accurate, but they kept replaying the same graphics over and over again. how many times can we watch the mud thing be eaten?
 
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dragon04

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They were very careful to make alien biology starkly different from terrestrial biology. And I understand the logic.<br /><br />But if you take 10 Earthlike planets, I'm guessing the places wouldn't look so unfamiliar. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>
 
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kdavis007

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I prefer the NG extraterrestrial show over the Discovery channel one. You are right about them playing the same graphic over and over and over again...
 
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nexium

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Michoi Kaku is one of our brightest and best. He is willing to impartially field questions outside the box and his explanations are understandable to viewers of modest science talent. He enuciates well. Likely he is available on short notice at low cost. Who would you suggest? Neil
 
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dragon04

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Michio Kaku is to today's popularization of science what Carl Sagan was to the same in the 70's and 80's.<br /><br />I only wish he got more TV time. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>
 
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djscan

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I am surprised they are showing more than once. I was unable to stay up to watch the special they had on Temple 1. And they only showcased that once, I really wanted to watch it too...<br /><br /><br /><br />Sean
 
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alokmohan

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Alien planet is extrasolar planet.?Do you mean it?<br />
 
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