Season 1 poster
5 episodes

Voyage of the Continents - Season 1

First aired Jun 4, 2012Season 1

Browse all 5 episodes in this season, including available images, air dates, runtimes, ratings and episode summaries from TMDB.

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Reviews

Community reviews for Voyage of the Continents, shown here with its season details.

P

Pete

I have never really delved that much into geology, but when I was in muddle school, I remember looking at a map of the world and noticed something odd: when looking at all of the land masses it appeared to me that, like a jigsaw puzzle, some of the pieces looked like they, at least in at one point in time, fit together. I remember mentioning it to my teacher only to be told "You would think, huh." I never asked again but it stayed with me all these years. Imagine my curiosity when I happened upon this series while looking for some kind of documentary to watch. I figured I'd watch the first episode to see if I liked it to determine if it was for me or not. Though the order of episodes in that service was different from the order listed here, halfway through "The Origins of Africa" the light went on. By the end of the episode I realized this was the answer I had always had in the back of my mind since I was a kid. Using a mix of live narration, science, and animation, this limited series did an excellent job explaining the voyage the different land masses travelled to eventually form the continents we see today. Not being used to some of the terminology they used, some things I had to look up to verify but thise were far and few between. All of the scientists, narrators, and geologists explain things in an easy to understand manner without the incessant practice of constantly repeating themselves. Probably most effective was the "on location" aspect to each chapter in an episode so, in a sense, the world is the classroom. In all, we found this series to be fascinating, interesting, informative, and fulfilling. We enjoyed so much we've watched it a few times, and with each viewing we continue to learn. This is one series I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anyone once they learn the basics.

Episodes

Asia: The Tectonics of Life and Death still

Episode 1

Asia: The Tectonics of Life and Death

NR
Jun 4, 201243 min

Asia was involved in two of the greatest mass extinctions on earth. 251 million years ago the Siberian traps erupted in a massive two million year long volcanic eruption. Scientist speculate that life on land may have survived this cataclysm only because and large island, now south China, drifted apart from Gandwana. More recently India passed over a hot spot opening up the Deccan traps, another major eruption that occurred the same time the dinosaurs went extinct.

Asia: Rising Mountains and Sinking Countries still

Episode 2

Asia: Rising Mountains and Sinking Countries

NR
Jun 5, 201243 min

Scientists examine geological formations of Asia to understand their impact on the people living there. The collision of India with Asia is squeezing the Tibetan Plateau between two mountain ranges and pushing China to the east creating faults leading to severe earthquakes that have cost many lives in Tibet and Sichuan Province. After breaking off from Asia Japan now sits at the collision point of three tectonic plates making it prone to volcanoes, powerful earthquakes and tsunamis. And Indonesia has a large collection of volcanoes.

Oceania: Tectonic Ring of Fire still

Episode 3

Oceania: Tectonic Ring of Fire

NR
Jun 6, 201243 min

Australia is the most stable continent on earth. That makes it an ideal location for scientists to study the early earth with 4.4 billion year old zircons and 2.6 billion year old stromatolites and thrombolites that created our oxygen atmosphere. But now the Australian Tectonic Plate is colliding with the Pacific Plate joining the ring of fire. In the north the collision created the Vanuatu Archipelago of 80 volcanic islands. In the east the collision is raising New Zealnd causing some 14,000 earthquakes each year.

Europe - Tropical Beginnings still

Episode 4

Europe - Tropical Beginnings

NR
Jun 7, 201243 min

Europe is a continent of mountain ranges. Multiple collisions with other tectonic plates created multiple mountain ranges covering much of this relatively small continent, Some are so large they extend to other continents. One range, the Alps, is still being created by the collision with the African Techtonic Plate. The rest, due to erosion, are past their prime and one has almost completed eroded away.

Europe - A Turbulent Future still

Episode 5

Europe - A Turbulent Future

NR
Jun 8, 201243 min

Africa's on again off again dance with Europe causes dramatic changes in the Medeterranean region and ongoing dangers from earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. In the not so distant past the sea was cut off from Earths oceans causing it to evaporate before being refilled when the Strait of Gibraltar reopened.