SPACE - ARE WE ALONE - 2001

Actor Sam Neill takes viewers on an awe-inspiring journey around our galaxy and beyond. The documentary series uses modern computer graphics to make the Universe and its stars come to life - from vast clouds where new stars are born, to planet-guzzling monsters such as black holes. The beauty and sheer power of the cosmos is unleashed on screen using astonishing images from telescopes around the world and in space itself. The episode SPACE - ARE WE ALONE looks at the possibility of extraterrestrial life and visits SETI, a scientific project that for the past 40 years has been searching for information beamed from intelligent life in other solar systems. SPACE - STAYING ALIVE shows just how dangerous the Universe continues to be. Life on Earth has been nearly eradicated on twenty occasions by massive asteroids, most dramatically causing the extinction of dinosaurs. Another cataclysm is due any time now. Even if we avoid destruction by asteroids, we face eventual meltdown, as our Sun is getting progressively hotter.