What will they look like? When are they coming? And – perhaps the most important question – how will we know? An all-new co-production between Handel Productions (Montreal) and Arrow Media (U.K.), Discovery presents ALIENS: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE, a cheeky two-hour special premiering Sunday, June 2 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Tapping the brightest minds on this planet, the original special is an “Encyclopedia Galactica” of non-Earth life forms that explores the quintessential questions that scientists are grappling with right now: Where do aliens call home? Could “The Blob” really be alive? Do aliens use warp drive? And will they be friend or foe? ALIENS: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE kicks off Discovery’s “Aliens Week” which continues with an encore presentation of the series ALIEN MYSTERIES, airing Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.Written with signature style and wit by Julian Jones (HOW WILLIAM SHATNER CHANGED THE WORLD, THE GREAT SPERM RACE), and directed by Mike Davis (MARCH OF THE DINOSAURS, DARK MATTERS), ALIENS: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE delves into the fascinating world between the science fiction imaginings of STAR TREK and DR. WHO, and the real-life work of renowned physicists, astrobiologists, astronomers, and leading institutions including NASA and SETI (Search or Extra Terrestrial Intelligence Institute) – and these worlds of fact and fiction are closer than ever before! With spectacular CGI and visual effects by Mokko Studio (Montreal), ALIENS: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE imagines visions of alien encounters that are shockingly realistic.
In this galaxy alone, there’s an estimated 60 billion planets that could sustain alien life. But is E.T. most likely to resemble a fish? A bird? Or a blob? Would we even recognize it as an alien if it didn’t look like the “little green men” of popular culture? How will they get here? How long would it take, and how would these beings survive a trip of hundreds of centuries? And would they get lost along the way, turning left at Saturn instead of right? On contact, how would we communicate? Perhaps these other-worldly beings have created great civilizations – far surpassing anything found on Earth – and they are way more advanced than us, like the Vulcans. Will aliens be smart like Spock?
Be it to fight invaders or befriend curious extra-terrestrial visitors, scientists are preparing Earth for first contact with alien life. ALIENS: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDEexplores where aliens might live, what they could look like, how intelligent they are, and how they can do the seemingly impossible: travel across time and space. The world’s brainiest planet hunters scour the universe in search of alien home worlds; astrobiologists unlock the secrets of alien evolution; NASA’s top technicians explore the inky infinity of space to imagine the next generation spacecraft – even warp drives – to suggest the technologies super-advanced aliens will use to get here; and experts advise on how to greet an alien and what to do when they get here. Let’s hope – for the sake of mankind – that they ultimately come in peace.
An original Canada/U.K. coproduction, ALIENS: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE was produced for Discovery Canada and Science Channel (U.S.). Alan Handel (Handel Productions) and Tom Brisley (Arrow Media) were the Executive Producers on the project; Bruce Glawson was the Production Executive for Discovery Canada.
