Channel Hop
Man has been captivated by the possibility of life on other planets for what seems like an eternity. From the moment Neil Armstrong took 'one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind', our universe - and all that it presented, either real or imagined - began to open up.
While big-budget movies and TV shows usually portray aliens as weird-looking little green men intent on destroying our world - except E.T., of course - proof of life in outer space has been elusive for scientists.
Our perceptions are set to change with the brilliant Alien Planet (premiering today on Ultimate Discovery at 9pm). A futuristic boy's own adventure based on the book Expedition by Wayne Barlowe, it takes us on a virtual journey with leading scientists to a fictional world called Darwin IV. The planet is 6.5 light years away (that's 61.5 trillion kilometres), has two suns and only 60 per
cent of the Earth's gravity. As the story unfolds, we learn that scientists have identified Darwin IV as a planet capable of supporting life, and they send an unmanned pilot mission, dubbed Von Braun, to investigate possible life forms. Although Balboa, one of its three probes, is destroyed as it enters Darwin IV's atmosphere, da Vinci (nicknamed Leo) and Newton (aka Ike) end up in the middle of a fantastical, extra-terrestrial Serengeti.
We see Darwin IV through the 'eyes' of Leo and Ike, which relay data back to Earth. Because it takes 6.5 years for their information to reach scientists, the robots have been programmed to think for themselves. Throughout their journey and after each new discovery of life, the programme cuts back to the experts, which include physicist Stephen W. Hawking, Star Wars director George Lucas, scientists James Garvin and Michio Kako and palaeontologist James Kirkland, who discuss the possibilities of life outside our solar system and deconstruct the animals found on Darwin IV.
The computer graphics, by Meteor Studios (When Dinosaurs Roamed), are out of this world and bring to
life the most amazing cast of animals: five-storey-tall Grovebacks, falcon-like predators called Skewers,
two-legged Gyro Sprinters, the scavenging Jet Darters, lethal Daggerwrists, wolf-like Prong Heads and gigantic Sea Striders.
Channel Hop won't ruin the ending, suffice to say that Alien Planet closes with a surprising, but brilliant, twist.
From outer space, we return to Earth for a foray of a different sort: Invasion Iowa (Thursday on Star World at 8pm) - probably one of the weirdest concepts on TV at
the moment.
Riverside, Iowa, has a population of 928 and is the
self-proclaimed future birthplace of Captain James T.
Kirk of Star Trek fame. William Shatner (who played Kirk) arrives in town with a gaggle of weird Hollywood types
for a sci-fi adventure of a different kind. He's making a movie and wants the residents of Riverside to star in it. What they don't know is that Shatner is actually making a reality TV series.
This week, we find Shatner up to his usual tricks, from wanting to smash one of the church's stained-glass windows for the movie to a hilarious scene with Donald L. Jeff Coon Tarbucket Rath ('just call me Don'), an elderly local who earnestly informs Shatner that he 'carries a raccoon penis in [his] pocket for good luck'.
'You what?' Shatner responds before asking to be 'flashed with some good luck'. As Don starts hitting the Hollywood star on the forehead with what looks like an anaemic sausage, Shatner chants: 'Go man, give me some more. Beat me with that penis.'
Lucky for Shatner, the good folks of Riverside don't know what he's up to - yet.
