Modern Marvels

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Modern Marvels
The Modern Marvels introductory title through 2007.
Genre	Documentary
Created by	Bruce Nash
Narrated by	Max Raphael (current) Harlan Saperstein Will Lyman Greg Stebner Bill Ratner
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	14
No. of episodes	508 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Don Cambou
Running time	44 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	History
Original run	January 1, 1995 – Present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Modern Marvels is a documentary television series on The History Channel that answers the question of how many things in the modern world are possible and where they came from.

Premiering on January 1, 1995, Modern Marvels has produced over 500 episodes of scientific, technological, and mechanical topics varying from bullet trains to demolitions to the St. Lawrence Seaway to rats to Apollo 11. Part of the appeal of Modern Marvels and what has probably kept the show on the air for this long is the fact that it covers a wide range of subjects. Unlike other science and technology shows, Modern Marvels focuses a significant portion of the episode on the history of the subject.

Occasionally, a special sub-series of the show airs called "Engineering Disasters." These periodic episodes describe the circumstances of situations in which technology doesn't work correctly, resulting in magnificent blunders (and sometimes the loss of life). Including "Engineering Disasters: New Orleans" there have been 22 original "Engineering Disaster" episodes of Modern Marvels.

Modern Marvels is distinctive not only for the content of its installments but for its introduction: the sounds and visuals of a bolt being turned by a wrench, followed by a computer-generated sequence involving construction workers building and hanging the title.

There have been a few narrators in the history of the series. The most current and longest running is Max Raphael, whose style is factual and straightforward. Raphael has also narrated other History Channel series such as Command Decisions.

The History Channel has repackaged some episodes that originally aired in other series and stand-alone specials into episodes of Modern Marvels, such as "Ice Road Truckers" which originally aired in 2000 as part of the Suicide Missions series. These episodes are not narrated by Raphael.

Bruce Nash is credited with creating the series. Don Cambou has acted as executive producer on over 350 episodes for Actuality Productions, the production company behind the series.