MegaStructures

MegaStructures
Format Documentary film
Narrated by Jonathan Hart, Tom Goodman-Hill, Greg Stebner, Marlon Singleton
Country of origin  United States
Language(s) English
No. of seasons 6
No. of episodes 100+
Production
Producer(s) Hoff Productions (16 eps)
Running time 1 hour (inc. commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel National Geographic Channel, Five, France 5, 7mate[1]
Original run 2004 – present
External links
Website

MegaStructures is a documentary television series appearing on the National Geographic Channel and Five in the United Kingdom, on France 5 in France and on 7mate in Australia.

Each episode is an educational look of varying depth into the construction, operation, and staffing of various structures or construction projects, but not ordinary construction products.

Generally containing interviews with designers and project managers, it presents the problems this involved the or products that are now in general use within the construction industry.

MegaStructures focuses on constructions that are extreme; in the sense that they are the biggest, tallest, longest, or deepest in the world. Alternatively, a project may appear if it had an element of novelty or are a world first (such as Dubai's Palm Islands). This type of project is known as a Megaproject.

The series follows similar subjects as the History Channel's Modern Marvels and Discovery Channel's Extreme Engineering; covering areas of architecture, transport, construction and manufacturing.

Contents

Episodes

Season 1 (2004)

# Title Subject Original Airdate
01 U.S.S. Ronald Reagan Nimitz class Supercarrier 2004-09-15
02 Autobahn German Autobahnen 2004-09-19
03 Channel Tunnel Undersea Tunnel between Coquelles, France and Folkestone, United Kingdom 2004-09-22
04 Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower) Tallest building in Chicago, Illinois and the United States. 2004-09-29
05 Kansai International Airport Japanese Osaka Island Airport 2004-10-13
06 Akashi Kaikyo Bridge World's Longest Suspension Bridge in Japan 2004-10-20
07 The World's Most Powerful Dam (Itaipu Dam) Dam on the Paraná River, border between Brazil and Paraguay 2004-10-27
08 Petronas Towers Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2004-11-10
09 Inside a Super Casino Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, Atlantic City, New Jersey 2004-12-01

Season 2 (2005)

# Title Subject Original Airdate
10 Golden Gate Bridge Bridge in San Francisco, California 2005-03-02
11 Alcatraz Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California 2005-03-16
12 Inside The Pentagon Headquarters of the United States Department of Defense in Arlington, Virginia 2005-04-01
13 World's Busiest Port Port of Singapore, Republic of Singapore 2005-05-13
14 Tau Tona, City of Gold World's deepest mining operations in Carletonville, South Africa 2005-05-21
15 Las Vegas Special Episode, Vegas, Nevada 2005-06-22
16 Black Gold (Oil Mine) Syncrude and Shell Canada in oil sands located in Alberta, Canada 2005-07-20
17 Diamond Diggers Ekati Diamond Mine, Canada's first diamond mine, located near "Lac De Gras 2005-07-27
18 Sea Launch Ocean Odyssey and Sea Launch Commander 2005-08-03
19 North Sea Wall Delta Works, Netherlands 2005-08-17
20 The World's Most Extreme Island (Impossible Islands)[2] Dubai's artificial palm islands, United Arab Emirates 2005-09-13
21 Indy Motor Speedway Speedway in Indiana 2005-09-13
22 Port of Rotterdam (Super Port) The largest port in Europe, Rotterdam, Netherlands 2005-09-20
23 Air Force Transport (Mega Plane) C-5 Galaxy 2005-09-20
24 North Branch Correctional Institution (Hi-Tech Prison) High Security Prison, Maryland 2005-09-27
25 Airbus A380 (World's Biggest Airliner) Biggest Jumbo Jet 2005-10-04
26 USS Virginia Virginia-class submarine 2005-10-11
27 Ultimate Casino Venetian Hotel Resort Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada 2005-10-18
28 The Ultimate Roller coaster Kingda Ka, Jackson Township, New Jersey 2005-10-25
29 Spy Fortress NORAD North American Aerospace Defence Command, Colorado 2005-10-25
30 Berlin Train Terminal (Berlin's Grand Central) Berlin Hauptbahnhof 2005-11-15
31 Boston's Big Dig Central Artery / Tunnel Project in Boston, Massachusetts 2005-11-22
32 Ultimate Oil Rigs Construction of new Oil Rigs 2005-12-06
33 Cosmodrome Baikonur Cosmodrome, Tyuratam, Kazakhstan 2005-12-13
34 World's Tallest Bridge (Millau Bridge) Viaduct near Millau, France 2005-12-20
35 Mega Ship Orient Overseas Container Line / OOCL Atlanta 2005-12-27

Season 3 (2006)

# Title Subject Original Airdate
36 Berlin Wall Wall dividing Germany during the Cold War 2006-03-14
37 Impossible Bridges: Greece Rio–Antirrio bridge, Gulf of Corinth, Greece 2006-05-02
38 Impossible Bridges: Denmark to Sweden Oresund Bridge, Copenhagen to Malmö 2006-04-18
39 Hoover Dam Colorado River, border between Nevada and Arizona 2006-05-16
40 Inside "NCIS" Naval Criminal Investigative Service 2006-05-30
41 Garbage Mountain Puente Hills Landfill, Whittier, California 2006-08-01
42 "Machines of War": Tanks History and Evolution of Tanks 2006-03-08
43 Supertanker Seri Amanah, a LNG carrier 2006-08-31
44 "Machines of War": Cruise Missile The History and Development of the Cruise Missile 2006-03-10
45 Science of Steel The World's metal construction material of choice 2006-03-11
46 "Megafactories": Apache Helicopter Boeing IDS plant in Mesa, Arizona 2006-09-28
47 "Machines of War": Guns The History and Evolution of the Gun 2006-03-13
48 Panama Canal Unlocked Panama Canal Expansion Project, Central America 2006-10-19
49 Science of Brick The World's oldest man-made building material 2006-03-15
50 Science of Concrete The World's most used building material 2006-03-16
51 "Megafactories": Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. factory in Maranello, Italy 2006-12-07

Season 4 (2007-2008)

# Title Subject Original Airdate
52 World's Tallest Hotel Burj al-Arab Hotel  ?
53 Ice Hotel Near Jukkasjärvi, Sweden  ?
54 World Island Wonder Palm Islands, Dubai, United Arab Emirates  ?
55 Super Pipeline Gas pipeline from Norway to Great Britain  ?
56 Hawaii Superferry  ?
57 Sinking an Aircraft Carrier Creating the world's largest artificial reef 2008-05-29
58 Bridge Breakdown Demolition of the (1927) Carquinez Bridge - San Francisco Bay Area 2007
59 747 Destruction Evergreen Air Center in Arizona, USA 2008
60 Beijing Water Cube Beijing National Aquatics Center 2008-05-13[3]
61 Shanghai Super Tower Shanghai World Financial Centre 2008-05-20[3]
62 China's Ultimate Port Yangshan Port 2008-05-27[3]
63 World's Biggest Casino World's biggest casino sited in Macau, Southern China  ?
64 Icelandic Super Dam The building of Europe's biggest dam  ?
65 Beijing Olympic Stadium  ?
66 Atom Smasher The Large Hadron Collider  ?
67 Impossible Bridges: China Lupu, Runyang, and Sutong bridges  ?
68 Ultimate Sub (Super Sub) USS Texas (Virginia class submarine)  ?
69 Man Made Sun  ?
70 SMART Tunnel SMART Tunnel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia  ?
71 Future Trains Maglev train in Germany  ?
72 Building the World The World (archipelago), Dubai  ?
73 Dubai's Dream Palace Burj al-Arab Hotel  ?
74 Train Wreck  ?
75 Building Green Beijing  ?

Season 5 (2008-2009)

# Title Subject Original Airdate
76 Dam Busters  ?
77 Miami Super Stadium Breaking Up Miami Super Stadium  ?
78 Grand Canyon Skywalk  ?
79 Soviet Doomsday Sub  ?
80 Train Wreck  ?
81 Electric Ocean  ?
82 Ultimate Chopper AgustaWestland EH101  ?
83 Icebreaker  ?
84 Super Sky Tram  ?
85 UK Super Train  ?
86 Skyscraper In The Round  ?

Season 6 (2011)

# Title Subject Original Airdate TV Rating
87 Singapore's Vegas[4][5] Building the Marina Bay Sands resort and casino in Singapore February 3, 2011 on 7mate[1] [HD] [WS]
88 World's Tallest TV Tower Building the world's tallest TV tower, the Guangzhou Sightseeing and TV Tower February 10, 2011 on 7mate[1] [HD] [WS]

Unknown Season

# Title Subject Original Airdate
89 South Pole Station A science facility at the South Pole 2007-11-06
90 The World's Biggest Cruise Liner The building of cruise liner Freedom of the Seas  ?
91 Future Bridge Follow the record-breaking effort to rebuild the Minneapolis I-35W bridge in only 17 months, with a focus on its unique engineering  ?
92 Money Factory U.S. Treasury 2004
93 Rockeaters of Iceland Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Project  ?
94 Deep Sea Drillers  ?
95 Deep Earth Drillers The world's largest geothermal power complex  ?
96 World Trade Center Bahrain World Trade Center (Manama) 2008
97 Bridge of Mostar 2004
98 The World's Biggest Shredder 2008
99 Queen Mary 2  ?
100 Skyscraper (Ultimate Skyscraper) Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park, NYC  ?
101 Earthquake Glasshouse Academy of Sciences, California, USA  ?
102 Time Bomb Tunnel  ?
103 China's Smart Tower  ?
104 Inside Grand Central 2005-12-18
105 Wave Energy 2010-05-27
106 The Leaning Tower of Abu Dhabi ?
Extreme Helicopter S-64 Skycrane

Spin-offs

Megastructures: Built From Disaster (2009)

  1. "Megastructures: Built From Disaster - Bridges" // Wednesday August 26 8-9pm on Five
  2. "Megastructures: Built From Disaster - Ships" // Thursday September 3 8-9pm on Five
  3. "Megastructures: Built From Disaster - Tunnels" // Thursday September 10 8-9pm on Five
  4. "Megastructures: Built From Disaster - Stadiums" // Thursday September 24 8-9pm on Five
  5. "Megastructures: Built From Disaster - Trains" // Thursday October 8 8-9pm on Five
  6. "Megastructures: Built From Disaster - Skyscrapers" // Thursday October 15 8-9pm on Five

Ancient Megastructures

  1. "Ancient Megastructures: Chartes" // Series 1
  2. "Ancient Megastructures: Colosseum" // Series 1
  3. "Ancient Megastructures: Pyramid" // Series 1
  4. "Ancient Megastructures: St Paul's Cathedral" // Series 2
  5. "Ancient Megastructures: Alhambra" // Series 2
  6. "Ancient Megastructures: Petra" // Series 2
  7. "Ancient Megastructures: Machu Picchu" // Series 2
  8. "Ancient Megastructures: Angkor Wat" // Series 2
  9. "Ancient Megastructures: Istanbul's Hagia Sophia" // Series 2

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c http://au.tv.yahoo.com/7-mate/article/-/article/8000552/about-the-channel/
  2. ^ Engpedia
  3. ^ a b c "National Geographic Channel International Commissions NZ company NHNZ for Megastructures China Special". Throng. May 5, 2008. http://www.throng.co.nz/special/national-geographic-channel-international-commissions-nz-company-nhnz-for-megastructures-china-special. Retrieved 26 February 2011. 
  4. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1741383/
  5. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1741383/combined

External links