The BEST episodes of Discovery Channel Documentaries season 2009

#1 - Planes That Never Flew: The Atomic Bomber

Season 2009 - Episode 49 - Aired 5/23/2009

An account of world-beating aircraft projects that were scrapped before their time. Each aircraft is recreated and shown using computer graphics. Includes archive footage and interviews. In the grip of a rapidly escalating Cold War America poured billions into developing a giant nuclear powered bomber, a plane so fantastic that it could stay aloft for months at a time. The Convair WS 125 was the ultimate doomsday machine... Recently declassified Russian Cold War era documents disclose they actually flew a prototype Atomic engined bomber.

#2 - End of Extinction: Cloning the Tasmanian Tiger

Season 2009 - Episode 47 - Aired 10/11/2009

Hidden away in a Sydney vault is a young, pickled pup. For almost 140 years, it's remained locked in its glassy tomb. But this is no ordinary pup. In fact, it's not a pup at all. It's a fetus of an animal more closely related to an Australian kangaroo. It was a marsupial which looked like a dog had stripes like a tiger, yet carried its young in a pouch. How the Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, came to be extinct is a tragedy, and how it might live again is the pursuit of a scientific miracle. Is it possible or wishful thinking? Herein find the story of one man's obsession and his quest to reverse extinction.

#3 - America's Lost Submarine

Season 2009 - Episode 18 - Aired 1/1/2009

A vacation along Panama's Pearl Islands led Archaeologist James Delgado to an astounding discovery, the world's first working submarine, rusting on a remote beach, forgotten for over 135 years. We follow Delgado as he uncovers the mystery surrounding this maritime treasure. How did the vessel work, what killed its inventor and crew, and why did it end up here in this deserted archipelago? We also trace the amazing life of emigrated German engineer Julius Kroehl and how he invented a diving craft that was half a century ahead of its time.

#4 - Deadly Waters

Season 2009 - Episode 17 - Aired 8/3/2009

SURVIVORMAN's Les Stroud is back for more shark action, this time venturing to five of the most notorious shark-infested waters in the world to find out which is the most dangerous.

#5 - Somali Pirate Takedown - The Real Story

Season 2009 - Episode 56 - Aired 6/21/2009

The real story behind the Somali Pirate capture of the Maersk Alabama - and the kill shots that saved the life of Captain Richard Phillips.

#6 - Prehistoric New York

Season 2009 - Episode 19 - Aired 6/28/2009

200 million years PREHISTORIC NEW YORK was a region that was a semi-tropical landscape rattled by earthquakes and scarred by lava flows. It was home to a bizarre array of amphibians and reptiles, including the dinosaur Coelophysis, a meat-eating, ostrich-like creature. Mastodons roamed the streets of what is now Manhattan. Scientists believe the honey locust trees that now line Fifth Avenue near Rockefeller Center evolved their thorns to protect them from munching by these mastodons.

#7 - The Sun

Season 2009 - Episode 20 - Aired 8/9/2009

Explore the mystery of our sun, the best known star in our solar system, using the latest technology and advances in astronomy.

#8 - Two Weeks in Hell

Season 2009 - Episode 21 - Aired 12/20/2009

You are given a pass into the intense training and testing that determines who will be allowed to become a Green Beret candidate. Over two weeks, the most insane, mind-twisting games are played, and physical limits are stretched beyond imagination to enable the watchers to select the right individuals. During the Green Beret DVD Two Weeks in Hell, you will see some of the most intelligent and creative individuals alive, and witness brutality of training like you have never before seen.

#9 - The Loch Ness Monster Revealed

Season 2009 - Episode 22 - Aired 4/20/2009

Is the Loch Ness Monster a gigantic flesh-eating reptile that survived the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago? Or is it a giant squid or sturgeon? Or is this a creature not yet seen or understood in maritime history? Philippe Cousteau leads a team of eminent scientists on a mission to unravel the mystery that has captured the imagination for centuries. If this is a pre-historic creature or a more closely related species than we have yet seen, how did it get there, what does it look like and how does it survive. Philippe Cousteau dives into the murky depths of one of the places of greatest natural beauty on earth, in his bid to find the creature that may lurk there. This programme explores the truth behind the legendary creature who may or may not exist in Scotland's Loch Ness. Philippe Cousteau Jr. dives into the murky depths to examine the evidence, with a team of eminent scientists.

#10 - Inside The FBI

Season 2009 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/18/2009

Following the FBI in San Diego, CA as they investigate a suspected pedophile case and mass murders perpetrated by a drug cartel.

#11 - DaVinci: Unlocking the Genius

Season 2009 - Episode 54 - Aired 5/4/2009

Leonardo da Vinci was the original Renaissance man. He’s best known for having painted the Mona Lisa but he was also an engineer, a musician, a military weapons designer, a futurist and an unparalleled inventor. With remarkable foresight, da Vinci’s accomplishments came before Newton’s theory of gravity, Darwin’s The Origin of Species – and even before the world was known to be round.

#12 - Under New York

Season 2009 - Episode 24 - Aired 4/9/2009

journey through the New York water system, from high above the upstate New York watershed through the underground infrastructure to its final destination at an apartment tap in New York City. Along the way, intrepid hosts John Rosiello and Christine McKinley jump from a plane, bike down the steep slopes of the Catskill Mountains, kayak down the raging creeks that feed into the reservoir system, go deep underground to unearth the hidden workings of the intricate dam systems, explore abandoned aqueducts and scramble dozens of stories above the city streets atop a New York apartment building. Given unprecedented access by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Under New York goes underground with a crew digging an immense filtration plant deep in the earth and rappels down the face of a 240-foot dam with members of the specially trained DEP police team. The hosts join water crews on the streets of New York trying to trace buried water leaks and climb to the top of an apartment building where local guys are still doing things the old fashioned way when it comes to building a wooden water tower. Under New York celebrates engineering and ingenuity - and the people who make it all work and keep the water flowing. Under New York explores one of the greatest water systems of the world and takes viewers to places few have ever seen or can hope to see. Produced by Optomen Productions for Discovery, Under New York is an adventurous exploration of an engineering marvel.

#13 - Inside Planet Earth

Season 2009 - Episode 26 - Aired 6/7/2009

It’s the ultimate voyage our world has to offer: a journey from the temperate surface of our world to the fiery core of the Earth. With the aid of stunning visual effects, the unexplored interior of the Earth is split wide open, giving us an unbelievable view. From glowing seams of pure iron ore to sparkling diamond caverns to the magnetic field that keeps us safe from the lethal radiation of space… for now, this is the fantastical world we live in — and never see. From the heights of Mount Everest to the molten lava fields of Hawaii to the very core of our planet, the geologic forces that have changed the planet’s face over the past 4.6 billion years are revealed. With state-of-the-art effects and the latest scientific information, this is the story of striking meteorites, gigantic eruptions, the movement of continents and other geologic events that have shaped our amazing Earth.

#14 - Who Was Jesus? Part 1

Season 2009 - Episode 31 - Aired 4/5/2009

Childhood (5 Apr. 2009) tt1904765

#15 - Who Was Jesus? Part 2

Season 2009 - Episode 32 - Aired 4/5/2009

The Mission tt1904766

#16 - Who Was Jesus? Part 3

Season 2009 - Episode 33 - Aired 4/5/2009

The Last Days (5 Apr. 2009) tt1904767

#17 - The Last Beekeeper

Season 2009 - Episode 34 - Aired 8/26/2009

Bees are vanishing. In 1950, there were 500,000 beekeepers in the U.S. Today there are less than 1,600. Examining the enormity of this loss, Jeremy Simmons' documentary The Last Beekeeper follows the lives of three commercial beekeepers (from South carolina, Montana, and Washington) over the course of a year as they struggle with Colony Collapse Disorder. When they take their bees to California's enormous annual almond pollination (an event so large it requires nearly all the bees in the US), it becomes painfully and poignantly clear the bind they are in. "If all the bees die, what do you have to live for?" asks one of the beekeepers. It's a question for all of us. The cause of Colony Collapse Disorder remains unknown and if honeybees continue to decline at the same rate, they will cease to exist in the U.S. by 2035. Jeremy Simmons' buzz-worthy documentary The Last Beekeeper, a World of Wonder film produced by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato. Emmy Award winner for "Outstanding Nature Programming" 2010.

#18 - Hudson Plane Crash - What Really Happened

Season 2009 - Episode 36 - Aired 3/4/2009

Inside story of Flight 1549. How does a plane lose both engines over a city, and crash lands without a single death? New footage and exclusive interviews with crew, survivors, and rescuers tell the amazing story of survival.

#19 - Jack the Ripper - Killer Revealed

Season 2009 - Episode 37 - Aired 10/11/2009

The identity of Jack the Ripper has remained an unsolved mystery for over a century. Now historian Mei Trow presents a new theory on the unparalleled reign of terror in which at least five women were killed in London’s East End in 1888. Based on two years of exhaustive research, and using modern psychological and geographical profiling techniques, Trow identifies Robert Mann, a Whitechapel mortuary assistant, as the Ripper. Mann was mentioned during the original investigation but has never been put forward as a possible suspect – until now. As Trow pieces together the evidence linking Mann with the Ripper murders, he also makes the case for two additional Ripper victims.

#20 - Did the Mob Kill JFK?

Season 2009 - Episode 40 - Aired 11/22/2009

“Did the Mob Kill JFK?” relies primarily on the testimony of author Lamar Waldron and a jailhouse informant who claims that mobster Carlos Marcello boasted that organized crime had orchestrated President Kennedy’s murder. The reason: Because the CIA had been working with the mob to try and assassinate Fidel Castro, with the mob participating in the hopes of getting their casinos in Cuba reopened.

#21 - The Ends of the Universe: Hubble's Final Chapter

Season 2009 - Episode 41 - Aired 5/11/2009

A final mission to Hubble attempts to repair the massive telescope.

#22 - Crown of thorns: Starfish monster from the shallows

Season 2009 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/1/2005

#23 - Stephen Hawking and the Theory of Everything (1)

Season 2009 - Episode 43 - Aired 4/6/2009

The legendary physicist’s search for the secrets of the universe How did the universe come into being? Why are we here? And where are we headed? Stephen Hawking--one of the world’s most famous physicists and author of the international bestseller A Brief History of Time--wants to answer those questions. Trying to unify Einstein’s theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, he seeks a single explanation for the entire universe. But he’s racing against time, trapped in a relentlessly deteriorating body ravaged by Lou Gehrig’s disease. Join Hawking and other renowned thinkers as they explore the revolutionary new ideas that have evolved since the publication of his blockbuster book. Besides interviews, this stimulating documentary uses computer graphics and simple, easy-to-understand demonstrations to explain complex concepts. Topics include black holes, string theory, supersymmetry, dimensions beyond our perception, and the mysterious M force--all potential keys to unlocking the elusive "theory of everything" that seems so tantalizingly close.

#24 - Hudson Plane Crash – What Really Happened?

Season 2009 - Episode 42 - Aired 3/4/2009

Inside story of Flight 1549. How does a plane lose both engines over a city, and crash lands without a single death? New footage and exclusive interviews with crew, survivors, and rescuers tell the amazing story of survival.

#25 - The Bodymachine

Season 2009 - Episode 44 - Aired 6/21/2009

The Body Machine is a landmark special on the human body that shows us just how much, how many, how large, how strong, how fast - just how amazing the body really is. Utilizing impressive large-scale real-life stunts, CGI and strong character stories, the show makes the staggering scale of the inner workings of the body tangible. We will show you how far our blood travels in just one day - an astounding 19, 000 km - from Quebec City to Buenos Aires and back. You will see all the cranial fluid you produce in your lifetime laid out in front of you - all 26,280 pint glasses worth. And in just one day you will take 23,000 breaths - enough air to fill 7,714 helium balloons. You will see all this and much more.