The BEST episodes of Modern Marvels season 3
Every episode of Modern Marvels season 3, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Modern Marvels season 3!
Celebrating ingenuity, invention and imagination brought to life on a grand scale, MODERN MARVELS tells the fascinating stories of the doers, dreamers and sometime-schemers who created everyday items, technological breakthroughs and man-made wonders.
#1 - Oil
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/9/1995
From the first well in Pennsylvania to the gushing Spindletop and modern supertankers, the story of oil is the story of civilization as we know it. We'll take a look at the ingenious and outrageous men who risked everything for "black gold" and unimaginable wealth.
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#2 - New York Subways
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 1/6/1999
New York subway system's riders, workers and street performers make it a microcosm of city life.
#3 - Tennessee Valley Authority
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 9/2/1996
During the depths of the Great Depression, it was FDR's greatest triumph: A massive public works project that took a 40,000 square mile, disaster-prone river basin, and turned it into a model of industrial progress.
#4 - The Railroads That Tamed the West
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 2/4/1996
The year was 1869 and America had just completed the greatest building achievement in its history--the Transcontinental Railroad. A thin ribbon of steel and wood now connected East and West. But the fledgling country now faced an even greater challenge--how to harness the awesome potential of the railroad to tame the still wide-open and wild West.
#5 - Paving America
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/29/1995
The story of the construction of our grand national highway system.
#6 - The Brooklyn Bridge
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/1/1995
The Brooklyn Bridge was not only a landmark, but also the first bridge of its kind. No one had ever used steel for construction, nor used cables of metal, nor built a suspension bridge so long. Until one man dared to try. In 19th-century New York, where buildings were no more than five stories tall, engineer John Roebling’s soaring and majestic Brooklyn Bridge was nothing short of a technological miracle. But Roebling's innovation led to an uphill battle against the elements, corrupt politicians, and scientists who claimed the first strong wind would collapse the bridge to rubble.
#7 - Tunnels
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/8/1995
There is no more potent demonstration of man’s resolve than the design and construction of tunnels–avenues that slice through a conspiracy of elements in the single-minded determination to connect two points. Whether underwater, blasted through solid rock, or negotiating the shifting strata of earth’s unstable crust, we explore the design and engineering of famous tunnels…and the motivation behind them.
#8 - Silver Mines
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/1/1995
It was called the "mother lode", a deposit of silver so massive that it would produce $300-million in its first 25 years of operation, establish Nevada as a state, and bankroll the Union Army in the Civil War. Named after an early investor, we'll see how the Comstock Lode, discovered near Virginia City, proved to be a scientific laboratory from which vast improvements in mining technology and safety were pioneered, including innovations in drilling, ventilation, drainage, and ore processing.
#9 - Space Shuttle
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 8/20/1995
For generations, scientists and science-fiction writers alike dreamed of a reusable "space plane" a durable, maneuverable ship that would make trips to the heavens commonplace.Now, Modern Marvels takes a look at how a team from NASA made that dream real by developing the most extraordinary machine in history the revolutionary Space Shuttle.This comprehensive program tells the complete story of the Shuttle, from its conception in the 1950s to its triumphant launch in 1981. Expert interviews, computer simulations and spectacular footage from its missions offer an insider's view of its successes and failures, including the devastating Challenger disaster that nearly grounded the Shuttle program forever. Finally, NASA officials offer an exclusive peek at the next generation Space Shuttle, the futuristic X-33.