The BEST episodes of Modern Marvels season 9
Every episode of Modern Marvels season 9, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Modern Marvels season 9!
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 - The World's Biggest Machines (1)
Season 9 - Episode 18 - Aired 5/14/2002
Join us for a look at the biggest, heaviest, tallest, longest, meanest machines on the planet! We'll see what these monsters do and how they operate, and how they're designed and assembled. Machines investigated include the largest draglines, excavators used in mining; the biggest dump truck; port cranes; a front-end loader with an 80-ton bucket and the largest tires of any vehicle; the cruise ship, the Voyager of the Seas; a 240-foot tall wind generator; and a fusion reaction machine the size of a football field.
Watch Now:Amazon
#2 - Junkyards
Season 9 - Episode 10 - Aired 3/5/2002
It's the place where one man's trash is truly another man's treasure. Enter the strange and mysterious world of the junkyard, where many pieces actually do add up to a whole. Uncover how junkyard operators create order out of seemingly random piles of junk.
Watch Now:Amazon
#3 - Gasoline
Season 9 - Episode 31 - Aired 7/23/2002
Traces the history and evolution of the world's most important fossil fuel. Without gasoline, modern life would grind to a halt. Americans use about 360-million gallons of gas every day. And though most of us could not function without gas, very few understand what it really is, how it is made, what all those different octane numbers really mean, and how researchers developed cleaner-burning gasoline. All these questions will be answered as we look at the history of this "supreme" fuel.
#4 - Hangars
Season 9 - Episode 26 - Aired 6/25/2002
Come in for a smooth landing as we explore the history of hangars--stark, massive structures that house and protect flight vehicles. We visit the first hangar, built on a German lake; Boeing's Delta 4 rocket hangar; Hangar Number One in Lakehurst, New Jersey, that housed all US airships built in the 1920s and '30s; and the Space Shuttle's hangar--as big as four skyscrapers! Back in Germany, Cargolifter's mammoth hangar, large enough to enclose the Superdome, signals the rebirth of an industry.
#5 - Nordhausen
Season 9 - Episode 35 - Aired 8/13/2002
It was the world's largest underground factory--seven miles of tunnels built to manufacture Hitler's secret weapons, primarily the V-2 rocket. But Nordhausen kept more than one secret. Technology and torture went hand-in-hand--25,000 concentration camp workers died there--and some of those associated with Nordhausen later helped take America to the moon.
#6 - Fire and Ice
Season 9 - Episode 16 - Aired 4/18/2002
Who could imagine life without our "man-made weather"? On cold winter nights and hot summer days, we are forever grateful to the visionaries who took two basic elements--fire and ice--and turned them into true modern marvels. Fire warmed the caves and primitive dwellings of mankind for centuries, yet the technology of keeping cool lagged far behind as we learn in this chronicle of heating and air conditioning that covers advancements from the home and industry to outer space and beyond!
#7 - The Chrysler Building
Season 9 - Episode 41 - Aired 9/10/2002
The 1,046-foot Chrysler Building in New York City, erected between 1928 and 1930, was the world's tallest edifice--until the Empire State Building eclipsed it in 1931! Since then, this Art Deco masterpiece has become one of the most beloved skyscrapers on the city skyline. Financed by auto tycoon Walter P. Chrysler and designed by architect William Van Alen, the private office building was constructed by more than 2,000 men. Find out why it was the first--and last--skyscraper Van Alen designed.
#8 - Big Rigs of Combat: Tanks
Season 9 - Episode 20 - Aired 6/2/2002
The rousing story of the tank, from its primitive appearance in WWI to the high-tech world of modern tank warfare, with emphasis on the tank's Golden Age during WWII.
#9 - Jet Engines
Season 9 - Episode 34 - Aired 5/3/1999
Strap on a parachute and soar through the saga of jet propulsion, which radically transformed our world since inception in WWII--from the Nazi's first jet-powered aircraft to the US F-22 jet fighter, from the Concorde to tomorrow's scram-jet, a hypersonic transport plane that switches to rocket power outside earth's atmosphere!
#10 - Failed Inventions
Season 9 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/2/2002
Dreamers and schemers try an odd assortment of flawed ideas for inventions. Start with the cars--cars that fly, cars that float, cars with jet engines. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Here are homes that look like nothing you've ever seen and clothes too strange for even the most radical fashion runway, including rocket belts and radium-infused garments. Some of these creations were too far ahead of their time, and others were just plain bad ideas, but there's a fascinating tale behind each one, and FAILED INVENTIONS celebrates those occasions when necessity mothers a notion that only its creator could love.
#11 - The Strategic Air Command
Season 9 - Episode 30 - Aired 7/16/2002
With the ironic motto "Peace is our Profession", the Strategic Air Command was in charge of US nuclear forces from 1946 to 1992. SAC was the ultimate Cold War military machine, at its height controlling thousands of nuclear weapons, planes, and missiles, and boasting over a quarter-million personnel. We travel to the Strategic Air and Space Museum, located 20 miles from SAC's old headquarters in Nebraska, and walk through the cavernous bomb bay of SAC's workhorse, the B-52 Bomber.
#12 - The Manhattan Project
Season 9 - Episode 21 - Aired 6/4/2002
At 5:30 a.m., July 16, 1945, scientists and dignitaries awaited the detonation of the first atomic bomb in a desolate area of the New Mexico desert aptly known as "Jornada del Muerto" (Journey of Death). Dubbed the Manhattan Project, the top-secret undertaking was tackled with unprecedented speed and expense--almost $30-billion in today's money. Los Alamos scientists and engineers relate their trials, triumphs, and dark doubts about building the ultimate weapon of war in the interest of peace.
#13 - Super Guns
Season 9 - Episode 29 - Aired 7/15/2002
An examination of guns that exist on the cutting edge of firearm technology. Fighting battles on computers decades before an actual shot is fired, these super guns may make the world safer...or more dangerous than ever before.
#14 - War Planes of World War II
Season 9 - Episode 64 - Aired 12/18/2002
World War II sees more planes built in a single year than had been built in the previous 40.
#15 - Beach Technology
Season 9 - Episode 27 - Aired 7/2/2002
Slap on your sun block and head to the ocean for a sizzling hour that explores the beach in a whole new way! We cover everything from Japan's Seagaia, the world's largest indoor beach, to boardwalks, dune buggies, surfboards, sunglasses, suntan lotion, wave pools, and more. We examine the development of each product and explain the technological advances that have been made over the years.
#16 - Train Wrecks
Season 9 - Episode 50 - Aired 10/28/2002
Throughout railroad history, disasters lay at the heart of progress, since expansion and profit proved the main goals of management. In 1875 alone, an average of 22 train accidents happened daily; in 1890, over 6,000 people were killed. We'll examine how safety, once a secondary consideration, became a primary goal.
#17 - Cranes
Season 9 - Episode 46 - Aired 10/8/2002
One of the most useful machines ever created, the crane is a simple but important combination of the pulley and the lever. Though cranes have been helping us build civilization from at least the time of the Egyptian pyramids, the modern steel-framed construction cranes are a relatively recent development. Put on your work boots as we ride through the history of cranes from ancient days to skyscraper construction sites, ocean-freighter docks, and the International Space Station.
#18 - Pickup Trucks
Season 9 - Episode 43 - Aired 9/18/2002
They have made the leap from humble farm vehicles to mainstays of the American road. PICKUP TRUCKS tells the complete story of these rolling icons of individuality and freedom. From homemade trucks made by modifying Model Ts to high-tech concept vehicles that dazzle visitors at car shows, MODERN MARVELS explores every aspect of PICKUP TRUCKS, tracing their technological development over the years and exploring the factors that transformed a working vehicle into a sought-after ride for millions of Americans who never haul anything more than groceries. Visit design studios and the factories to see how concepts become reality, and hear from auto executives and industry analysts who talk about the recent surge in popularity--over 1 million pickup trucks are sold each month. From wood spoke wheels to leather interiors with power everything, PICKUP TRUCKS have come a long way, and MODERN MARVELStraces their journey. (without Toby Keith)
#19 - The Autobahn
Season 9 - Episode 42 - Aired 9/17/2002
Imagine a superhighway designed for speed...thousands of miles of roadway unhindered by limits of any kind. Buckle up for safety as we take you for the ride of your life when we explore the fascinating history and current reality of the world's fastest freeway. The number-one works project of the Third Reich, the Autobahn was known as Adolf Hitler's Road until Germany's defeat in WWII. Reconstructed and extended to more than four times its original size, it became a symbol of the New Germany.
#20 - Ice Breakers
Season 9 - Episode 15 - Aired 4/16/2002
Icebreaker ships plow headlong into one of nature's most formidable barriers. Modern Marvels bundles up and goes for a sea tour aboard the toughest ships ever built, the massive icebreakers that can withstand hull pressures of 3,000 pounds per square inch. Experts like Gene Davis, the curator of the Coast Guard Museum NW, detail how these vessels have evolved from the age of sail, and how they have changed the way ships navigate in northern waters. Go on patrol with the USCG Cutter Mackinaw, one of the largest and oldest breakers working the vital North American fresh water shipping lanes, and then see the contrast as the USCG Healy, the newest Polar Class ice breaker in the American fleet, traverses the Northwest Passage on its maiden voyage. This is the story of the specialized ships that have turned the tables on one of the mariners' most ancient and implacable enemies.
#21 - Pleasure Boats
Season 9 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/1/2002
As we power-up and unfurl the sails on a magical cruise through time, viewers meet the people who've devoted their lives to pleasure boating. Traveling throughout the U.S. and Europe, we delve into a world of luxury, adventure, and sport on spectacular vessels ranging from classic yachts to sports boats to the ultimate floating palaces. In this timeless pastime, technological wonders continue to evolve and enthrall.
#22 - Million Dollar Tech
Season 9 - Episode 6 - Aired 1/31/2002
For millennia, luxury toys have functioned as flashy instruments of affluence, authority, and identity and driven many kingly consumers to covet, create, and purchase these status symbols. From the Roman Emperor Caligula's special barges to Carl Faberge's impossibly intricate eggs, from plasma screen TVs to $600,000 Bentleys and Rolex watches, we examine spectacular personal possessions--paeans to the lords of a consumer culture that grows richer and technologically more sophisticated daily.
#23 - Helicopters
Season 9 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/17/2002
From the early "egg beaters" of World War II to the "flying tanks" of Operation Desert Storm, we'll fly aboard one of the most agile and potent weapons on the battlefield--the helicopter. Meet the first pilot to fly a combat rescue mission in WWII and a USAF female aviator; and view classified footage of the Apache in Iraq.
#24 - Drag Racing
Season 9 - Episode 19 - Aired 5/21/2002
Dragsters hit top speeds above 330 miles per hour. MODERN MARVELS heads to the drag strip and back in time to tell the complete story of these amazing machines. Even before World War I, speed demons were modifying Model T Fords to see how quick they could make them. From these humble beginnings, a new type of racing developed. DRAG RACING goes inside the shop with top driver Gary Clapshaw to see how a modern dragster is put together, from the aerodynamic package to the 7000 horsepower engine. Legendary designer Bob Norwood reveals his latest design, which may revolutionize the sport. And watch as dragsters compete over the quickest quarter-mile on earth.
#25 - Axes, Swords And Knives
Season 9 - Episode 17 - Aired 5/7/2002
Blade implements have been a part of civilized man's arsenal since the Paleolithic Age, when sharp tools were chipped off of flint or obsidian. But with the discovery of metallurgy, people were able to forge stronger, more versatile blade implements. We visit an axe-throwing contest in Wisconsin for an introduction to the least subtle of the blade tools. Then we visit a swordsmith and an experienced swordfighter who work in traditional methods from ancient sources, and review the history of knives.