The BEST episodes of National Geographic Documentaries season 2008

#1 - Stonehenge Decoded

Season 2008 - Episode 19 - Aired 5/28/2008

For 5,000 years, the purpose of this monument has remained a mystery, but archaeologists have uncovered a theory to explain this architectural riddle

#2 - Inside The Koran

Season 2008 - Episode 25 - Aired 8/5/2008

Over the past few decades, the Middle East has been an epicenter of political and violent turmoil, often with religious conflict at its core. An understanding of the Muslim faith and its most sacred text is very important. NGC presents Inside the Koran, a journey into the heart of the Islamic world to better understand this complex and seemingly contradictory spiritual guide, including the messages that some perceive as justification for the violent conflict and suicide bombings.

#3 - Code Breakers

Season 2008 - Episode 7 - Aired 3/1/2008

Experts in code writing and breaking tell tales of heroic risks and cat-and-mouse secrecy, where science meets deadly adventure and everyone from queens to soldiers to everyday citizens can pay the price.

#4 - Guns in America

Season 2008 - Episode 42 - Aired 2/11/2008

300 million citizens, 270 million guns, 5 stories, and one thing in common: Gun Nation. National Geographic tells the story of America's connection with guns through the eyes of its citizens. From gangs, to local law enforcement, to gun hobbyists to a young mother: this documentary is explores the lives of people with guns.

#5 - Hammerhead Highway

Season 2008 - Episode 10 - Aired 4/3/2008

Equipped with more electro sensors than any other shark, extreme maneuverability, serrated teeth and an ability to swim fast have armed the Hammerhead with an amazing arsenal of survival tools. But unfortunately, indiscriminant fishing currently threatens the Hammerhead's very existence with a severe population decline in the past decade. In an ever-changing world, where skills are constantly put to the test, how will these magnificent fish continue to survive and meet the natural and unnatural challenges of today?

#6 - Illicit: The Dark Trade

Season 2008 - Episode 14 - Aired 4/16/2008

Join undercover agents and slip into the shadowy web of illicit trade, where dangerous multi-billion dollar criminal networks threaten whole sectors of the world economy. Illicit: The Dark Trade travels the globe to expose the dire consequences of this dirty industry: money laundering, political corruption, and the subversion of entire governments. From knock-off handbags to bootlegged compact discs to fake pharmaceuticals, this hard-hitting special reveals how consumers' insatiable demand for counterfeit merchandise has given birth to a vast criminal system.

#7 - Omaha Beach: Real Horror

Season 2008 - Episode 22 - Aired 7/9/2008

“They told us, ‘In 30 days, half of you will be dead',” recalls one veteran in this sombre account of the bloody, ferociously fought D-Day battle, which claimed the lives of at least 2,000 US infantrymen in one day.

#8 - Science of Steroids

Season 2008 - Episode 26 - Aired 8/21/2008

It is one of the most controversial issues of our day, jeopardizing the health and smearing the reputations of Olympians, professional sports players and even high school athletes. The government has declared them illegal without a prescription, athletes call them unfair, and some doctors say they are potentially deadly. What are the real dangers of these drugs? We've seen what's happening outside the body; now NGC reveals what's happening inside the body, in the Science of Steroids.

#9 - Smarter Than an Ape

Season 2008 - Episode 16 - Aired 5/1/2008

They’re our closest cousins in the natural world, with DNA that has been found to be a remarkable 98.4% identical to our own - but are apes really so similar to human beings? This film sets out to answer this question by demonstrating how much apes can do and how much they can’t. When put to the test just how big a difference does 1.6% variation in DNA make?

#10 - Buffalo Warrior

Season 2008 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/20/2008

Lindsay Hunt, a former professional game hunter, holds South Africa’s wild Cape buffalo in high regard. So high, in fact, that Hunt has made it his personal mission to help preserve these notoriously unpredictable animals. In the wild, the buffalo are nearing extinction from threats such as bovine tuberculosis and foot and mouth. This new documentary series follows Hunt on his intriguing journey to capture these wild buffalo – which could kill him with a single swipe of their deadly horns – in an effort to breed new healthy stock.

#11 - Six Degrees Could Change the World

Season 2008 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/10/2008

NGC visualizes in spectacular HD the devastating ecological impact each single degree increase in temperature could have on our planet over the next century.

#12 - Legends of the Ice World

Season 2008 - Episode 13 - Aired 4/26/2008

Legends of the Ice World brings the northern polar cap to life by combining modern technology with traditional and beautiful wildlife footage. State of the art computer graphics reveal the foundations, history and weather patterns of this frozen desert of the North. Stunning wildlife footage illustrates the diversity of life in this icy world, from the seabirds and lemmings at the base of the food chain to the lords of the ice, the polar bears. This intimate portrait also follows the dramas of a reindeer migration, wrestling walruses, and the great, annual battles of musk oxen.

#13 - Inside the Real NCIS

Season 2008 - Episode 27 - Aired 8/26/2008

They solve murders, catch spies, and prevent terrorist attacks. They are one of the most revered law enforcement agencies on the planet, and one of the least understood until now. Go behind-the-scenes with the federal agents of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). With re-enactments, on-location footage and interviews with agents, re-examine the agency's most challenging case - the bombing of the USS Cole - and see how the NCIS is staying one step ahead of the terrorists.

#14 - Humpbacks: From Fire to Ice

Season 2008 - Episode 31 - Aired 10/4/2008

Take an extraordinary journey with one of nature's majestic giants of the sea - the humpback whale. Humpbacks from Fire to Ice follows a mother and her calf on their perilous 12 month journey across the Pacific Ocean from Hawaii to Alaska and back again. During this 12 month journey, the calf learns the way of the whales and how to survive in an underwater world ruled by cunning and ruthless predators.

#15 - Human Footprint

Season 2008 - Episode 12 - Aired 4/13/2008

In a playful, surprising and thought-provoking portrait of our time on earth, National Geographic demonstrates, in a series of remarkable visuals, what makes up an average human life today and how everything we do has impact on the world around us. In this unique journey through life, it shows all the people you will ever know, how much waste you will produce, the amount of fuel you'll consume and how much you've got to pack in during your 2,475,526,000 seconds on earth.

#16 - Scrapbooks From Hell: The Auschwitz Albums

Season 2008 - Episode 15 - Aired 4/26/2008

Provides a look into the photo album of SS officer Karl Höcker, the adjutant to the commandant at Auschwitz. Taken between May and December 1944, the chilling photos capture life at the concentration camp for Nazi officers and staff: relaxing on the terrace, eating blueberries, stopped mid-singalong by a sudden downpour.

#17 - Titanic's Nuclear Secret

Season 2008 - Episode 21 - Aired 7/7/2008

The nuclear trail to Titanic and the intact treasures of the Black Sea. It was the greatest nautical mystery of the 20th Century: the final resting place of Titanic.

#18 - Ghosts of the Black Sea

Season 2008 - Episode 38 - Aired 6/8/2008

In the depths of the Black Sea lies a landscape of eternal darkness. With no light and no oxygen in the sea's anoxic layer, no life can survive, except perhaps the ghosts of ancient mariners whose ships foundered thousands of years ago. Because the environment cannot support the organisms that typically feast on organic materials, such as wood and flesh, there is an extraordinary opportunity for preservation, including shipwrecks and the cargos they carried. In the year 2000, on his third trip to the Black Sea, explorer Dr. Robert Ballard discovered a miraculously well-preserved Byzantine shipwreck, but his team could only take pictures. Now, Ballard returns with archaeologist Dr. Bridget Buxton and Dr. Sergiy Voronov of the Ukrainian Department of Underwater Heritage, and uses state-of-the-art technology and a revolutionary $1.5 million robot known as "Hercules" to excavate two shipwrecks for the first time ever, including one of the most pristine ancient vessels ever found. In 2006, Ballard and the team returned to survey the area for more shipwrecks, and last year began excavations on Sinop D, and Chersonesos A, a 10th-century shipwreck found off southern Crimea at a depth of 135 meters. At Chersonesos A, the team excavated the ship's cargo of nearly 200 jars commonly found at Byzantine sites on the shores of the Black Sea, including Chersonesos. The bright orange color of the nearly 1,000-year-old jars was completely preserved, to the team's amazement. From there, the team sailed to the deeper site, Sinop D, which was the focus of the 2007 survey. The team hoped to answer questions about the ship's construction, its cargo, and how the anoxic conditions had affected its preservation. Ballard and his team have only two weeks, so they must work in perfect precision on their hunt for the Ghost Ships of the Black Sea. Ballard calls this site "the greatest museum on Earth," but his team of marine archaeologists has only begun to scratch the surface of the Black S

#19 - Shipwreck: Captain Kidd

Season 2008 - Episode 37 - Aired 11/18/2008

The 17th-century privateer, Captain William Kidd captured the Quedagh Merchant ship loaded with gold, silver, and other valuables from the East Indies. After learning that he was a wanted man, Kidd secretly abandoned the ship. Its location followed Kidd to the grave when he was executed for piracy and murder. Resting in the crystal-clear Caribbean for more than 300 years, the Quedagh Merchant was recently discovered just 70 feet off the coast of Catalina Island in the Dominican Republic. Join a team of underwater archaeologists as they uncover its precious cargo. Using the data collected and vivid computer-generated imagery, National Geographic has re-created the ship in all its glory, pitting the historical record against the actual archaeological evidence.

#20 - The Explorers: Paul Sereno

Season 2008 - Episode 39 - Aired 1/31/2008

#21 - Afghanistan Hidden Treasures

Season 2008 - Episode 40 - Aired 6/1/2008

'Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures' is an extraordinary story of Afghanistan's significant role in the ancient history of the Silk Road, and of the heroic Afghans who safeguarded their cultural legacy from war and chaos during the last couple of decades.

#22 - Birth of Civilization

Season 2008 - Episode 41 - Aired 6/24/2008

With the help of state of the art special effects, this National Geographic documentary attempts to recreate what civilization looked like during the first 8,000 years that human beings lived on Earth.

#23 - The Bandits of Selous

Season 2008 - Episode 23 - Aired 7/19/2008

Tucked in the Selous game reserve in Tanzania there are hunters, big and small. Here a brave bunch of Banded Mongooses fight to survive amidst an army of killers. They're bigger, faster, smarter, and braver than their Meerkat cousins, but a tough year lies ahead. Follow the mongoose pack as they are tested to the limit, living under constant threat from predators and the harsh African weather. Ela, the leader of the Magwa clan must work hard to raise her family here. It's time to meet the bandits of Selous.

#24 - Aftermath: Population Zero

Season 2008 - Episode 8 - Aired 3/9/2008

What would happen if every single person on Earth simply disappeared? Gone. Not dead, just gone. This is the astounding story of a world we will never see. A world without people, where city streets are still populated by cars, but without drivers. Nobody to fix bridges, repair buildings or maintain power plants. After being controlled by humanity for millennia, nature reclaims the earth. But how would that work? How long would skyscrapers, nuclear power plants, and our homes last if abandoned? How would wild and domestic animals fare without us? Will the Eiffel Tower outlast the Statue of Liberty? Aftermath: Population Zero gives us a chance to see the impact of human beings by seeing how Earth would adapt without us. AKA: Aftermath: The World After Humans

#25 - Ape Genius

Season 2008 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/19/2008

As new research continues to reveal that apes are smarter than previously thought, NOVA explores just what separates humans from the great apes.