Alien Empire Explained
| Genre: | Science and Nature[1] |
| Narrated: | John Shrapnel |
| Composer: | Martin Kiszko |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Num Series: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 6 |
| Producer: | Steve Nicholls |
| Runtime: | 30 minutes |
| Channel: | PBS |
Alien Empire was a documentary television series about insects produced by the BBC, and first broadcast by PBS in 1996. It was subtitled Inside the Kingdom of the Insect.
Episodes
The following six episodes were broadcast on BBC1:
- Episode 1: Hardware. 15 February 1996.[2] [3]
- Episode 2: Replicators. 22 February 1996.[4] [5]
- Episode 3: Battlezone. 29 February 1996.[6] [7]
- Episode 4: Voyagers. 7 March 1996.[8]
- Episode 5: Metropolis. 14 March 1996.[9] [10]
- Episode 6: War of the Worlds. 21 March 1996.[11]
Broadcast and release
Alien Empire was first broadcast in the United States on PBS, as part of the series Nature, in three daily parts, from Sunday 11 to Tuesday 13 February 1996.
Alien Empire was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC1, as a six part series (and not as part of the series Nature), from 15 February to 21 March 1996, on Thursdays at 8pm.
Video
Alien Empire was released on VHS, in the United Kingdom by the BBC and in the United States by Time Life Video, in 1996.
Reception
The series was "popular".[12] Its success with younger audiences inspired the creation of Bug City, a direct-to-video educational series aimed at children.[13]
Book
The book Alien Empire: An Exploration of the Lives of Insects, by Christopher O'Toole is a companion to the series, published, by BBC Books in London and by HarperCollins in New York, in 1995.[14]
References
- "Television and Video" in "Teaching Resources". Resh and Carde (eds). Encyclopedia of Insects. Academic Press. 2003. p 1115.
- Lucy Ellmann, "Fat and feminist issues", The Independent, 18 February 1996
- Thomas Sutcliffe, "Review", The Independent, 1 March 1996
- Seth Goldstein, "Alien Empire Creeping Into Stores" in "Picture This", Billboard, 24 February 1996, p 56
- "Documentary: Alien Empire" in "Reviews & Previews", Billboard, 24 February 1996, p 89
- "The West and the World of Insects", Billboard, 25 October 1996, p 76
- Caitlin Lovinger, "Spotlight: Small World", New York Times, 11 February 1996, Section 12, p 21
- Walter Goodman, "TV Weekend; Sex, Beauty, Home and Travel Tips on Bugs", New York Times, 9 February 1996, Section D, p 17
- Lee Harris, "Weekend TV: An All-Star Sunday for NBA and Movies", Los Angeles Times, 10 February 1996
- Mary Stevens, "Bugs abound in Alien Empire", Chicago Tribune, 15 March 1996
- (1996) 62 Quill & Quire 6
- "Alien Empire" (1996) 15 International Documentary 9
- The New Yorker. Google
Notes and References
- https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/b0074m3k BBC Programme Index
- For reviews of this episode, see Peter Waymark, "Alien Empire" in "Choice", The Times, 15 February 1996, p 43; and Lynne Truss, "Mismatched music guilty of sonic insecticide", The Times, 16 February 1996, p 43
- [Radio Times]
- For a review of this episode, see Lynne Truss, "Number-crunching is the insects' buzz word", The Times, 23 February 1996, p 39
- Radio Times, Issue 3760, 17 February 1996, reprinted at BBC Programme Index
- For a review of this episode, see Peter Waymark, "Alien Empire: Battle Zone" in "Choice", The Times, 29 February 1996, p 47.
- Radio Times, Issue 3761, 24 February 1996, reprinted at BBC Programme Index
- Radio Times, Issue 3762, 2 March 1996, reprinted at BBC Programme Index
- For a review of this episode, see Lynne Truss, "Ladies, mistresses and dominant females", The Times, 15 March 1996, p 43.
- Radio Times, Issue 3763, 9 March 1996, reprinted at BBC Programme Index
- Radio Times, Issue 3764, 16 March 1996, reprinted at BBC Programme Index
- Helen Ashton (2003) 17 Reference Reviews 42
- McCormick . Moira . December 19, 1998 . A Bug Invasion Hits Video Shelves . Billboard . 63.
- For reviews of this book, see (1996) 9 New Statesman Society 39; (1996) 149 New Scientist, 27 January 1996, p 44; and "Insecticide: Christopher O'Toole", Times Higher Education, 22 March 1996; For other commentary on this book, see Rupp, The Complete Home Learning Sourcebook, Three Rivers Press, 1998, p 287.
