| Genre: | Documentary film |
| Director: | Peter Oxley and Gwyn Williams |
| Narrated: | Kirk Johnson (Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History) |
| Theme Music Composer: | Ty Unwin |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Episodes: | Three one-hour episodes |
| Producer: | Peter Oxleyl |
| Editor: | Paul Shepard and Dan McCabe |
| Cinematography: | Piers Leigh |
| Runtime: | 3hour |
| Company: | Windfall Films |
| Network: | PBS Nova series |
Making North America is a 2015 American documentary film which premiered nationwide on November 4, 2015.[1] The PBS Nova film, comprising three episodes of one hour each, was hosted by Kirk Johnson (Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History); Peter Oxley directed the first episode while Gwyn Williams directed the second and third. The series describes the very beginnings and later developments of the North American continent: from the origin of planet Earth 4.54 billion years ago; to the various movements of tectonic plates and their effect on the sculpturing of the continent's land and mountains, including the Rocky Mountains, Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon; to the emergence of life on the continent and its later evolution; and, finally, to the more recent settlement of the land by humans.[2] According to Johnson, "Most people will not have considered a time when there was no North America ... What was there before North America? How did it form? When did it start? How did it come together?"[3]
| No. | Episode | Original air date (nationwide) |
|---|
The documentary film is narrated by Kirk Johnson and includes the following participants (alphabetized by last name):
According to James Gaines, film reviewer for LiveScience, "North America rocks. That’s what a new three-part series from NOVA shows as it explores the rich history of the continent — from glaciers in Alaska to volcanoes in Hawaii to the crystal-clear waters of the Bahamas." Joanne Ostrow, television critic for the Denver Post, writes, "Thanks to innovative special effects and graphics, this dose of earth science is visually engaging ... The graphics let us see how a slab of ocean floor diving under the earth forced the land up ... Johnson [the narrator] is enthusiastic good company, a regular guy whether rappelling into the Grand Canyon, flying over an active volcano in Hawaii, hunting for fossils in Alaska where palm trees once flourished, or descending into the palladium mines of Ontario, where geologists have dated some of the oldest rock ever found in North America ... there's much to learn from this series and, thanks to rock-solid storytelling, it's mind-blowing but easy to grasp."[4]