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Alien Empire

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Alien Empire
GenreScience and Nature[1]
Narrated byJohn Shrapnel
ComposerMartin Kiszko
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes6
Production
ProducerSteve Nicholls
Running time30 minutes[1]
Original release
NetworkPBS
Release11 February (1996-02-11) –
13 February 1996 (1996-02-13)

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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  1. ^ a b BBC Programme Index
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ Radio Times, Issue 3759, 10 February 1996, reprinted at BBC Programme Index
  4. ^ For a review of this episode, see Lynne Truss, "Number-crunching is the insects' buzz word", The Times, 23 February 1996, p 39
  5. ^ Radio Times, Issue 3760, 17 February 1996, reprinted at BBC Programme Index
  6. ^ For a review of this episode, see Peter Waymark, "Alien Empire: Battle Zone" in "Choice", The Times, 29 February 1996, p 47.
  7. ^ Radio Times, Issue 3761, 24 February 1996, reprinted at BBC Programme Index
  8. ^ Radio Times, Issue 3762, 2 March 1996, reprinted at BBC Programme Index
  9. ^ For a review of this episode, see Lynne Truss, "Ladies, mistresses and dominant females", The Times, 15 March 1996, p 43.
  10. ^ Radio Times, Issue 3763, 9 March 1996, reprinted at BBC Programme Index
  11. ^ Radio Times, Issue 3764, 16 March 1996, reprinted at BBC Programme Index
  12. ^ Helen Ashton (2003) 17 Reference Reviews 42
  13. ^ McCormick, Moira (December 19, 1998). "A Bug Invasion Hits Video Shelves". Billboard. p. 63.
  14. ^ 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.