Jump to content

Eyewitness (British TV series)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Eyewitness (UK TV series))
For other uses, see Eyewitness (disambiguation).

Eyewitness
Created byJill Matthews
Narrated byAndrew Sachs (Seasons 1–3, UK, Season 3, US)
Martin Sheen (Seasons 1–2, US)
Theme music composerGuy Michelmore
Country of originUnited Kingdom
United States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes39 + 1 special
Production
Running time30 minutes
Production companiesBBC Worldwide Americas (Seasons 2–3)
BBC Lionheart Television (Season 1)
Wildvision
Dorling Kindersley
DK Vision
Cafe Productions
(Season 2)
BBC Scienceworld
(Season 3)
Original release
NetworkPBS (US)

Eyewitness is a nature and science television series based on the bestselling series of Eyewitness Books by Dorling Kindersley. It was produced by the BBC, DK Vision (the video production arm of Dorling Kindersley)[1] and Oregon Public Broadcasting.[2][3] Guy Michelmore composed the series' opening and ending themes, as well as the score for each individual episode of Season 1, with Guy Dagul writing the score for each individual episode of Seasons 2 and 3, respectively. Dagul's scores for season 3 also incorporated stock music tracks and cues by Dick DeBenedictis. The series aired from 1995 to 1998 (seasons 1–3) on PBS in the United States[4] and from 1995 to 1996 (seasons 1–2) on Disney Channel in the United Kingdom.

Premise

[edit]

Eyewitness, like most other shows of its kind, is a documentary series. Each half-hour episode focuses on a single subject in the field of natural science, such as the Solar System or the various functions of the human body, similar in form to the book series on which it was based, with most being based, in part or in whole, off of existing book titles at the time, with few exceptions (though some titles, such as Planets and Natural Disaster, the series finale, started off as episodes and were made into books years later).

Format

[edit]

The series takes place in the fictional "Eyewitness Museum", a CGI science museum made to replicate, enhance, and expand upon the much-imitated white and empty signature visual style of the books that made them so successful in the first place. Combining fact with fiction, various galleries within the museum are always featured and change constantly with each season and episode and stock footage, which is usually seen through large windows or other depressions in the walls of the museum is also shown regularly. The original book series is known for its striking visual style involving objects specially photographed against a plain white background, and the accompanying TV series brings this to life through video and audio. In addition, almost every episode features a "Hero". The Hero is an animal, character, or object which drives the action of the episode and is continually referred back to throughout. These include the rooster-shaped weathervane from Weather, Legs the claymation Tyrannosaurus from Dinosaur, the shape-shifting paper boat from Pond and River, the hyena from Monster, the salmon from Fish, the crab from Seashore, the cockroach from Prehistoric Life, the robotic human mime artist from Human Machine, Smedley the living human skeleton from Skeleton, Connell from Dog, and the husky and king penguin from Arctic and Antarctic.

The original British version of the series was narrated by the late Andrew Sachs for its entire run, while the American dub had Martin Sheen narrating for the first two seasons. However, Sachs took over narrating both versions (with his voice dubbed into American English for that region) for the third and final season. The series producer was Bill Butt for the first season, Briget Sneyd and sometimes Richard Thomson whenever Sneyd had to serve as editor for the second season, and Martin Mortimore for the third season.

In the US, the series aired in primetime on PBS nationwide. When the series was released onto VHS following the original run of each season, the US version of episodes from the first two seasons featured brief behind-the-scenes "making of" clips, each lasting five minutes after the main program, with the UK version having this feature for episodes of the third and final season. In 2003, eight episodes of the series were released onto interactive DVDs that featured interactive links to brief clips from other episodes of the series during the main program. The UK narration was kept in the American releases of these interactive DVDs, which were distributed by the Library Video Company through its Schlessinger Media division. A few years later, continuing well into the early 2010s, a larger number of episodes were released onto DVD in the US. The US narration was included on these releases, as well as the first special as a bonus feature.

There are also four Eyewitness Virtual Reality software titles based on the series: "Cat", "Bird", "Dinosaur Hunter", and "Earth Quest". One of these, "Shark", although seen on the elevator console, was never made.

Eyewitness has also been dubbed into other languages for broadcast internationally, including Spanish, Italian, French, German, Russian, Indonesian, and Finnish, among others.

Episodes

[edit]

All original air dates are for PBS, as recorded in Newspapers.com. In the United States, production reports estimated that the series would air in fall 1994,[2] though the series would ultimately premiere in April 1995.[3] According to Christopher Davis, a founding member of DK who published with the company from 1974 to 2005, the Eyewitness television series "was relegated to some obscure kiss-of-death time slot" by the BBC on UK television.[5] Episodes from the first two seasons aired in the UK on Disney Channel, sometimes earlier than their American counterparts.

Season 1 (1995)

[edit]
No. Title Original US air date
1"Cat"3 April 1995 (1995-04-03)
Discusses cats, both wild and domestic.
2"Horse"10 April 1995 (1995-04-10)
Discusses horses and their wild relatives.
3"Reptile"17 April 1995 (1995-04-17)
Discusses reptiles.
4"Fish"24 April 1995 (1995-04-24)
Discusses fish.
5"Dog"1 May 1995 (1995-05-01)
Discusses dogs and their wild relatives and ancestors.
6"Bird"8 May 1995 (1995-05-08)
Discusses birds.
7"Elephant"15 May 1995 (1995-05-15)
Discusses elephants.
8"Shark"22 May 1995 (1995-05-22)
Discusses sharks and their relatives, rays and skates.
9"Insect"29 May 1995 (1995-05-29)
Discusses insects.
10"Amphibian"5 June 1995 (1995-06-05)
Discusses amphibians.
11"Dinosaur"12 June 1995 (1995-06-12)
Discusses dinosaurs.
12"Jungle"19 June 1995 (1995-06-19)
Discusses rainforests.
13"Skeleton"26 June 1995 (1995-06-26)
Discusses the skeletal system and how it varies in different species, including humans.

Season 2 (1996–1997)

[edit]
No. Title Original US air date
1"Volcano"14 October 1996 (1996-10-14)
Discusses volcanoes and earthquakes.
2"Ape"21 October 1996 (1996-10-21)
Discusses non-human primates.
3"Prehistoric Life"28 October 1996 (1996-10-28)
Discusses the origin and evolution of life on Earth, from the earliest microbes to the appearance of modern humans.
4"Seashore"4 November 1996 (1996-11-04)
Discusses the intertidal zone.
5"Tree"11 November 1996 (1996-11-11)
Discusses trees.
6"Desert"18 November 1996 (1996-11-18)
Discusses deserts.
7"Shell"25 November 1996 (1996-11-25)
Discusses shells.
8"Butterfly and Moth"2 December 1996 (1996-12-02)
Discusses butterflies and moths.
9"Pond and River"5 May 1997 (1997-05-05)
Discusses rivers and ponds.
10"Mammal"19 May 1997 (1997-05-19)
Discusses mammals.
11"Rock and Mineral"26 May 1997 (1997-05-26)
Discusses geology.
12"Arctic and Antarctic"2 June 1997 (1997-06-02)
Discusses the Earth's polar regions.
13"Weather"16 June 1997 (1997-06-16)
Discusses weather.

Season 3 (1998)

[edit]
No. Title Original US air date
1"Planets"22 January 1998 (1998-01-22)
Discusses the planets and other objects in our Solar System, as well as their study and exploration, past present, and future.
2"Flight"29 January 1998 (1998-01-29)
Discusses the history and properties of flight-both in nature and in human civilization, past, present and future.
3"Life"5 February 1998 (1998-02-05)
Discusses biology.
4"Sight"12 February 1998 (1998-02-12)
Discusses the world of vision.
5"Bear"19 February 1998 (1998-02-19)
Discusses bears.
6"Natural Disaster"26 February 1998 (1998-02-26)
Discusses natural disasters-earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, avalanches, drought, wildfires, and asteroid impacts.
7"Plant"5 March 1998 (1998-03-05)
Discusses plants.
8"Survival"26 March 1998 (1998-03-26)
Discusses how animals survive in the natural world.
9"The Human Machine"2 April 1998 (1998-04-02)
Discusses the human body.
10"Mountain"9 April 1998 (1998-04-09)
Discusses mountains.
11"Ocean"16 April 1998 (1998-04-16)
Discusses oceans.
12"Island"23 April 1998 (1998-04-23)
Discusses islands.
13"Monster"30 April 1998 (1998-04-30)
Discusses both mythical and real-life monsters.

Specials

[edit]

The Making of Eyewitness - A compilation of "making-of" featurettes accompanying season 1 episodes. Aired on 7 October 1995 on Disney Channel (UK). The American version of this compilation (narrated by Martin Sheen) was not scheduled to air in the United States as of 1995,[4] but it was eventually released as a standalone Video CD.[6]

Individual "making-of" segments are attached to their corresponding episodes on home video releases. Compilations for season 2 (The Making Of Eyewitness 2 - Living Earth) and season 3 (The Making Of Eyewitness 3 - Worlds) were briefly available on the now-defunct official Eyewitness YouTube channel.

Reception

[edit]

It has won several awards, including at least two Emmys:

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "History of DK". DK. Archived from the original on 7 February 2003. Retrieved 6 January 2008.
  2. ^ a b Schulberg, Pete (25 October 1993). "KKRZ's 'pull the plug' campaign mostly hype". The Oregonian. pp. D5.
  3. ^ a b Cowan, Ron (28 January 1995). "PBS has at least one ace in the hole: innovation". Statesman Journal.
  4. ^ a b Moore, Frazier (14 May 1995). "The PBS series that watches the animal kingdom in style". Associated Press (via Los Angeles Times).
  5. ^ Davis, Christopher (2009). Eyewitness: the rise and fall of Dorling Kindersley. Petersfield, Hampshire, UK: Harriman House Ltd. p. 223. ISBN 9781906659196.
  6. ^ "EYEWITNESS – The Making of Eyewitness – The World of CD-i". www.theworldofcdi.com. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://wiki.riteme.site/w/index.php?title=Eyewitness_(British_TV_series)&oldid=1259668702"