WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In the greatest adventure saga ever told -- the story of human civilization -- National Geographic presents ORIGINS: The Journey of Humankind - an eight-part series that traces the innovations that made the world modern. ORIGINS is a full-sensory, time-travel adventure that delves deep into history to find the pivotal ‘origin’ moments that fueled our evolutionary ascension. While we are in a fast-growing technological age fueled by smart phones, satellites and the ‘next big discovery,’ ORIGINS pauses to probe the biggest questions in the universe: How did we get here? How did Homo Sapiens evolve from apes swinging tree to tree to astronauts walking on the surface of the moon?
Premiering Monday, March 6, at 9/8c, on National Geographic and in 171 countries and 43 languages later this spring, ORIGINS is a contemporary twist on the traditional historical documentary. World-class futurist and idea DJ Jason Silva (BRAIN GAMES, SHOTS OF AWE) leads us through a portal to explore these explosive events, such as the discoveries and applications of fire, that fundamentally and irrevocably created our modern lives.
ORIGINS incorporates dramatic scripted storytelling, documentary sequences, expert analysis and dazzling audio-visual mashups designed by John Boswell -- also known worldwide as Melodysheep -- who is making his TV debut with original symphonies. Silva’s unique and compelling thought-jockey process organically and seamlessly shifts us across historical milestones while the world’s top minds -- experts across the fields of technology, war, communication, medicine, transportation, ecology, paleoanthropology, evolutionary biology and antiquity, to name a few -- inject cerebral heft with compelling commentary.
“Everything we do today has deep roots in the past,” says Silva. “ORIGINS deconstructs moments that show how we rebelled against our fate in the animal kingdom and found a way to rise up, transcend and forge a new future in the modern world.”
"Music touches us on a subconscious, instinctual level,” says Boswell. “It has a way of bringing human history to life and evoking deep-seated emotions that connect us to our past. This authentic collaboration with National Geographic allows us to reach a wide audience in telling the tale of humankind anew.”
In the premiere episode, ORIGINS: Fire, we experience specific moments in history when fire allowed us to create, annihilate, expand and dominate. Nothing else throughout human history explains our existence more than fire; it’s been harnessed and applied throughout countless centuries to define who we are and will become. Silva transports viewers to 12000 BC when early man shockingly discovered the first spark, which grew to a flame and lit the world before their very eyes.
Then jump to 1232 AD when the Jin Dynasty unearthed the greatest defense against the attacking Mongol hordes: a projected missile. Gunpowder produced the first chemical explosive that forever altered modern warfare. Silva takes us to 1666, when fire truly exposed itself as a double-edged sword, the Great Fire of London burnt down more than 90 churches and 13,000 houses, and more than 100,000 people were brought down to their knees with no place to call home. This devastation gave birth to the first modern city and one of the most enlightening periods in history -- the Industrial Revolution. Flashing forward a couple centuries to 1926 in the New World, American scientist Robert Goddard was the earliest pioneer of space technology, having created the first modern rocket, which was the basis of today’s spacecrafts that gave rise to satellites and modern communication.
In ORIGINS, Silva is our tour guide through these hypnotic symphonies transporting viewers throughout time. Additional topics covered in the premiere season include medicine, money, war, communication, shelter, exploration and transportation.
ORIGINS: The Journey of Humankind is produced by Asylum Entertainment for National Geographic. For Asylum Entertainment, Steve Michaels, Jonathan Koch, Ryann Lauckner, Simon George, Kurt Sayenga, Mark Monroe and Ben Bitonti are executive producers. For Melodysheep, John Boswell is executive producer. For National Geographic, Tim Pastore, Michel J. Miller and Kevin Tao Mohs are executive producers.
For more information, visit our press room at natgeotvpressroom.com.
About National Geographic Partners LLC:
National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between National Geographic and 21st Century Fox, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic’s media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children’s media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 129 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers … and reaching over 730 million people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the non-profit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.
About Asylum Entertainment:
In its 15 years, Asylum Entertainment has produced a diverse slate of television long-form, features, documentaries and unscripted series, totaling thousands of hours of programming. The company has been honored with much critical acclaim and multiple award nominations for excellence in filmmaking. Asylum's lifeblood is its unscripted fare, and the company's robust factual exploits include critically acclaimed National Geographic Channel series Breakthrough and feature documentary Happy Valley. Additional series include Finding My Father; Codependent; Being Mike Tyson; Gangsters: America's Most Evil; scripted limited series The Kennedys (starring Greg Kinnear, Katie Holmes, Tom Wilkinson and Barry Pepper), which won four of the 10 Emmy Awards for which it was nominated; Ring of Fire (starring Jewel as June Carter Cash), which garnered four more Emmy nods; as well as several others. Asylum is a wholly owned subsidiary of the prolific feature film studio Legendary Entertainment.
