Origins: The Journey of Humankind

Origins: The Journey of Humankind

Origins Ep 5 Promo

Season 1
00:30

Synopsis

We travel back in time across the entire sweep of human history on a quest to discover the “ORIGIN” moments that that truly made us modern. These are the “Quantum Leaps”, or “Next Big Things”. No matter what point on the human timeline we connect with, be it 15,000 B.C, 1666 A.D, 1918, and yes, even today the men and women living in that moment truly believed that they were at the “Crown of Creation” – that they were the most technologically advanced, sophisticated creatures on the planet. And they were right. But then, something new happened......and that something new would change everything – for them – and for us. There has always been a Steve Jobs working, creating, innovating at any given time. We are embarking on an epic journey to discover them, witness their process of creation, and then place the products of their genius on the proper pedestal. Award-winning feature film directors create the dramatic reenactments, and leading Visual Artist John Boswell designs and executes the eye-popping montages – called “Symphonies” – that whisk us through history, Origins is a new kind of “time travel” adventure - a search for this the profoundly important “New.” And the surprising connections between these “Quantum Leaps” also play an important role in our exploration. Each of these “Next Big Things” have been identified in consultation with the world’s leading authors and scholars in their respective fields. They have never been asked precisely these questions before – so in many profound ways, ORIGINS represents a “Quantum Leap” of its own – as we are adding to, not just reinterpreting, how these scholars look at our world. It’s like a best-selling “Malcom Gladwell” book – work that throws down information that is simultaneously revelatory and strangely familiar. It is this kind of “Google Proof” factual connectivity that we are aiming for – and with our consultants, achieving. ORIGINS boldly goes where no franchise has gone before to put the past together in such a way that viewers can never look at their future the same way again.

Clips

Episodes

Season 1

  • Spark of Civilization

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    We are the Fire Species. Harnessing fire gave us the power to create, to destroy and to transform. But it also taught us hard lessons about what we can and cannot control. This is the story of how fire transformed our biology and carried us from the savannah to the Moon. This is ORIGINS.

  • Cheating Death

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    "The human species is in an escalating arms race with super-bugs and super-viruses: living organisms that attack our bodies, adapt to our treatments, evolve and fight back. Though we've made incredible strides in modern science, we may have to look back to move forward. Can the lessons learned in the past help defeat these modern day plagues? This is ORIGINS."

  • The Writing on the Wall

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    Communication powers the modern world. Through wireless connections and mobile phones, billions of people can make their voices and ideas heard around the globe. It's something the human race has been striving for since the dawn of our species. How did we become a race of connectors? This is ORIGINS.

  • Progress of War

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    Statistically, we are less violent as a species than any time in our history?yet we seem to be in a constant state of war. Is this a disastrous flaw in humanity, or do humans need war to evolve? From primitive massacres to modern day superpowers, this is the story of how we have waged war and won peace, and how those battles continue to push us into the future. This is Origins.

  • Power of Money

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    Money is the most successful story imagined by humans, because it's the only story everyone believes. From a simple act of trade to the greed for gold to today's global economy, the meaning of money and what we value changes as civilization evolves. If modern money is a reflection of who we are, what does it say about us? This is ORIGINS.

  • Building the Future

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    The story of shelter is the story of learning to live together. What makes a modern house makes a modern world: a place to dream of, an idea to aspire to, a safe space to call home. Shelter is also the story of how humans shaped the world, pushed back against Nature and customized it to our needs. The result is something uniquely us, uniquely modern. The end result is civilization. This is ORIGINS.

  • Into The Unknown

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    From the tops of mountains to the ocean floor, across great stretches of desert to the farthest-flung places in the galaxy, explorers have laid the foundations of the modern world by going where no one had ever gone before. This is the story of how our primal curiosity has driven us, and continues to drive us, to risk our lives time and time again in the name of uncovering the unknown. This is ORIGINS.

  • The Road Ahead

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    We've always been a species on the move, forever creating ways to erase time and distance - running, riding, driving, flying - beating paths from foot trails to outer space. The roads we've taken to conquer space and time have fundamentally changed us. And the quest to master earth and sky continues, as we create even faster, more efficient ways to get from here to there. This is ORIGINS.