CBC Wild Docs

Armed with seven planes, a ship, 250 scientists and researchers and the best gadgets money can buy, a daring and intrepid group tries to catch the 'perfect storm.' Launching the 2007 season of WILD DOCS! Thunderheads is a thrilling ride that follows pilots and scientists as they battle to better understand the role of thunderstorms in the climate change puzzle. Thunderheads tells the gripping tale of I.C.E.-the 'International Cloud Experiment', a multinational force of 250 people from Australia, Russia, England, Germany and the U.S. as they learn all they can about 'Hector,' one of the largest thunderstorms on the planet. To the scientists, led by thunderstorm guru professor Ed Zipser and NASA branch chief Dave Starr from the U.S., 'Hector' may hold the key to better understanding how thunderstorms affect global warming. Indeed, clouds in general may be the sleeping giants of climate change. They have the ability to both trap heat-and to reflect sunlight back into space. As the Earth heats up, will the planet's cloud cover change? Currently, scientists simply don't know, but part of the answer lies in thunderheads, because they are the clouds that make other clouds. This observational documentary intimately captures the blood, sweat and tears that go into conducting a vast, ambitious and perilous experiment.

A new craze is sweeping Japanese society: dogs. The Japanese bought over one and a half million of them in 2004 alone. And like all fads, this one is bringing with it a boom in canine commerce. Tokyo Dogs takes an inside look at how Japan's new-found affection for dogs is leading to some of the most surprising and unlikely enterprises. In Tokyo, caterers and bakeries specialize in pleasing the picky pooch, offering a dazzling array of gourmet treats, all exquisitely presented according to Japanese custom. Deluxe hotels and relaxation centers provide dogs with an endless array of choices: mixed Jacuzzi where master and dog can unwind together, massage salons, hot baths and Shiatsu massages. One even has a wedding chapel, complete with traditional (dog-sized) marriage costumes and Shinto priest. And they'll even take care of the wedding gifts to boot. From high-fashion dog grooming to GPS dog collars to special dogie funeral homes, the market for canines has taken Tokyo by storm. The land of the rising sun is quickly becoming the land of the pampered dog-where else can you see a dog in a kimono?

Our world might be getting smaller, thanks to technology, but virtual worlds and games are booming. Millions of people venture daily into these new and constantly evolving landscapes where they can conquer mythical armies, slay dragons and embark on other fantastical quests. In the virtual world of Second Life, you can painlessly remake yourself as a slim and blemish-free avatar, chat up strangers, shop, or start a business and make (or lose) real money. A cover of Business Week featured the woman who became the first millionaire by buying and selling virtual property. Some of the world's biggest companies are staking territory in Second Life. They don't want to miss out on what's touted as the Next Big Thing the Internet has to offer-some claim Second Life will be more far-reaching than YouTube or MySpace. You Only Live Twice explores the bizarre frontiers of virtual worlds-taking a skeptical, sometimes-humorous look at their heavily marketed promise and their pitfalls. Viewers will see the inside world of an avatar and meet the key players who make worlds like Second Life go around. Do real-world laws apply in Second Life, and if so, whose? Are virtual worlds the future for shopping and marketing? And why are some psychiatrists and social researchers so keen on experiments in virtual worlds?

Nefertiti and the Lost Dynasty: State of the art science helps unravel the mysteries of one of Egypt's most powerful, beautiful and controversial Queens. Over 3,000 years ago, Nefertiti, the perfect one, and her husband Akhenaten, the radical king, tore ancient Egypt apart. This revolutionary couple shook the foundations of Egypt by overthrowing the government, the capital city, and even replacing the old gods. In less than 20 years, they would turn Egypt upside down and then vanish forever. In Nefertiti and the Lost Dynasty, a determined international team brings state-of-the-art CT scans to the Valley of the Kings, for the second time in history, in pursuit of answers surrounding this mysterious family of pharaohs and their unexplained disappearance. Nefertiti explores the debate that has been raging for decades, and follows the new scientific investigation as they try to determine the identity of a 3000 year old mummy. Could it be the lost Queen Nefertiti?

Over a thousand pounds, with powerful muscles and formidable claws … the world's biggest bears are the largest, strongest land-dwelling carnivores on earth. Adult polar, brown (Grizzly) and black bears can take down prey with a single bite or swipe of the paw. And that's only part of their power: bears can run at amazing speeds, have powerful senses of smell and some of the strongest, most formidable jaws in the animal kingdom. They sport superb weaponry that's essential to their survival as they seek food, territory and mates. And with bears and humans crossing paths more often, it's perhaps never been more important to understand 'bear power'. Ultimate Bear gets as close as anyone dares to the world's biggest bears for a full profile of bear power. The film analyzes footage of predation (and rare attacks on humans) to deconstruct the muscle-and-bone 'mechanics' that endow bears and reveal their exceptional survival secrets. Using CGI combined with cutting-edge dissection and imaging of bear brains, we also look inside these creatures and examine the bio-engineering of the world's biggest bears - endowed not just with size, speed and power but powers of sensory detection that may be the best of any animal on earth. We will also look beyond their sheer size and ferocity - to unpack the real complexity of bear.

Imagine what it's like to be stared at whenever you leave your home…to be bombarded with relentless questions from strangers. Superhuman Giants tells the stories of some of the most extraordinary people on the planet. Only three in every million individuals get to become members of their most exclusive club. These people aren't just tall, they're breaking the seven foot barrier. Find out how the human body grows to such an exceptional height? How do they fit in? And can they find love? Find out what it's like to live as a GIANT.

What started as circles juxtaposed to create a head, body and ears evolved into one of the most famous and beloved characters of all time - Mickey Mouse. Leading a team of talented artists, Mickey's legendary designer went on to create such memorable characters as Dumbo, Sleeping Beauty and Pinnochio among many others. CBC NEWS: THE PASSIONATE EYE explores the inspiration and evolution of some of the world's most famous animated characters in Walt Disney: Once Upon a Time. The documentary retraces the creative saga of Disney, a pop culture genius responsible for inventing a cinema art-form. After taking a long journey across Europe, Disney returned with hundreds of illustrated books and engravings, a treasure trove that was to serve as a major source for the creation of his animated feature films. Using a cartoon-style tone and rhythm, the documentary unfolds as an investigation into Disney's creative mind through an orchestration of 3-D animated sequences, photos and archival footage, interspersed with interviews, and clips from the most famous of Disney films such as The Jungle Book, Fantasia, Bambi, Sleeping Beauty and Dumbo... films most of us have been enchanted by at some point in our lives. Walt Disney: Once Upon a Time is directed by Samuel Doux and written by Samuel Doux and Carlo de Boutiny. It is a production of Les Films d'Ici, La Réunion des Musées Nationaux, The Walt Disney Company (France) in association with Arte France .

A six-foot alligator ends up dead inside the belly of a 13-foot python…it is the stuff urban legends are made of but viewers will have no choice but to believe when they witness the unthinkable. It's a battle nature never intended, but as a whole host of exotic species invade and multiply in Florida's Everglades, the ensuing battles seem to be increasingly pitting huge alien creatures against native apex predators. Everything from Burmese pythons to Nile monitor lizards are infiltrating Florida's swamp lands. Already, the aliens have breached the defenses and are marching onward inciting a ferocious turf war. Since 2000, more than 140,000 Burmese pythons have been legally imported into the U.S. as exotic pets. But these alien darlings soon become colossal, dangerous beasts and many owners find it easier to abandon them in the swampy marshes. Is there any hope for Florida's last bastion of wild paradise? National Geographic fuses science, forensics and natural history to deconstruct the bizarre encounter between a native gator and a massive Burmese python. Filmmakers recreate the grisly autopsy and work through tantalizing clues and at the story's climax, scientists use the evidence to reconstruct exactly what happened during that epic clash. Could an entire army of alien species be poised to conquer, kill and take over the Florida Everglades?

You don't have to go to the jungles of Madagascar to be dazzled by exotic mating rituals and ferocious insect appetites. Just outside your back door there exists a world full of heated passions, brutal violence and other worldly beauty. Go out into your garden and pull back a leaf, any leaf, and have a look at a world far stranger than any storyline ever dreamed up on the 'X-Files'. Welcome to The Secret World of Gardens - a place where the familiar is revealed to be strangely alien. This is 'Survivor' in the garden. Using macro-lenses and time-lapse photography, our plant paparazzi uncover the extraordinary secret life concealed in a common garden. With a dizzying shift of perspective, grasses become towering forests and beetles labor away as armored, devouring giants. From the ravages of bloodthirsty predators to the exotic mating rituals of blossoms this striking documentary shot in Super 16mm film gives viewers a ringside seat on the floor of their garden to witness the cycles of life and death that somersault throughout the season in their own backyards. In early spring, the garden troops emerge on the scene. A communal group of ladybugs starts to wake from their snowy slumber and stretch their legs; their red backs in sharp contrast to the crisp white snow that slowly melts as they begin to stir. Bumblebees loudly trumpet their arrival and descend en mass into orchards to bombard pollen sources in dawn to dusk raids as icicles drip off their last icy breaths, and an 8-year old toad digs his way up through the soil to once again witness the renewal of Spring. Plants burst forth from the ground as though they have held their breath all winter long and now is the time to erupt on to the scene with one big exhale, vines tenderly reach for the skies and flowers crack open in breathtaking time-lapse photography. As summer gets into full swing we follow the lives, loves and mishaps of our characters as they battle it out in the garden for survival.

Rogue waves have caused some of the world's worst naval disasters in our history. These destructive forces are not to be confused with tsunamis or tidal waves, and are not caused by earthquakes or landslides. They are massive, towering walls of water that rise from within the sea, offer no warning to those at their mercy and have baffled scientists for centuries. Rogue Waves is a one-hour documentary that combines the dramatic tales of rogue wave disasters over the course of history, with scientific investigation and groundbreaking technology to help us better understand their nature. Through the use of wave tanks and satellite images, Rogue Waves gives viewers insight into the origins of this powerful, unstoppable force, why they strike out of seemingly calm seas and the means scientists are using to better forecast them before disaster strikes.

Traveling faster than a speeding bullet and burning five times hotter than the surface of the sun, lightning can strike humans dead and unexpectedly. Explore the science behind the deadly and mysterious occurrence in Human Voltage: Struck By Lightning. The film follows the stories of three lightning victims - one a recent victim and two others plagued with unusual long term consequences. Tim Samaras, a storm chaser uses a one-ton camera to take viewers into the heart of a lightning storm to capture a whole new picture of lightning. Human Voltage: Struck By Lightning also explores new discoveries in lightening science and innovative brain imaging technology to find out what really happens when lightning strikes the human body.

Monster pumpkins - the obsession of extreme gardeners hoping to grow a world-record holder for competition at the Mr. Universe of horticulture. The extreme gardeners who enter the annual Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off have one obsessive ambition: To grow a world record 1500-pound pumpkin and thus enter the hallowed halls of gardening glory. These gurus of the gourd nurture their fruits through harsh weather, animal attacks, and even vandalism to produce glorious pumpkins of monster proportion. Some call growing giant vegetables for competitions a hobby, others call it a sport, most call it an obsession. We encounter quirky and endearing growers who tend, pamper and coddle their plants as if they are children; coaxing them to grow to unnatural proportions. Of course, there are rumors of creative techniques used by determined growers -- people who'll go to any lengths to raise a winner: spraying the fruit with milk or injecting it directly into the flesh, cradling the pumpkin in its own hammock, talking to it, surrounding the pumpkin patch with end-to-end mousetraps. Some contenders take to sleeping in the garden in the final days before competition to ward off saboteurs. And of course, the growers must diligently fend off the vicious natural enemy of the pumpkin - the woodchuck. We follow Joe Pukos and his fellow competitors through the final harrowing days of harvest and then the long journey across state with the bulging behemoths strapped into the back of their pick-ups. Joe is a real contender for the top prize - at least until last minute rumors circulate that another grower has a pumpkin that will break the world record. At the Cooperstown, New York weigh-off, the massive pumpkins are hoisted one by one onto the competition scales and the moment of truth finally arrives.