The BEST episodes of Explorer

#1 - 24 Hours After Hiroshima

Season 2010 - Episode 10 - Aired 8/17/2010

Explorer tells the second-by-second story of a moment that changed the world forever: the dropping of the atomic bomb on August 6, 1945. Through the eyes of those in the air and on the ground, including the last interview with the weapons test officer who armed the bomb, we'll experience the events as they unfolded that tragic day.

#2 - Electronic Armageddon

Season 2010 - Episode 7 - Aired 5/15/2010

What do future presidents need to know about existential dangers this country could face? Explorer investigates the science behind the dangers of a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse, or HEMP. Picture an instantaneous deathblow to the vital engines that power our society, delivered by a nuclear weapon designed not to kill humans but to attack electronics. What could happen if an electromagnetic pulse surged to earth, crippling every aspect of modern society's infrastructure?

#3 - The Last Days of Osama Bin Laden

Season 2011 - Episode 14 - Aired 11/30/2011

CNN Correspondent Peter Bergen travels to Afghanistan to interview key players and reveals never-before-told facts that tell the real story of Bin Laden's final moments.

#4 - 24 Hours After Asteroid Impact

Season 2009 - Episode 17 - Aired 11/17/2009

Explorer travels back 66 million years to break down the chain of events that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs and changed the world forever. Visit a high-tech NASA lab where scientists use new technology to recreate the force of the blast and reveal the likely cascade of effects of the catastrophic impact.

#5 - Call of the Wild

Season 2016 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/10/2016

More than half the world lives in urban environments, but some people are reaching back to the land and carving out lives in the wilderness.

#6 - Lost Subs: Disaster At Sea

Season 2002 - Episode 6 - Aired 7/28/2002

Explorer examines four submarine disasters: Russia's Kursk, the USS Squalus, Soviet K-19, and the USS Thresher.

#7 - The Cult of Mary

Season 2015 - Episode 4 - Aired 12/13/2015

From a small community in Alabama to thousands of people gathering in Mexico, Mary draws millions of people to shrines and sustains religious tourism. This is a journey into the heart of modern-day Mary devotion around the world.

#8 - Bill Nye's Global Meltdown

Season 2015 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/1/2015

Bill Nye experiences the five stages of climate change grief – from denial to acceptance – and along the way, he’ll explore what’s gone wrong with our planet and how we can start to turn things around.

#9 - Legend of the Monkey God

Season 2015 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/4/2015

Exploring Mosquita, the largest untouched rainforest in Central America where legends swirl of a white city buried inland.

#10 - Warlords of Ivory

Season 2015 - Episode 1 - Aired 8/30/2015

Investigative journalist Bryan Christy is setting out on a groundbreaking mission to expose how the ivory trade funds some of Africa’s most notorious militias and terrorist groups. Working with one of the world’s top taxidermists, he conceals a sophisticated GPS tracker inside an incredibly realistic faux ivory tusk and drops it in the heart of ivory poaching country and monitors its movements to track down the kingpins of the ivory trade.

#11 - Intrigue in Istanbul

Season 1997 - Episode 3 - Aired 5/25/1997

While London was a swamp, and Paris, a fishing village, Istanbul, then known as Constantinople, reigned for a thousand years as the world's richest city. At the crossroads of Europe and Asia, it amassed more gold than both continents combined, and safeguarded Christendom's most sacred relics, including the True Cross and heads of the Apostles. The largest walls ever created protected Istanbul's treasures from endless waves of invaders. Immerse yourself in the city that has endured more warfare than any other place on Earth: Istanbul. The world's oldest city, which spans the continents of Europe and Asia, holds many stories of intrigue. Spies, invaders and some of history's most diabolical minds plotted to seize Istanbul, and with it, rule the world.

#12 - Search for the Afghan Girl

Season 2002 - Episode 3 - Aired 3/15/2002

The fascinating journey to find the mysterious "Afghan Girl" whose haunting gaze captivated the world in a NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine cover.

#13 - Emperors Of The Ice

Season 2005 - Episode 16 - Aired 12/31/2004

#14 - Whales In Crisis

Season 2005 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/31/2004

Of all the world creatures, nothing is larger....

#15 - Arctic Kingdom - Life at the Edge

Season 1995 - Episode 2 - Aired 5/15/1995

Stalk the Arctic ice with the fiercest predator, the polar bear, as it prowls one of the most forbidding places on the planet: a hidden kingdom of magnificent creatures. Armed with a keen sense of smell and backed up by 1,700 pounds, fur and fangs, the polar bear stands alone at the top of the food chain. Yet many other hunters manage to survive in and around harsh Arctic waters from the savvy arctic fox to the massive, whiskered walrus. And when the spring comes to the Artic, there is an extraordinary explosion of life - rarely seen anywhere else on earth. Returning to the fridged waters come some of the world's most unusual beasts, the ghostly white Bulaga Whale, the endangered bowhead whale, the Narwal with its 23-foot tusk. And hidden beneath the violent, shifting ice lies a secret world of strange creatures that patrol dark sea floors on the carcasses of the dead... and each other. The Arctic ice is revealed as a place of danger and drama as animals are stranded on frozen waters, trapped between moving sheets of ice, and caught in the struggle to survive. Brave the worst that nature has to offer.

#16 - The New Chimpanzees

Season 1995 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/6/1995

Chimpanzees, so like us.....

#17 - Ocean Drifters

Season 1993 - Episode 7 - Aired 8/1/1993

This National Geographic documentary examines the numerous species of aquatic life that use the oceans' currents to travel the globe. Cameras follow several of these underwater highways, showing sea turtles, portuguese men-of-war, giant squid and the hundreds of other creatures as they chase and prey on each other.

#18 - Jewels of the Caribbean Sea

Season 1994 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/13/1994

#19 - Episode 4

Season 2016 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/5/2016

EXPLORER investigates Russian gender camps and Uganda’s Hollywood and blows up a bus for science. David Banner, Chris Kluwe and Gavin Mcinnes debate the meaning of manhood.

#20 - Eyes Wide Open

Season 2016 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/14/2016

The human eye is an impressive organ, but animal eyes are far more powerful than ours and are crucial for survival in the wild.

#21 - Fighting ISIS

Season 2016 - Episode 3 - Aired 3/6/2016

Today, ISIS controls over a third of Iraq. The Kurds and their underdog army defend their home against the world’s most feared and ruthless threat.

#22 - Faces of Death

Season 2016 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/3/2016

From Indonesians who mummify their dead, to Tibetans who chop up corpses and feed them to vultures, explore the world's unusual death rituals.

#23 - Blood Antiquities

Season 2016 - Episode 6 - Aired 6/5/2016

Explorer investigates an illicit pipeline of ancient Syrian treasures that have been plundered by Islamic State militants and sold in private markets.

#24 - The Battle for Midway

Season 1999 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/14/1999

National Geographic follows underwater explorer Bob Ballard as he searches for the aircraft carrier sunk during the Battle of Midway.

#25 - The Man Who Swims with Crocodiles

Season 2013 - Episode 3 - Aired 2/14/2013

The Man Who Swims with Crocodiles Documentary following Chito, a Costa Rican fisherman who is one of the only men ever known to tame a crocodile with people travelling from all over the country to marvel at their bond. He nursed the animal back to health after discovering him blinded by the bullet of a hunter over 20 years ago. Feeling strongly compelled to investigate these legends first hand, Roger Horrocks visits a Costa Rican shaman, “Chito” that swims with a giant croc and even rides on the back of the ancient reptile. This and many other stories confirms Roger’s belief that these giant crocodiles have the ability of showing emotion and creating connections with human beings, an otherwise impossible notion in the crocodile’s long history.