Voyage of the Continents

I would characterize "Voyage of the Continents" as a geohistory series focusing on the transition of Gondwana, and Pangea, into the modern continents. Scientists are introduced and provide commentary but there isn't nearly as much focus on them and their work as in the fashionable "Nova" series. The science is also on the light side compare to, for example, the geology series "How the earth was made."

But it is an engaging series that tells the story of each continent from a plate tectonics point of view. So unless you live in Antarctica there is an episode in the series that will stike close to home.

The series is also facinating as a travelogue. It explains in some detail how scientists know, or at least believe, a certain event in geological history happened. To do that the featured scientists visit rock formation around the word and explain, on the spot, how they were formed and what they mean to the origin of each continent. Some spots are great tourist destinations. Others are on the remotest corners of the Earth.

The series also explains how platatectonics impacts life on earth from mass extinctions to individual species. Episode 7, "Asia: The Tectonics of Life and Death" gives particular insight into platectonics' role in human civilization right up to modern times.