ALIEN PLANET takes viewers on a dramatic virtual mission of the future – a trip to a fictional planet known as Darwin IV – in the premiere two-hour special ALIEN PLANET.

Rooted in the latest scientific research from the NASA Origins Program, NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Planet-Finder Mission and European Space Agency’s Darwin Project, this computer-animated program features some of the world’s most renowned scientists, including Stephen W. Hawking, Michio Kaku and J. Craig Venter, as well as celebrated Star Wars filmmaker George Lucas. They will discuss the possibilities of life outside our solar system and deconstruct the animals on Darwin IV based on the laws of evolution and physics.

Michio Kaku, one of the founders of string theory and professor at City University of New York, notes, “Chances are, when we meet intelligent life forms in outer space, they're going to be descended from predators.”

Visually based on author/artist Wayne Barlowe’s book Expedition, and rooted in real-life exploratory endeavours, scientists have designed the planet of Darwin IV (which itself lies in a known star system), the probes and the spacecraft, and even the various life forms found on the planet. The mission is brought to vivid life via state-of-the-art computer animation and visual effects by Meteor Studios, the creative team behind the Emmy^® Award-nominated When Dinosaurs Roamed.

Among the scientists and others who comment on the mission to Darwin IV are Hawking; Venter; Kaku; Jack Horner, palaeontologist, Montana State University; and Star Wars filmmaker George Lucas. The scientists and evolutionary biologists who developed the mission and its possible results include Garvin; Victoria Meadows, research scientist, NASA/JPL Virtual Planet Laboratory; Randy Pollock, space instrumentation system architect, Hamilton Sundstrand; Joan Horvath, executive director, Global Space League; James Kirkland, state palaeontologist, Utah Geological Survey; David Moriarty, professor, Biological Sciences Department, California State Polytechnic University; and Curtis Clark, professor, Biological Sciences Department, California State Polytechnic University.

The producer of ALIEN PLANET is John Copeland (Babylon 5). Executive Producer for Discovery Channel is Tomi Landis. Executive producers for Evergreen Films are Pierre de Lespinois and Frances LoCascio. Animation and visual effects by Meteor Studios. The writers are Peter Crabbe and Steve Eder. The programme is an Evergreen Films/Discovery Channel co-production.