Extreme Machines

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Extreme Machines
Narrated by William Hootkins
Music byRoger Bolton (Season 1)

Justin Nicholls (Season 1-3)

Guy Dagul (Season 4-5)
Country of origin United States of America
No. of seasons5
Production
Production company Pioneer Productions
Original release
Network The Learning Channel Discovery Channel
Release1997 (1997) 
2002 (2002)

Extreme Machines was a documentary series created by Pioneer Productions for The Learning Channel and Discovery Channel. The series focused mainly on machines although in some episodes of Season 4 and Season 5, it also looked at disasters involving them. [1] The series was largely narrated by William Hootkins. The show made also made use of scale miniatures in many episodes, managed by David Barlow. [2] [3]

Contents

Episodes

SeasonsEpisodes
111
212
312
412
510
Specials7

Season 1 (1997)

No. in

Season

Episode TitleTechnology shownEpisode Directed by
1Diving Deep Submersibles
2Choppers AH-64 Apache Hugh Whiteworth
3Hovercrafts Hovercraft
4Image Impossible
5Fastest Man on Earth
6Race CarsHonda HRH V8t (Tasman Motorsports - 1996)

McLaren F1 GTR (Gulf McLaren - 1996)

Hugh Whiteworth [4]
7Rockets Space Shuttle

Energia/Buran

Long March 3B

Ariane 5

V-2 Rocket

R-16/SS-7 Saddler

R-7 Semyorka/SS-6 Sapwood

Vostok, Mercury

Saturn V

DC-XA

Rod Parker [5]
8Roller Coasters
9SpaceplanesSpace Shuttle

DC-XA

VentureStar

Energia/Buran

HOPE-X

Hermes

Rod Parker [6]
10Speed Freaks
11Wheels of Steel TGV

Shinkansen

Mallard

Southern Pacific Daylight

California Zephyr (Pre Amtrak)

Union Pacific Big Boy

Union Pacific Challenger

Acela Express (Concept)

Peru Andes Railline

Nilgiri Mountain Railway

Indian Pacific

Channel Tunnel, Eurostar

London Underground

Transrapid Maglev

Yavar Abbas [7]

Season 2 (1998)

No. in

Season

Episode TitleTechnology ShownEpisode Directed by
1Tanks M1 Abrams
2Motorcycle Mania
3Earth Breakers
4Car Crazy Lotus Elise

Jim Router's F-117 Car

Amphicar

Dutton Mariner

Volkswagen Beetle

General Motors EV1

Drag Racing Cars

Moller Skycar

5Smart Weapons BGM-109 Tomahawk

Fat Man and Little Boy

6Flight Power BAE Harrier II

Hawker Siddeley Harrier

AV-8B Harrier II

Hugh Whiteworth [8]
7Supersonic Landspeed
8Power Boats
9Mega Trucks Komatsu 930E

Shockwave

Volvo ECT

10Four Wheel Force
11Supersight
12Carriers USS John C. Stennis CVN-74 (Nimitz Class Carrier)

F-14B Tomcat

F/A-18C Hornet

EA-6B Prowler

E-2C Hawkeye

S-3B Viking/ES-3A Shadow

SH-60 Seahawk

USS Forrestal CV-59 (Forrestal Class Carrier)

USS Peleliu LHA-5 (Tawara Class Amphibious Carrier)

AV-8B Harrier II

HMS Invincible (R05)

FRS.1/2 Sea Harrier

Hugh Whiteworth [9]

Season 3 (1999)

No. in

Season

Episode TitleTechnology shownEpisode Directed by
1Emergency Vehicles
2 Submarines USS Nebraska SSBN-739 (Ohio Class Submarine)

Typhoon Class Submarine

USS Miami SSN-755 (Improved Los Angless Class Submarine)

Akula Class Submarine

HMS Conqueror S48 (Churchill Class Submarine)

3Speed Freaks II X-15

TGV Atlantique

X-1

Apollo 10

4Ultimate Space Machines
5Ice Master
6The Ultimate Speed machines
7Balloons
8Super Cars
9The Landspeed Record
10Incredible Robots MIT Leg Laboratory

Honda E series robots

Honda P series robots

Surveyor landers

Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner

11Metal Monsters
12Flight of the Future YF-22/F-22 Raptor

YF-23

Su-37 Terminator

Sikorsky Cypher

NASA Liftingbodys

Ekranoplan KM (Caspian Sea Monster)

Boeing 747-400

David Holryod [10]

Season 4 (2000)

No. in

Season

Episode TitleTechnology shownEpisode Directed by
1Pedal Power
2Rocketeers
3Car Crash
4Aviators
5Raiders of the Deep
6Super Trains/Super Trains Ultimate P-40DC Genesis (Amtrak Sunset Limited)

Superliner Railcar (Amtrak Sunset Limited)

Acela Express

Shinkansen

TGV

ICE Train (Eschede train disaster)

Gaisal train disaster

Moorgate crash

Ladbroke Grove rail crash

Yavar Abbas [3]
7Adrenaline Junkies
8Extreme Rides
9Disasters at Sea
10Airships
11Mega Machines
12Jump JetsAV-8B Harrier II

XV-4 Hummingbird

Balzac V

GR.1 Harrier

FRS.1 Sea Harrier

BAE Harrier II

X-35 JSF

X-32 JSF

XV-15/V-22 Osprey

Season 5 (2001)

No. in

Season

Episode TitleTechnology shownEpisode Directed by
1Bridges
2World's Greatest Ships: Power & Glory
3World's Greatest Ships: Dangerous Seas
4Incredible Motorcycle Jumpers
5Ultimate Underwater Machines I

(Submarines)

K-141 Kursk (Oscar II Class Submarine) [11]
6Ultimate Underwater Machines II
7Fear of Flying I

(Crash Landing)

Boeing 747-100 (United Airlines Flight 811)

Boeing 747-400 (Singapore Airlines Flight 006)

Aérospatiale/BAE Concorde (Air France Flight 4590)

Boeing 737-200 (Aloha Airlines Flight 243)

Boeing 707, Vickers VC-10, Douglas DC-8 (Dawson's Field hijackings)

Boeing 767-200ER (Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961)

Boeing 737-300, Fairchild Metroliner (1991 Los Angeles runway collision)

Yavar Abbas [12]
8Fear of Flying II
9World's Tallest Buildings: Fear of Heights
10World's Tallest Buildings: Reach for the Sky World Trade Center (note: this episode aired a month before (August 8, 2001) and mentioned severals subjects similar to the September 11 attacks) [13]

Empire State Building (1945 Empire State Building B-25 crash)

Mike Beckham

Luke Campbell

References

  1. "All Seasons". www.thetvdb.com. Retrieved October 16, 2021.
  2. "About". dbarlow.co.uk. Retrieved October 16, 2021.
  3. 1 2 Extreme Machines, Super Trains - Pioneer Productions
  4. Extreme Racing - IndyCar and Gran Turismo , retrieved May 13, 2023
  5. "Discovery Channel Documentaries - Extreme Machines: Rockets - TheTVDB.com". www.thetvdb.com. Retrieved October 16, 2021.
  6. Spaceplanes - The Ultimate Journey , retrieved October 16, 2021
  7. Extreme Machines,Wheels of Steel (1997) - The Learning Channel
  8. Flight Power - Aircraft History , retrieved October 20, 2021
  9. Extreme Machines, Carriers (1998) - Discovery Channel
  10. Flight of the Future - Science Fiction or Reality , retrieved October 20, 2021
  11. 2001-05-11T16:29:00. "The Making Of Ultimate Underwater Machines". Broadcast. Retrieved June 14, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. Naked Science (August 20, 2014). Fear of Flying - Aircraft Crashes and Hijackings . Retrieved June 16, 2025 via YouTube.
  13. [VHS] Video Home System (April 28, 2025). Reach for the sky: Extreme Machines S5E2 [NO ADS] | Discovery Channel UK, 8th August 2001 | VHS . Retrieved June 15, 2025 via YouTube.