What if aliens landed on Earth? Much of science fiction explores the moment of first contact – what will people do when the aliens land? From H. G. Wells’ pioneering The War of the Worlds to Independence Day, Men in Black, and District 9, Invasion deals with our fears of alien invasions of earth. David Tennant explains the appeal of Doctor Who’s Daleks and Cybermen while John Carpenter and Chris Carter explore the rich appeal of the paranoia fuelled by hidden aliens with The Thing and The X-Files. It also asks, what if the monsters were our own creation? With the aid of rarely seen animation tests, Phil Tippett takes us behind the scenes in the creation of the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park. But not all invasions are hostile. Peter Coyote and Richard Dreyfuss discuss the creation of Spielberg’s spellbinding classics E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. There is more than one kind of invasion.

Is God worshipped in other worlds, across the cosmos? How might alien deities differ from our own? The answer may lie buried on Earth. Animal behaviorists are testing elephants and finding them capable of having spiritual thoughts. Artificial intelligence researchers are building enlightened robots that contemplate the divine. Meanwhile, cosmologists are looking for universal equations that could replace God. Have advanced aliens discovered everything there is to know about the universe? Or are they looking to a higher power for answers?

Most planets we know of are so hellish, it seems impossible that anything could live. But it's amazing where life can take hold in the Earth. Astrobiologists look for simple single-celled microbes known as extremophiles in places as Danakil Depression, known in Ethiopia as 'The Gateway to Hell.'
In Episode 2, the fictional world is Janus, a planet in such a close orbit than its rotation is locked by the star's gravity and it always shows the same face to its sun. On one side of the planet, it's always daytime, a searing desert. On the other side, it's forever night, a frozen shadowland. Squeezed between the two, a sliver of perpetual twilight. Freezing meltwater flows from the cold side, carving canyons through the landscape. Deep in these canyons lives an extraordinary five-legged creature.

Alejandro Jodorowsky's daring and psychedelic films of the early 1970's, 'El Topo' and 'The Holy Mountain', cemented his status as the Godfather of the Midnight Movie. In 1974, he began work on his next film, possibly the most ambitious film ever attempted. In the pre-Star War era, Jodorowsky’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel DUNE was poised to change cinema forever. His DUNE would star Brontis Jodorowsky, Alejandro's own 12 year old son, alongside Orson Welles, Mick Jagger, David Carradine and even Salvador Dali. The team of assembled visual artists were some of the most provocative talents of the era, including H.R. Giger, Chris Foss, and Jean ‘Moebius’ Giraud. The groundbreaking special effects were under the control of Dan O'Bannon and the soundtrack would be created by Pink Floyd and the French prog-rock masters, Magma.
For two years, Jodorowsky and his team of 'Spiritual Warriors' worked night and day on the massive task of creating the fabulous world of DUNE. In order to secure the necessary Hollywood funding, they created over 3,000 storyboards, numerous paintings, incredible costumes, and an outrageous, moving, and powerful screenplay. In the words of Jodorowsky’s producer, Michel Seydoux, 'It should have been enough. But it wasn’t.' Through intimate and honest conversations with Jodorowsky, filmed over the span of three years, plus interviews with legends and luminaries including H.R. Giger (artist, ALIEN), Gary Kurtz (producer, STAR WARS) and Nicolas Winding Refn (director, DRIVE and THE NEON DEMON), as well as never-before-seen realizations of Jodorowsky’s mind-blowing psychedelic space opera, director Pavich's film finally unearths the full saga of 'THE GREATEST MOVIE NEVER MADE'.

Chris Lintott and Maggie Aderin-Pocock report on the reaction to the dramatic announcement of the discovery of phosphine gas in the clouds of Venus, a gas that could be a sign of life. Venus remains an inhospitable and unlikely host. But if not Venus, where in the solar system is the best place to look for alien life? Chris and Maggie investigate the latest missions to Mars and the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Away from the search for life, Pete Lawrencepreviews the best meteor showers of the year.

An in-depth voyage into the sci-fi film 'Alien' with the visionary filmmakers who created it. See how one of the most terrifying movies of all time came to life 40 years ago and the untold origin story behind Ridley Scott's movie.
It was rooted in Greek and Egyptian mythologies and in our universal fears, and the history was inspired by underground comics, the art of Francis Bacon, and the dark visions of Dan O'Bannon and H.R. Giger. The documentary is a contemplation on the symbiotic collaborative process of movie-making, the power of myth, and our collective unconscious.