''Aliens of the Deep'' is a 2005 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

directed in part by James Cameron alongside fellow cameraman and friend

Steven Quale Steven Quale is an American film director, known for ''Final Destination 5'' and '' Into the Storm'', as well as his earlier work as a second unit director for James Cameron. Filmography Director *''Darkness'' (1988) *''Superfire'' (2002) *'' Al ...

, and filmed in the IMAX 3D format. It was produced by

Walden Media Walden Media, LLC or Walden Media is an American film investor, distributor, and publishing company. Its films are based on children's literature, biographies or historical events, as well as documentaries and some original screenplays. The corpo ...

and

Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios unit ...

. Cameron teams with

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

scientists to explore the

mid-ocean ridge A mid-ocean ridge (MOR) is a seafloor mountain system formed by plate tectonics. It typically has a depth of about and rises about above the deepest portion of an ocean basin. This feature is where seafloor spreading takes place along a diver ...

s, submerged chains of mountains in the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

and

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

oceans that are home to some of the planet's more unusual forms of life. It was released on DVD on November 1, 2005.

Synopsis

Cameron joins up aboard the Russian research vessel ''

Akademik Mstislav Keldysh The R/V ''Akademik Mstislav Keldysh'' (russian: Академик Мстислав Келдыш) is a 6,240 ton Russian scientific research vessel. It has made over 50 voyages, and is best known as the support vessel of the ''Mir'' submersibles. ...

'' with a group of

scientists, as well as some American

marine biologists Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifie ...

, to investigate ten hydrothermal vents in both the Atlantic and Pacific. The vents have their own unique

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

, which support diverse

organism In biology, an organism () is any living system that functions as an individual entity. All organisms are composed of cells (cell theory). Organisms are classified by taxonomy into groups such as multicellular animals, plants, and ...

s such as giant tube worms, swarms of blind white crabs, and vast amounts of shrimp which are capable of "seeing" water that is heated by the vents. These creatures do not require sunlight like other organisms, and instead obtain their energy from the vents. They are able to survive in the superheated and sulfurous water. Because of this, the documentary suggests that this is what life beyond

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

might look like. As some

alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

ecosystems are likely to be a lot harsher than a typical

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

ecosystem, these exotic vents provide an insight into some of the forms that alien life might take. The documentary shows Cameron's passion for exploring the oceans, as well as his interest in extraterrestrial life. It also showcases the technology employed to reach such depths. The film is similar to Cameron's earlier documentary, ''

Ghosts of the Abyss ''Ghosts of the Abyss'' is a 2003 American documentary film produced by Walden Media and released in most countries by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by James Cameron after his 1997 film ''Titanic''. During August and September 2001, Camer ...

'' (2003), which involves him journeying to the wreck of the RMS ''Titanic''. It too was filmed in the 3-D IMAX format.

References

* – The companion book to the film *

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aliens Of The Deep 2005 films 2005 documentary films Walt Disney Pictures films Disney documentary films Films directed by James Cameron Walden Media films 2005 3D films American 3D films 3D short films Films directed by Steven Quale IMAX documentary films 3D documentary films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films

Synopsis

See also

References

External links