''How The Universe Works'' is a science documentary television series that provides scientific explanations about the inner workings of the

universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from s ...

and

everything Everything, every-thing, or every thing, is all that exists; it is an antithesis of ''nothing'', or its complement. It is the totality of things relevant to some subject matter. Without expressed or implied limits, it may refer to . The uni ...

it encompasses. With the use of

computer-generated imagery Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is a specific-technology or application of computer graphics for creating or improving images in Digital art, art, Publishing, printed media, Training simulation, simulators, videos and video games. These images ...

(CGI) and

visual effects Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated as VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live-action footage and other live-action fo ...

, each episode presents and narrates a topic about the universe (e.g.: the

origin of the universe Cosmogony is any model concerning the origin of the cosmos or the universe. Overview Scientific theories In astronomy, cosmogony is the study of the origin of particular astrophysical objects or systems, and is most commonly used in re ...

, the formation and the evolution of the Solar System, and the

origin Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * ''The Origin'' (Buffy comic), a 1999 ''Buffy the Vampire Sl ...

and behavior of life), which then are complemented with scientific insights from leading scientists of organizations such as

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

and

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in Meyrin, western suburb of Gene ...

. The series originally aired on the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

in 2010. It features different narrators for each episode per season, specifically

Mike Rowe Michael Gregory Rowe (born March 18, 1962) is an American television host and narrator. He is known for his work on the Discovery Channel series '' Dirty Jobs'' and the series '' Somebody's Gotta Do It'' originally developed for CNN. He hosted ...

, Erik Todd Dellums, and

Richard Lintern Richard Charles Lintern (born 8 October 1962) is an English stage, voice and screen actor. Early life Lintern was born in Taunton, Somerset. He studied English Literature at Durham University. He subsequently won a scholarship to the Royal Aca ...

. Rowe, who narrated the first season of the show, liked to think that the idea of changing narrators through several seasons were "a collision of alternative universes," that "the same TV show narrated by me in this universe, could be narrated by someone else in an alternative universe." The first season, which was broadcast on the Discovery Channel from April 25 to May 24, 2010, was released on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

on February 28, 2012. Since its second season, consisting of eight episodes broadcast between July 11 and August 29, 2012, the show has aired on the

Science Channel Science Channel (often simply branded as Science; abbreviated to SCI) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel features programming focusing on science related to wilderness survival, engineering, manu ...

. The third season aired between July 9 and September 3, 2014. The fourth season premiered on July 14, 2015, as part of the Science Channel's "Space Week," in honor of ''

New Horizons ''New Horizons'' is an Interplanetary spaceflight, interplanetary space probe launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research Institut ...

''' flyby of

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of Trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Su ...

that day; the season ran through September 1, 2015. The show's fifth season aired from November 22, 2016, through February 7, 2017. The sixth season premiered on January 9, 2018, and ran through March 13, 2018. The seventh season premiered on January 8, 2019. On December 30, 2019, it was announced that the eighth season would premiere on January 2, 2020. The ninth season premiered on March 24, 2021. The tenth season premiered on March 6, 2022. The eleventh season premiered on March 5, 2023. According to the site ''The Futon Critic'', ever since its eleventh season run ended, the show is still on hiatus, as no new seasons of the show has ever been announced. Hence, it is possible that the said documentary series has been canceled.

Episode list

Season 1 (2010)

Season 2 (2012)

Season 3 (2014)

Season 4 (2015)

Season 5 (2016–17)

Season 6 (2018)

Season 7 (2019)

Season 8 (2020)

In the UK version of the series, there are two episodes of Season 8 which are not included in its US counterpart. These episodes are as follows:

Season 9 (2021)

Season 10 (2022)

Season 11 (2023)

Note: In the UK version of this series, the aforementioned episodes are still part of its tenth season run. This information is backed up by a 10-episode production order for Season 10 as posted on the official Pioneer Productions site.

References

External links

* by

(

) * {{Portal bar, Television, United States, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System, Science 2010 American television series debuts 2010s American documentary television series 2020s American documentary television series Discovery Channel original programming Documentary television series about astronomy Science Channel original programming