Plot Synopsis

Dr. Bob Ballard, best known for his work finding and exploring the Titanic, hosts this five-part event, which reveals what really happens thousands of feet beneath the surface of the Earth's oceans. Dr. Ballard and a team of experts -- including Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin; TV personality Bill Nye the Science Guy; and oceanographers, climatologists, professional surfers, fishermen and boat pilots -- travel the world, seeking answers to questions at the root of earth and humanity. To find these answers, Dr. Ballard visits breathtaking sites from volcanoes submerged more than 3,000 feet beneath the Hawaiian islands, to shipwrecks on forgotten ancient Greek trade routes, to cracks in the ocean floor where red-hot magma pours into open water, with cameras capturing never-before-seen rock formations, lava vents and unusual species that call the ocean bottom home. The five episodes are: "Fires of Creation," which highlights his trip from the top of Mauna Kea volcano to the crown of Loihi, its submerged cousin known as the youngest volcano in the Hawaiian Archipelago, showing how heat and magma bubble up to create life and new land masses; "Wrecks of the Abyss," which documents his deep-water search for ancient shipwrecks in the Mediterranean, informing our understanding of maritime travel from Greece to Egypt in the ancient world; "It's Alive," which features his search for life in the darkness and chill of waters thousands of feet beneath the surface on the slopes of the Mid-Ocean ridges, where molten lava superheats the ocean, mixing in the nutrients for marine life that has adapted to the harsh environment; "Ocean's Fury," which seeks to understand whether the ocean is growing more dangerous by the day and how rogue waves are getting larger and more frequent on the seas; and "Inner vs. Outer Space," which explores how the Earth's waters -- and not outer space -- may be the key to long-term survival of the human race.