How the Earth Was Made (The History Channel) (2007)

"Though the scope of the film is awfully large...[it] covers its bases surprisingly well, taking viewers through a step-by-step evolution of our planet.  Adam Arseneau, DVD Verdict
"Anyone with even the slightest interest in science and "deep" history will find a treasure trove of information here.  David Cornelius, DVD Talk

Editor's Note This ambitious program from the History Channel takes a look at how the Earth was formed. Some computer-generated reconstructions of how the planet slowly evolved are included, and the footage also features an examination of various parts of the Earth's surface, which reveal fascinating clues as to how the globe was created.

The History Channel - Producer

PopMatters 6 of 10
The History Channel's How the Earth was Made makes a valiant effort to provide a crash course in the history and evolution of our planet, and mostly succeeds. Cramming as much bewildering detail and fact into 90 minutes as is possible, the program takes us from the point of conception 4.5 billion years ago, when the earth was just a swirling amorphous blob of gas and dust, to the much more environmentally stable (though not actually, as it turns out) present...I made a point in a previous review about the History Channel's series The Universe that it seemed that the universe was doing everything in its power to wipe us out...But it seems our own planet is in league against us, as well--and we don't even get to pick our own poison. Death from without, death from within? Death by ice, death by fire, death by a massive intergalactic gamma ray burst? In the end it's all the same...But seriously, How the Earth was Made is just too fascinating and rich to leave one dwelling on such morbid thoughts. If the program has any faults, it may be its economy. A mere 90 minutes is far to brief to tackle such an enormous subject, and the show is so densely packed, and moves so quickly, that it tends to overwhelm. It invites lots of head scratching, rewinding and entire rewatching. I did a lot of this myself, I still don't think I've digested it all, or realistically will. But that's not really the point...The cumulative effect of these types of programs, whether cosmological or geological, is to humble us, to reinforce the point that we do not occupy a central special place in the universe, or even on Earth; that we are not pinnacle evolution; that in the grand scheme of things, we may just barely register at all. Which, I realize, might sound all sorts of depressing and giving into inertia and indifference, but really, should have the opposite effect, and make us cherish all the more the very short amount of time we (humanity) have on this planet. - Jake Meaney