Producer John D. Craig hosted episodes that documented journeys to various remote regions of the world, looking for such unusual things as Abominable Snowmen, African bushmen, unfriendly jungle tribes in Brazil, ruined cities of antiquity, and strange animals in their natural habitat. Episodes varied, but all focused on geological, geophysical, biological, anthropological, or archaeological themes.
Production details
The show was sponsored by the Ralston Purina Company, and was broadcast on the ABC television network 7-7:30 PM on Tuesday nights in its first season and on Monday nights in its second season. The first program was broadcast September 20, 1960; the last show was broadcast April 27, 1962. The show received a Thomas Alva Edison award for science education, an Ohio State award for broadcast journalism, and a 1961 Peabody Award for Television Excellence. Fred Steiner, a well-known composer of music for television shows from the 1950s through the 1990s, composed the background music for many of the episodes.
First season
Twenty-six episodes were produced and broadcast in the 1960-61 television season. The Frozen Continent Operation Noah's Ark Journey To The Roof Of The World Men Against the Mountains 3000 Years Under The Sea Land Of The Dying Ghosts Lost Kingdoms Of Arabia Survivors of the Ice Age Last Of The Arctic Nomads Weavers Of Death War Clubs Of the Amazon Vanishing Muskox Lost World Of The Kalahari
Saga Of The Triton Man's First Winter At The South Pole Death Rites Of The Camayura Russian Whale Hunt Moon Temple Of Sheba Invisible World Of The Deep Orinoco Quest Cliff Dwellers Of The Arctic World Of The Penguins Return To The Stone Age Flight To The Giants Conquest Of Dhaulagiri
Second season
Twenty-two episodes were produced and broadcast in the 1961-62 television season. Africa's Animal Kingdom Water People Of Burma Sacred Well Of Sacrifice Treasure Of The Sacred Well Russian Assault On The Antarctic Rivers Of Fire And Ice Valley Of Shangri-La Menace Of The Moving Glacier Insect Safari Black Jungle Trial Valley Of The Shadow Of Death Weavers Of Death Shark Island Journey To The Lost World Saga Of Sea Dragon / Under the Ice Land Divers Of Pentecost Challenge Of The Pamirs, or Challenge of the Seven Peaks Behind The Walls Of Kano Firewalkers Of Fiji Socotra: Forgotten Island Cliffs Of The Dead Cargo Cult
