''The Planets'', retitled ''The Planets and Beyond'' for its second season, is a documentary television series produced by 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, man ...

that aired from 2017 to 2019. It explores the

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...

s and of the

Solar System The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...

, exoplanets, and other astronomical objects.

Format

Former astronaut

Mike Massimino Michael James Massimino (born August 19, 1962) is an American professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University and a former NASA astronaut. He is the senior advisor of space programs at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. Early ...

hosts the show, appearing briefly to introduce each segment of each episode, and

Erik Dellums Erik Todd Dellums (born September 23, 1964) is an American actor and narrator. He played the drug kingpin Luther Mahoney for two seasons on '' Homicide: Life on the Street'' and voiced the roles as the radio DJ Three Dog in the 2008 video gam ...

narrates the series. During its first season, titled ''The Planets'', the series focused on

s exclusively except for a single episode which studied the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

. Retitled ''The Planets and Beyond'', the series expanded its focus during its second season to include other types of astronomical objects. The Science Channel also broadcast ''The Planets'' and ''The Planets and Beyond'' specials, some of them made up of original footage and others of segments broadcast previously on ''The Planets'', ''The Planets and Beyond'', ''

How the Universe Works ''How the Universe Works'' is a documentary science television series that originally aired on the Discovery Channel in 2010. All but the second and eighth seasons were narrated by Mike Rowe. The second and eighth seasons, as well as episodes of t ...

'', ''

Space's Deepest Secrets ''Space's Deepest Secrets'' is a documentary science television series narrated by David O'Brien. Aired by the Science Channel, it premiered on April 26, 2016. According to the Science Channel, "''Space's Deepest Secrets'' shares the stories of t ...

'', and '' Strip the Cosmos''.

Episode list

SOURCES TV Maze ''The Planets and Beyond'' Episode List Accessed 3 November 2021
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Season 1 – ''The Planets'' (2017)

Season 2 – ''The Planets and Beyond'' (2018)

Special — ''The Planets and Beyond'' (2019)

References

External links

Science Channel's ''The Planets'', "Venus Alien Evidence" on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Planets and Beyond, The 2017 American television series debuts 2019 American television series endings 2010s American documentary television series Documentary television series about astronomy Science Channel original programming