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National Geographic's New Six-Part Series YEAR MILLION Paints a Stunning Picture of Life in the Deep FutureFrom the moment our ancestors smashed two rocks together to forge the first tool, technology and imagination have propelled humanity forward. But now, technology has the power to shape a future beyond our imagination. What was once conceived by science fiction as entertainment is now the blueprint great scientists use to project the future of our world. Premiering Monday, May 15, at 9/8c, National Geographic paints a visual story of the distant future in the six-part documentary-drama series YEAR MILLION. Narrated by Laurence Fishburne ("The Matrix," "Blackish") and produced by RadicalMedia (MARS, FROM THE ASHES), YEAR MILLION unites the brightest minds in science, technology and science fiction, including Ray Kurzweil, Michio Kaku, Peter Diamandis and Brian Greene. Together, these experts, who spend their lives studying and imagining our future, take us inside a very real future that feels like the stuff of science fiction - a future where humankind has merged with machine and forged an existence where we're living beyond our bodies, beyond our planet and beyond our solar system. YEAR MILLION weaves a thrilling - sometimes frightening - depiction of how we've used innovative science to create technology that will soon surpass our intelligence - and perhaps exist beyond our control. For instance, the cell phone, a device most of us cannot live without, much less leave at home, has become exponentially more intelligent just in the last decade. YEAR MILLION's documentary sequences are comingled with illustrative, dramatic storytelling to depict a version of humanity's fate through the lens of a typical, futuristic American family - which includes an android daughter whose existence depends upon interactions with future scientific and technological advancements. These dramatic sequences shift between a robust roster of on-camera commentary and serve as touchstones of the world to come. YEAR MILLION is a stark, fact-based response to the future anticipated within today's popular sci-fi films and TV series including "Star Wars," "The Matrix," "Black Mirror," "Westworld," "Humans," "Ex Machina" and "Her." In addition to consulting contemporary scientific/tech experts on camera, the series features a mix of lay interviews with filmmakers, artists, writers and comedians who provide their perspectives on the future of humanity; noted graphic novelist Brian Michael Bendis, Nerdist co-host Matt Mira and musician/science enthusiast David Byrne join the mix. "YEAR MILLION propels us into an odyssey of the unfathomable choices humans will face while questioning the kind of lives we'll live and the people we'll become," says Tim Pastore, President, Original Programming and Production. "The series imagines an era when mortality becomes a thing of the past; man merges with machine; intelligence is limitless; and the human species becomes interplanetary." The series predicts how every aspect of technology may affect our lives for better or worse and ponders the following questions as outlined in the episode descriptions.
Episode 1 - Homo Sapien 2.0: Premieres Monday, May 15, 9/8c
Episode 2 - Never Say Die: Premieres Monday, May 22, 9/8c
Episode 3 - Dude, Where's My Body?: Premieres Monday, May 29, 9/8c
Episode 4 - Mind Meld: Premieres Monday, June 5, 9/8c
Episode 5 - Energy Beyond Earth: Premieres Monday, June 12, 9/8c
Episode 6 - Beyond the Cosmos: Premieres Monday, June 19, 9/8c YEAR MILLION is produced by RadicalMedia for National Geographic. For RadicalMedia, Justin Wilkes, Jon Kamen and Dave O'Connor are executive producers. Tommy Turtle, Wendy Greene and Laurence Fishburne also serve as executive producers, and Mark Elijah Rosenberg is the co-executive producer and director. For National Geographic, Matt Renner is vice president, production; Tim Pastore is president, original programming and production; and Carolyn Bernstein is executive vice president and head of global scripted development & production. For more information, visit our press room at natgeotvpressroom.com. About National Geographic Partners LLC National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between National Geographic and 21st Century Fox, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic's media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children's media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 128 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers … and reaching over 730 million people around the world in 171 countries and 45 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest. About RadicalMedia: RadicalMedia is an Oscar-, Emmy-, Peabody- and Grammy Award-winning studio, with recent credits that include MARS for National Geographic; "Stan Against Evil" for IFC; "Hamilton's America" for PBS' Great Performances; Netflix's "Abstract: The Art of Design," which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival; and "May It Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers," which won the Audience (News - Alert) Award: 24 Beats Per Second at SXSW 2017 and was acquired by HBO. RadicalMedia's vast body of work also includes the Oscar-winning documentary "The Fog of War"; Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning "What Happened, Miss Simone?" for Netflix; "Keith Richards: Under the Influence" for Netflix; and Epix's docuseries "America Divided;" as well as numerous Joe Berlinger directed and produced projects, including the Oscar- and Emmy-nominated "Paradise Lost: Purgatory" for HBO; "Metallica: Some Kind of Monster"; "Under African Skies" for A&E "Whitey: The US vs. James J. Bulger" for CNN, and two world premiering documentary features at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival: "Intent to Destroy" and From the Ashes, which will have its global TV debut on National Geographic on June 25, 2017. See more at RadicalMedia.com and find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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