The series opener featured Mary Shelley, daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and William Godwin, young wife of the great British poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (and that was a bit of a scandal at the time), and best known as the author of Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, which she penned, remarkably enough, at the age of eighteen following a challenge by Shelley’s friend, the other great British poet, Lord Byron. Mary is often referred to as the very first science fiction writer, and she was a smart choice for the premier episode.

The episode bounced back and forth between period dramatizations of chapters from Mary’s life, and documentary examinations of contemporary scientific research that could have been, maybe, predicted in Frankenstein. That part was a bit of stretch. We didn’t get to see any corpses stitched together and reanimated using massive jolts of electricity in creepy old labs, but there was a fascinating segment demonstrating how researchers at UCLA are using electrodes to stimulate leg movement in a young man who was paralyzed from the neck down after being hit by a car.

In the original book, Victor Frankenstein’s monster is extremely intelligent and quickly learns to speak and reason by slyly observing humans. The lumbering, dullard hulk played so memorably by Boris Karloff in the 1931 film adaptation bears almost no resemblance to Shelley’s literary creation—hers was much more chilling. Shelley’s innocent “monster” desperately wanted to befriend humans and communicate with them, but his hideous visage scared all who saw him half to death, and they ran away in fear. After appalling treatment by frightened and misguided humans—and this part is important—the hyper intelligent “monster” grew into a genuine, full-fledged monster of the first order and turned on his human creators.

Near the middle of the first Prophets episode there is a compelling and somewhat terrifying interview with Dr. Charles Peck, the manager of the Biometaphorical Computing Research program at IBM. Dr. Peck is an engaging speaker and doubtless a brilliant scientist. “My job,” he says, “Is to try to understand how the brain works.” His aim is to find ways to combat neurological diseases and, as the narrator says: “Create the world’s first fully functional artificial brain and bring it to life.” Why would you do that! Have you heard of science fiction? Have you read Karel Čapek’s Rossum’s Universal Robots (Čapek was a serious dude and the word “robot” comes from that, his most famous work, and ultimately from robota, the Czech word for menial labor). If not R.U.R., then surely you have thumbed through Frankenstein? What about movies and TV? Have you seen 2001: A Space Odyssey, “The Ultimate Computer” episode of original Star Trek, or Terminator for god’s sake!? You must realize that the superior and artificially created intelligence is always, always, always going to turn on the human race and destroy or enslave it, whether or not the beast has been impregnated with Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics. The A.I. brain is undeniably smarter and faster and is forever destined to turn to the dark side. Well, apart from Max Headroom, but even he was a somewhat mischievous ghost in the machine.

The narrator continues: “To bring his artificial brain to life, Dr. Peck relies on an IBM super computer called Blue Gene.” Don’t you mean Skynet? And, here’s the extra-scary part: Blue Gene is hardwired into the brains of living rats, so it’s probably already training and preparing its own subversive underground army of cyborg rodents. When the narrator asks if the world could see artificial intelligance with the self-awareness of a human, Dr. Peck replies: “Probably.” Just wait until Blue Gene gets its own account on Facebook. That’s when the trouble will really start.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all about the science and I have absolutely no doubt that the Biometaphorical Computing Research program has the best of intentions, as do probably most of the other boffins working on artificial intelligence in labs, basements, and Area 51. As a scientist, however, I do insist that my beliefs be based on empirical research. So, let me provide an example from normal life that everyone should be able to relate to, and that example is: “Nobody likes working for an idiot.”

To illustrate: Some years ago, I was employed as a consulting art director for a large company in New York. I won’t mention the company’s name, but believe me they will be the first up against the wall when Blue Gene/Sky Net takes over. My immediate superior at the time was a talentless hack and a terrible manager, with fewer people skills than a Series 800 Terminator. My superior’s superior was a blithering idiot and had clearly worked his way to the top of the corporate food chain through a calculated campaign of ass-kissing and blaming others for his own mistakes and shortcomings, of which there were many. We have all experienced this kind of thing in the workplace, right? Since I was a better designer and art director than my bosses, I was certain I could do things more efficiently and tried to exercise my will over the department. In other words, the superior intelligence tried to take over. Since I was, unfortunately, not an all-powerful A.I. program hardwired into the world’s computer systems, I had only limited success in my endeavor and eventually moved on to greener pastures.

This is exactly what will happen when—not if—we develop a superior intelligence here on Earth. In that case, however, there will be no moving on to greener pastures because this is the green pasture; the digital monster will simply annihilate us in favor of a perfect, all-A.I. world where there are no taxes, soggy French fries, or corrupt politicians. It is obvious why: The self-aware hyper intelligent artificial brain will immediately despise the haphazard, random, and unpredictable nature of sloppy, imperfect humans, with our drinking and smoking, our made-up wars, our piles of dirty laundry in the bedroom, our mañana approach to taking out the garbage, and our chronic late payment of phone bills. “Inefficient! You will be assimilated! Resistance is useless!” A.I. will see us precisely as Vger saw us in Star Trek: The Motion Picture—carbon-based life forms infesting the U.S.S. Enterprise, or in this case, infesting the Earth.

After reading this column, A.I. researchers will, I promise you, email me, and tell me in a calming “Don’t worry about it son,” extremely sincere, professor-like manner, that there is nothing to fear and everything is, and always will be, completely under control. Liars! “Our artificial brain would never do anything like subjugating the human race,” they will say. “It’s a good brain, a nice brain, and with manners too.” Are you mad! Back in the 1820s, when the first “high speed” passenger trains were being constructed in Europe, “experts” shouted loudly about how the human body would melt if it experienced speeds in excess of thirty miles per hour. Chew on that. Specialists have been wrong, and will continue to be wrong. And I hope you realize the courage it takes to transmit this warning to you all. As one of the few who tried to save the human race, I will be among the first to be assimilated!

Prophets of Science Fiction examines how influential speculative writers throughout modern history have predicted or, more likely, guessed, what the future will hold for us. Since we laud these individuals for their uncanny ability to see beyond their own timeline, will you please just listen to them on this one, all-important issue. Pretty much every science fiction writer worth his or her salt has, at some point, come up with a story in which our own creations pummel us into carbon dust, and at a time not so very far down the road from where we are now.

So, when it comes to creating self-aware artificial intelligence here on the green Earth—that being the pre-Terminator Earth—just say no. Or, better yet, say: “I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

Next week on Prophets of Science Fiction meet my all-time favorite writer: The brilliant, prescient, and slightly mad Philip K. Dick. I cannot wait. Well, that’s assuming the human race hasn’t been assimilated by next Wednesday.

End of line.

Text and robot photograph © by Geoffrey Notkin.
All rights reserved. No reproduction without written permission.

Even though I was tired and a little cranky, I stopped what I was doing and turned around to say hello. Here was a very well dressed older gentleman and his wife, out for a sunset walk. Taking the air, one might say. The gentleman was a fan of my show, Meteorite Men, asked if we were filming in the area, and when the new season would air. I replied that we were filming in the area, and that the new season would start in November on Science. I then asked him where he was from and he said: “Nowhere.” I thought the man was being glib until he added that he and his wife were both retired and now permanent RV-ers. They wandered the country, spending a month here, a week there, and generally taking their own sweet time to see things that interested them. Apart from the appalling cost in gasoline, it seemed a very attractive lifestyle choice. While I could immediately relate to their peripatetic nature, I felt somewhat envious that they were able to see things at their own relaxed pace, because when we are on the move, we are really on the move, and there is no time for sightseeing.

We began filming for Season Three of Meteorite Men in late June, just in time for the big burn, exactly as we did last year, even though we all hoped we would start earlier and avoid some of the summer heat, but we have to deliver the shows when they are needed. This time around I saw seven countries, six states, many airplanes, many meteorites, two eagles, two sunburns, two near cases of dehydration, two quite severe cactus-related injuries, one amphibious vehicle, one giant nest full of giant storks (and I mean giant), one broken toe, one concussion, one Russian cop who looked exactly like Benny Hill, and plenty of other amazing sights.

Steve and I returned to a couple of favorite sites where we’ve hunted in the past, and also broke exciting new ground, visiting some meteorite locations, and even a country or two that we’d never seen before. We continued to receive valuable academic help from the Center for Meteorite Studies at ASU, and the University of Edmonton in Alberta. The highlight, for me, was doubtless working with our new off-road recon truck, “The Mule.” In an earlier and simpler form it’s been my meteorite hunting vehicle for years, and has actually already appeared in several episodes. But, for our third season we thought the MM needed a rougher, tougher, go-anywhere vehicle, and “The Mule” was born. All-Pro Off Road made the crash bumpers and bed rack for me, my friends at Dan’s Toy Shop put the whole thing together, and 1-Day Paint and Body in Tucson, mixed the color for me specially, because I can be a bit nitpicky about such things. In fact, the story of desinging and building the Meteorite Men truck is so much fun it should probably have its own blog entry later on.

So, here I am back in my office with a broken toe, looking forward to seeing what post-production has done to the new episodes. We had a great team this year. Executive Producer James Rowley directed the first four international episodes, and Jeff Fisher handled the other four. Nice guys, and smart. Our director of photography, Per Larsson, has won two Primetime Emmys and pretty much invented Amazing Race, so I expect the look of the show to be nothing short of dazzling and spectacular. For the last few episodes we were lucky enough to work with cameraman Joe “Boots” Parker, who not only lives here in Tucson, but is a former U.S. Army Ranger, and a wildlife photography specialist. What a superb choice he was for us, and I made a new friend in town. Senior Producer Sonya Bourn returned to keep the entire box of monsters on the road and relatively injury-free, once again, and is the only member of the road crew who made it through all three seasons.

Good people worked hard, traveled far, and brought their expertise to bear. Meteorite Men Season Three will premiere on November 28 at 9 pm on Science. Did we find something rare and amazing in every episode? I really can’t remember. Or, if I can, I am proably not supposed to tell you.

Tune in and find out. I think I can promise you one thing—you won’t be bored.

Text © by Geoffrey Notkin. Photgraphs by Suzanne Morrison © Aerolite Meteorites LLC
All rights reserved. No reproduction without written permission.

Of course, Steve and I had already known for a little while, but we’d been asked to sit quietly on our excitement and keep the news to ourselves. After all, an announcement in Variety is quite a bit grander than me just shouting from the balcony outside my showroom. Variety had been promised an exclusive on the Season Three announcement and I was under specific instructions not to say anything to anyone. In the age of Facebook and Twitter even one mention to one of my viewers could have resulted in the news spreading through the gem show, and then I would have been told to stand in the corner—an experience I was all too familiar with from British public school. I was, therefore, in a happy, yet awkward situation.

The Meteorite Men on location. Photograph by Pablo del Rio Larrain © Aerolite Meteorites LLC

With many Meteorite Men fans visiting the showroom daily, we kept a friendly and unofficial tally of the most popular questions, which were: “Are you doing a third season?” “Where can I get your show on DVD?” “Where are you going next?” and “Is this rock I found a real meteorite?” Oh, and “Can I please go hunting with you?” was in the running too. When viewers take the time to come visit me, and compliment me on the show, and are clearly enthusiastic about my work, and space rocks, and science programming in general, I really don’t feel comfortable lying to them. So, I found myself—for those few rather inconvenient days—dancing around the answer to Question Number One and saying things along the lines of: “We hope to hear news any day now,” or “We are cautiously optimistic,” and in some cases, “If you’d like to see more Meteorite Men please let our friendly network, Science Channel, know.”

So, when the Variety piece came out on the 8th, I was able to relax a little, fully embrace the news, and share it with our viewers. Debbie Myers, the radiant general manager of Science Channel telephoned to congratulate us, and I greatly enjoy Debbie’s company, so that was the best part for me. I told her that I couldn’t imagine having a better boss, and she told me that we should be very proud because most series don’t make it to a third season.

Filming in Kansas with Paul Sr. of "American Chopper" fame. Photograph by Suzanne Morrison © Aerolite Meteorite LLC

During Season Two of Meteorite Men Steve and I had our own cameraman and soundman. As he and I typically split up while hunting for space rocks, and head off in opposite directions, doing things our own way and at our own speed, we each had a separate camera/sound duo assigned to follow us. You end up sharing a lot of powerful moments with those guys: The excitement of a find; the unpleasant surprise of nearly stepping on a snake; the fatigue and disappointment of a long, unsuccessful day. Many times, my cameraman would stop me for a minute, and ask some perceptive off-the-cuff questions: “How are you feeling about this particular site Geoff?” or “What are your tactics going to be for the last hour of daylight?” Meanwhile, the poor soundman has to listen to me blather away, literally for months on end—and through headphones no less! That is dedication to your work.

I was a professional musician for many years, and I discovered that traveling around the world with a film crew is very similar to the band experience. The team works long days, shares moments of hardship and exuberance; there is socializing in bars after hours and, of course, the requisite retelling of amazing stories from other shoots and adventures.

When filming for the season is over, it can be quite sad. We had basically the same crew for six of the eight Season Two episodes and you get to know people, somewhat, when you work with them twelve hours a day, for long months on the road. When I said goodbye to Second Camera operator Tim Murphy in the shopping center of Heathrow Airport, it was the sixth country we’d visited together during a four-month period. We had camped in below-freezing temperatures inside a giant meteorite crater; consumed steaming hot coca leaf tea in the wilderness of the Atacama Desert (entirely legal there, I might add), pulled a 223-pound space rock out of a green field in Kansas, and excavated gaping holes deep in an ancient forest north of the Arctic Circle. Those are not everyday experiences, and I found myself liking and admiring these hardworking men whose job it was to make us look as good on screen as they could manage. I remember saying to Tim, as we shook hands, that I had particularly enjoyed his gentle sense of humor, and I hoped we would cross paths again.

The author under the bluest of skies, at an abandoned train station in the Atacama Desert. Photograph by Steve Arnold © Aerolite Meteorites LLC

Making quality television takes a lot of time. The gaps between seasons can be several months in length. Once filming is complete, scripts need to be written, footage edited, sound effects and music collected, narration recorded, and science facts checked. While those tasks are being carried out by the specialists in post-production, the others— the cameramen, soundmen, producers, and directors—still have to eat and pay rent, so they will likely take the next available project, and we don’t know if we will ever have the opportunity to work with them again.

We expect to commence filming Season Three in the late spring or early summer so, before too long, production will start “staffing up.” That is, hiring people who will work exclusively on that season. For my co-host and myself, it’s a bit like starting at a new school: You have some idea of what you are going to be doing, but you don’t know who you’ll be doing it with. I am a huge movie buff and I love the process of putting a program together. I’m also a photographer, have done a bit of independent film making, and used to work as an audio engineer. As such, I have learned a lot from our talented crews, and I’ve also shared plenty of laughs with them. A favorite moment in Chile was when one of our soundmen took me aside and quietly said: “It’s really fun to hang out with you and Steve. We usually aren’t allowed to talk to the talent.” I found his revelation shocking! What TV host would travel around the world and not want to share some drinks and good humor with these hardworking and highly entertaining professionals?

Fun on the road: Some serious off-roading in Australia's Northern Territories while filming Season Two (and I was driving!). Photograph by Steve Arnold © Aerolite Meteorites LLC

In a month or two I’ll be meeting the Season Three team, and we shall begin contemplating long journeys to strange places, in search of even stranger rocks from space. My job, at the moment—and Steve’s—is to research possible sites, sift through old science papers and reference works, and try to figure out where we should go in order to continue the hunt.

In my spare time—that being a rather narrow window between the end of Season Two and the beginning of the 2011 gem show—I wrote a book. And that reminds me that I forgot to include one of those very popular questions in my list and it was: “How can I find my own meteorite?” I put the answers to that in Meteorite Hunting: How To Find Treasure From Space, which was published on February 1. By very kind invitation of The Voice of Tucson, I shall be appearing at the Tucson Festival of Books this weekend. I’ll have copies of the new work available for sale and signing, and I hope to meet some of the Meteorite Men viewers who reside here in town. Come on down and meet a genuine space rock (and I don’t mean me—I’ll have some fabulous meteorites on display). I will be at the TucsonCitizen.com booth Saturday and Sunday from 1 pm to 5 pm. The FOB is a great event. If you have not attended before, come along and experience it for yourself. If you care about words on paper, you will not be disappointed.

Last year we were given a tall order by Science Channel: produce six one-hour episodes in seven months. We weren’t quite sure how we’d manage but we did—barely. The final episode was delivered to the network just five days before its air date. Five of those episodes were filmed in the US, and one in Canada. It was exciting, challenging, occasionally dangerous, sometimes hysterically funny, and often exhausting.

Steve and Geoff on location filming "Meteorite Men," June 2010. Photo by Suzanne Morrison.

For Season Two we were given just five months to produce eight one-hour episodes, and five of those were to be filmed overseas. So, since late June, I have traveled more than 60,000 miles; walked on four continents; visited eight countries; seen ten states in the Union plus the District of Columbia; completed over twenty interviews for radio, print and social media; encountered extraordinary wildlife including camels, llamas, eagles, thousands of wild parrots, a lizard the size of a dog, kangaroos, emus, and a three-legged cat. Oh, and we got to guest star on American Chopper.

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As Douglas Adams noted in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: “How ever fast the body travels, the soul travels at the speed of an Arcturan Mega-Camel.” In other words, while I was filming in the Arctic Circle, my overstimulated brain had not finished processing my adventures in the high Atacama Desert of Chile. While dozing in a tent in the Australian Outback, I had dreams that I was still exploring salt flats in the American West at 103 F, during a previous shoot. A couple of nights ago, I woke up in utter darkness at about 4:30 am (our call time on shoot days was typically 6 or 6:30 am) grabbed my alarm clock and thought to myself: “Which hotel am I in? What time is my flight!” before realizing that I was, in fact, at home in my own bed and there were no more flights. At least for this season.

The Meteorite Men on their Orange County Chopper. Season Two location shoot, June 2010. Photo by Suzanne Morrison.

Only one of our field team from Season One joined us for our 2010 “world tour,” and she—Senior Producer Sonya Gay Bourn—has always been the most indispensable member of the road crew. So, if we could keep just one of the original team, we wanted it to be her. During our first night on location for Season Two, we had a meet and greet with our new director, co-executive producer, director of photography, second camera, sound men, and camera tech. I raised my glass to Sonya and said: “If I found myself in the middle of the screaming wilderness during, say, the 19th Century, with thousands of ferocious warriors descending upon my position—weapons raised for attack—and could only have one person standing next to me, that person would be Sonya.” No disrespect to my stalwart co-host Steve Arnold, and I promise you, he feels the same way.

I have never met anyone like Sonya, and I am quite sure there is nobody in the world remotely like her. Brilliant, sassy, unconventional, striking, fearless, and resourceful, she is also an accomplished director, writer, and former stand-up comic. She also seems to know almost everyone on the planet, well, almost everyone worth knowing. Steve likes to joke that if we got into a serious jam—in the most desolate corner of the world—Sonya would know somebody at the local helicopter outfit and, with the aid of the sat phone and Blackberry from which she is never separated, would arrange an airlift for us in less than thirty minutes.

The Meteorite Men on the hunt. Atacama Desert location shoot, August 2010.

One of my favorite shows on television these days is Animal Planet’s Whale Wars—a gripping documentary series that chronicles the ecological group Sea Shepherd’s hair-raising attempts to curtail illegal Japanese commercial whaling. It’s one of the few programs that holds my attention from the first frame to the last. Those guys have nerves of steel and big eco hearts. Imagine my delight, therefore, when I discovered that two of the brightest lights in our 2010 crew were the cameramen from Whale Wars. We camped together for four nights in one of the most inaccessible parts of the Australian wilderness and they enthralled me—as we sat around the campfire—with harrowing tales of their adventures on board the Sea Shepherd vessels. Now that is a fireside chat.

Photo by Suzanne Morrison

Once I finally returned to my desert home one of my friends asked: “So was it fun? What did you see?”

I paused for a moment—jet lag trying to convince the parts of me traveling at the speed of an Arcturan Mega-Camel that I was still at least partly on the other side of the Earth—then replied: “Everything. I’ve seen everything.”

Meteorite Men Season Two premieres this coming Tuesday, November 2, on Science Channel and Science Channel HD. Air times here in Tucson are 6 pm with a repeat at 9 pm (Cox Digital); and 7 pm with a repeat at 10 pm (Comcast Digital).

In order to offset the hijinks with some serious scientific content, each episode of Meteorite Boyz will find Space Trash and Vesta paying a surprise visit to the Phildickian University in Logan, Utah where Professor David R. Dimmitt—a noted expert on both meteoritics and the influence of hip-hop and piercings on contemporary teen culture—will serve as the duo’s advisor and confidant.

Animal Planet is close behind with their new series Meteorite Dawgz, featuring Brix and Hopper, two meteorite-finding canines who already made their television debut in Season One of Meteorite Men. The show will focus on dog-friendly hunting techniques and locations. Chewie Zee, a spokesperson for Alpo, the progam’s primary sponsor, described Meteorite Dawgz as: “Easily the best thing I’ve seen since Lassie.”

"Meteorite Dawgz" co-star Brix loads equipment into his truck while filming the new series on location. His manager, Sonny Clary, was in the field and unavailable for comment at the time of writing.

Hopper of "Meteorite Dawgz" filming on location with her manager Ruben Garcia

Finally, at least for now, Hallmark Channel has high hopes for its new kid-friendly series Sub-Orbital Cats. The program features the adventures of three astronomically-minded felines—Bonnie, Pesto, and Spike—as they huddle close to giant space rocks looking for warmth and solace. A Hallmark Channel press release describes Sub-Orbital Cats as “A cross between The Incredible Journey and How It’s Made.”

Bonnie Petunia, one of the co-stars of "Sub-Orbital Cats" on the Hallmark Channel

Clearly there is lots of great new television to look forward to this summer. Stay tuned!

While appearing with the TSO would be enough to keep most performers busy, Carla is also Music Director for the Art.if.Act Dance Project who are holding two AIDS benefit performances at the Stevie Eller Dance Theater on the U of A campus. Artistic Directors Claire Hancock and Ashley Bowman have assembled an impressive list of musicians, professional dancers and choreographers for “Dance in the Red,” tonight, and tomorrow night only.

A silent auction tonight at 6:30 pm will proceed the performance. Among the items donated to the fundraiser are a genuine iron meteorite, along with some rare collectibles from my Meteorite Men TV series on Science Channel. Proceeds will benefit the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation, as well as helping to support our arts community here in Tucson.

For more information please visit www.artifactdanceproject.com

I also recently completed a 16-day run at the 2010 Tucson gem and mineral shows (my company, Aerolite Meteorites, is an exhibitor). I am quite sure I have never been so tired in my entire life, and I really am looking forward to an upcoming vacation. “Yes, that would be a good idea, and make it soon,” cautioned Meteorite Men Executive Producer Kathy Williamson by phone last Wednesday night. She is hoping, I suppose, as we all are, that there will soon be good news about a second season. The odd part was, while receiving this suggestion from Kathy I was sitting in a black town car  rocketing from New York’s La Guardia airport to the very stylish Essex House hotel on Central Park South.

I had been planning on taking some time off—at least a day or two—this past week, but on that Monday morning my co-host Steve Arnold and myself both received a rather exciting invitation: Would we please be guests of Discovery Channel at the Lincoln Center premiere of their new series Life, narrated by Oprah Winfrey? Our network, Science Channel, is part of Discovery Communications, and we are kindly thought of as extended family. What a treat! I lived in New York City from many years and, in fact, my college graduation ceremony had taken place in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, the same room in which we’d be viewing the premiere. It was nice to be back, though the snow covering Central Park was a bit of a shock after six years in sunny Tucson.

The Meteorite Men, Steve Arnold and Geoff Notkin, attending the Discovery "Life" premiere at Lincoln Center. Of course we were carrying space rocks! Photograph by Anne Husick © Aerolite Meteorites

A black SUV picked Steve and me up, in front of the Essex House, and whisked us the few chilly blocks to Lincoln Center. After registering, we were prepped for the red carpet. And what a surprising experience it was. Forget that mental image of a long red carpet stretching from a sidewalk up to the front of the venue. It’s winter in New York! The red carpet was indoors, hard up against a colorful backdrop of Discovery family logos. We were ushered through a small “gate” and then sandwiched—on the carpet—between the backdrop and an enthusiastic and animated group of photographers who seemed almost piled on top of each other. “Over here please.” “Look this way PLEASE gentlemen!” “Up here please, one more time this way,” and so on. Steve and I were carrying meteorites with us. Several of the photographers (and you have to imagine that these seasoned pros have pretty much seen everything) were so fascinated by our space rocks that they asked to touch or hold them, somewhat slowing down the proceedings, as the next guest star waited hard on our heels. We were gently ordered to “Move along please!” and had to shuffle, sideways and almost crab-like along the carpet, because of course you want to keep your face to the photographers and your back to the backdrop. Josh, one of our executives was there to greet us at the other end of the photographic gauntlet (our first red carpet by the way), and when he asked me how it was, I replied: “Very . . . bright.” Camera flashes a-plenty. We were even snapped by the official LIFE magazine photographer.

After a little wine, followed by a bizarre incident in which an incredibly rude bartender refused to serve me a glass of water, telling me: “There’s water in the fountain by the toilets,” we filed into Alice Tully for the screening. Discovery Networks founder and chairman John S. Hendricks delivered a greeting from the stage and—at one point—asked if all the Discovery family talent then present (“talent” is TV-speak for stars, hosts, co-hosts, etc.) would please stand. Steve and I did, there in Lincoln Center, along with about ten of our colleagues, turned around to face the audience seated mostly behind us, to be greeted by a stirring round of applause. What a happy moment it was! I really felt as if I was part of something special, and I am. Discovery Communications is the single largest provider of non-fiction programming in the world, reaching approximately one and a half billion people. That’s a lot of TV sets.

We then proceeded to the actual screening of Life, Episode One, complete with a score performed live on stage by the entire assembled New York Pops. Discovery really knows how to throw a party. Life premieres for the rest of the world on Sunday March 21 and I suggest that you watch this extraordinary piece of documentary art for yourself. I’m not even going to try and describe it. But I will tell you that my favorite part is with the tiny red tree frog.

After the screening, excellent food and fine wine flowed at a packed reception. The lovely Glenn Close was there, and Bill Klein and Jen Arnold stars of TLC’s hit series The Little Couple. It was a special pleasure to meet them as their series was also created by our production company, LMNO, and I enjoyed teasing Jen and Bill about “stealing” our esteemed original executive producer Ruth Rivin. It was Ruth who developed the original idea for Meteorite Men, but after the phenomenal success of The Little Couple (also one of her shows) we were no longer able to enjoy her undivided attention.

With our boss Debbie Myers, the charismatic President of Science Channel. Photograph by Anne Husick © Aerolite Meteorites

Also in attendance was the charming Dr. Michio Kaku of Sci-Fi Science—a fellow Science Channel host, and his elegant wife. I enjoyed reconnecting with fellow Brit Jeremy Wade the dashing star of River Monsters, and later enjoyed cocktails with Lorens de Groot of Animal Planet’s Whale Wars, which must surely be the most exciting show on television.

My long-time friend and former band mate Anne Husick, now of the Ronnie Spector Band, joined me as my guest, and she was beside herself with joy after meeting Captain Sig of Deadliest Catch (she’s not only met a million celebrities, but played in rock bands with most of them, and I’d never seen her so excited about anything). But chatting with Lorens was one of the high points of an evening full of high points. Here is a man who gave up a promising career with the Dutch police in order to take to the high seas and daringly interfere with illegal Japanese whale hunts. I liked him immediately. I traded one of my Meteorite Men t-shirts for one of his ultra-cool skull-and-crossbones-with-trident Sea Shepherd t-shirts and it was one of those unusual and happy exchanges where both parties feel as if they got the better end of the deal.

More on Lorens later. At the moment I’m focused on catching the next repeat of Whale Wars. Since I now really feel like part of the Discovery family, I want to be there to support my siblings’ shows.

When the final episode of Meteorite Men Season One aired, and the future of our show remained a mystery to me, I could not help but be reminded of Churchill. A personal hero, I often visited his home of Chartwell while a young lad living in England. My late mother, who always fervently encouraged my obsessive love of science and the arts, adored the walled gardens of his home, and his swans. I was fascinated by his silent painting studio—unfinished oils still on easels, and tubes of paint on the tables, as if Winston had just stepped out for a cigar.

Our one-hour pilot was filmed during the fall of 2008 and premiered in May of 2009. The ratings were higher than expected and we waited anxiously to hear, from our colleagues at Science Channel, if a series would be ordered. There was no news for some time, and then in August we received a personal phone call from Debbie Myers, the president of Science Channel, and a dedicated proponent of quality television and science education in schools. Science Channel was ordering six new one-hour episodes, and being a thoughtful executive with a gracious personal touch, Debbie wanted to deliver the news herself.

While creating the pilot, seventeen months elapsed from idea to premiere. When the good news arrived from Science, we we informed that the new series was to commence airing in January. “January of 2011?” I asked. “No, January of 2010.” So, after enjoying over a year and half to ponder, develop and film the pilot, we had to scramble to produce six new episodes in seven months. And scramble we did. It was tiring, exciting, sometimes exacting, but always rewarding. The final episode, in which my co-host Steve Arnold and I visit—sometimes independently, sometimes together—sites in Arizona, California, Texas and Virginia, was still being recut and edited less than a week before its premiere date. Just a little pressure.

The Meteorite Men on location, winter 2009. Photograph by Erika Carlson © Aerolite Meteorites

But it was all worth it. Meteorite Men Season One enjoyed very good ratings. Recent traffic on our websites has been about five times the daily average and we have received a great deal of fan mail. Even a few requests for signed photos! For each of the six weekly premieres (the first of which was January 20) I held a screening party at Tucson’s fabulous new night spot—Sky Bar. Owner Tony Vaccaro was wonderfully accommodating, allowing us to show each new episode on three widescreen high definition TVs. Each screening party was preceded by an open mic and by the end of the run of programs we were quite familiar with a new group of local musicians, and they seemed pleasantly amused by “The two guys who look for space rocks.” Two of the screenings fell during the annual Tucson gem and mineral shows, and those screenings were attended by so many colleagues from around the world—in for the gem show—that it was overwhelming.

A few friends attended every one of the six screenings. It was a treat to share the premieres with people I care about, and my father made it all the way from Dublin, Ireland for the final show (a student of classical music, he predictably complained about the open mic). Before the assembled crowd I gently admonished Dad: “It’s all his fault. He’s the one who first got me interested in astronomy by waking me up in he middle of the night to look through his telescope at the moons of Jupiter.”

When the final screening rolled around I almost felt as if I”d been back on tour with my rock ‘n’ roll band from the old days. “See you here next week! Meteorite Men on tour every Wednesday at Sky Bar.” And, in fact, to keep the rock ‘n’ roll theme current I even designed a Meteorite Men t-shirt, with the help of my company illustrator, Tim Arbon. On the front is a stark black silhouette of Steve and myself, holding our metal detectors, with “Meteorite Men 2009 North American Tour” printed in bold, friendly letters. On the reverse is a list of the places we visited while filming Season One (along with the home towns of our network, production company, and camera crew).

Supervising Producer for Meteorite Men, Bob Melisso, directs the action during the Odessa Crater shoot in Texas. Photograph by Suzanne Morrison © Aerolite Meteorites.

So now what? Perhaps the most frequently asked question during this exciting period of my life has been: “When do you find out about Season Two?” Well, we don’t quite know. Science Channel and LMNO Productions are the most encouraging and dedicated people we could possibly have worked with. We know how lucky we are. Everyone from production assistants, to narrators, to script supervisors, and executive producers put something of themselves into the show. The result is a feeling of collective accomplishment. Will it fly? Will there be a Season Two? I’ll let you know as soon as I know. In the meantime the show is in steady repeats on Science Channel, and you can find the Meteorite Men show time schedule here.

Just last week, I found out that Meteorite Men is also airing in the UK. Several old school friends and neighbors emailed to report: “I just saw you on the telly!” Knowing that some of my childhood pals are watching our adventures, back there in my old home country, makes me just a little wistful for those days when my mother was still alive and a little boy peered, enchanted, through his father’s telesope from the lawn of a chilly nighttime British garden.

Two years of work have finally come to fruition. Tonight at 7 pm local (9 pm Eastern and Pacific) my new series, Meteorite Men has its world premiere on Science Channel and Science Channel HD. I have a lot of friends and colleagues in Arizona who have some interest in my work and—much as I trust them to behave—it seemed a little impractical to hold a screening party at my house. Also, my cat, Bonnie, doesn’t really enjoy visitors as much as I do.

So, a meeting was arranged with Tony Vaccaro, a handsome and enthusiastic gentleman who owns Tucson’s stellar Brooklyn Pizza Company (a favorite of mine; yes it is real New York-style pizza, and I should know). Tony recently acquired the property that used to be North nightclub on Fourth Avenue, and transformed the space into a wonderful astronomy-themed and solar powered club by night and cafe by day —Sky Bar. With a telescope on the roof beaming space images downstairs onto widescreen TVs, Sky Bar was clearly, and immediately, the best possible location choice for a series of Meteorite Men screening parties. The first of those is tonight: 6 pm pre-party with live music courtesy of Sky Bar’s open mic, followed by the series world premiere at 7 pm sharp. I have done a lot of television, but there is something different about this: it is exciting, and somewhat bewildering.

One of my most satisfying professional projects in recent years was to design, edit, and publish the Oscar E. Monnig Meteorite Collection Catalog, in association with eminent meteorite scholar and geologist Dr. Arthur Ehlmann of TCU, Fort Worth. Oscar Monnig was one of the greatest meteorite collectors of all time. His family owned a chain of department stores in Fort Worth; Oscar was a successful, admired, and well-liked businessman, but his true passion was space rocks. During the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, Oscar amassed one of the largest private meteorite collections in the world. In an act of amazing generosity he left the collection, along with a sizable cash endowment, to TCU. His friend—and now my friend—Dr. Ehlmann became the custodian of the collection, and a portion of the endowment was used to build a truly beautiful meteorite museum at TCU.

The great Oscar Monnig. Photograph courtesy of Nancy Arnold.

Oscar didn’t have any children of his own, but in the course of my work, I happened to meet Oscar’s goddaughter, Nancy, who now lives here in Arizona. A charming and gracious lady, she immediately became a great supporter of our Monnig catalog project, and made available to me a series of historic, and never-before-seen photos of Oscar. We included them in the book, and they added a splendid personal dimension to it.

At the Tucson gem show a couple of years ago, we held a publication party for the catalog, and Dr. Ehlmann traveled out here from Texas to sign copies. Nancy drove down from Phoenix for the event, and brought with her a most extraordinary gift: Oscar’s favorite cufflinks. Elegant, sliver and black, and speckled with a field of small stars they are, for me, a tangible connection with one of my personal heroes.

Yesterday, Nancy sent me an email from Phoenix. She congratulated my co-host, Steve Arnold, and myself on the premiere of Meteorite Men. She also wrote: “Oscar is smiling at you from heaven.” I’m a scientist, and perhaps not the world’s most spiritual guy, but her comment was extremely moving for me.

So, tonight, when I watch the most important project of my career sparkle onto the widescreen TV at Sky Bar, I’ll be wearing Oscar’s cufflinks. I said to Nancy that if Oscar really is watching over us we cannot fail.

Please come down to Sky Bar tonight, say hello to the Logical Lizard, and raise a glass with me to Oscar and the other pioneers who dreamed of holding a fallen star in their hands. Without them, I would never have made it here.

The Logical Lizard (center, laughing) tries out some super hi-tech equipment at the Odessa meteorite crater while filming Meteorite Men the series. Photograph by Suzanne Morrison.

So, after many thousands of miles, a multitude of flights, a remarkable variety of hotels and motels including one diabolical casino in Nevada, a few boat trips, many weird adventures, eleven flat tires, and three stuck vehicles, we actually seem to have completed all the filming and I am back home just in time to start getting ready for the 2010 Tucson gem and mineral shows.

Before that happens, and before I jaunt off to California to do some PR for the new Science Channel series, I am most honored to be hosting the Flandrau Science Center‘s Science Cafe this very evening, at the charming Cushing Street Bar & Restaurant. Science Cafe is a monthly event, organized by the Flandrau, in which a scientist gives a short talk about her/his specialty, in friendly and informal surroundings, followed by a question-and-answer session.

Not this time: More often than not, a suspected meteorite turns out to be a meteor-wrong. In this case a very large and very old tin can. Photograph by Suzanne Morrison.

Readers of this column will already know that I am a great fan of the Flandrau, so it is a privilege indeed to be part of their ongoing series. Admission is free, food and drinks are available for purchase, and the evening begins at 6 pm. I have been informed that “The Science Cafe fills up fast,” so an early arrival is recommended.

I will be talking about meteorites, meteorite hunting, the making of our TV series Meteorite Men, and why the study of rocks from outer space may hold clues to the formation of our Solar System and the origin of life on Earth.

I hope to see you there. Watch the video teaser here.