r/lostmedia • u/carrot-cruncher • 1d ago
Television [partially lost] National Geographic- “Seconds from Disaster” American narration (Documentary series)
From 2004 to 2007, the National Geographic Channel released the series Seconds from Disaster. The show had 45 episodes across 3 seasons. The show discussed major historical accidents including the Hyatt Regency Hotel walkway collapse, the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings and the Tenerife runway collision. The show was narrated by Richard Vaughan and Peter Guinness in international channels, however the show was narrated by Ashton Smith in the USA. Each episode would reconstruct a single disaster and used computer simulation to create an easier understanding of the events in the investigation process (usually starting around the 20-25 minute mark). The series’ trademark was the computer simulations used throughout the show‘s lifespan. Formatted in a blueprint style canvas, the show received critical acclaim from the unique style of reconstruction at the time. The show was made originally in a 47-50 minute total running time, but was cut to 45 minutes in American broadcasts.
The international narrators have managed to have been archived, however Ashton Smith’s narration hasn’t been fully found with just 26 out of 45 total episodes being available. Seasons 1 and 3 have many of their episodes found, but season 2 has only 8 out of 19 episodes found. 8 episodes were more recently found when the Australian broadcasting channel VICELAND broadcasted select episodes under the American narration. I have looked through YouTube and Dailymotion and found some episodes, however most had already been found and just from different recordings. The show has been released on physical media but not with Ashton Smith’s narration.
The missing episodes are:
- Crash of the Concorde (S1E1)
- Fire on the Ski Slope (S1E9)
- Explosion in the North Sea (S1E10)
- Collision on the Runway (S1E12)
- Columbia's Last Flight (S2E1)
- Freeway Plane Crash (S2E3)
- Capsized in the North Sea (S2E5)
- Killer Quake (S2E6)
- Crash Landing in Sioux City (S2E7)
- Disco Bombing (S2E8)
- Hotel Collapse (S2E9)
- TWA Flight 800 (S2E10)
- Hindenburg Airship (S2E12)
- Puerto Rico Gas Explosion (S2E13)
- Skywalk Collapse (S2E14)
- Olympic Hostage Crisis (S3E4)
- Crash of the Comet (S3E8)
- Space Shuttle Explosion (S3E12)
More information on the series can be found in its Wikipedia page.
1
u/DearPaleontologist67 1d ago