National Film Board of Canada.

The planet Earth was born out of chaos and disaster - and completely by chance. Episode 1 transports us to this breathtaking genesis, the violent past that created the fragile conditions for life itself.

The last ice age ended only a few thousand years ago, but there were earlier periods when the entire world was frozen, periods known as snowball Earth.

The human race is here today because of its abilitiy to adapt. Our ancestors, the earliest mamals, survived low oxygen levels. Later primates developed sharp eyesight and hands that could clasp for nocturnal life in trees. And about six million years ago, fossil evidence in Africa tells us, some primates may have begun to walk upright, perhaps because they were forced out of the trees and into grasslands. Living on Earth truly was survival of the...