Ladies and gentlemen, gulls and buoys, welcome to the greatest contest to hit the airwaves since Sir Cachalot faced off against the Mighty Kraken. Vying for your attention tonight: two of the greatest deep sea documentaries to have ever appeared on TV.
On this channel, weighing in at 200 tons, the largest of the leviathans, the rotundest of all the roquals, the whale that put the super in superlative, it’s Balaenoptera musculus: The Blue Whale.
- National Geographic Channel: Kingdom of the Blue Whale, airing at 8:00 p.m. (ET)
And on the other channel, the challenger from the deep, weighing in at only 350 lbs, the Terror from Tokyo Bay, the shark that puts the pro in protrusible, it’s Mitsukurina owstoni: The Goblin Shark!
- The Science Channel: Quest for the Goblin Shark, airing at 9:00 p.m. (ET)
Since I get neither of these channels, you will have to let me know which one wins. However, both shows have some online components that I can weigh in on. Nat Geo has gone all out in creating companion pieces for its show. There are Flash games that allow you to compare the weight and length of the blue whale to other objects like dinosaurs and school busses. Looks like some great resources for teachers and students too.
Over on the Science Channel the interactives are a little slimmer. I am guessing that this is not an original show but just a repackaged NHK production. However, they do promise that someone will be answering questions somewhere on their Web site tonight.
So America, those are some of your viewing options for this evening. Tune in soon for our next heavy-weight contest, Mega Shark versus Giant Octopus, starring the deepest of the D-list celebrities, Debbie Gibson and Lorenzo Lamas!