Connections 2 (1994)

The original ten volume series was made in 1978. The popular success of the series led to two sequels, Connections 2 (sometimes written Connections2) in 1994, and Connections 3 (or Connections3) in 1997, both produced for TLC. By turning science into a detective story James Burke creates a series that will fascinate students and adults alike. This interdisciplinary approach has never before been applied to history or science and it succeeds tremendously. Winner of the Red Ribbon in the American Film Festival, the scope of the series covers 19 countries and 150 locations, requiring over 14 months of filming. As the Sherlock Holmes of science, Burke tracks through 12,000 years of history for the clues that lead us to eight great life changing inventions-the atom bomb, telecommunications, the computer, the production line, jet aircraft, plastics, rocketry and television. Burke postulates that such changes occur in response to factors he calls "triggers," some of them seemingly unrelated. These have their own triggering effects, causing change in totally unrelated fields as well. And so the connections begin...

Disc 01

0 hr 50 mins 12/31/1994 1. Revolutions

Discover how the steam engine led to safety matches, imitation diamonds and the moon in a wild ride.

Director: Mick Jackson Writer: James Burke

Guest starring: James Burke

0 hr 50 mins 12/31/1994 2. Sentimental Journeys

What has Freud got to do with maps? Or prison reform with blue dye? Or the inside of a star with the Himalayas? India reveals the answers.

0 hr 50 mins 12/31/1994 3. Getting It Together

Start by examining a SWAT team, which leads to hot air ballooning, the root of many inventins.

0 hr 50 mins 12/31/1994 4. WHODUNIT?

Who stole a set of billiard balls in 1902 and why was he the most famous crook in history? The clues:maps from 1775, Charles Darwin's cousin and the FBI.

*Disc 02*
0 hr 50 mins 12/31/1994 5. Something For Nothing
	Something impossible happened 400 years ago. And we wound up in outer space, thanks (en route) to pigeon lovers, the Pope, and electric Italian frogs.
0 hr 50 mins 12/31/1994 6. Echoes of the Past
	On his way to finding the secret of the universe, Burke takes us to the Buddist tea ceremony, ties it to international spies and Lincoln's assassination.
0 hr 50 mins 12/31/1994 7. Photo Finish
	The Le Mans 24-hour race is the backdrop for linking photography and bullets, relativity and blimps.
0 hr 50 mins 12/31/1994 8. Separate Ways
	Two trails split over slavery in teh 18th Century. One leads to the Wild West and Brooklyn Bridge, the other coining money and TV. Both end with a threat to peace.

*Disc 03*
0 hr 50 mins 12/31/1994 9. High Times
	Unwrap a sandwich and you're on a path to World War II radar and Neo-Impressionist painters.
0 hr 50 mins 12/31/1994 10. Deja Vu
	History repeats itself, when you know how to look. Pizzaro beats the Incas, the first stock market opens. The Queen of England salutes a Mexican beetle and Hitler's plans misfire.
0 hr 50 mins 12/31/1994 11. New Harmony
	Microscopic bugs inpired the novel "Frankenstein" which aided the birth of Socialism.
0 hr 50 mins 12/31/1994 12. Hot Pickle
	The connections between a cup of tea, opium dens, the London Zoo and a switch that releases bombs.

*Disc 04*
0 hr 50 mins 12/31/1994 13. The Big Spin
	The greatest medical accident in history starts a trail that leads to Helen of Troy, 17th Century flower-power, the invention of soda pop and and earthquake detection.
0 hr 50 mins 12/31/1994 14. Bright Ideas
	A Baltimore man invented the bottle, which led to razors, clock springs, and the Hubble telescope.
0 hr 50 mins 12/31/1994 15. Making Waves
	Hairdressers, Gold Rush miners, Irish potato farmers and English parliamentarians are really tied together.
0 hr 50 mins 12/31/1994 16. Routes
	A sick lawyer in 18th Century France changes farming and triggers the French Revolution and new medical research.

*Disc 05*
0 hr 50 mins 12/31/1994 17. One Word
	One medieval word kicks off the investigation into different cultures with the same stories that ends in cultural anthropology.
0 hr 50 mins 12/31/1994 18. Sign Here
	Dutch piracy starts international law and French probability math, phonetics, and Victorian seances.
0 hr 50 mins 12/31/1994 19. Better Than The Real Things
	How the zipper started with technology Jefferson picked up in Paris during a row about Creation.
0 hr 50 mins 12/31/1994 20. Flexible Response
	Robin Hood starts us on a trail from medieval showbiz to land drainage, to the invention of decimals that end up in U.S. currency, thanks to the guy who started the Erie Canal.

	James Burke	Himself - Presenter
	Mandy Maxwell
	Alan Gibbs
	Sarah Davies
	Mark Losley
	Richard Herriot
	James Burke