EXPLORE AND DISCOVER THIS SEPTEMBER AS PBS DISTRIBUTION RELEASES “8 DAYS: TO THE MOON AND BACK” AND FOUR MORE PROGRAMS ON DVD

EXPLORE AND DISCOVER THIS SEPTEMBER AS PBS DISTRIBUTION RELEASES  “8 DAYS: TO THE MOON AND BACK”  AND FOUR MORE PROGRAMS ON DVD  Programs Available for Digital Download and DVD/Blu-ray

Arlington, VA – September 3, 2019 – This September, PBS Distribution will release an array of new programs on DVD/ Digital, including “8 Days: To the Moon and Back” which takes viewers on the Apollo 11 mission with Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, “Secrets of the Dead: World War Speed,” a look at the world’s “first pharmacological arms race,” and “Tiananmen: The People Versus the Party,” which explores the Tiananmen Square tragedy, among other programs. Information about each program is listed below in order of release. Every purchase helps support public television for all.

Table of Contents SECRETS OF THE DEAD AND MORE 
World War Speed

Tiananmen: The People Versus the Party

Ancient Skies
  When Whales Walked: Journeys In Deep Time
8 Days: To the Moon and Back

SECRETS OF THE DEAD
World War Speed











Street Date: September 3, 2019 Run Time: 56 Minutes on 1 disc SRP: DVD, $24.99 Format:  DVD, Digital Genre: History: War & Military


Stories about drug use by Hitler and German forces during World War II have been widely told. What's less well-known is how Allied commanders followed suit and embraced pharmacological “force enhancers” as well. World War II Allied commanders launched their own classified program to find the perfect war-fighting drug. During the Second World War, one in three casualties left soldiers incapacitated even thought they didn’t have a scratch on them. Modern weapons and total war proved so terrifying that almost as many men were shredded by combat fatigue and shell shock – now known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - as by bullets and shrapnel. Allied commanders believed the amphetamine Benzedrine might help defeat not just the need for sleep, but anxiety and fear. How this drug affected the course of World War II is an ongoing controversy. 

In Secrets of the Dead: World War Speed viewers follow historian James Holland as he dives into a compelling journey that takes him from German bombers pulled from the depths of Norwegian fjords and obscure European museums, to a modern British military demolitions range and into the belly of a restored Sherman tank. At each stop, James works to connect the dots from both sides, Allied and Axis, to discover the truth behind what one historian calls, the world’s “first pharmacological arms race.”

AND MORE
Tiananmen: The People Versus the Party







On June 4, 1989 the world’s biggest, longest, and most famous pro-democracy demonstration was brought to a tragic end. The images from those final bloody days still burn bright in our imaginations; the death toll—from the Chinese official figure of 300 to estimates as high as 15,000—is still disputed. TIANANMEN: THE PEOPLE VERSUS THE PARTY tells the gripping narrative of a period of just seven weeks in which the whole future of China today was founded, and where at various crucial turning points the final outcome could have avoided massive bloodshed.   These key moments unfold over two hours in a story told with the drama and pace of a political thriller. With never-before-seen Chinese television archival materials and exclusive interviews with key insiders, from protest leaders and students to government insiders, eyewitness accounts in TIANANMEN:
Street Date: September 3, 2019 Run Time: 120 Minutes on 1 disc SRP: DVD, $24.99 Format:  DVD, Digital Genre: History: World
THE PEOPLE VERSUS THE PARTY finally reveal the scale of the 1989 protest, its aims, its military crackdown, and the aftermath.  

When Whales Walked: Journeys In Deep Time





Narrated by actor Lee Pace (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Hobbit),  When Whales Walked: Journeys In Deep Time traces the epic origin stories of some of the world’s most spectacular creatures. From Abu Dhabi to Argentina, Kenya to China, the program takes viewers on a global adventure as top scientists investigate clues from the fossil record and use 21st-century technology to unlock the evolutionary secrets of crocodiles, birds, whales and elephants. Using innovative storytelling techniques, 3D graphics and CGI to bring ancient beasts to life, When Whales Walked offers surprising insights into the evolution of these magnificent animals, exploding myths about the path these species took over millions of years. 

Ancient Skies








In this three-part program, viewers will discover how centuries of knowledge, experimentation and engineering helped our ancestors explore outer space. 

Street Date: September 10, 2019 Run Time: 120 Minutes on 1 disc SRP: DVD, $24.99 Format:  DVD, Digital Genre: Science & Nature: Animals
Street Date: September 10, 2019 Run Time: 165 Minutes on 1 disc SRP: DVD, $24.99 Format:  DVD, Digital Genre: Science & Nature
With breathtaking CGI, beautiful landscape footage and some of the world’s most important astronomical artifacts, the program looks at the universe through the eyes of our ancestors, charting our changing view of the cosmos throughout history. Viewers take a journey through past visions of the heavens from all over the world, from the dawn of civilization to the recent past. From hunter-gatherers to Edwin Hubble, viewers will see the myriad of ways that we have observed and chronicled the movements of the heavens. With a cast of expert historians and astronomers, the science behind the phenomena that our ancestors sought to explain through mythology is explored. Throughout the series, cutting-edge animation is used to demonstrate our ever-evolving understanding of how the universe works and our place in an ever-expanding cosmos.

8 Days: To the Moon and Back








Viewers will take a unique journey with the crew of Apollo 11 for their eight-day, three-hour, 18-minute and 35-second mission in the program, 8 Days: To the Moon and Back. Rare mission audio takes viewers inside the spacecraft on its historic journey. The film seamlessly blends this authentic mission audio, featuring candid conversations between Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins with newly shot studio footage, NASA and news archive, and stunning CGI recreation of the journey and landing to tell this amazing story in a riveting new way. Rufus Wright (EastEnders), Jack Tarlton (The Imitation Game), and Patrick Kennedy (Mrs. Wilson) star in a stunning recreation of the first moon landing.   About WGBH WGBH Boston is America’s pre-eminent public broadcaster and the largest producer of PBS content for TV and the web, including Frontline, Nova, American Experience, Masterpiece, Antiques Roadshow, Arthur, Curious George and more than a dozen other primetime, lifestyle, and children’s series. WGBH also is a major supplier of programming for public radio, and oversees Public Radio International (PRI). As a leader in educational multimedia for the classroom, WGBH supplies content to PBS LearningMedia, a national broadband service for teachers and students. WGBH also is a pioneer in technologies and services that make media accessible to those with hearing or visual impairments. WGBH has been recognized with hundreds of honors. More info at www.wgbh.org.

About WNET WNET is America’s flagship PBS station: parent company of New York’s THIRTEEN and WLIW21 and operator of NJTV, the statewide public media network in New Jersey. Through its new ALL ARTS multi-platform initiative, its broadcast channels, three cable services (THIRTEEN PBSKids, Create and World) and online streaming sites, WNET brings quality arts, education and public affairs programming to more than five million viewers each month. WNET produces and presents a wide range of acclaimed PBS
Street Date: September 24, 2019 Run Time: 86 Minutes on 1 disc SRP: DVD, $24.99 Format:  DVD, Digital Genre: Science: Space
series, including Nature, Great Performances, American Masters, PBS NewsHour Weekend, and the nightly interview program Amanpour and Company. In addition, WNET produces numerous documentaries, children’s programs, and local news and cultural offerings, as well as multi-platform initiatives addressing poverty and climate. Through THIRTEEN Passport and WLIW Passport, station members can stream new and archival THIRTEEN, WLIW and PBS programming anytime, anywhere.

About PBS Distribution PBS Distribution, jointly owned by PBS and WGBH, is a leading distributor of public media content around the world. Distribution platforms include: direct-to-consumer subscription video-on-demand (DTC-SVOD) channels– PBS MASTERPIECE, PBS KIDS, and PBS LIVING – all on Amazon Prime Video Channels, with PBS LIVING also available on the Apple TV app, transactional video-ondemand (TVOD), subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) licensing, and physical products on DVD and Blu-ray. Other divisions of the company include: theatrical releasing, educational, non-theatrical, inflight and international licensing.

PBS Distribution offers consumers and educators over 4,000 programming hours of the highest quality factual, scripted and children’s programming, including films from producer Ken Burns, hit dramas from MASTERPIECE, entertaining and educational children’s series and award-winning documentaries from NOVA, FRONTLINE, AMERICAN MASTERS, NATURE, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE and many independent producers. For over 20 years, the company has extended the reach of programming beyond broadcast while generating revenue for the public television system, stations and producers. Follow PBS Distribution on Facebook and Twitter.