All language subtitles for Alien Deep with Bob Ballard 1of5 Fires of Creation NG 720p_ENG_Subtitles01

ROBERT BALLARD: I've dedicated
my life to exploring the unknown.

I've been places no one else
has ever gone.

I've seen life no human eye
has ever seen.

It's my passion.

I found the Titanic.

God damn!

I've survived crushing depths

and a rogue wave.

But even after 50 years at sea,

I'm as fascinated with the deep
as I was on my very first expedition.

You want to know
my most important discovery?

Well, it's the one
I'm about to make.

I'm Dr. Robert Ballard.

Come with me
into the alien deep.

Terrain coming in.

[radio chatter]

NARRATOR: Deep beneath
the Pacific Ocean...

BALLARD: Yeah, you got terrain
40 meters on either side.

NARRATOR: Dr. Robert Ballard
is venturing into a world

few people get to see...

BALLARD: We're out in la-la land.

NARRATOR:
...to an active, undersea volcano,

where new land and ocean
are being born.

BALLARD: People want me to tell you,
"Well, what are you gonna find?"

Whatever.

"Well, that's just
not good enough."

What do you mean
that's not good enough?

"Look, you don't know
what you're gonna find?"

If 1 did, I wouldn't be going!

NARRATOR: What Ballard does know
is that he's about to enter

one of the most lethal
places on Earth.

BALLARD: If I have a problem
in my submarine and if it fails,

it goes off like a bomb.

NARRATOR: It's not just sub failures
Ballard has to worry about.

His quest will take him down
into the crushing abyss,

to the explosive volcanic source
of Hawaii's next island.

The volcano Ballard is seeking
lies deep in the Pacific.

But he begins his journey far above,

on the shoulders
of its older sister.

BALLARD: Wow!

Here we are...

on top of the world!

This is it.

You're standing on
the tallest mountain on Earth.

It's not Mt. Everest.

It's Mauna Kea
on the island of Hawaii.

NARRATOR: Mauna Kea rose up
out of the ocean

to form the highest peak
on Hawaii's Big Island.

It stands 4,000 feet
taller than Everest.

Loihi, the new volcano

that will one day form
the next Hawaiian island,

lies at its feet.

BALLARD: The base of
the mountain is down there,

over 19,000 feet
beneath the sea,

rising up above sea level
to where I am standing right now,

another 14,000 feet,

for a total distance
of 33,000 feet.

And our journey begins here
and it ends there.

What I'm standing on
is a huge active volcano.

But its base is
deep beneath the sea,

so that's where I want to go.

NARRATOR: As Ballard
explores the summit,

his dive team on Oahu
is preparing

for the dangerous, underwater
part of the mission.

The Hawaii Undersea Research Lab
has two of only a handful

of deep diving submersibles
in the world.

The subs were built in the '70s,
during the Cold War.

But they've recently
been refitted

and equipped to film in HD.

Usually, the subs dive solo,

so one is always available
to assist in an emergency.

This time, both will be
in the water together.

If something goes wrong,

the nearest rescue vehicles
would never get to them in time.

BALLARD: We're pretty much
going to outer space.

And in a way, it's more dangerous
than outer space.

If you get a leak
in a space suit,

you can always take a piece
of tape and seal it.

But a leak in a submarine under
the great pressures of the abyss

is a whole different ball game.

Any of the housings protecting
our cameras or lights fail,

they go off like a bomb,

causing an instant implosion
that sends off a shock wave,

damaging everything around it.

MAN ON RADIO: Pisces 5,
Pisces 4 coming out now.

NARRATOR: Even a pinprick leak
would be a disaster.

TERRY KERBY:
So, every time we do a dive,

every system is being tested
by this tremendous pressure

that's trying to get into any little
weak spot on the subs.

NARRATOR: The sub is
a framework of components,

flotation and
fiberglass panels-

all bolted to a seven-foot
steel sphere.

The steel is an inch thick,

but pierced by 28 holes
for cables.

If any one of them fail, they'd create
a 3,000-pound-per-square-inch water jet.

Water at that pressure
is so destructive,

it's used to slice through metal.

At depth, it would carve
a sub to pieces.

MAN ON RADIO: Surface, tracking,
range 300 meters.

KERBY: Tracking, surface, roger.
300 meters.

MAN ON RADIO: Pisces 5, tracking,
sounding 402 meters.

BALLARD: Each year after
their annual overhaul,

the subs must be recertified.

The pilots take them down
on their first dive of the season.

As far as I'm concerned,

it's the most dangerous dive
of the year.

MAN ON RADIO: Off the lift line, on tow.

KERBY: Roger, off the lift, on tow.

MAN ON RADIO: Swimmers away,
clear to dive.

KERBY: Roger, off tow,
swimmers away,

clear to dive, we're diving now.

NARRATOR: This year, the subs'
first dive has three goals-

pressure-test the hulls
to 1,000 feet...

...assess the sonar
navigation systems

by relocating the wreck

of a World War I
Japanese midget sub...

...and practice
the delicate maneuvering

and communications required
on a two-sub dive.

MAN ON RADIO: Clear to dive.

KERBY: Roger, stand,
off tow, swimmers away,

clear to dive,
Pisces 5 is standing by.

NARRATOR: This midget sub
led the Japanese attack

on Pearl Harbor
in December 1941.

The two-man vessel was sunk
by a single gunshot

from the USS Ward,

an hour before
the main air attack began.

The strike by the Ward was
only confirmed in 2002,

when this same Pisces team
discovered the wreck.

The shell hole can still be seen
just below the conning tower.

This fatal shot was the first
fired by an American

in the second World War...

A stark reminder of
just how devastating

even the smallest puncture can be.

Still safely at the top
of Mauna Kea,

Ballard won't be facing
enemy fire on his dives.

But he will have other,
more deadly dangers to contend with.

He's dropping into
a cauldron of fire,

to witness the volcanic processes
that shaped Hawaii.

BALLARD: We're standing on a hotspot.

Some people call them
the thunderheads of the mantle.

They're storms inside the Earth,

and the plates, the great crustal plates
of the planet

are moving over the top
of those storms,

and they literally,
like a welder's torch,

burn their way up through
the plate and make an island.

NARRATOR: The hotspot created
the Hawaiian Islands one by one

as the Earth's surface
slowly rotated over it.

The activity is relentless.

BALLARD: Just as we arrived
on the Big Island,

a crater to the south
of Mauna Kea erupted.

At night, it lit up the entire sky.

But you know, the same thing's
happening underwater,

but it's making a new island!

NARRATOR: That future island is Loihi.

It's just as active,

and that's where
Ballard is heading.

He'll venture from the summit
of Mauna Kea to the ocean,

meet his dive team,

then plunge into the flooded heart
of a living volcano.

By starting his journey to
the undersea crater of Loihi

at the top of Mauna Kea,

Dr. Robert Ballard gets
a chance to witness

how volcanic islands evolve.

BALLARD: Well, of course,
the first part's easy.

I'm driving down 14,000 feet
to sea level,

but because I'm an oceanographer
and a geologist,

I'm looking for signs
of the ocean's presence.

But up here, well,
there's virtually nothing.

It's like going to Mars.

Even the ocean can't
terra-form this terrain.

There's nothing but rocks.

As we go down, though,
we'll pick up more moisture,

the temperature will rise,

and you'll see a complete series
of transitional habitats.

NARRATOR: As Ballard heads
down the mountain,

his dive teams
return to the surface

after their first successful test dive.

MAN ON RADIO: Pisces 4 chase boat,
lift your basket.

MAN ON RADIO:
Roger, basket coming up.

NARRATOR: Next, they'll transit
over to the Big Island

for test dive number two-

a deeper dive on the underwater slopes
of Mauna Kea herself.

MAN ON RADIO: Roger,
Pisces 4 secure on deck.

BALLARD: So suddenly,
we've arrived in Africal

I'm almost looking
for a wildebeest.

Look at the grassland
all around now.

Hawaii has a tremendous
number of ecosystems

both above the ocean
and below the ocean.

If you really want to see
a maximum array of habitats,

this is the place to come.

It's almost like a mini planet.

And as we go further
down the hill,

we are gonna pass
into the clouds.

What really sets
our planet apart-

72% of it is covered by the sea.

And that moist water is what feeds
the diversity of life

on our planet.

Were it not for the ocean,
we'd look like Mars.

NARRATOR: Far down
the same mountain,

Bob's dive teams are
about to explore

Mauna Kea's
underwater landscape.

Their second test dive will be
to coral beds at 2,000 feet.

Most life in Hawaii,
above or below water,

flourishes near
the ocean's surface.

Away from sea level,
the terrain becomes more barren.

Yet even here in
the near darkness,

there is life.

The subs move in
on a garden of gold corals.

These are some of longest-living
creatures on Earth-

many almost 5,000 years old.

The pressure here is
70 times that of land.

For the Pisces subs,

that's like having 70 more subs
stacked on top of them.

Even a Navy nuclear attack sub
would likely crumple at these depths.

But the hulls hold,

and the pilots can check off
another important safety dive.

That'll be the last one

before they bring Ballard
down to 3,000 feet,

and into the Loihi volcano.

Despite their immense power,

the geologist in Ballard
loves volcanoes

and the primeval way
they destroy and create.

BALLARD: In Hawaii,
the roads come and they go.

Oh, it's beautiful over here.

The Hawaiian Islands were created
by the movement

of the Pacific Plate
over the hotspot.

İt popped out islands.

And the Hawaiian story,

their ancient story
told the same story.

Pretty cool.

[man chanting in Hawaiian]

NARRATOR: The Hawaiian
creation myth

is borne of fire, lightning,
volcanoes, and ocean.

And it bonds the native Hawaiians
to the sea.

Even their surfing has
mythical underpinnings.

It's more than a sport

to people like surfer and
traditional board shaper

Tom Pohaku Stone.

TOM POHAKU STONE:
Everybody misses the true origins

and essence of surfing today.

Surfing was a really
important part

of our cultural way of life.

The reason is because
we stayed in tune with the ocean,

we developed ourselves
physically and spiritually

to connect with the ocean.

[man chanting]

NARRATOR: The ancient
Hawaiian rituals

also connected them with the land.

In his study of
native Hawaiian history,

Tom discovered that his people
actually rode the volcanoes-

bodysurfing over
steep lava slides

carved into the mountains.

STONE: It's just another wave to ride.

We recreate that sense
of molten lava flowing.

And we get on top of it
and we ride it.

We're paying honor to Pele,
our goddess of the volcanoes.

So we ride, you know,
that lava to the ocean.

And we understand that
the ocean is giving way

to the growth of the land.

We understood that islands were
actually always being created

along this arc.

We're just on a canoe.

The land is nothing but a canoe,
you know, that we ride.

NARRATOR: The next emerging canoe, Loihi,

is still bubbling and simmering
under the waves.

For Ballard, that's a risky,
but irresistible, opportunity,

to witness the volcanic birth
of new land from deep ocean.

With all the testing complete,

Ballard's dive teams make
their final transit

from the foot of Mauna Kea

to the submersible deployment point
above Loihi.

MAN ON RADIO: Okay, there goes
the monster cam.

MAN: Roger. Ready for sonar, too.
Push all the way down and release...

NARRATOR: Loihi lies
south of Mauna Kea

and is growing as we speak.

Ballard's eager
to get down there.

To him, 3,000 feet of darkness,

bone-crushing pressure,
and seismic uncertainty

are risks worth taking.

He's surprised how few others
share his enthusiasm.

BALLARD: For me,
the idea of getting down there

is just pure excitement.

But what baffles me is
why we, as a race,

are so reluctant to explore
our own planet.

You know, we've been taught
that salvation lies in the heavens

and that when we die
we're going to go to heaven,

and that down is evil,
it's the devil.

And I think people
are fundamentally afraid

of the deep ocean.

İt's dark, it's foreboding,
it is an alien deep.

NARRATOR: Even those
who aren't afraid

find it difficult to go down.

Some, like Hawaiian
spearfisher Kimi Werner,

have learned to conquer
the ocean for brief periods.

Kimi can hold her breath
for almost five minutes

as she stalks her prey.

She can't use scuba because
the bubbles scare away the fish.

Kimi lies still in the water,

fighting her body's
impulse to breathe,

until the fish
come within reach.

BALLARD: Well, this is really
a modern version of hunter-gathering.

Their only technology is
a mask, a snorkel,

fins, and a speargun.

They're hunting wild animals
in the upper layers of the ocean.

Something that humans
have been doing

ever since they could hold their breath
and have a sharp stick.

Ah, we were successful.

We'll be eating tonight, huh?

KIMI WERNER: Not bad.
Can you take my fish?

BALLARD:
Yeah, I'll take these two.

WERNER: Thanks.

BALLARD: There we go.

NARRATOR:
Scuba can get us further for longer.

But it, too, has its limitations.

We can get to depths
of 250 feet and more

with special gas mixes
and high-tech equipment.

But dive times get shorter
the deeper you go...

...which is why most of
Mauna Kea's underwater slopes

are still unexplored.

BALLARD: If we truly want
to explore the oceans-

and I say we have to-

we need to approach it
like the Hawaiians.

They're so totally
connected to the sea.

STONE: People have
so removed themselves

from our natural environment.

But as native peoples,

we're still very much connected
to that natural environment.

We rely on the rhythms
of the planet itself.

I mean, how can you disconnect?

There's no separation between
heaven and Earth,

heaven and the seas,
and land and the seas.

We're all one spirit connected.

It's amazing.

NARRATOR: The native people sailed
to Hawaii at least 1,000 years ago.

They made an open ocean journey
of 2,500 miles

from as far away as Tahiti.

In terms of human achievement,

that's a feat comparable
to the moon landing.

The ancients were
master navigators,

sailors who survived in the open ocean
by reading the stars,

and constantly observing
the changing patterns of wind,

sea creatures and weather.

STONE: We utilize the ocean
to move us,

and we utilize that energy of the ocean
to go places.

We always remember
the highway of the sea.

We knew the motion of the water.

We knew the motion
of the currents, everything.

Whether, you know,
we're leaving the island,

going between the islands,

or we're gonna go
thousands of miles away,

it didn't matter.

Because the ocean is all
one and the same,

because we're part of it
and we're one and the same.

[chanting]

NARRATOR: That incredible
connection to the water

allowed the first people
of Hawaii

to make mighty voyages
across the ocean.

Ballard thinks we need
the same perspective

as we descend into the depths.

And that descent
is finally ready to happen.

With all the safety checks completed,

it's time to take the subs
3,000 feet down,

into the mouth of Loihi.

Ballard is about to make
a rare and perilous voyage

into the heart of
our unknown planet.

For Dr. Robert Ballard,
the final descent begins

with a four-hour rock-and-roll boat ride.

He's heading to the expedition
command center, the K-0-K.

More than a half mile
beneath her bow

lurks the volcanic summit of Loihi.

Ballard's plan is to make
the first ever two-sub dive,

right into Loihi's
most active crater.

It's an area tormented
by earthquakes,

landslides and eruptions.

At last, it's game time.

BALLARD: How's it going?
Nice to see you.

MAX CREMER: Max Cremer.

BALLARD: Nice to see you.
How are you?

KERBY: Ready to do some geology?

BALLARD: Yeah, I'm ready.

KERBY: Alright. Good.

BALLARD: You've done
two-sub operations,

but not in this type?

KERBY: Right,
we've done lots of dives

in the pit with a single sub,

and we've done lots of
two-sub dives,

but we've never taken
two subs into the pit

in this really tight,
unstable terrain.

So it's gonna be
a little challenging today.

BALLARD: Well, we'll keep
our eyes on the sonar.

NARRATOR: The team's main target
is Pele's Pit,

a 2,000-foot-wide crater
on Loihi's peak.

It formed in 1996,

after the biggest swarm
of earthquakes

ever recorded in Hawaii.

Loihi grows in fits and starts,

and was hit by over 100 earthquakes
as recently as 2005.

Ballard hopes to scour the pit
for vent sites-

areas where hot,
nutrient-rich water

rises from magma-filled chambers.

A veteran of more than 100 dives,

Ballard knows all the risks.

Volcanic activity, sub failures,
falling rocks-

he's lived through them all.

BALLARD: I remember
we were sampling on a wall,

trying to pull a rock out.

And then we realized that it was
the little rock holding the big rock!

NARRATOR:
After the dive briefing,

it's straight to breakfast,
but no liquids.

BALLARD: Each night, hours
before I make a dive, I stop drinking.

I dehydrate my body

because I am going to be living inside
a cold seven-foot sphere

that doesn't have a bathroom.

MAN ON RADIO:
Diving range, 200 meters.

MAN ON RADIO: Copy, surface.
Roger, range 200 meters.

BALLARD: There's always
a level of risk

anytime a human being gets
in a submersible and goes anywhere.

But then you add the added risk
of two-vehicle operations-

that adds another level of risk,

then you go inside
an active volcano

that's been collapsing-

another level of risk.

Where there's
hot hydrothermal vents-

another level of risk.

MAN ON RADIO: Pisces 5 to surface,
you are off tow, swimmers away.

MAN ON RADIO: Roger, coming up.

Release tow.

BALLARD: Here we go.

Now they're gonna let us go,
and we're gonna flood our tanks.

NARRATOR: Ironically,
the most unpleasant part of the dive

is the first few feet.

BALLARD: When you
first get in, it's hot.

And this is where you're gonna
rock and roll the most, so...

MAN ON RADIO: Pisces 4, tracking,
you called?

BALLARD: You want to get
through your pre-dive

and dive as fast as possible.

Off to the office.

KERBY: Well, if we're doing
a drop on Loihi to about a mile,

it takes about an hour
to get down,

a little over an hour.

And we have descent weights
that weight the sub.

So we descend on our own weight.

BALLARD: You can't power down,
you'd use up all your energy,

so you free fall.

CREMER: K-O-K, Pisces 4 is passing
100 meters, over.

MAN ON RADIO: Break,
you're about 230 meters

west of the dive position.

Request you motor east
for four minutes, over.

BALLARD: So you feel the hull,
it's not cold yet.

CREMER: Roger, east, four minutes.

BALLARD: Then it'll start to sweat.

I can remember with Novice,
it would sweat up by the hatch,

and they would think
the hatch was leaking.

So now we enter the world
of eternal darkness.

Now we enter the world where
most of our planet is located.

İt's a place I've gotten to know.

NARRATOR: There's little to do
but try to get comfortable

as the sub drifts down

into one of the most hostile places
on planet Earth.

Over 3,000 feet down
in the darkness of the abyss,

Dr. Robert Ballard
finally sets eyes

on the barren outer flanks of Loihi.

BALLARD: The eagle has landed.

MAN: K-O-K, Pisces 4
is on the bottom.

Depth, 1, 1,4, 4...

NARRATOR: The slopes
are covered in pillow lava,

which oozes out of the earth
like toothpaste.

Outside, the pressure
is 100 times that of land.

All systems seem
to be functioning,

and the twin subs begin
their coordinated maneuvers.

BALLARD: When you have two subs
in the water at the same time,

it's critical to know where
they are at all times.

Your visibility is limited,

and the last thing
you want to have happen

is to run into one another.

KERBY: If we ever got
out of view of each other,

and one sub is back and
we couldn't see each other,

there is a danger that we could
connect and become entangled,

or that one sub could damage
the other one's thrusters

or some components.

NARRATOR: Once in formation,

the two subs creep up the slope
toward the crater mouth.

Ridges provide a highway
to the summit.

BALLARD: Is it dangerous?

Yes.

Anytime you dive in a deep submersible,
it's dangerous,

particularly when two subs
are working close to one another,

and even more so when
they're working in tight quarters

inside an active volcano.

NARRATOR: There's a tight,
90-yard gap

through which the subs
can drop into the crater.

But if they even brush
the rubble-strewn sides,

they could start an avalanche.

KERBY: Just the thruster blast hitting
can start a landslide.

And we've had that go where
it just starts this landslide

and big silt clouds up,

and you hear it just going and
going and going, like a river.

NARRATOR: Suddenly, Pisces 4 loses
sonar contact with the walls.

BALLARD: Yeah, we've lost all terrain.
So we're...

NARRATOR: Then, the two subs lose
visual contact with each other.

KERBY: And the lead sub
is trying to gauge the distance

from the walls, to try and shoot
the gap between the gateway,

and the second sub
loses contact,

then it would be really hard
for us to re-establish contact.

BALLARD: Moments like this
are always tense.

You can't see him,
he can't see you.

You look at your sonar,
and he's just a few feet away.

NARRATOR: And that's exactly what happens.

By sheer luck,
Pisces 5 suddenly reappears.

BALLARD: And he's in front of us,
so he's running the gauntlet.

He's running the gauntlet.

We're just following.

He's trailblazing.

He's doing all the work.

NARRATOR: Crisis averted,

the subs finally get a view
of the crater's edge.

It's strewn with
broken boulders-

evidence of recent
violent eruptions.

BALLARD: Yeah, I look at this
and I imagine what would it be like

if this volcano suddenly
begins to erupt.

And it's happened before.

MAN: So, where we at now?

BALLARD: We're dropping in.

We're going over the edge
of the crater.

We're dropping down.

[sonar beeping]

NARRATOR: Even with their sonar,

this is stumbling
in the darkness.

The water is clear,

but their visibility is limited
by the range of the lights.

Once the tight entrance
is behind them,

the subs aim for
the steep opposite wall,

where Ballard hopes to find
the active hydrothermal vents.

BALLARD: Clear all around us.

We're out in la-la land now.

Sonar clean.

It's starting to get nippy.

NARRATOR: As the subs
inch across the open crater,

there's just time
to grab some food.

BALLARD: Even a squashed
peanut butter and jelly sandwich

tastes good.

M&M's?

NARRATOR: But all too soon,

the opposite side of the crater looms,
dead ahead.

BALLARD: There's a big wall, there it is.

Just came screaming in.

Whoa, you might want to back up!

We're inching along
this vertical wall

looking for hot water
coming out of the volcano.

And just under these lava flows
is molten magma

that's 1,200 degrees centigrade.

NARRATOR: The subs are
right up against the unstable rock.

[thump]

BALLARD: We're washing it,
we're cleaning it.

We're writing our name.

NARRATOR: As the subs hug
the contours of the wall,

a large overhanging rock
blocks their path.

BALLARD: Looks like this is
a big spire right in front of us.

NARRATOR:
This is the kind of teetering rock

the crews have been
worried about.

KERBY: I think my biggest fear in the pit

is having one of those large boulders
roll over onto the sub

and pin the sub on the bottom,

and being stuck inside
with this weight coming down

with no way that the second sub
could do anything about it.

NARRATOR: The subs head up,
away from the rock.

KERBY: Yeah, you can pull away
a little bit from it

and then pivot to the right.

NARRATOR: Their new route
takes them to a sharp cliff

of fragmented, frozen lava.

Ballard, ever the geologist,
is impressed.

BALLARD: That's cool.
That is pretty cool.

NARRATOR: Just above the wall,
the landscape suddenly changes.

Ballard the hunter
starts to sniff his prey.

MAN ON RADIO: Actually I'm just
a little above you on your port side,

I'm gonna move around
behind you, over.

BALLARD: I thought I saw
shimmering water.

NARRATOR: The rocks are covered
in orange bacteria.

And swirling plumes
are a smoking gun.

BALLARD: You see that one
right in front of you?

MAN: Yeah, I do see that one.

BALLARD: Yeah, that looks like
shimmering water's coming out of there.

NARRATOR: Shimmering water
means hot water.

Just under the crust,
it's being heated by red-hot magma.

Ballard is witnessing
both the birth of new land

and the volcano recharging
the ocean from below

with vital, nutrient-rich water.

It's seawater that has seeped down
through the ocean floor,

been superheated and infused
with salts, minerals and metals

in the volcano's magma chamber,

then pumped back up
through the vents.

BALLARD: You know, these hot vents
are why the ocean has the chemistry it has.

Imagine, all the water
in the world's ocean

goes inside the earth and out
every 6 to 8 million years.

And I'm also convinced
this is where life began on our planet.

And there's thousands of them
in the ocean,

thousands and thousands
of magma chambers,

so there's a lot of action
going on.

And that sort of is
the energy source for the game.

That's the game.

NARRATOR:
The game is ultimately life.

Volcanoes create new land,

but they also provide the oceans
with the chemicals

that all living things require.

And they've been doing it
for millions of years.

Ballard has shone a light
inside Loihi...

...revealing the hidden processes
that keep our planet so vital.

But he still has
one last unusual assignment

before the expedition
can close out.

It's sunset on the K-O-K.

Subs are stowed, teams resting.

But their work is
not quite done.

They're heading south
to Loihi's deepest point.

Ballard's seen
the volcano's geology.

He's now after the life
that inhabits it.

But it's further down than even
the Pisces subs can go.

BALLARD: Isn't it amazing?

People are flying around
every day at 19,000 feet,

and only a handful of people

have ever been to that depth
beneath the sea.

NARRATOR: Ballard can't get
to the bottom of Loihi himself,

but he does have
a probe that can-

a specially designed
National Geographic DeepCam,

with two bright Sunspheres
that can survive at any depth.

The DeepCam will be dropping
into an utterly unseen world.

Dark...

freezing...

and as unfamiliar to humans
as outer space.

BALLARD: Well, we're gonna see
an eerie alien world.

Almost moonscape.

But, unlike the moon, it's alive.

NARRATOR: On the surface,

there's nothing to do but wait
while the DeepCam dives.

Waiting is not something
Ballard enjoys,

though he's gotten better at it
during his many years at sea.

BALLARD: It's the only place
I have patience.

I don't have it on land.

But here I know I can't
arm-wrestie it to the ground.

MAN: Try to free that line
from the mirrors if you can.

NARRATOR: When the probe
finally returns,

it brings with it
the first fantastic images

from this dark, mysterious world.

MAN: There we go,
there's a number of...

NARRATOR: It takes a few hours

before the strange creatures
of the deep

begin to sniff out the bait
that's attached to the camera.

BALLARD: I've never seen that guy.
That's cool.

NARRATOR: This is a cusk eel,
a creature rarely seen on video.

Today is the first time one
has been filmed seeking food.

Its eyes are of no use,

but it likely relies
on its huge nostrils

to guide it to food that has
fallen from the surface.

Joining it are two shrimp
and a cutthroat eel,

the ultimate alien scavenger.

MAN: You can see
this animal twisting about,

trying to rip off
a chunk of the bait.

And when it does so,

of course, it kicks up all these little crustaceans called
amphipods.

There's clouds of
these things in the water.

BALLARD: Yeah,
they were feeding on it.

MAN: Yeah.

NARRATOR: Then something large
looms into view.

BALLARD: Here comes
some good-sized bruiser.

Now, give me
the dimension on that.

What's this?

NARRATOR: It's a shark,
and a rare one.

Over eight feet long,
it's known as a false catshark.

When it's not coming in
for a free lunch,

it hovers near the bottom
of the abyss,

feeding on eels and other fish.

İt's the top predator here,

in a huge world of thinly spread
food resources.

BALLARD: I mean, these are
the creatures that seldom get seen

because you don't have the time
to sit and wait.

Total darkness is a constant.

Near freezing temperatures.

And you get the same habitat.

So this is probably the biggest
habitat on the planet.

MAN: Right, it's a huge reservoir of life,

of biomass on the planet.

BALLARD: It definitely demonstrates
you don't want to be buried at sea.

That's for sure.

What really intrigues me is
that at the top of Mauna Kea

there's nothing but rocks.

And down here
it also looks barren.

But even in this dark,
alien world,

there's way more life.

NARRATOR:
Ballard's epic journey to Loihi

has cast a tiny light
on the fundamental relationship

between volcanoes and oceans

that makes life on Earth possible.

But it's still just
a fleeting glimpse

into a vast, unknown habitat

that we have yet
to truly explore.

BALLARD: This is the deep
as we need to know it in the future.

We need to be as familiar
with the Mauna Keas

that lie beneath the sea
as we are with the Everests on land.

It's critically important that
we understand the processes

going on inside the deep ocean

if we ever, ever hope
to manage, conserve,

and at times, use its resources.

Everything that makes us human,

makes daily life possible
on this planet,

is linked to the alien deep.

NARRATOR: For Ballard,
this is the next frontier,

a magical, resource-rich world
just waiting to be unveiled.