NOVA: Season 17
Season 17 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of NOVA Season 16.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 17 Progress Shield
Poison in the Rockies
Jan 9, 1990 · 55 min
NOVA reports on the 100-year-old legacy of pollution from mining that poisons the once-pristine waters of the Rocky Mountain states. Acid Rain and economic development also contrib
Race for the Top
Jan 23, 1990 · 55 min
Using some of the largest machines ever built on earth, American and European physicists race to discover one of the most fundamental and most elusive objects in nature—the top qua
Disguises of War
Feb 6, 1990 · 55 min
Sixty-five years after attempts to ban them, chemical weapons pose more of a threat than ever. NOVA looks at the problem of controlling substances that are easily produced and crue
The Bomb's Lethal Legacy
Feb 13, 1990 · 55 min
NOVA examines an alarming nuclear waste problem at the Hanfrod Nuclear Reservation in eastern Washington state, where 45 years of mismanagement in the nuclear weapons industry will
The Big Spill
Feb 27, 1990 · 55 min
Covering last year's Exxon Valdez oil spill from an unexplored angle, NOVA focuses on how technology failed in preventing, containing and cleaning up the Alaskan disaster.
The Genius That Was China: Rise of the Dragon
Mar 20, 1990 · 55 min
China in the 13th century was the richest, most powerful, most technologically advanced civilization on earth. NOVA looks at how China achieved what it did, and what in Chinese pol
The Genius That Was China: Empires in Collision
Mar 27, 1990 · 55 min
NOVA examines the extraordinary transformation that propelled Europe outward into the world from the 15th to 18th centuries, while China remained the insular middle kingdom. Part t
The Genius that Was China: The Threat from Japan
Apr 3, 1990 · 55 min
Ever wonder how junk mail finds you? NOVA investigates the hidden world of direct marketing, pointing out how advertisers know a lot more about us than we think.
The Genius That Was China: Will the Dragon Rise Again?
Apr 10, 1990 · 55 min
NOVA covers China's long road to economic and technological equality with the West, punctuated by frequent setbacks such as the 1989 massacre of pro-democractic demonstrations in B
The KGB, The Computer and Me
Oct 2, 1990 · 55 min
This documentary covers the surprising tale of an average systems administrator who stumbled upon a KGB spy operation. Clifford Stoll carried out one of the first successful digita
Neptune's Cold Fury
Oct 9, 1990 · 55 min
NOVA visits Neptune, the planet that took Voyager 12 years to reach. Mysteries abound in and around this big, blue world at the outer limits of the solar system. Actor Patrick Stew
To Boldly Go...
Oct 16, 1990 · 55 min
NOVA chronicles the Voyager space mission—from Earth to the ends of the solar system. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and dozens of moons star in this epic voyage of exploration. Actor Pat
Poisoned Winds of War
Oct 23, 1990 · 55 min
Sixty-five years after attempts to ban them, chemical weapons pose more of a threat than ever. NOVA looks at the problem of controlling substances that are easily produced and crue
The Blimp is Back!
Oct 30, 1990 · 55 min
NOVA examines the troubled past and promising future of blimps, zeppelins, cyclocranes and other species of airships. There's life in the old gasbags yet.
Earthquake!
Nov 6, 1990 · 55 min
NOVA looks at the high-stakes quest to predict earthquakes. Despite past disappointments, geologists still hope to divine the clues that precede nature's ultimate upheavals.
Killing Machines
Nov 13, 1990 · 55 min
Robotic weapons that seek out and destroy ships, planes, and other targets are the wave of the future. NOVA questions whether their proliferation may spell an end to superpower inv
Can the Elephant Be Saved?
Nov 20, 1990 · 55 min
Is the ivory ban in the elephant's best interest? NOVA looks at the controversial strategies to save the world's largest land animal from extinction.
We Know Where You Live
Nov 27, 1990 · 55 min
Ever wonder how junk mail finds you? NOVA investigates the hidden world of direct marketing, pointing out how advertisers know a lot more about us than we think.
In the Land of the Llamas
Dec 4, 1990 · 55 min
NOVA profiles the llama, alpaca, vicuna and guanaco of South America. At one time nearly extinct, these four members of the camel family are exceptionally well adapted to life in t
What's Killing the Children?
Dec 18, 1990 · 55 min
NOVA tracks a mysterious disease that suddenly and fatally attacks the children of a small Brazilian town. Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta are called in