Series synopsis
Dark Matters: Twisted But True is an American documentary reality television series that premiered on Science on August 31, 2011. It ended on December 26, 2012. It stars John Noble.
Hosted by actor John Noble of Fringe and Lord of the Rings, the show takes the viewer inside the laboratory to profile strange science and expose some of history's most bizarre experiments. This show uses narration and reenactments to portray the stories in this show. A new season of episodes, under the title Dark Matters: Extra Twisted, premiered on January 23, 2013. The episodes revisit previous stories with "deeper insight and new information."
Premise
Hosted by actor John Noble of Fringe and Lord of the Rings, the show takes the viewer inside the laboratory to profile strange science and expose some of history's most bizarre experiments. This show uses narration and reenactments to portray the stories in this show. A new season of episodes, under the title Dark Matters: Extra Twisted, premiered on January 23, 2013. The episodes revisit previous stories with "deeper insight and new information."
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- John Noble as Self - Host
Guest cast
- Michael Malarkey as Frank Geyser
- Michael Stevens as Himself
- Oliver James as Tempalov
- Joshua Wichard as Young Pavlov (as Josh Wichard)
- Isobel Pravda as Maria Bopkova
- Jake Harders as Louis Slotin
Episodes
This series spans 2 seasons with 19 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 6 | August 31, 2011 | October 5, 2011 |
| Season 2 | 13 | July 14, 2012 | December 26, 2012 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
The Philadelphia Experiment, Ape-Man Army, Zapped to Death The Philadelphia Experiment: In 1956 astronomer and UFOlogist Morris Jessup received an extraordinary letter. It claimed that during World War 2 the US Navy had experimented with invisibility and teleportation in a botched test on a destroyer, the USS Eldridge. Jessup's search for the truth will lead him to pay the ultimate price. APE-MAN ARMY: In the 1920s and 30s Soviet scientist Dr. Ilya Ivanov began a series of disturbing experiments to cross breed humans with apes. At first he tried to make female apes pregnant using humans as the fathers. His experiments grew so grotesque he was expelled from French Guinea in Africa when he attempted to make women pregnant using apes as the fathers. But his research continued in Russia. Did he succeed? ZAPPED TO DEATH: Thomas Edison was a great man, one of the inventors of the modern world. But even the greatest men make mistakes. Caught up in a commercial battle to supply America with electricity, Edison ran a disturbing publicity campaign against his bitter rival George Westinghouse. The campaign used Westinghouse technology to electrocute animals. Ultimately Edison's campaign went even further, leading to the invention of the electric chair. It was a battle Edison regretted for the rest of his life. |
August 31, 2011 |
| 2 |
I Have Einstein's Brain, Unidentified Flying Nazis, Killer Thoughts I HAVE EINSTEIN'S BRAIN: When Albert Einstein dies in 1955, the pathologist tasked with the autopsy steals his brain. Dr. Thomas Harvey promises he will unravel the mystery of where genius lies within its physical structure. In fact, he embarks on a bizarre 40 year odyssey accompanied by the brain, floating in a mayonnaise jar… UNIDENTIFIED FLYING NAZIS: A fireball streaks through the skies of Pennsylvania in 1965. Is it just a meteor? If so, why have the military cordoned off the area within hours? Could it be a UFO? The Air Force says, 'No'. Then a historian discovers some extraordinary evidence from the end of the Second World War. Could the fireball be evidence that the US got hold of an outlandish piece of Nazi anti-gravity technology? KILLER THOUGHTS: Could the Cold War have been won just by thinking about it? Both Russia and the United States spent millions trying to develop mind-weapons and extra-sensory espionage. While nuclear weapons were paraded in front of the world, behind the scenes there was a full blown psychic arms race going on. |
September 7, 2011 |
| 3 |
Sexy Secret Agent, Full Body Transplant, Honey I Nuked the Planet SEXY SECRET AGENT: When talk show host John Nebel married ex-model Candy Jones he had no idea that she would reveal that she was a brainwashed CIA secret agent called Arlene Grant. She claims to have been the subject of mind control experiments in the late 50s and to have been sent on foreign missions where she was tortured. But was it true, or had Candy Jones developed a split personality during her troubled childhood? Truth or fantasy? FULL BODY TRANSPLANT: In 1971, in the culmination of a series of gruesome experiments, neurosurgeon Dr. Robert White successfully transplanted the head of one rhesus monkey onto the decapitated body of another. A devout Catholic, White believed the techniques could one day save human souls when their bodies gave out. But would it ever have worked? And would we tolerate today the level of unnecessary animal cruelty that he believed acceptable? HONEY I NUKED THE PLANET: In 1962 the United States exploded a 1.4 megaton H-Bomb in space Scientist James van Allen was asked to prove the test was safe but given just weeks to do it. President Kennedy went on to use Van Allen's name to prove the tests were not dangerous. The bomb created a radiation storm around the planet that took ten years to dissipate, blew out orbiting satellites and plunged parts of Oahu into darkness. They were fortunate it wasn't far worse. Van Allen kept his own council until the test was complete but then exploded labeling it shoddy and unsafe. |
September 14, 2011 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Lindbergh, Suicide Song, Living Organ Donor Charles Lindburgh plans to conquer death, but only for the select few. A song is blamed for 18 suicides. Some donate their dead bodies to science, but science wants one man's body while he was still alive. |
July 14, 2012 |
| 2 |
Resurrection Row, Operation Brainwash, Rabid Roulette Robert Cornish's method for cheating death means a murderer could walk free.The CIA pays Ewen Cameron to invent brainwashing at an awful price for his patients. Louis Pasteur creates a rabies vaccine by gambling with the life of a child. |
July 21, 2012 |
| 3 |
Dr. Lobotomy, Voodoo Rx, Killed by Kindness Egas Moniz chops up living brains to cure mental illness and gets shot for it. Can words kill? A doctor uses the power of mind to save his patient. George Price proves human kindness is an illusion and it drives him to suicide. |
July 28, 2012 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | Science |
|---|---|
| First aired | August 31, 2011 |
| Last aired | December 26, 2012 |
| Runtime | 43 minutes |
| Status | ended |
| Schedule | Wednesday at 22:00:00 |