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The Worst Episodes of How the Universe Works

Every episode of How the Universe Works ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of How the Universe Works!

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A users' guide to the cosmos, from the Big Bang to galaxies, stars, planets and moons: where did it all come from and how does it all fit together? A primer for anyone who has

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Worst Episode
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    How the Universe Works Season 5 Episode 9 - Strangest Alien Worlds
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #1 - Strangest Alien Worlds

    S5:E9

    Discoveries of new planets have revealed countless worlds much stranger than Earth. Some of these worlds don't have stars, others are made out of diamonds. Will we ever find a planet like Earth, or are these distant worlds stranger than fiction?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. How the Universe Works Season 11 Episode 4 - Asteroid: Countdown to Catastrophe
    7.6/10(35 votes)

    #2 - Asteroid: Countdown to Catastrophe

    S11:E4

    In a fictional scenario set in 2029, an asteroid hurtling towards Earth at 40,000 mph will reduce New York to ashes; examining the hypothetical, experts weigh in to determine what could happen, and how it might be stopped.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. How the Universe Works Season 2 Episode 1 - Volcanoes - The Furnaces of Life
    7.8/10(129 votes)

    #3 - Volcanoes - The Furnaces of Life

    S2:E1

    Are we alone in the Universe? What makes Earth so different? Part of the answer is our volcanoes. without them we would not be here either. Today we are discovering volcanoes on alien worlds. Are these worlds where, tomorrow, we might find life?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. How the Universe Works Season 2 Episode 4 - Megaflares - Cosmic Firestorms
    7.8/10(105 votes)

    #4 - Megaflares - Cosmic Firestorms

    S2:E4

    The Universe is a magnetic minefield. Spinning star systems crackle and explode, magnetic monsters rip worlds apart, star-quakes shoot beams of devastating energy, and galactic flamethrowers fire gamma-rays half way across the Universe. Will we find Earth in the firing line?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. How the Universe Works Season 9 Episode 4 - Aliens of the Microcosmos
    7.9/10(60 votes)

    #5 - Aliens of the Microcosmos

    S9:E4

    New discoveries reveal the power of microscopic alien organisms.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. How the Universe Works Season 2 Episode 2 - Megastorms - The Winds of Creation
    8.0/10(111 votes)

    #6 - Megastorms - The Winds of Creation

    S2:E2

    Destructive weather forces are symptoms of Earth's creative energy. In our quest to discover if we are alone in the universe, we shouldn't just look for worlds, we should look for weather; find that megastorm, and maybe we will find alien life.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. How the Universe Works Season 2 Episode 3 - Exoplanets - Planets from Hell
    8.0/10(121 votes)

    #7 - Exoplanets - Planets from Hell

    S2:E3

    We once thought that the only planets were in our solar system. We have found many other planets but they are nothing like we expected, from deep-frozen, toxic snowballs, to scorched and boiling nightmares. Is every planet out there a planet fom Hell?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. How the Universe Works Season 11 Episode 3 - Most Violent Event in the Universe
    8.0/10(41 votes)

    #8 - Most Violent Event in the Universe

    S11:E3

    The collision of two supermassive black holes is the most violent event that can occur in the universe; experts explore where a black hole's energy originates and what really happens when the two most powerful objects in the cosmos clash.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. How the Universe Works Season 1 Episode 1 - Big Bang
    8.1/10(269 votes)

    #9 - Big Bang

    S1:E1

    The programme investigates how the Universe came into existence out of nothing, and how it grew from a minuscule point, smaller than an atomic particle, to the vast cosmos we see today.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. How the Universe Works Season 1 Episode 7 - Solar Systems
    8.1/10(164 votes)

    #10 - Solar Systems

    S1:E7

    Is our solar system unique? Since the first discovery of a planet orbiting another star, some 280 alien solar systems have been identified. It's only by looking at solar systems far beyond our own, that we can understand how remarkable our universe is.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. How the Universe Works Season 2 Episode 5 - Extreme Orbits - Clockwork and Creation
    8.1/10(107 votes)

    #11 - Extreme Orbits - Clockwork and Creation

    S2:E5

    We owe our existence to the stability of earth's orbit. But we are the freaks: everywhere else we look we find orbits are chaotic, unstable, and violent. Yet on the very largest scale, orbits are also a creative force, even constructing the fabric of the universe itself.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. How the Universe Works Season 4 Episode 2 - Earth, Venus's Evil Twin
    8.1/10(111 votes)

    #12 - Earth, Venus's Evil Twin

    S4:E2

    An examination of Venus; and what it may indicate about Earth's future.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. How the Universe Works Season 5 Episode 7 - Life and Death on the Red Planet
    8.1/10(75 votes)

    #13 - Life and Death on the Red Planet

    S5:E7

    Life once existed on Mars, but a series of devastating mass extinctions have made present-day life nearly impossible. The latest science shows how Martian life keeps bouncing back as it transforms from a watery world like Earth into a desert planet.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. How the Universe Works Season 8 Episode 1 - Asteroid Apocalypse: The New Threat
    8.1/10(74 votes)

    #14 - Asteroid Apocalypse: The New Threat

    S8:E1

    If a massive asteroid collides with earth, it could end life on our planet as we know it; new discoveries and cutting-edge tech reveal just how close we are to apocalypse and what it would take for the world's leading space agencies to stop it.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. How the Universe Works Season 8 Episode 2 - NASA's Journey to Mars
    8.1/10(66 votes)

    #15 - NASA's Journey to Mars

    S8:E2

    NASA is on a mission to send humans to Mars within just 15 years, but to reach this next frontier of space exploration, experts must discover new technology and cutting-edge science that protects astronauts from the Red Planet's deadliest killers.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. How the Universe Works Season 8 Episode 3 - Hunt for Alien Evidence
    8.1/10(68 votes)

    #16 - Hunt for Alien Evidence

    S8:E3

    The discovery of extraterrestrial life might face an impossible challenge: the physics of the universe itself; but using cutting-edge tech, experts might be on the verge of a groundbreaking find -- and the evidence could already be in hand.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. How the Universe Works Season 9 Episode 9 - Birth of Monster Black Holes
    8.1/10(50 votes)

    #17 - Birth of Monster Black Holes

    S9:E9

    New discoveries reveal an astonishing supermassive black hole that was born during the earliest days of the cosmos, and finding out how this giant grew so large so quickly may help to explain the very formation of the universe itself.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. How the Universe Works Season 1 Episode 5 - Supernovas
    8.2/10(172 votes)

    #18 - Supernovas

    S1:E5

    Stars are not eternal; they are dying in unimaginably large explosions called supernovas. Second only to the Big Bang, these explosions are where creation and destruction meet. Only now have we begun to understand how these wonders in our sky work.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. How the Universe Works Season 1 Episode 6 - Planets
    8.2/10(161 votes)

    #19 - Planets

    S1:E6

    There are just eight planets in our solar system, but there could be a hundred billion planets in our Milky Way galaxy alone. This show follows the journey of planets as they grow from grains of dust to the magnificently diverse worlds we see today.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. How the Universe Works Season 2 Episode 6 - Comets - Frozen Wanderers
    8.2/10(107 votes)

    #20 - Comets - Frozen Wanderers

    S2:E6

    As time machines from the early universe, comets could hold the key to unlock the secrets of the cosmos, and may even be the origin of life itself. In this episode, we learn that comets are even more mysterious and fascinating than we had ever imagined.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. How the Universe Works Season 2 Episode 7 - Asteroids - Worlds That Never Were
    8.2/10(110 votes)

    #21 - Asteroids - Worlds That Never Were

    S2:E7

    Asteroids wiped out the dinosaurs and may be back for us but they also built the Earth and may have brought life to its barren surface. Asteroids will shape our future as much as our past and scientists are striving to unlock their secrets.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. How the Universe Works Season 3 Episode 1 - Journey from the Center of the Sun
    8.2/10(141 votes)

    #22 - Journey from the Center of the Sun

    S3:E1

    How does light escape from the sun? We take a journey from the centre of the sun, following the path of light. We witness its fiery birth from in the core, its 430,000 mile battle against gravity and magnetism, and its escape from the solar surface.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. How the Universe Works Season 4 Episode 1 - How the Universe Built Your Car
    8.2/10(113 votes)

    #23 - How the Universe Built Your Car

    S4:E1

    Beneath the hood of your car lies the history of the Universe. The iron in your chassis, the gold in your stereo and the copper in your electronics all owe their existence to violent cosmic events that took place billions of years ago.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. How the Universe Works Season 5 Episode 6 - The Universe's Deadliest
    8.2/10(81 votes)

    #24 - The Universe's Deadliest

    S5:E6

    The universe is a dangerous place, and we explore the deadliest spots in the cosmos. Between earth and the edge of the universe, there are a million ways to die, and our crash test dummy is on a mission to reveal the worst.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. How the Universe Works Season 5 Episode 8 - The Dark Matter Enigma
    8.2/10(77 votes)

    #25 - The Dark Matter Enigma

    S5:E8

    Dark matter is the biggest mystery of the cosmos. Scientists know that it has been vital to our universe since its birth, and new discoveries reveal that it could create black holes, cause mass extinctions, and might even shape life on Earth itself.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Worst Episodes Summary

"Strangest Alien Worlds" is the worst rated episode of "How the Universe Works". It scored /10 based on 0 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 2/7/2017. This episode scored 7.6 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Asteroid: Countdown to Catastrophe".