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Chris Higgins
The Secret Life of Machines
by Chris Higgins - October 19, 2007 - 11:30 AM

The Secret Life of Machines - FAX Machine screenshotI have fond memories of watching The Secret Life of Machines on The Discovery Channel in the early 90’s — back in the days when the channel was mostly about sharks and David Attenborough films. The Secret Life of Machines was written and presented by Tim Hunkin (with assistance from Rex Garrod) and broadcast in the UK in the late 80’s and early 90’s. The show was like an early version of MythBusters, minus the myths, and with more quirky animation. It was all about machines — how they work, how to build them, who invented them, and even how they’re used in art. The series is charming, educational, and a lot of fun.

The Secret Life of the Office - Word Processor RobotFor at least the past decade it has been hard to watch the show in the US — it was available (for hundreds of dollars) on VHS and DVD, and I haven’t been able to find it on the Discovery Channel since the 90’s. So imagine my delight — my glee even — when I discovered that now the entire series is available online for free thanks to The Exploratorium in San Francisco. You can stream the episodes or download them in high-quality QuickTime format (they’re labeled ‘iPhone’ but really those files are just QuickTime movies, playable on any modern computer).

After you’ve caught up with the episodes, check out this 2004 article by Tim Hunkin discussing the history of the first season and offering some technological updates since the show aired. See also: Hunkin’s account of the second season and the third season (also known as The Secret Life of the Office).

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Comments (4)

  1. Oh, wow! I used to cut short my other activities to watch TSLOM on its double-billing with Movie Magic. They were so well-done, and I too pined for the episodes once Discovery stopped airing them. I actually got a full set a few months ago from Google video, so that’s another option for anyone interested. Did you have a ‘favorite’ (’favourite?’) episode? The human sewing machine sticks in my mind, for reasons unknown…

    posted by Roger on 10-19-2007 at 1:54 pm

  2. My faves were the fax machine and the vacuum cleaner…on the former, just the notion of how this was all figured out, and how it could be reproduced in a field was awesome; on the latter, I continue not to really understand how exactly my stuff flies through the motor without killing it. Anyway, now that I’ve grabbed all the QuickTime files, I’m pretty sure there are a few episodes I’ve missed!

    I also really enjoyed the season-ending art bits, like the TV robot. That image (above) is burned on my brain. :)

    posted by Higgins on 10-19-2007 at 2:39 pm

  3. And Take 5 is a great theme song. I’ve thought about this show a lot since the 90’s and used the name for my blog about how I come up with my design ideas. Small world..

    posted by josh on 10-21-2007 at 8:56 pm

  4. I’m the guy who coughed up 100 pounds and bought the DVDs and then ripped and released them into the wild.

    You can find them on various p2p sites and applications.

    Tim was actually rather pleased that someone did it. Kinda surprised me.

    posted by Todd Clayton on 10-25-2007 at 2:36 pm

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