SECRET ORIGINS OF THE METEORITE MEN
After appearing in numerous one-off meteorite hunting television shows for PBS, Discovery Channel, the History Channel, the Travel Channel and others, long time friends and expedition partners Geoffrey Notkin, science writer and owner of Aerolite Meteorites, and world famous meteorite hunter Steve Arnold were eager to take their unique blend of adventure, science, and humor to a wider audience.

During the winter of 2007 Steve and Geoff were contacted by Ruth Rivin, executive producer at prominent production company LMNO, in Los Angeles, California to ask if they would be interested in pursuing a television series idea. After a few months of talks, producer Elizabeth Meeker flew to Tucson for a one-day desert shoot with Steve and Geoff in February, 2008. The resulting demo reel landed the Meteorite Men an invitation to fly to Washington, D.C. and meet with senior executives at some of the world's top cable networks. Steve and Geoff turned up in the lobby of the Discovery building in full field gear, and carrying a backpack containing ten thousand dollars' worth of meteorites. It was quite the show-and-tell.

SCIENCE CHANNEL PILOT
The Science Channel liked what they saw and ordered a one-hour pilot. Both LMNO and the Meteorite Men wanted to do something truly outstanding for the pilot, so the best possible team was assembled to create a riveting adventure show. Veteran TV producer Bob Melisso was brought on board to work full time on the project. Randall Love, a cinematographer of exceptional talent and experience who has worked for Lucas films, Disney, Pixar, the BBC, HBO among others, was hired as Director of Photography.

METEORITE MEN ON LOCATION
IN KANSAS AND ARIZONA
After months of pre-production, shooting was set to commence in late September. Bad weather at the Kansas location forced a last-minute reschedule, and the entire crew stayed a heartbeat ahead of appalling weather all through the week of shooting. Primary location work was completed at the Brenham strewnfield in Kiowa County, Kansas, in addition to a top secret location where the Meteorite Men have been working for the past two years.

With three 4WD trucks, two ATVs, two giant metal detectors and enough other assorted hunting equipment to keep a small army occupied the Meteorite Men covered hundreds of acres of ground and filmed in plowed fields, forests, rolling hillsides, abandoned farms, on unmarked dirt roads and in howling Kansas winds. Elizabeth Meeker returned to work with the team, as did jib operator Scott Jolley, who had worked with the Meteorite Men on an earlier shoot for the Discovery Channel. With three cameras in operation, every detail of the Meteorite Men's hunt for space rocks was captured in high-def.

The cast and crew worked long days. With the threat of bad weather always present, the team wanted to make the most of every day. Most mornings everyone was on location before sunrise, and still filming as the sun began to disappear behind low Kansas hills, each evening.

THE METEORITE COLLECTION AT ASU, TEMPE
Additional shooting took place at the Center for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, in the company of expert meteoriticists Dr. Meenakshi Wadhwa and Dr. Laurence Garvie. Steve and Geoff drove some of their most spectacular finds to ASU where they were examined by the top academics, and in some of the most amusing segments in the show, Geoff and Steve get to explore ASU's famous collection room like two kids in a candy store. They also got to play with the multi million dollar Ion Beams for Analysis of Materials (IBeAM) equipment in ASU's underground warren of state-of-the-art labs. The IBeAM bombards specimens with accelerated ions to determine their chemical composition. Steve and Geoff were not very surprised to learn that they had found real meteorites during the shoot!

Post production work continued through the winter of 2008 and into January of 2009. Steve and Geoff supplied a wealth of personal photos, maps and documents from their personal archives to add detail to the show. When the crew returned home after the final shoot, they had to sort through over sixty-five hours of footage, and somehow edit it all down into a one-hour show.

WHAT DID THE METEORITE MEN FIND?
So, did the Meteorite Men find any meteorites during filming? We don't want to ruin any surprises for first-time viewers, so let's just say it wouldn't be much fun if we told you now . . . but it also wouldn't be much of a show if the guys didn't find something pretty spectacular.

FOLLOW THE METEORITE MEN ON TWITTER
Follow the Meteorite Men on Twitter.com if you'd like to receive up-to-the-minute news about the show, air dates, and other updates on related events.

Photography by Caroline Palmer, Ruth Rivin, Geoffrey Notkin © Aerolite Meteorites

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OWN A PIECE OF THE ACTUAL BRENHAM METEORITE
FOUND WHILE FILMING METEORITE MEN

We have produced a beautiful limited edition collectible featuring a part slice of the famous Brenham, Kansas pallasite. These lovely part slices contain abundant olivine crystals (the gemstone peridot). A polished part slice of Brenham meteorite, approximately 1" square, displaying beautiful crystals within in a nickel-iron matrix has been suspended in a top quality lucite block, measuring 3 x 2 1/8 x 3/4 inches. Each Brenham collectible is accompanied by a color 8 1/2 x 11 certificate of authenticity, and an exclusive 4 x 6 color photo of the complete mass, alongside finders Steve Arnold and Geoff Notkin, immediately after it was excavated. Both the certificate and the photo are signed by Geoff and Steve. This special pre-broadcast edition of the Brenham Lucite is strictly limited to 100 sets.

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