3-2-1 Contact
3-2-1 Contact
TV ShowEnded

3-2-1 Contact

6.7 / 10
1980
7 seasons
223 episodes

3-2-1 Contact is an American science educational television show that aired on PBS from 1980 to 1988, and an adjoining children's magazine. The show, a production of the Children's Television Workshop, teaches scientific principles and their applications. Dr. Edward G. Atkins, who was responsible for much of the scientific content of the show, felt that the TV program wouldn't replace a classroom but would open the viewers to ask questions about the scientific purpose of things.

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Cast

Seasons

  • Noisy/Quiet: Production & Processing of Sound

    1.Noisy/Quiet: Production & Processing of Sound

    14-01-198030m

    A sixty-second tease introduces the cast and previews some of their scientific adventures. This is followed by a four-minute film showing the recording of the 3-2-1 Contact theme....

  • Noisy/Quiet: The Ear

    2.Noisy/Quiet: The Ear

    15-01-198030m

    Same 60-second tease as in first episode precedes an invasion of noises into Marc's world. Knowing that ""noise annoys,"" Marc illustrates (with a decibel reader) that loud noises...

  • Ep 3

    3.Noisy/Quiet: How People & Animals Use Sound

    16-01-198030m

    Lisa goes to Hawaii to see how dolphins use sonar. Another segment sees sonar of bats. Trini sees an ultrasound apparatus at work. The Bloodhound Gang finds a wrinkle in The Cas...

  • Ep 4

    4.Noisy/Quiet: Music

    17-01-198030m

    Dizzy Gillespie shows off his jazz talents. Trini checks out the behind-the-scenes work at a Kiss concert. The Bloodhound Gang cracks the Case of Princess Tomorrow.

  • Ep 5

    5.Noisy/Quiet: Range of Vibration

    18-01-198030m

    Lisa, Marc, and Trini are given a puzzle. They hear a bell ring and, as instructed, put the bell in a closed jar and take out some of the air with a vacuum pump. Since they don't...

  • Ep 6

    6.Forces and Motion

    24-03-198030m

    Trini becomes concerned when and where a hurricane is projected to strike. Marc visits Six Flags Great America to learn the mechanics and design of roller-coasters and talks to Fr...

  • Ep 7

    7.Forces and Fields

    25-03-198030m

    Hurricane Rufus is turning inland, heading toward the workshop. This prompts Trini to give a brief description of a hurricane. Jerome Barkum of the New York Jets visits the works...

  • Ep 8

    8.Forces: Buoyancy and Gravity

    26-03-198030m

    Hurricane Rufus is now abutting the workshop. Trini prepares herself with a lifeboat. She proves to Marc and Lisa that boats will float because of their shape. Trini gets a less...

  • Ep 9

    9.Forces and Machines

    27-03-198030m

    Hurricane Rufus strikes the workshop. Calmer discussion of the Earth's forces are seen at a circus, in the paths of satellites, and at the Bay of Fundy. The Bloodhound Gang teams...

  • Ep 10

    10.Forces: A Spectacle of Forces

    28-03-198030m

    REHASHED FROM THE PREVIOUS FOUR EPISODES: Roller coaster design; stuntman; orbiting satellites. Also: what forces propel a bicycle.

  • Ep 11

    11.Growth/Decay: Sex and Seeds

    10-03-198030m

    Marc learns about the growth of corn and pigs at the Bakers Akers farm. Trini sits in on an expectant mother's ultrasound. At the Bronx Zoo, Lisa goes on the rounds with a young...

  • Ep 12

    12.Growth/Decay: Human Growth

    11-03-198030m

    Lisa arrives at a hospital to see treatment for a premature baby. Trini and others at Staten Island discuss adolescent changes. ANIMATIONS: Einstein images; Human from conception...

  • Ep 13

    13.Growth/Decay: Decay

    12-03-198030m

    Lisa ventures into a sewage treatment plant in Chicago.Film inserts: Msima Spring in Kenya houses a massive food chain, and it all centers around hippos; the recycling of aluminum...

  • Ep 14

    14.Growth/Decay: Human Cultures/Land Forms

    13-03-198030m

    Lisa sees a volcano that is almost ready to erupt. Marc demonstrates a model volcano. Trini joins a group of young archaeologists uncovering fossils along the Illinois River.ANIM...

  • Ep 15

    15.Growth/Decay: Cycles Upon Cycles

    14-03-198030m

    REHASHED FROM THE PREVIOUS FOUR EPISODES: Lisa sees a volcano that is almost ready to erupt. Marc learns about the growth of corn and pigs at the Bakers Akers farm. ANIMATION: One...

  • Ep 16

    16.Fast/Slow: Speed Up, Slow Down

    28-01-198030m

    Trini and Lisa stage a surprise birthday party for Marc. It revolves around a tape recording which Marc must play at various speeds. Features Harry Blackstone's complex magic act...

  • Ep 17

    17.Fast/Slow: Rhythms of Nature

    29-01-198030m

    Lisa gets some instructions on rhythms from a professional drummer and witnesses the wicked tides at the Bay of Fundy. Trini examines migratory birds. Marc learns about human hea...

  • Fast/Slow: Lifetimes

    18.Fast/Slow: Lifetimes

    30-01-198030m

    Recycled from Episode 12: Lisa arrives at a hospital to see treatment for a premature baby.A make-up artist transforms Marc into an old man, explaining human aging along the way....

  • Ep 19

    19.Fast/Slow: Speed and Racing

    07-02-198030m

    Marc and Lisa give Trini a psychological boost prior to Field Day. Lisa checks out a professional motorcycle racer (filmed Oct. 1979). Marc gets a lesson on tennis serves from Ar...

  • Ep 20

    20.Fast/Slow: Time and Time Again

    01-02-198030m

    REHASHED FROM THE PREVIOUS FOUR EPISODES: Lisa checks out a professional motorcycle racer (filmed Oct. 1979) and witnesses the wicked tides at the Bay of Fundy. A make-up artist t...

  • Ep 21

    21.Communication: Human Communication

    17-03-198030m

    Marc and Lisa discover too late that Trini is stranded in the desert with an empty gas tank, setting the stage for three episodes. At Shea Stadium, Marc observes the Mets' signals...

  • Ep 22

    22.Communication: Animal Communication

    18-03-198030m

    Trini is still lost in the desert, despite several attempts to get messages across. Marc illustrates his expertise on bugs. He visits a researcher determining how bees communicat...

  • Ep 23

    23.Communication: Machinery of Communication

    19-03-198030m

    After two days and contact, Marc sends out the Goodyear Blimp for Trini. Marc visits Bell Laboratories to see a computer that is programmed to speak (intermixed with portion of Hu...

  • Ep 24

    24.Communication with Other Species

    20-03-198030m

    Trini returns from the desert. She gets in her first segment of the week, visiting the University of Tennessee, where an ape named Chantek learns sign language. Trini also checks...

  • Ep 25

    25.Communication: Feedback

    21-03-198030m

    Trini recounts her attempts to send distress signals from the desert. Lisa and Marc remind her that her messages had to reach somebody for a good response.REHASHED FROM THE PREVIO...

  • Ep 26

    26.Food/Fuel: Animal Food

    04-02-198030m

    Trini decides to bring a pet to the workshop, but she didn't count on a friend bringing a wolf. At the Bronx Zoo, Lisa goes on the rounds with a young veterinarian feeding baby ani...

  • Ep 27

    27.Food/Fuel: Human Food

    05-02-198030m

    Marc illustrates the truth about calories while baking a pizza. A group of school kids at Staten Island learn about nutrition. Lisa's cousin, a lumberjack, visits the workshop to...

  • Ep 28

    28.Food/Fuel: Growing and Processing Food

    06-02-198030m

    Lisa, Marc, and Trini have been invited to a canoe trek in Maine. They have difficulty at first trying to decide what food to bring. Marc learns about the growth of corn and pigs...

  • Ep 29

    29.Food/Fuel: Fueling Machines

    07-02-198030m

    True fuel is discussed in this episode, first with the 1980 phenomenon ""gasohol"" and with real gasoline at a motorcycle race. The gasohol segment takes Lisa to a rural factory w...

  • Ep 30

    30.Food/Fuel: The Sun Makes Everything Go

    08-02-198030m

    RECYCLED FROM THE PREVIOUS FOUR EPISODES: Gasohol, Baker's Akers, baking bread. Another sequence believed to be in this episode is a race of fuel efficiency between a school bus a...

  • Ep 31

    31.Hot/Cold: People's Temperatures

    21-01-198030m

    Trini has been standing in the freezing cold, threatening to become almost as sick as Marc. Lisa gives a demonstration on feeling hot and cold. But the biggest surprise comes whe...

  • Ep 32

    32.Hot/Cold: Animal and Plant Adaptations

    22-01-198030m

    The desert and polar regions demonstrate how plants and animals react to extreme heat or cold. The Bloodhound Gang unlocks ""The Case of the Secret Message.""

  • Ep 33

    33.Hot/Cold: How Hot or Cold Can It Get?

    23-01-198030m

    Marc and Trini relate temperature to each other as they make ice cream and candied apples respectively. Lisa demonstrates extreme cold temperatures with liquid nitrogen. A ""volc...

  • Ep 34

    34.Hot/Cold: Heat and Work

    24-01-198030m

    Lisa is bitter over her cold. As Marc and Trini try to warm her spirits, Lisa thinks back to her visits with the motorcyclist and the hot-air balloons. The Bloodhound Gang must wo...

  • Ep 35

    35.Hot/Cold: Temperatures on Earth/In Space

    25-01-198030m

    A solar astronomer explains how the sun produces the seasons. He tells Marc that the sun is closer to Earth in winter than in summer, but the angle of sunlight is far different.RE...

  • Ep 36

    36.Light/Dark: The Sun

    18-02-198030m

    Marc wants to set up a model solar system. To simulate the sun, he and the others get the largest light bulb they can buy. Only after they blow a fuse do they learn (from a guest...

  • Ep 38

    38.Light/Dark: Electromagnetic Spectrum

    20-02-198030m

    Trini follows the crew that sets up the lighting on a Kiss concert (recorded during their 1979 tour). At the workshop, Trini uses a prism to split white light into the color spect...

  • Ep 39

    39.Light/Dark: The Eye

    21-02-198030m

    Everyone celebrates Trini's birthday with a piñata. Marc visits a visually-impaired boy navigating around his school and neighborhood. Trini discovers a boy whose vision was impro...

  • Ep 40

    40.Light/Dark: Light Sources

    22-02-198030m

    Marc proposes to burn a hole through a piece of cardboard using a magnifying glass and the sun. It doesn't harm the cardboard, but Lisa and Trini get the message.REHASHED FROM THE...

  • Ep 41

    41.Near/Far: Seeing Isn't Always Believing

    03-03-198030m

    Lisa and Trini enter an Eames Room to play tricks on Marc. Marc gets an up-close look at things through a scanning electron microscope. The Bloodhound Gang is called on to observ...

  • Ep 42

    42.Near/Far: Mapping and Navigating Near Home

    04-03-198030m

    Marc visits a researcher determining how bees communicate. Then, in a segment previously used in Light/Dark: The Eye, Marc watches a visually-impaired boy navigate around his neigh...

  • Ep 43

    43.Near/Far: Mapping and Navigating Over Earth

    05-03-198030m

    For the bulk of the show, a guest at the workshop is Willis Brown, a transcontinental pilot who discusses air travel. Trini examines homing pigeons. Marc goes on a sailing adventu...

  • Ep 44

    44.Near/Far: Space Travel

    06-03-198030m

    This program goes to Houston to observe the space shuttle. The Bloodhound Gang has to stop a swindle in ""The Case of the Educated Pig.""

  • Ep 45

    45.Near/Far: Knowing Where You Are

    07-03-198030m

    RECYCLED FROM THE PREVIOUS FOUR EPISODES: Marc sees a sailing ship chart its return course and observes how a blind boy finds his way around; astronauts training for navigating the...

  • Ep 46

    46.Order/Disorder: Regular Patterns

    31-03-198030m

    Lisa is looking for a quilt design, which she can't quite place. Trini suggests that Lisa use a computer to create a new quilt design. Marc sees ordinary objects look extraordina...

  • Ep 47

    47.Order/Disorder: The Body – An Ordered System

    01-04-198030m

    A student of neuropharmacology visits the workshop to discuss the order of the human body and all its systems. Marc observes how a pacemaker works. Trini seeks how a doctor could...

  • Order/Disorder: Social Order

    48.Order/Disorder: Social Order

    02-04-198030m

    Animals keep a semblance of order, whether they are bees in a hive or people in the Kalahari Desert searching for melons. Music and games are also part of social order, as we shal...

  • Ep 49

    49.Order/Disorder: Disordered

    03-04-198030m

    Marc, Lisa, and Trini become helter-skelter at the beginning, but they calm down and devise plans. In the process, Lisa finds a pattern for her quilt. On location, Lisa sees a se...

  • Ep 50

    50.Order/Disorder: Sum of Its Parts

    04-04-198030m

    A composer visits the workshop to discuss writing music. Marc sees the specialized work of honey bees. Trini gets the full story on setting up a rock concert.

  • Ep 51

    51.Surfaces: Protection

    07-04-198030m

    Clothes are humans' number-one source of protecting the skin. Trini finds out what clothing works best when climbing a mountain. The Bloodhound Gang is confronted with ""The Case...

  • Ep 52

    52.Surfaces: Shapes and Functions at the Surface

    08-04-198030m

    Field locations include cacti in the Arizona desert, a Zamboni, and a scanning electron microscope. The Bloodhound Gang decodes Mr. Bloodhound's whereabouts in ""The Case of the M...

  • Ep 53

    53.Surfaces: Surface Tension and Bubbles

    09-04-198030m

    Lisa rides a hot-air balloon and gets tips from a glassblower on making goblets. A film insert discusses bubbles and how they are used. The Bloodhound Gang is kidnapped in Part On...

  • Ep 54

    54.Surfaces: Surface of the Earth

    10-04-198030m

    A geologist appears in the workshop for a discussion on the three types of Earth rock. In Hawaii, Lisa sees a volcano and takes a novice surfing lesson. Film insert: Searching fo...

  • Ep 55

    55.Surfaces: The Atmosphere

    11-04-198030m
  • Ep 56

    56.Big/Small: Animal Sizes/Scaling

    25-02-198030m

    At the Bronx Zoo, Lisa goes on the rounds with a young veterinarian feeding baby animals. Marc visits Miami Seaquarium to see whales trained.Film insert: Leaf-cutter ants; flea ci...

  • Ep 57

    57.Big/Small: Animal Habitats

    26-02-198030m

    Everyone is perplexed when they find bugs living on just about everything. Trini examines a salt marsh. (Continues in Episode 59.) A guest biologist discusses water and food cha...

  • Ep 58

    58.Big/Small: Dinoaurs

    27-02-198030m

    Trini is convinced she has discovered a dinosaur bone. A visit to a American Museum of Natural History shows that she actually has the femur of a horse. Also at the museum, a you...

  • Ep 59

    59.Big/Small: Volume & Efficiency

    28-02-198030m

    At an aquarium, Lisa and Trini learn about volume. Marc and Lisa head out to see a supertanker. Trini stakes her case about oil spills. This includes an extension of Trini's vis...

  • Ep 60

    60.Big/Small: How Big is Big?

    29-02-198030m

    REHASHED FROM THE PREVIOUS FOUR EPISODES: Trini is convinced she has discovered a dinosaur bone. A visit to a American Museum of Natural History shows that she actually has the fe...

  • Ep 61

    61.Crowded/Uncrowded: Human Crowding

    11-02-198030m

    The workshop welcomes a guest to discuss the human psyche of crowding.Film inserts: Building a skyscraper; the Gui people of Africa do a little minor socializing; New York City lif...

  • Ep 62

    62.Crowded/Uncrowded: Optimum Populations in Nature

    12-02-198030m

    A wildlife expert visits the workshop to extoll on the impact humans have had on animals such as the wolf. FILM INSERT: Kudzu takes over parts of the South. The elephant struggle...

  • Ep 63

    63.Crowded/Uncrowded: Contrasts in Densities of Materials

    13-02-198030m

    Trini pilots around New York City in the Goodyear blimp. Lisa gets to ride a hot-air balloon. The Bloodhound Gang gets an eyesight-full in Part Two of ""The Case of the Cackling...

  • Ep 64

    64.Crowded/Uncrowded: Down Among the Atoms (Liquids & Solids)

    14-02-198030m

    Marc adds too much food coloring to the frosting on a birthday cake for his sister, starting a discussion of molecular density in solids and liquids. The Bloodhound Gang solves ""...

  • Ep 65

    65.Crowded/Uncrowded: Human Survival/Controlling Densities

    15-02-198030m

    REHASHED FROM PREVIOUS FOUR EPISODES: Lisa rides a hot-air balloon. FILM INSERT: The elephant struggles for survival in Africa. ADDITIONAL: The black hole.

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