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All Seasons

Season 1

  • S01E01 Rolling Stones (Inclined planes, wedges)

    • August 24, 2004
    • BBC One

    When a mammoth stampede ruins the village, the islanders try to build decent roads, using large boulders. Topics covered: inclined planes, wedges.

  • S01E02 A See Saw World (Levers)

    • August 25, 2004
    • BBC One

    To win a 'heaviest mammoth' competition, the islanders build makeshift scales of logs and rocks to weigh them. Topics covered: levers.

  • S01E03 Take a Mammoth to Water (Wheels, axles)

    • August 26, 2004
    • BBC One

    The mammoths need their monthly washing, but the islanders cannot persuade them to bathe, until the Inventor suggests the use of winches and wheels. Topics covered: wheels and axles.

  • S01E04 Fun at the Fair (Belts & gears)

    • August 27, 2004
    • BBC One

    Saddened by the failure of the previous year's event, Olive endeavours to ensure that Mammoth Island's annual funfair is filled with exciting attractions. Topics covered: belts and gears.

  • S01E05 A Knight's Tale (Screws)

    • August 28, 2004
    • BBC One

    In a slight parody of the Chaucer story of the same name, the islanders and a visiting knight attempt to rescue Brenda from the top of an observation tower. Topics covered: screws.

  • S01E06 Pulleys

    • August 31, 2004
    • BBC One

    The islanders' supply of mammoth milk is running out, and they attempt to raise the mammoths from the ground for milking. Topics covered: pulleys.

  • S01E07 Life on the Water (Floating, upthrust)

    • September 1, 2004
    • BBC One

    Attempting to take his mammoth herd across to Pasture Island for grazing, Pilbeam breaks the bridge and becomes stranded. The islanders build different rafts and boats, some of which fail, to rescue him. Topics covered: floating, upthrust.

  • S01E08 Stuck in the Mud (Magnetism)

    • September 2, 2004
    • BBC One

    Frank and Pilbeam employ oversized magnets to extract scrap metal from a sunken steamer. Matters become complicated when Troy accidentally creates an electromagnet and Frank's mammoth becomes stuck in quicksand. Topics covered: magnetism.

  • S01E09 A Head Full of Steam (Gears, steam power, condensation)

    • September 3, 2004
    • BBC One

    When Mammoth Island's new theme park, Mammoth Land, opens to the public, Troy and Olive are disappointed by the slowness of the rides. With help from the Inventor, they use steam engines to increase the velocity the Ferris wheel; but the wheel slips its moorings and runs rampant throughout the island. Topics covered: bevel gears, steam power, condensation.

  • S01E10 That Sinking Feeling (Density, water pressure, sinking)

    • September 6, 2004
    • BBC One

    The Mammoth Ferry's maiden voyage is interrupted by a tsunami, scattering its cargo. Olive and the Inventor devise a submarine to retrieve the items. Topics covered: submersibles, sinking, water pressure, density.

  • S01E11 Engine Trouble (Engines / combustion, Rockets, Jet, Auto)

    • September 7, 2004
    • BBC One

    Brenda opens a pizza parlor promising 'free mammoth delivery'; but due to the docile nature of the mammoths her profits are nil. The Inventor helps build a jet engine to deliver the pizzas on time. Note: this episode contained the first appearance of Mammoth Island's rival, Dodo Island. Topics covered: jet engines, combustion, flight.

  • S01E12 On Squeezing Mammoths (Pumping water, pressure, air molecules)

    • September 8, 2004
    • BBC One

    When Brenda's bakery burns down, the highly inefficient fire brigade floods the island, and the Inventor helps the islanders build a proper water pump. Topics covered: pumping, water pressure, air molecules.

  • S01E13 Oh for the Wings of a Mammoth (Flight, airplanes air pressure)

    • September 9, 2004
    • BBC One

    Frank and Pilbeam try to help Brenda run an awning factory while the owner is away on vacation; but stumble on the principles of flight when an awning, tied to a mammoth's back, catches the wind. The Inventor teaches them how to turn this to their advantage. Topics covered: air pressure, flight, aeroplanes, wind.

  • S01E14 Somewhere Over the Mammoth (Light, reflection, rainbows, ...)

    • September 10, 2004
    • BBC One

    Whilst working for the Inventor, Troy experiences several phenomenons due to the way light behaves, including a rainbow. Meanwhile, the Inventor has to contend with the loss of his piggy bank, leaving him penniless with several broken glass trophies to pay for. Topics covered: light, refraction, reflection, rainbows, mirrors, light rays.

  • S01E15 The Far Side (Hot air balloon, expansion, gravity)

    • September 13, 2004
    • BBC One

    In order to curb boredom, the islanders cross a previously unexplored mountain ridge, with a mammoth for transport. When the mammoth is stuck dangling over the edge of a cliff, the Inventor uses a hot-air balloon. Topics covered: ballooning, hot air, blimps, expansion, rising, gravity.

  • S01E16 Heating (Convection, conduction, radiation)

    • September 14, 2004
    • BBC One

    When his water pipes freeze, the Inventor accidentally destroys Brenda's house, the local sauna, and his own house. Subsequently, Olive shows him the various ways in which mammoths are used to generate heat around the island, culminating in the construction of an enormous vacuum flask. Topics covered: heating water, conduction, radiation, convection currents, vacuum flasks.

  • S01E17 The Sound of a Mammoth (Sound waves, echoes, hearing)

    • September 15, 2004
    • BBC One

    The islanders guide their mammoth herd through a large canyon in search of fresh pasture, but lose them in various pits, ravines, and crevices after a stampede. The islanders become confused by the echoes of the mammoths' calls, and require the Inventor to construct a device to bring them all back. Topics covered: echoes, sound waves, hearing, ear anatomy.

  • S01E18 Images (Lenses, magnification, photography)

    • September 16, 2004
    • BBC One

    Due to Pilbeam's inability to complete portraits of the winners of the annual Mammoth Island golf tournament, the Inventor suggests the use of cameras and lenses to speed the process. Meanwhile, Troy suffers sunburn. Topics covered: images, photography, binoculars, lenses, picture development, magnification. (pre-digital world)

  • S01E19 Cooling (Air conditioning, air cooling)

    • September 17, 2004
    • BBC One

    During a hot summer, the islanders and mammoths compete for use of a river. Subsequently, the Inventor attempts to install an air-conditioning unit in Frank's kitchen, with disastrous results. Topics covered: air conditioning, air cooling, cooling.

  • S01E20 Hot Wheels (Friction, Heat, brakes, lubrication)

    • September 20, 2004
    • BBC One

    In an attempt to beat Dodo Island, the islanders construct carts to deliver their cargo more efficiently to prospective buyers. All goes well until Olive and Troy, with a cargo of paper, reach a steep hill which they race down uncontrollably. The Inventor helps them add brakes. Meanwhile, Brenda and Pilbeam struggle to get a lovesick mammoth to take a bath. Topics covered: heat, friction, brakes, lubrication.

  • S01E21 Coconut Crumble ( Springs, Hooke's Law, mass, weighing)

    • September 21, 2004
    • BBC One

    After Troy accidentally discovers the elastic properties of the Mammoth Island coconut trees, the islanders utilize them to gather coconuts effectively, by flinging them across the island, in order to gather 200 kilos to meet a 2-hour deadline set by a fruit salesman. Topics covered: springs, elasticity, Hooke's Law, mass, weighing.

  • S01E22 Take It to the Bridge (Music, sound waves, vibration, air flow)

    • September 22, 2004
    • BBC One

    To commemorate the opening of a new bridge, a musical concert is held, featuring mammoths as instruments, which ends in disaster when the Inventor cries out in pain, causing a stampede which wrecks the stage. The islanders ostracize him from the village until he can find a way to prepare a replacement concert in time for the bridge's opening. Against the orders of Frank, Olive assists him, and the pair set about building giant woodwind instruments. Topics covered: music, woodwind, brass, air flow, sound waves, instruments, vibration.

  • S01E23 She Wears My Ring (Pressure, suction, water pressure, flow)

    • September 23, 2004
    • BBC One

    Brenda goes to market, leaving Troy and Pilbeam in charge of her house. After Troy accidentally washes Brenda's prized wedding ring down the sink, Pilbeam enlists the help of Olive, Frank and the Inventor to dig up the road and find it in the water pipes before Brenda returns. Topics covered: pressure, water pressure, plungers, water flow, suction.

  • S01E24 Shocking (Electricity, current, static electricity, batteries)

    • September 24, 2004
    • BBC One

    When Troy and his mammoth both spear the same lemon with zinc and copper lances during the annual Mammoth Island lemon harvest, they receive an electric shock. Following this, Brenda and Pilbeam attempt to soothe the mammoth by grooming it with plastic combs; this creates static electricity, attracting litter from across the village. Subsequently, the Inventor explains the basic principles of electricity to the islanders who use the acidic qualities of lemons to help them power their machinery to increase the yield of the harvest. Topics covered: electricity, current, positive and negative charge, static electricity, acid, batteries, circuits.

  • S01E25 Sensors and Sensorbility (Sensors, lasers, smoke alarms, metal detectors)

    • September 27, 2004
    • BBC One

    Brenda inherits the Mammoth Inn, a decrepit mammoth-powered hotel, from her deceased Aunt Maude. When Frank and Olive arrive to collect their inheritance, Brenda enlists their help and the Inventor to repair the inn and modernize it with devices such as metal detectors, security cameras and smoke alarms. However, when a wealthy businessman expresses interest in buying the inn, but only if mammoths are present and the inn is not modernized, Pilbeam struggles to hide the machines. Topics covered: smoke alarms, metal detectors, lasers, escalators, sensors, counterweights, infra-red.

  • S01E26 Telecommunications (Telephones, signals, fiber-optic systems, satellites)

    • September 28, 2004
    • BBC One

    In the final episode of the series, the Inventor attempts to introduce a telephone network to Mammoth Island after the islanders begin using the dangerous method of flinging coded boulders to Dodo Island in order to communicate. Complications arise when the mammoths begin using the telephone poles as scratching posts, necessitating the use of mobile phones. Topics covered: telephones, exchanges, satellites, signals, mobile phones, fiber-optic systems.