Austin Stevens: Snakemaster
Austin Stevens: Snakemaster is a nature documentary television series hosted by herpetologist and filmmaker, Austin Stevens, that was broadcast on Animal Planet in the United States and 5 in the United Kingdom. Most of the footage was filmed in HD format with certain episodes featuring sequences of time-slice photography.
| Austin Stevens: Snakemaster | |
|---|---|
 Season 1 Logo | |
| Also known as | Austin Stevens: Most Dangerous (Europe and Asia) Austin Stevens Adventures (season 2) |
| Genre | Nature documentary |
| Directed by | Michael Davies |
| Presented by | Austin Stevens |
| Starring | Austin Stevens |
| Narrated by | Austin Stevens |
| Theme music composer | Oliver Ledbury |
| Country of origin | United States United Kingdom Canada |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 28 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Austin Stevens |
| Running time | 40–50 minutes |
| Production companies | Tigress Productions Cineflix Discovery Communications NextFilm Productions |
| Release | |
| Original network | Animal Planet (United States) 5 (United Kingdom) |
| Original release | October 2, 2004 – December 10, 2009 |
In the second season, the series was retooled as Austin Stevens Adventures and began focusing on other animals besides just snakes, such as hyenas, rhinos and grizzly bears, among many others.
Premise
Austin Stevens is a South African national, living in Australia. As a wildlife photographer and documentarian, he travels on assignment, documenting his activities finding and photographing snakes. During each episode, he searches for a certain species, while encountering, describing and photographing a variety of other snakes along the way. Beginning in season 2, the series was retooled as Austin Stevens Adventures, and took a different approach. In a similar vein to fellow Animal Planet series, The Crocodile Hunter and The Jeff Corwin Experience, the show began focusing on other animals as well, other than just snakes.
List of episodes
Season 1 (Austin Stevens: Snakemaster; 2004−07)
| No. in series | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "In Search of the Giant Anaconda" | October 2, 2004 |
| 2 | "In Search of the Man-Eating Python" | October 5, 2004 |
| 3 | "In Search of the Giant Lizard" | October 12, 2004 |
| 4 | "In Search of Monster Rattlers" | October 19, 2004 |
| 5 | "In Search of the Ultimate Pit Viper" | October 26, 2004 |
| 6 | "Rattlers of the Wild West" | November 2, 2004 |
| 7 | "Valley of the Snakes" | November 9, 2004 |
| 8 | "Seven Deadly Strikes" | November 23, 2004 |
| 9 | "In Search of the King Cobra" | November 30, 2004 |
| 10 | "In Search of the Silent Fate" | March 1, 2005 |
| 11 | "In Search of Desert Giants" | March 8, 2005 |
| 12 | "The Snake That Killed Cleopatra" | October 22, 2005 |
| 13 | "Austin Stevens' Most Striking Moments" | November 27, 2005 |
| 14 | "In Search of the Flying Snake" | December 17, 2005 |
| 15 | "Komodo Dragons" | December 17, 2005 |
| 16 | "In Search of the Black Mamba" | March 27, 2007 |
Season 2 (Austin Stevens Adventures; 2009)
| No. in series | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|
| 17 | "Giant Python Invader" | February 4, 2009 |
| 18 | "Australia's Lost Eden" | February 12, 2009 |
| 19 | "In the Shadow of Armoured Giants" | February 19, 2009 |
| 20 | "Grizzly Bear Stakeout" | February 26, 2009 |
| 21 | "Man-Eating Leopards" | February 26, 2009 |
| 22 | "Night of the Hyena" | March 11, 2009 |
| 23 | "The Last Serpent" | March 11, 2009 |
| 24 | "Elephant Charge" | November 20, 2009 |
| 25 | "Killer Amazon Bats" | November 26, 2009 |
| 26 | "Monster Python" | November 27, 2009 |
| 27 | "Hippo Face-Off" | December 10, 2009 |
| 28 | "Killer Lion Stakeout" | December 10, 2009 |
Home video releases
Three episodes from Season 1, Man-Eating Python, Giant Lizard, and Monster Rattlers, were released on DVD in North America. The King Cobra episode was released on VHS as "Snake Bite: In Search of the King Cobra". Several episodes were also released on Blu-ray in Germany.