Best movies & TV Shows like Colossal Machines

This documentary depicts a vivid example of America's current culture war. It shows a rural community, Philomath, Oregon, that is making a large transition from once being a dominant force through an "old time" profession, the timber industry, to one that is dominated by professionals and techies, the "information age". This is shown by the drastic decline of lumber mills in the area. In 1980, there were twelve mills around Philomath, but twenty-five years later there were only two. The largest employers are no longer the lumber mills but Oregon State University in Corvallis, which is about six miles from Philomath, and a Hewlett-Packard center involved in engineering ink-jet components.

This History Channel documentary traces the Ottoman Empire from its beginnings in the 14th century to its incarnation as one of the largest empires in history, spanning three continents.

The Maginot Line: thousands of subway bunkers and concrete defenses lining the French border from Belgium to the Mediterranean Sea, a monumental engineering feat that was celebrated as a technical masterpiece when it was created. When the impregnable wall was demolished by the unbeatable Nazi war machine in 1940, the conquered fortress became the shattered symbol of French defeat.

A modern day sci-fi about Palmer Marshall, a struggling engineering student that’s flailing through his personal life, classes, and career. Palmer is on the cusp of a potentially huge discovery and he devotes every waking moment to the challenging, and often fruitless, pursuit of creating something that might change the world. But Palmer soon learns that the road to success is long and fraught with failure. Despite crippling anxiety and personality disorders, Palmer perseveres and creates the one – the dream machine that he’ll be remembered for.

AJ is an 8-year-old techie who drives monster-truck Blaze, the top racer in Axle City. The two go on adventures that have them taking on problems involving science and math. Many predicaments they face are caused by Blaze's rival, Crusher, a tractor-trailer that will do anything to beat other vehicles to the finish line. The animated series is billed as the first TV show for preschoolers to comprehensively cover areas of science, technology, engineering and math. Each episode introduces different STEM concepts, including buoyancy and trajectory.

Scrapheap Challenge is an engineering game show produced by RDF Media and broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. In the show, teams of contestants had 10 hours in which to build a working machine that could do a specific task, using materials available in a scrapheap. The format was exported to the United States, where it was known as Junkyard Wars. The US show was also produced by RDF Media, and was originally shown on The Learning Channel. Repeats have aired on another Discovery network, the Science Channel.

HISTORY’s longest-running series moves to H2. Modern Marvels celebrates the ingenuity, invention and imagination found in the world around us. From commonplace items like ink and coffee to architectural masterpieces and engineering disasters, the hit series goes beyond the basics to provide insight and history into things we wonder about and that impact our lives. This series tells fascinating stories of the doers, the dreamers and sometime-schemers that create everyday items, technological breakthroughs and manmade wonders. The hit series goes deep to explore the leading edge of human inspiration and ambition.

Extreme Engineering covers major construction projects from all around the world. Some are futuristic projects that may never be done, others are projects that are on there way to completion.

Engineering an Empire is a program on The History Channel that explores the engineering and/or architectural feats that were characteristic of some of the greatest societies on this planet. It is hosted by Peter Weller, famous for his acting role as RoboCop but also a lecturer at Syracuse University, where he completed his Master's in Roman and Renaissance Art. The executive producer is Delores Gavin. The show started as a documentary about the engineering feats of Ancient Rome and later evolved into a series. It originally ran for one full season of weekly episodes.

Richard Hammond looks at the connections behind the greatest feats of engineering.

Jeremy Clarkson's Extreme Machines was a six-part documentary series, originally broadcast on BBC Two in 1998. The series focused on presenter Jeremy Clarkson, testing out a series of cars, jet planes and powerboats.

Operation Junkyard debuted in fall 2002 as part of the Discovery Kids Saturday morning programming schedule. Essentially a spin-off of TLC's popular series Junkyard Wars, OP/JY featured teams of teens that were challenged to build gadgets out of junk in six hours. Teams featured on the show include the Rummaging Robots and Jurassic Junkers, and the teams were tasked to build gadgets like water bailing machines, mud scooters, and remote control battleships. At the beginning of each show the challenge of the day was revealed and teams attempted to collect "bodgits" by completing small challenges. "Bodgits" were helpful advantages that teams could earn, including time with the on-set engineer or special parts for use in their build.

Architect Danny Forster takes you inside some of the most head-scratching builds in the world. Join Danny as he meets the men and women tackling the unique challenges of constructing the tallest buildings, the most effective military tanks, the largest luxury cruise ships, and the most extreme thrill rides. How do you build a 3,113-foot-long wooden roller coaster in winter temperatures of minus 40 degrees? Or get your workers safely to and from a worksite on a skyscraper that's 1,614 feet above street level? Or dig a water tunnel - along the San Adreas Fault and 1,000 feet below the earth's surface - without it collapsing on itself ... or flooding? Our intrepid host answers these puzzles and more. Don't miss the big stories behind these even bigger engineering marvels.

Britain's iconic and 'secretive' engineering companies reveal how they build the world's most amazing machines. The first part of the series "How to build a nuclear submarine" a documentary following the construction of the Astute nuclear submarine. The second part of the series "How to build a jumbo jet engine", the story of the thousands of people who design, build and test engines at Rolls-Royce’s manufacturing plants in Derby and across the UK, making Rolls-Royce a central part of life for the people of places like Derby. The third and final part of the series "How to build Britain's secret engineers" when the documentary team follows workers at a leading British company on a global journey, as they reveal a handful of their secretive projects including getting Chinook helicopters ready for front line service.

Signing up for the 2006 season of the most extreme and exciting motorsport, six-part series Engineering the World Rally joins the Subaru World Rally Team as they and 2003 champion, Petter 'Hollywood' Solberg, fight for the championship through six countries and 11 months of intense competition. This ultimate off-road challenge pits massively powerful four-wheel drive rally cars - in the hands of some of the world's greatest drivers - against the toughest and most varied terrain on the planet. These guys hurtle down narrow twisty roads, along bumpy, dusty tracks, through deep water and across solid ice at speeds exceeding 130mph. They're supported by teams of dedicated engineers and mechanics, together with their straight-talking bosses and success-hungry sponsors. It's a world of fragile egos, high emotions and constant human drama. With unprecedented access, Engineering the World Rally gets under the skin of the Subaru WRC team and follows their every move as they engineer and prepare the cars for each event, test and shakedown, and enjoy the highs and suffer the lows of each three-day rally. It is an emotional rollercoaster of action both behind-the-scenes and on the rally stage.

It is 2014 and the machines have not taken over…yet. The newest, most technologically advanced series from H2™, Rise of the Machines, reveals how the inventions behind the world’s most extreme machines have enabled them to evolve beyond humanity’s wildest imagination. This visually stunning series uses mind-blowing CGI animations to reveal the extraordinary engineering at the heart of the world’s most extreme machines. From the world’s biggest mega truck to the world’s fastest train to a revolutionary heavy lift ship, ground breaking CGI animation explodes the machines apart to reveal the ingenious inventions hidden under their skin that enables the teams who drive, fly and sail them to be at the top of their game. This series takes us inside these machines in close up detail and explores what helps these elite ships, trucks, trains and aircrafts rise above all others.

Top Trumps was a 10-part British television series based on the famous card game. It aired on Channel 5 in 2008, the channel being called Five at the time of broadcast. It was produced by Lion Television and presented by Robert Llewellyn and Ashley Hames. The show was a competition between the two presenters. Each chose one type of the machines chosen and finds out facts about it. At the end of the show, each presenter must choose 2 Trump factors to use in which they think their chosen machine will be best in. A fifth one gets randomly chosen. The winner is the one who wins on most Trumps factors.

The worst engineering designs in history are recalled.

Behind every seemingly impossible marvel of modern engineering is a cast of historic trailblazers who designed new building techniques, took risks on untested materials and revolutionised their field. Each episode details how giant structures, record-beating buildings, war ships and spacecraft are built and work. As the show revels in these modern day creations, it also leaps back in time to recount the stories of the exceptional engineers whose technological advances made it all possible.

Former aerospace engineer Justin Cunningham tries to keep the Glasgow Tower turning, and Tomo Umewaka helps engineers in Osaka keep their airport from sinking into the sea.

Five engineers stranded in the middle of hostile dessert terrain, surrounded by the wreckage of a vehicle, have only one way to survive - build a new machine and get out of there.

A behind-the-scenes series discovering what it takes to keep the largest freight operator moving.

The history and technology behind a fleet of remarkable machines from around the world.

From the hilarious to the mind-boggling, from the deadly to the bank-busting, witness some of the most outrageous structural disasters and the genius resolutions to get things back on track.

Docuseries taking a behind the scenes look at Britain's largest independent chocolate company.

An exploration of engineering marvels. This brand new series reveals the extraordinary feats of engineering hidden inside the world's most spectacular man-made constructions. From the world's biggest plane and largest free-spanning dome to the tallest building and the largest space ship, each superstructure is taken apart using state-of-the-art CGI and insight from world class specialists to reveal the startling innovations that turn it from dream to reality.

What propelled the construction of higher and higher buildings? Which technologies made the discovery of the oceans possible? How are gravity defying bridges designed? What will the future of the aircraft industry be? Combining bluechip photography with innovative CGI, all set in spectacular locations across the world, this documentary series highlights the history of human ingenuity.

Richard Hammond embarks on a global adventure to explore the world’s biggest structures and machines and discover how engineers build, maintain and use them.

Through extensive archive and expert interviews this series explores the stories behind mankind's greatest engineering disasters.

Youthful ingenuity is on display in this new competition series that features teams of inventive students tasked with designing, building, and testing new contraptions to vie for the title of Shop Class Champs. In each episode, they’ll present their work to a panel of experts who will rate their projects based on engineering, design, and the final test of the build.

Each episode will feature amazing engineering facts about unique structures and systems including the Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Generating Stations at Niagara Falls, the Montreal Metro - one of North America's largest urban rapid transit schemes, and the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway in California, the largest rotating aerial tramway in the world. The series will introduce viewers to some remarkable characters who shoulder huge responsibility maintaining them on a daily basis to keep the general public safe.

Today's high-end high-performance Supercars are an amazing combination of art and science. Super Car Build finds out how they do it and goes behind the scenes at some of the most legendary automotive marques to discover the hidden engineering secrets and keys to each machine's success.

Using the latest technological insights, this series sheds new light on how incredible feats of ancient engineering were achieved and how they continue to influence modern-day engineers and shape our world.

The stories behind the iconic structures and engineering feats that have shaped and defined our nation and our world.