NARRATOR: Throughout human history, we've wondered what lies beyond the stars.
We've dreamed of making contact with other worlds...
"believing that there is life beyond our galaxy.
All of this to answer one of the greatest questions posed by man:
Are we alone?
After centuries of speculating, that question has finally been answered.
ZOD: (ON TV) You are not alone.
My name is General Zod.
I come from a world far from yours.
I have journeyed across an ocean of stars to reach you.
For some time, your world has sheltered one of my citizens.
I request that you return this individual...
...to my custody.
NARRATOR: The entirety of this broadcast was seen in over 180 countries...
...and heard in over 2000 languages.
The city of Metropolis was at the center of this alien confrontation.
And what took place was truly the event of our lifetime.
In the past, we have often romanticized about how we might react to alien contact.
This experience has shaken our very core.
What we now understand about these human-like creatures...
...is that they are from a planet called Krypton.
We've seen the results of what happens when our two worlds collide.
And despite Superman's heroics, doubt still lingers.
In order to identify with him, we must understand where he comes from.
So we continue to ask, who and what is Superman?
It started as a series of mysterious intergalactic radio bursts.
Debate raged as to their origin.
Were these pulses related to a supernova or a black hole?
Or could it be from some new astrophysical event?
From what sources are telling us...
...when the ship we now know as the scout ship...
...escaped from its icy bonds...
...it apparently began sending signals into space.
While efforts were frantic to decode the signals...
...something unexpected occurred.
With the arrival of the Black Zero...
...signals simultaneously began to ping back and forth between the two ships...
...on secret frequencies.
The military picked up these sequences...
...and when converted and decoded...
...unlocked a gateway, an archive of Kryptonian data.
DARPA developed the IST, or Intergalactic Simuletive Translator...
...an interface that can access and decipher Kryptonian data...
...making it compatible to process and understand.
It has taken months to gather the pieces of information together...
...but we now believe we have enough details...
...to theoretically deconstruct and explore...
...the planet Krypton's physical cosmology, technology, people and culture.
To get a better idea of the planet's makeup, we'll compare it to Earth.
Krypton's 13-billion-year-old red sun is called Rao.
It's considered a red dwarf star, five times larger than Earth's sun...
...but only 40 percent of its density.
It's older than our sun and cooler in temperature.
There were four moons surrounding the planet.
The one called Wethgor was destroyed and exists only as a cloud of debris.
Krypton's population at the time of Superman's birth was 1.4 billion...
"approximately one-seventh of Earth's current population.
It was 8.7 billion years old, nearly twice that of Earth's age.
We can estimate that the distance between Krypton and Earth is 27.1 light years.
The time it would take us to travel between them...
...is approximately 4250 Earth years.
The planet's civilization existed for over 100,000 years.
In Krypton's Golden Age, all Kryptonians lived by the 11 virtues...
...a code of ethics that guided their morality and ambition.
Some of these virtues included: Truth. In the light of truth, all is revealed.
Justice. Without law, we are animals.
Peace. In order to achieve peace, we must listen.
It seems as though they were a sophisticated society.
Their capital city, called Kandor, is noted for its great citadels.
These enormous structures would root into the ground...
...and reach far into the sky.
Kandor's city planning and architecture melded into the organics of the landscape.
Geologists and metallurgists were stunned by their discovery...
...that there is no evidence the planet sustained metal or stone.
They surmised that the essence of minerals that did exist on the planet...
...are similar to substances like bone marrow and shell-like materials.
We'll go more into this theory later...
...but it is as if the planet's energy was purged to such a degree...
...that these elements were merely the outer casings...
...of what was left behind...
...and Kryptonians made the best of what they could from them.
Although their society was ancient, their technology is far beyond that of Earth's.
The power of Kryptonian technology can be seen in the many ships...
...that inundated our world.
According to our sources in aerospace engineering...
...the differences in structure and function...
...of the scout ship, world engine, Black Zero, and Starcraft...
...are exemplary of how elaborate Kryptonian design once was.
However, the ship that seems to have provided much of the context for research...
...is their drop-ship.
It is the smallest in their fleet, about the size of a helicopter troop carrier.
It has the appearance of a shiny beetle and is very sleek and agile.
It seems to be used as a transport vessel.
From what was observed by military and residents of Smallville, Kansas...
...who declined to be identified for this story...
...its flight patterns allow it to move indiscriminately.
It could also hover...
...which makes it the most versatile of the Kryptonian armada we have experienced.
Leaked heavily-redacted documents shared exclusively for this documentary...
...reveal that our military found a number of weapons...
...in the functional drop-ship abandoned in the mountainous region...
...near the Arctic Circle.
Sources close to both the military and DARPA...
...have indicated that the various types of weapons...
...seem to be made from a microcosm of the materials from the planet.
These weapons have an animal-like, almost skeletal-like design.
They are contoured and are as smooth as bone, yet with a lead-like weight to them.
Their function and blast capabilities are sourced from plasma energy.
Scientists are still trying to understand...
...how Kryptonians could harness and contain this power.--
...in a singular mobile unit, like a rifle or a handheld pistol...
"Jet alone create a weapon that could manipulate plasma energy.--
...into an effective and deadly discharge.
According to transcripts obtained from classified conversations...
...when the rifle was disassembled...
...weapons experts discovered hundreds of tiny hairs lining the interior barrel.
These seem to act as a conduit to conduct the charge.
The end of the barrel is surrounded by a jaw-like apparatus...
...which opens when the rifle fires...
...and secretes a mucus-like coating around the discharge.
Superman's outfit features a cape and skintight suit.
This daily attire might seem eccentric at first...
...but what we have since learned is that Krypton was a cape culture.
What they wore was representative of their family dynasty.
Upon review of papers obtained by our investigators...
...and according to genealogy experts...
...there were likely 14 houses...
...that represent the oldest and most elite family lines...
...in Kryptonian society.
Each of the house's emblems, or glyphs, would adorn their homes and clothing.
The material of the skin suit appears to be interlocking links...
...similar to medieval chain mail.
It seems to be a very common piece of clothing...
...that they would then layer other garments and robes on top of.
The skin suit was replete with boots, gauntlet...
...trunk, belt, and buckle.
The fabrics of the various capes are closest to what we know as velvet...
...or hardened leather with raised textures.
When we met Superman, an S adorned a shield on his chest.
At first, we interpreted this mark literally.
But as he explained, on Krypton, it's a symbol that means hope.
This symbology helped reveal the nature of their language.
Similar to Japanese culture...
...they documented their history by writing on objects...
...like ships, weapons and architecture.
Linguistic anthropologists classified two types of writing styles.
The first has been categorized as glyphs.
These glyphs are similar to Chinese symbols or Egyptian hieroglyphics.
It is estimated that there are 25 symbols...
...and those symbols represent particular words or phrases.
There are also symbols that represent the different gods...
...like Rao, god of the sun...
...or Cythonna, goddess of ice.
The god symbols represent the more ancient history of Krypton.
These symbols Weren't used for everyday communication...
...but were reserved for more ceremonial and traditional uses.
The second writing style has been categorized as syllabic.
What this means is that there are consonants and vowels paired together in one symbol...
...similar to Japanese katakana alphabets.
The linguistics team studied the etymology of the words...
...and examined every name uncovered from the Kryptonian canon.
With that information, they were able to develop a sound system.
Here are a few examples of their text and speech.
(NARRATOR SPEAKING IN KRYPTONIAN)
(NARRATOR READING ON-SCREEN TEXT)
(NARRATOR SPEAKING IN KRYPTONIAN)
(NARRATOR READING ON-SCREEN TEXT)
(NARRATOR SPEAKING IN KRYPTONIAN)
(NARRATOR READING ON-SCREEN TEXT)
(NARRATOR SPEAKING IN KRYPTONIAN)
(NARRATOR READING ON-SCREEN TEXT)
Forensic and linguistic teams dug deeper into Kryptonian history...
...and discovered that there was a guild or caste system in place.
Like feudal Japan, Krypton was a highly-stratified society...
...ruled by a set of rigid customs.
Its people were separated and assigned to the following groups:
The Warrior Guild were the backbone of the people.
The Thinker Guild equaled grace through reflection and reason.
The Artisan Guild whose mantra was, "the vessel has no soul without art."
The Laborer Guild believed without industry, civilization could not exist.
The Mediator Guild, esteemed to be the bridge between man and the gods.
All of the things that made the Kryptonians great...
...would ultimately lead to their demise.
Reports reveal that as the population grew to exponential numbers...
...demands on the planet to sustain their needs became critical.
Since no new advances were being made in any field...
...Kryptonians delved deeper into the exploration of the planet's resources.
All of these decisions pushed them down a path...
...of managing their planet recklessly.
Research from geological experts reveal...
...that what began as a topical restructuring of vegetation and water...
...soon delved deeper, tapping resources under Krypton's surface.
Botanical analysis suggests...
...the plant life and terrain, once abundant and lush...
...became perforated pieces of land that were uninhabitable for Krypton's animals.
The population of creatures...
...such as the horned Rondor, considered the king of the wild...
...the blood morels, as well as other birds and animals dwindled...
...as competition for food and territory became extreme.
As Kryptonians began to exhaust their natural resources...
...and the dynamics of the planet's internal energy changed...
...the effects began to show on the surface.
In an effort to harness the core, or geothermal energy...
...this process of mining a uranium-type source...
...left the cities in a petrological-like state.
As resources were depleted and not replenished...
...the beauty of Krypton's organic structures would turn into encrusted calcifications.
Vast cityscapes, like the previously mentioned Kandor...
...would look like carved ribbons of planetary crust.
Similar-looking to a kind of Wormwood riddled with holes...
...this once advanced civilization would destroy itself...
"because of their own greed and folly.
What happened on Krypton...
...is an ecological cautionary tale for our own world.
As we continue to advance in population...
...industry and technology...
...the negative effects of this growth can be seen in our atmosphere...
...and on Earth.
Faced with the how and why of Krypton's devastation...
...what will we learn from it?
And what can Superman teach us?
With the discovery...
...and now coexistence of an alien from another world...
...humanity is approaching the dawn of a new age.
It has already revealed how we are hardwired to doubt and mistrust...
...what we don't immediately understand.
But in the simplest of terms...
...doesn't Superman embody everything remarkable...
...about the American dream?
He is the ultimate immigrant, a refugee from another planet...
...who has been raised as one of us.
As much as he is Kryptonian, he is also human...
...and has chosen to help our world, not overtake it.
The cultural impact of this extraterrestrial contact is ongoing.
How will this change our science and technology...
...our religious beliefs, our politics?
Will there be interplanetary travel to discover new worlds...
...new peoples?
All we know for certain is that the introduction of Superman...
...has forever changed the course of human history.