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The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power

The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power is a eight-part documentary series based on Daniel Yergin's Pulitzer Prize-winning book under the same name. Narrated by Donald Sutherland, the series tells the epic history of oil - how it has dominated global politics, shaken the world economy, and transformed our century. Shot on location in Azerbaijan, Egypt, England, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Russia, Scotland, Turkey, and the United States, the series features fascinating characters, never-before-seen archival footage, newly filmed segments, and interviews with the people who shaped the oil industry. Yergin appears on camera throughout the series to discuss oil's impact on politics, economics, and the environment.

Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5

Episode 6 Episode 7 Episode 8

Episode 1 - Our Plan
Trace the turbulent, the rapid rise of the world's biggest business, how a visionary but ruthless John D. Rockefeller controlled it, and how reporter Ida Tarbell took him on in one of the most famous muckraking exposes ever.

Episode 2 - Empires of Oil
Look at how Shell Oil and Royal Dutch merged, then challenged the supremacy of Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and how oil transformed everyday life in the farthest corners of the globe, made Russia a great oil power, and helped the Allies win World War I.

Episode 3 - The Black Giant
It's the Roaring Twenties, and the magic of oil touches everyone, from millions of new car owners to hopeful Texan wildcatters. The American oil industry wrestles with shortage and surplus, as flamboyant entrepreneur Calouste Gulbenkian stakes his claim in Iraq.

Episode 4 - War and Oil
The untold story of World War II unfolds: how oil dictated strategy to Hitler; how lack of oil slowed Japan's war machine; how oil ultimately determined victory or defeat.

Episode 5 - Crude Diplomacy
Post World War II America awakens to the strategic importance of oil and witnesses a key moment in history when oil production shifts from the US to the Middle East.

Episode 6 - Power to the Producers
It's the heyday of cheap oil, the dawn of the Hydrocarbon Society. The producing countries and the independent oil companies challenge the "Seven Sisters", and open a new era in world oil.

Episode 7 - The Tinderbox
A unique view of the rise of the OPEC era, beginning with the British withdrawal from the Persian Gulf and ending with the burning oil wells of Kuwait.

Episode 8 - New Order of Oil
The Gulf War marked the beginning of a new era for the Hydrocarbon Society. This episode explores the relationship between oil and the environmental conscience, and the technological race to balance energy, economic, and ecological needs in the Information Age.