Quick Take: Ancient Aliens, "The Visitors"
"They really look like ancient astronauts."
Review: Ancient Aliens, "The Visitors"
(S0102) I have to say that I was rather impressed with this History Channel two-hour installment of Ancient Aliens. It was entertaining, well edited, well produced, and packed with a slew of information. Whether or not one believes in aliens – and the show is always careful to look at "possibilities" while interviewing an army of experts/enthusiasts in the space – gets into highly subjective territory.
As I watched I started taking note of the huge number of sources, and started thinking about how appropriately mysterious many of them are. Some examples:
Dr. Steven M. Greer – Director, The Disclosure Project (appropriately mysterious project)
Jonathan Young, Ph.D – Founding Curator, Campbell Archives (wearing appropriately mysterious brown coat with black mock turtleneck)
Robert Bauval – Author, The Egypt Code (appropriately mysterious European accent)
Ehrich von Daniken – Author, Chariots of the Gods? (appropriately mysterious name for sure)
David Childress – Author, Technology of the Gods (appropriately mysterious "of the Gods" book title)
Graham Hancock – Author, Fingerprints of the Gods? (appropriately mysterious of yet another of the Gods book!)
Buzz Aldrin -- Apollo 11 astronaut (appropriately… wait, what's he doing here?)
Robert M. Schoch, PH.D – Geologist / Author (appropriately mysterious hair and sci fi 1,000 yard stare)
Giorgio A. Tsooukalos – Publisher, Legendary Times Magazine – (crazy) mysterious hair… but appropriate? You be the judge.
Sara Seager, PH.D – Professor of Planetary Sciences, MIT (appropriately mysteriously legit institute of high learning)
Bill Birnes, PH.D. – Author / UGO Investigator (appropriately unmysterious, comes right out and calls himself a space invader detective, hooray! Well maybe not exactly, but still. It's cool.)
A little bit of funnin' on the sci fi-type geekery aside, there were some seriously intriguing revelations about how ancient societies created their origin myths in similar ways. That brings up questions about what that means. How far one is willing to go in terms of how aliens play in is obviously very much open to debate.
Some of the more noteworthy bits:
Weird elongated skulls found in Peru in 1910 from 2,000 years earlier. Schoch end up kind of debunking the Peru aliens theory because of practice of "skull deformation," but many others imply that skull deformation was done to mimic aliens… a stretch, though (get it)?
Egyptian and Dogon (Mali) cultures claim their gods came from the same star – Sirius B, a white dwarf star. If that interpretation of history is true it's pretty startling stuff.
The Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten is depicted with strange shaped body, elongated head…. An alien, we're asked? Turns out he's the father of King Tut, the most famous pharaoh of all time. The implication is that the pharaohs, worshipped as "gods," may have actually been aliens. Weird, wild stuff as Johnny Carson would say.
Zuni Indians / Native Americans out in the New Mexico desert closely guard their "star knowledge." We hear from Clifford Mahooty, a Zuni Tribal Elder (with appropriately mysterious bolo tie and bandana)
The hyothesis of panspermia is discussed, "that 'seeds' of life exist already all over the Universe, that life on Earth may have originated through these 'seeds', and that they may deliver or have delivered life to other habitable bodies." This is where things start to really go far afield, and gets into theory that humanity is the descendent of an alien race.
The human genome then comes into the picture. Pioneering Francis Crick is said to have believed that "human genes could not have evolved by chance." Then there's lots of talk about how aliens could have imprinted limitless knowledge within DNA, a "recording device of limitless power." Yeah, they went there.
Finally, it's posited that human time travelers from the future actually colonized earth. Did I just blow your mind?
Without getting into all of the wild wackiness, it's kind of cool to think about how multiple ancient societies depicted gods arriving from the stars as part of their origin myths, but does it not seem a reasonable explanation that people of all stripes would look up to the vast mystery of the sky to imagine how we sentient creatures came to be?
I'm just saying, it's possible to posit less wild theories too. But it doesn't necessarily make terrific grist for a show about alien theories.
Recap: Ancient Aliens, "The Visitors"
From The History Channel: "If ancient aliens visited Earth, who were they, and where did they come from? Possible historic evidence and beliefs are examined around the world. The Dogon people possess knowledge of a galaxy they claim was given to them by a star god named Amma. The Hopi and Zuni people celebrate Kachinas, gods from the sky, whose headdresses and costumes appear to resemble modern helmets and protective clothing. Halfway around the world, Chinese legends tell of the Han leader, Huangdi, arriving on Earth on a flying, yellow dragon. Was this dragon more likely a spacecraft? Ancient astronaut theorists believe that these are far from chance encounters and that extraterrestrials not only interacted with us, but changed the course of human history."
From Around the Web: Ancient Aliens, "The Visitors"
The Canadian: Ancient alien theory grew out of the centuries-old idea that life exists on other planets, and that humans and extraterrestrials have crossed paths before. The theme of human-alien interaction was thrust into the spotlight in the 1960s, driven by a wave of UFO sightings and popular films like 2001: A Space Odyssey. The space program played no small part in this as well: If mankind could travel to other planets, why couldn’t extraterrestrials visit Earth?
Puggal: “The History Channel” attempts to explain some of the discoveries that have become evidence for one of the most thought provoking theories of all time; the existence of aliens. The show is called “Ancient Aliens” and features some of the most controversial and astonishing discoveries related to earthly visits of extraterrestrial creatures in ancient times.
About the author
Eric is the publisher and revered leader of TV Geek Army… at least in his own mind. TV Geek Army is a place for serious TV reviews and news for serious fans of great television. Contact: eric-[at]-tvgeekarmy.com
Did the space visitors bring tin foil hats for all of you believers to wear? I understand that the ancient Egyptians, in their capacity as world travelers, journeyed up the Pecos River, until they reached Roswell, NM. They established a trading colony which they aptly named, "Area 51".
Try my blog, www.politicallyincorrectsussman.blogspot.com
Watched this on XBox Sky Player with a buddy of mine. Very interesting, the one thing we thought was alien was the dude's gravity defying fucking hair.
I think that's something we can all agree on !
I am Native American mostly Zuni and a little bit of Hopi
I found this amusing :)