Ancient Aliens - History channel

[Supercollider]

I'd never heard of this program (I don't have a TV), but there are two full episodes of 'Ancient Aliens' on the History Channel's website:

http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens

I found them really inspiring while I was painting/modelling.  They're chock full of great pulp scenario ideas/seeds.  They made me think there could be more to things than first meets the eye (or at least the episodes contained enough cods-wallop to fuel my over-active imagination ).

Quite fascinating, all the same.

[Wirelizard]

This is probably a "you kids get offa my lawn" moment, but I remember when History Channel had, you know, actual history, not Von Danniken-esque nonsense. (Similarly, The Learning Channel used to have things worth learning, not "Telepathic Hillbilly Ghosts Haunt My Nineteen Children" or whatever...)

Mind you, it was a bit suspect even then... the nickname "the Hitler Channel" was arrived at honestly!

On the gripping hand, any nonsense that inspires pulpish entertainment can't be all bad!

Rant over. I should get my brother to post photos of his Purple Venusians, they're great pulp aliens.

[bc99]

This is probably a "you kids get offa my lawn" moment, but I remember when History Channel had, you know, actual history, not Von Danniken-esque nonsense. (Similarly, The Learning Channel used to have things worth learning, not "Telepathic Hillbilly Ghosts Haunt My Nineteen Children" or whatever...)

Mind you, it was a bit suspect even then... the nickname "the Hitler Channel" was arrived at honestly!

On the gripping hand, any nonsense that inspires pulpish entertainment can't be all bad!

Rant over. I should get my brother to post photos of his Purple Venusians, they're great pulp aliens.

Haha, wire, this made me laugh! I agree, the types of shows on those channels are quite strange now. I think even the Animal Planet channel has some sort of ghost-hunter show!

[Supercollider]

Hehe, I liked your rant Wirelizard - the reasons you give are exactly why I don't bother with TV any more.  When I do want to watch a particular show, I can usually find what I want on the net.

Most of the stuff on the box these days seems to have 'celebrity' in the title.  Scourge of our age.

[flooglestreet]

@wirelizard, get your brother to post pix of his purple Venusians.

[magokiron]

ha ha ha.

WireLizard you got it all right man!

Most of the channels has lots of crap, but if you keep an appropriate mindframe, you can rescue some good ideas for pulp scenarios, just as Supercollider has suggested.

I'll check those episodes, thanks for the link.

Best wishes.

[Scorpio]

Mind you, it was a bit suspect even then... the nickname "the Hitler Channel" was arrived at honestly!

Hey now, they also talked about the Civil War a whole lot.

[Doomsdave]

This is probably a "you kids get offa my lawn" moment, but I remember when History Channel had, you know, actual history, not Von Danniken-esque nonsense. (Similarly, The Learning Channel used to have things worth learning, not "Telepathic Hillbilly Ghosts Haunt My Nineteen Children" or whatever...)

Mind you, it was a bit suspect even then... the nickname "the Hitler Channel" was arrived at honestly!

On the gripping hand, any nonsense that inspires pulpish entertainment can't be all bad!

Rant over. I should get my brother to post photos of his Purple Venusians, they're great pulp aliens.

Agreed.
They don't even pretend to be historical anymore.  Ice Road Truckers is history?  And that dumbass Monsterquest.  I guess if it was filmed a week ago it is technically "history".

[Chuck1372]

Hey I kinda like Monster quest.  Even though they never find anything.  Its better than Destination Truth.

[Connectamabob]

Seems to be the inevitable fate of all specialty channels (Do the kids these days still remember what the "M" in MTV stood for? Anyone? Bueller?). Eventually they all start hankerin' for some of that sweet, sweet mainstream ratings cake, and the rest is just a downhill slide from there.

WCW could be considered fantasy, if you stretch the definition far enough, but the day I'll believe it belongs on the SyFy Sci-Fi channel is the day someone busts out with a hadouken in the ring.

[warrenss2]

It all sounds like some male bovine excrement to me.

I don't have a TV either.

[Wirelizard]

Seems to be the inevitable fate of all specialty channels (Do the kids these days still remember what the "M" in MTV stood for? Anyone? Bueller?)

Heh. My brother and I were talking a while ago, and "Back when MTV and MuchMusic (the Canadian equiv.) actually showed, you know, music videos..." was used as a unit of time. Then we told some kid to get off the lawn. 

(and MuchMusic is just "Much" these days... lack of actual music videos caused atrophy...)

[JollyBob]

This sounds like a bit of a laugh, really. But then, I subscribe to the Fortean Times so I guess I would say that.

The thing that annoys me most about "documentaries" these days is how they all follow the same format.

The first five minutes pretty much tells you every last piece of useful information, then they recap it, then they reintroduce it, then they trail it as coming up after the break, then after the break they recap it, then they get a clip of some new guy telling you the same thing, then there's the full segment of the new guy telling you what he's just told you, then they recap it...

[Earther]

…and with no satisfying conclusion.

[JollyBob]

True that...

And hey, Wirelizard, don't be knocking the Von Daniken, man! He's a world class weirdo with his own theme park, which puts him in the company of Walt Disney, Michael Jackson and Our Beloved Leader Kim Jong-Il.