ANCIENT ALIENS

THE HISTORY CHANNEL

Ancient aliens is now in to its fourth season. This is a testament to the strength of belief people have in the existence of aliens and the possibility that they have been instrumental in the past in the development of humankind. Basically Ancient Aliens is an examination of the views held by Zecharia Sitchen, Velikovsky, Michael Cremo and Richard Thompson and the like. Sitchen Believed that Earth was visited in the past by Aliens known as the Annunaki, Velikovsky theorized that there was an ancient cataclysm which wiped out advanced civilizations and Cremo and Thompson have gathered together masses of evidence that indicates that modern humans are a lot older than established academia suggests.

Each episode is based on an individual aspect and each season has a theme. Season one was introductory in nature with programs entitled “The Evidence”, “The Mission” and “The Return”. Season two  began to look at the evidence for visitations with shows entitled “Mysterious Places”, “Underwater Worlds”, and “Underground Aliens”. Season three turns as bit more grisly with titles such as “Aliens and Monsters”, “Aliens and Mysterious Rituals”, “Aliens, Plagues and Epidemics” and “Aliens and Deadly Weapons”. Finally season four goes conspiracy with “The Mayan Conspiracy”, “The Doomsday Prophesy”, “Aliens and Mega-disasters” and “The Da Vince Conspiracy”.

David Childress

Each episode has experts with knowledge of the particular subject and  also has regulars such as David Childress, author of Technology of the gods, Philip Coppens, author of The Ancient Alien Question, Jason Martel (the pin-up boy) author of Knowledge Apocalypse,  and my particular favourite Giorgio A. Tsoukalos, publisher of Legendary Times. From the first to the third series Giorgio’s hair appeared to be getting higher and higher! It seems to have settled down again in season four. Perhaps he is an abductee and the hairstyle was due to fright! (If you’re reading this Giorgio, which I doubt, I’m only teasing). He is a great presenter. He speaks with clarity and enthusiasm because he is in to his subject.

Giorgio with fairly calm hair

What I like about the program is that it looks at a lot of  myths, folklore and ancient sites, which I am very interested in and the concept of alien intervention in human history and development, which I think is a very plausible alternative to science and its inability to find a missing link, and of course religion, none of which in my opinion stand up to close scrutiny. That is not to say that the great religious works of the world have nothing to offer me, it just means that I interpret what I have read in a much different way than the followers of those religions. The bible flood story is an example of ancient historical fact, a fact that science has been in denial about since the Victorian era due to the eagerness of leading scientists of the time trying to distance science from religion.

What I don’t like about the program is the narrators annoying habit of saying “....according to ancient astronaut theorists” every five minutes. There is also no balance: there is no one to say “It’s not aliens it is.....”. There are no competing theories explored. I fear, therefore, that the show preaches only to the converted: this is most definitely a program for believers which I feel may not create many more converts. I hope, however that it does make some, because whether or not there have been aliens in our past, there is certainly a case to re-evaluate our knowledge of ancient times and give serious consideration to the possibility that humankind has been as or more civilized than we are now. There are sites such as Gobekli Tepe that are earlier than the accepted date for the establishment of civilization and there are many examples of artifacts that challenge the accepted dating system.

I find Ancient Aliens to be interesting, thought provoking and entertaining. It always has good footage and material  and is well produced. I don’t necessarily accept a lot of what is said, nonetheless I find enough of interest to keep me watching and it helps me work out my own theories to challenge what is blindly accepted by the establishment. If you are open minded and like to explore alternative theories you will probably like Ancient Aliens.