Unpopular Opinion (maybe): Ancient Aliens

[LostInSauce]

I think in the future people will look back and realize that it was one of the greatest sci-fi shows of the 21st century. Regardless of whether your take it seriously or (hopefully) not, its impact on culture in terms of memes, public discourse, and sheer popularity is already immense. It's also, frankly, quite entertaining to watch late at night. You know, they show you exotic locales, Europe, Africa, Asia, South America, etc., they show you stars, UFOs, aliens, and sometimes they talk about actual science and actual history. Despite all this, if you look up the show, there seems to be very little about the show in that regard, and more written attacking the ideas behind the show itself. I guess people spend so much time griping about how bullshitty it is, that they don't take time to appreciate how fun and entertaining it can be. Also, hot take: their theory about some parts of the bible describing ancient UFO sightings is spot on, and totally plausible. Anyway, do any of you guys watch this show? Any of you enjoy it?

Edit: Didn't file it under reviews because this is more of my prediction for the future than it is an actual review.

[Citizen Rules]

I've watched Ancient Aliens in the past, you're right it's fun as you get to see all these places around the world that you'd never get to see otherwise. I don't believe for a second that there were 'ancient aliens', but the show is a kick.

[Wooley]

I didn't know it was any big deal. I personally only know of one meme from it and I don't know anybody who watches it. I knew one person who watched it and she's a complete conspiracy-theory nut-job who fortunately is no longer in my life.
Is it that big of a thing? I mean, just the other day I evoked the one meme I know from it and almost no one knew what I was even talking about and I had to explain who the guy was and everything. So I'm not sure about it's place or influence in media.

[LostInSauce]

I didn't know it was any big deal. I personally only know of one meme from it and I don't know anybody who watches it. I knew one person who watched it and she's a complete conspiracy-theory nut-job who fortunately is no longer in my life.
Is it that big of a thing? I mean, just the other day I evoked the one meme I know from it and almost no one knew what I was even talking about and I had to explain who the guy was and everything. So I'm not sure about it's place or influence in media.

It's fairly popular. At least in that it's well known. And, granted, sci-fi shows aren't super popular these days. There are some top dollar ones with astronomical (pun intended) budgets. But this one has been going steadily for...a lot of seasons now.

[Citizen Rules]

...I personally only know of one meme from it...I swear that just about everytime I look for a funny meme to post on MoFo I run into memes of the Ancient Alien guy. I just found this one, it's pretty funny.

https://i.pinimg.com/474x/73/ea/02/73ea02410e04820c2e26851d0ff35712.jpg

[LostInSauce]

I swear that just about everytime I look for a funny meme to post on MoFo I run into memes of the Ancient Alien guy. I just found this one, it's pretty funny.

https://i.pinimg.com/474x/73/ea/02/73ea02410e04820c2e26851d0ff35712.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWihNBmupdI

[Yoda]

Movied to the Television and Music forum. Don't forget to make sure threads are placed in the correct place. :)

[LostInSauce]

Movied to the Television and Music forum. Don't forget to make sure threads are placed in the correct place. :)

Thanks. Didn't notice this sub-forum.

[Wooley]

I swear that just about everytime I look for a funny meme to post on MoFo I run into memes of the Ancient Alien guy. I just found this one, it's pretty funny.

https://i.pinimg.com/474x/73/ea/02/73ea02410e04820c2e26851d0ff35712.jpg


That is pretty funny.
The only thing I know from the show is the bottom left image.
I did actually try to watch it once, in like 2009 or 2010 (?), and I just couldn't believe how something this ****ing stupid could actually get on television. I wasn't prepared yet for what the medium would become.

[Yoda]

Thanks. Didn't notice this sub-forum.
That's fine, though you did ask in The Shoutbox and within a few minutes several people pointed you to this forum, before you posted the thread.

I only harp on this because it's unfortunately very common for people to just dump things in the first forum they see (General Movie Discussion). The majority of threads we have to move start in there.

Not a big deal, though. I'd just recommend looking around, there's a forum for every place. And if there isn't it goes in Intermission.

[Citizen Rules]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2F26%2F8e%2F72%2F268e727189307c9298ae4cfff109caa7.gif&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=65d2f0e425a60bf945bf6fa53027aceb21d82c43bc1a27ca7e1bda78018766b9&ipo=images

Am I the only one who thinks the host of Ancient Aliens must be a big fan of Babylon 5?

[Captain Steel]

I've watched Ancient Aliens in the past, you're right it's fun as you get to see all these places around the world that you'd never get to see otherwise. I don't believe for a second that there were 'ancient aliens', but the show is a kick.

Same here. I never really stopped liking it, but just got tired of it as it began to feel redundant. I always did applaud the show's production values: the great geography shots, the various "wonders of the world" they visit, the factual stuff about history.

I also liked the fact that when they'd have scientific specialists on, they'd comment on their specialty without speculating on the alien premise (that part was left up to the show's handful of regular hosts). And they didn't present the show as fact but as speculation (I'm sure we all got tired of hearing "according to ancient alien theorists" or "ancient alien proponents theorize that...")

All these aspects gave the show a level of legitimacy. (I'm not saying anything legitimized the theories, but that the educational aspects raised it above the usual hokum - like those ghost hunter shows or Finding Bigfoot - so that it appeared more documentary-like).

P.S. I do remember one of my favorite "leaps of logic" from the show... they talked about how all the Greek and Roman gods had different names... except for Apollo! Apollo had the same name in both mythologies... THEREFORE (according to ancient alien theorists)... that fact could only mean that Apollo must have been an alien! (How's that for stretching?) ;)

[Captain Steel]

I always made fun of the fact that the show's main host, Giorgio Tsoukalos could not pronounce the word "extra" correctly.
He always says "ekta terrestrials". I guess it's just his accent. But he has to say the word about a thousand times each episode.

[skizzerflake]

I lost it a couple episodes in. l also don't get how they put it on the History Channel, except that it probably gets an audience, but then, so would porn. A long time ago I got tired of the logic that says, "If you can't explain it, it MUST be ET that dun it."

I do admit to liking that guy's mushroom-head haircut.

[Citizen Rules]

Same here. I never really stopped liking it, but just got tired of it as it began to feel redundant. I always did applaud the show's production values: the great geography shots, the various "wonders of the world" they visit, the factual stuff about history.

I also liked the fact that when they'd have scientific specialists on, they'd comment on their specialty without speculating on the alien premise (that part was left up to the show's handful of regular hosts). And they didn't present the show as fact but as speculation (I'm sure we all got tired of hearing "according to ancient alien theorists" or "ancient alien proponents theorize that...")

All these aspects gave the show a level of legitimacy. (I'm not saying anything legitimized the theories, but that the educational aspects raised it above the usual hokum - like those ghost hunter shows or Finding Bigfoot - so that it appeared more documentary-like).

P.S. I do remember one of my favorite "leaps of logic" from the show... they talked about how all the Greek and Roman gods had different names... except for Apollo! Apollo had the same name in both mythologies... THEREFORE (according to ancient alien theorists)... that fact could only mean that Apollo must have been an alien! (How's that for stretching?) ;)I've only seen a half dozen or so Ancient Aliens episodes when I was at someone's house...being bored and flipping through 150 cable channels of crud, at least Ancient Aliens showed some neat historical sites and the host is entertaining.

[Jackie Daytona]

I know it’s problematic, but for me Chariot of the Gods has always been a fun movie to watch ironically. I think it’s basically the granddaddy of Ancient Aliens.

[Captain Steel]

I know it’s problematic, but for me Chariot of the Gods has always been a fun movie to watch ironically. I think it’s basically the granddaddy of Ancient Aliens.

Yes, I believe you are correct. I remember, as a kid, there being a few good documentaries (or docu-series?) on the subject - based on the works of Erich Von Däniken (who is also the inspiration for & frequent commentator on the Ancient Aliens series).

[James D. Gardiner]

Chariots of the Gods?

https://youtu.be/yKMZAjlZb50

[Citizen Rules]

Ancient Aliens 'theories'...If one can't grasp how ancient people were able to achieve such architectural skills then the answer must be supernatural. It's how the human mind works, well not mine, but most peeps.

[LostInSauce]

Same here. I never really stopped liking it, but just got tired of it as it began to feel redundant. I always did applaud the show's production values: the great geography shots, the various "wonders of the world" they visit, the factual stuff about history.

I also liked the fact that when they'd have scientific specialists on, they'd comment on their specialty without speculating on the alien premise (that part was left up to the show's handful of regular hosts). And they didn't present the show as fact but as speculation (I'm sure we all got tired of hearing "according to ancient alien theorists" or "ancient alien proponents theorize that...")

All these aspects gave the show a level of legitimacy. (I'm not saying anything legitimized the theories, but that the educational aspects raised it above the usual hokum - like those ghost hunter shows or Finding Bigfoot - so that it appeared more documentary-like).

P.S. I do remember one of my favorite "leaps of logic" from the show... they talked about how all the Greek and Roman gods had different names... except for Apollo! Apollo had the same name in both mythologies... THEREFORE (according to ancient alien theorists)... that fact could only mean that Apollo must have been an alien! (How's that for stretching?) ;)

I totally agree with your criticism that it feels redundant. So many episodes I've seen within the past few years and I'm thinking, "wait, wasn't this covered in an earlier season" or they're just talking to you about something totally off-topic and then trying to tie it into their theory.

[LostInSauce]

I always made fun of the fact that the show's main host, Giorgio Tsoukalos could not pronounce the word "extra" correctly.
He always says "ekta terrestrials". I guess it's just his accent. But he has to say the word about a thousand times each episode.

Practice makes perfect...unless you're practicing wrong. :lol:

[LostInSauce]

I know it’s problematic, but for me Chariot of the Gods has always been a fun movie to watch ironically. I think it’s basically the granddaddy of Ancient Aliens.

Didn't realize it was a movie. I read the book. The show was actually spawned by Chariots of the Gods. One thing that I actually agree with the Ancient Astronaut theorists on is that many of the things described in ancient texts are actually just UFO sightings. I think it's actually a totally logical and plausible explanation.