Mysterious World

This series is a long-time favorite of mine from childhood...I rented the VHS tapes from my local Blockbuster and got hooked, even though "Mysterious World" was produced 4 years before I was born. Sir Arthur C. Clarke is a warm and intelligent presence in all 6 volumes of the series, even though (as a previous reviewer said) he does not narrate the series or have much of a hand in it. A particular favorite scene of mine involving this esteemed scientist is in the episode entitled "The Journey Begins," wherein he views and describes the natural mystery of a solar eclipse. I highly recommend this series to those who are interested in the unexplained...if you have never seen it before and are able to locate it on VHS or laser disk (and have the player for either format!), check it out.

Bigfoot. The Loch Ness Monster. Sea Monsters. UFOs.

These are just a few of the topics that have, over the decades, drawn in television makers seeking to produce documentaries on the odd and the unexplained here on Earth and beyond. Programs and even series that have, for better or worse, delved into sensationalism and muddied the waters. One of the series that stands out from the pack aired four decades ago on Britain's ITV network bucked the trend to a large extent. Fronted by one of the world's most famous authors, it offered a sober look at those topics and much more. That series was Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World.

Clarke, introduced at the start of every episode as "the author of 2001 and inventor of the communications satellite," was an ideal choice to act as frontman of the series, appearing around his adopted home on the island of Sri Lanka. As a writer of science fact and fiction, Clarke had addressed many of the topics discussed in the series, including in the aforementioned 2001 (both on-page and screen) and novels such as The Deep Range. And, as a self-confessed lover of mysteries used to appearing in programs such as The Sky at Night and news coverage of the Apollo moon landings, he was what we'd term today a "media personality."

Clarke's presence had another effect on the series. What sets Mysterious World apart from a series like the Lenoard Nimoy fronted In Search Of I watched as a youngster in re-runs on the History Channel or other paranormal-focused series, even after forty years, is its tone. Perhaps because of Clarke, a name in both science fact and fiction, acting as frontman, the series never dives headlong into sensationalism. Instead, there's a very British sense of reserve to the series, whether it's delving into sea serpents, frogs raining from the sky, or the hypothetical planet Vulcan. With newscaster Gordon Honeycombe bringing his sensible readings to bear as the series narrator, the series also has a more serious air to it, with each half-hour episode serving as something of a crash course on that week's topic.

And what topics the series covers. With its first episode serving as an introduction to the series tone and a taster of what it'll explore, Mysterious World dives headlong into them. There's the usual fare mentioned at the top of this review, of course. Yet there's also what Clarke terms "classical mysteries," such as those featured in the penultimate episode Strange Skies, which deals with astronomical mysteries. There are also episodes dedicated to ancient stone circles, the 1908 Tunguska event, and seemingly anachronistic ancient artifacts such as the crystal skull that serves as the series defacto logo. The series wraps up with a catch-all episode, "Clarke's Cabinet of Curiosities," covering everything from Death Valley's sailing stones to ball lightning. It's a wide-ranging series, and in many ways, a half-hour only scratches the surface of the topics on parade despite featuring experts and witnesses alike. Remarkably for a series as old as Mysterious World is, it manages to be informative even today.

Of course, the series has aged in places. It would be surprising if it hadn't, given how much time has passed. Some of its mysteries, such as the sailing stones, have been effectively solved. Others continue to be the subject of debate, such as the renewed interest in the UFO topic or superseded by ongoing research in the case of Stonehenge in the stone circles episode. Even so, aspects of even those episodes have points of interest, highlighting other mysteries or serving as time capsules of known facts at the time.

And thanks to Clarke's work as frontman and its serious tone, Mysterious World remains as watchable as ever.

I've got to go along with the mainstream opinion that this was an absolutely fascinating show at the time but many of the anecdotes and " facts " have been debunked . Take for example The Monsters Of The Deep episode which featured the tale of a Lt Cox who was shipwrecked in 1942 and stranded on a life raft with a number of men . A giant squid appeared alongside the boat and grabbed one of the survivors from the raft taking him to his doom . Lt Cox would have been the next victim if the remaining survivors hadn't held on to him , nevertheless Cox was scarred for life and had the sucker scars to prove of his encounter with the squid

Unfortunately this nightmare tale isn't recounted by Lt Cox who died in 1971 but by his friend biologist Prof Cloudsly Thompson so we have no hard physical evidence that this happened . Surely if such a terrifying incident happened Lt Cox could have shown his scars and been photographed before his death ? We then see an interview of Dr Fredrick Aldrich of Newfoudland who claimed that during the war torpedoed sailors would scramble in to life rafts , giant squids would surface and snatch sailors from the said life rafts . The only problem with this is that there is absolutely no evidence that this ever happened . No eyewitnesses to these attacks are interviewed and according to present day marine biologists it's impossible for a squid to lift its tentacles out of the water hence it'd be impossible for the related incidents to have taken place . Likewise Dr Aldrich says squids are attracted to the colour red but is this actually true ? Apparently it's true enough for Dr Clarke to wear a yellow lifejacket when he's swimming off Sri Lanka . But is there any giant squid there ? My knowledge is that they're confined to cold waters

Not to be too cynical there is scientific skepticism involved . An episode involving Big Foot and the Yeti ends with Dr Clarke saying if someone gave him money to bet on their existence he'd put a small amount on the Big Foot , a small amount on the Yeti and keep most of the money for himself . An episode featuring flying saucers does end with a very insightful view from Dr Clarke where he states that there's tracking stations all over the world looking out in to space and no one has ever registered any space craft entering Earth's atmosphere . Of course conspiracy theorists will claim there's a big cover up and one wonders if the episodes should have had a slightly longer running time in order to explain scientific skepticism a little bit more because there's a danger people might take the show a little too seriously

The entire medium of television would be radically different (and probably a lot more limited) if not for the achievements of Sir Arthur C Clarke, who devised the idea of communication satellites. Clarke has long been respected for his work as a scientist and for his high-tech science fiction. Less well known is the fact that Arthur C Clarke has a long-standing interest in Fortean phenomena: not the paranormal nor the supernatural, but bizarre occurrences at the borders of known science that force us to examine the rules of how the universe works.

I met Arthur C Clarke during the 1979 World Science Fiction Convention in Brighton, where we had a long talk over drinks in the bar of the Brighton Metropole while discussing one of Arthur C Clarke's favourite subjects: cryptozoology, the serious study of species that have not been conclusively shown to exist, such as the Yeti and the Sasquatch. That subject dominates one episode of 'Mysterious World'.

Arthur C Clarke's participation in 'Mysterious World' is minimal -- largely confined to sound-bites of him expressing his opinions as he walks along a Sri Lankan beach -- yet vital. As this sort of topic is always viewed with scepticism, this series would never have been produced at all if Clarke had not brought to it his very respected reputation and his scientific gravitas. Apart from his name, Clarke's contribution consisted only of brief intros and afterpieces, and a few suggestions for topics. The series itself was written, produced and narrated by other people, less famous than Clarke but no less devoted to the study of Fortean phenomena.

'Mysterious World' is comparable to the American syndicated series 'In Search of...', but that series cast its net too widely and set its credulity level too low. Guided by Arthur C Clarke's reputation, 'Mysterious World' makes a creditable effort to reject anything that can't stand up to scientific analysis.

The episode devoted to cryptozoology ends with Clarke reminding us that, if Sasquatch and Yeti do exist, we have an obligation to respect them and protect their environment.

This excellent series is notable for film clips difficult to find elsewhere. Quite a few Fortean round-ups have mentioned the Tunguska incident of 1908; 'Mysterious World' offers actual footage from the first expedition to that site.

Some of the topics featured in this series (and in Arthur C Clarke's companion series 'World of Strange Powers') are bizarre and unexpected, such as the little-known mystery of Ireland's Chinese seals. Over the course of a century, more than a dozen porcelain seals from dynastic China have been found in bogs and other obscure locations throughout Ireland. The seals have been authenticated, yet nobody can explain how they landed up in Ireland. Nor were they in a single trove; they were found in many different places all over Ireland, over a long period of time. It beggars belief that these artefacts might have been planted deliberately as a hoax. How did they get to Ireland, and when?

The problem for a show like 'Mysterious World' (or the fondly remembered 'One Step Beyond', treating similar subject matter) is that it must offer the audience questions which it cannot responsibly answer. The known facts are offered, some intelligent conjecture is entertained. But for a conclusive answer to the riddle of the Chinese seals - or the existence of the Yeti - the producers of this series can only say: 'Sorry, but we really don't know.'

'Mysterious World' is a fascinating series, but ultimately unsatisfying since it deals with unknowns. The last episode, indeed, is a sort of omnium-gatherum of all the Fortean bits and bobs that didn't fit into earlier episodes. I highly recommend this series, but fans of Arthur C Clarke should be advised that his participation is minimal. My rating: 10 in 10.

As a cryptozoology enthusiast this is the show that started my interest

This is the type of show that isn't made today it not preaching that weird stuff exists, it doesn't take sightings of bigfoot or giant sharks. Rather it takes a cold scientific approach.

Certainly a number of events described in the series have not survived the last few decades intact in fact some of the classics gave easily been explained away.

But there is still plenty to entertain and amaze a true picture of 70s mystery in 30 minutes