Into the Wild Frontier

Great story telling that really gives you a sense of what drove these men and women west.

To those who have been questioning how the American Indians had guns as early as Lewis and Clark, the answer is the Spanish and French were out there decades before Americans and traded and coexisted mostly peacefully with them. There were fights but nothing compared to what happened with Americans.

The series shows thatbtrade and commerce were important to the Indians and what they could not trade they took, and rightfully so.

My only complaint would be I wish they had told the stories chronologically. Bouncing from 1820 in season 1 to 1750s in season 2 took away from the feel of westward expansion.

While the majority of the series seems to be really well-developed, the producers lost my respect when I see Shoshone Indians meeting Lewis and Clark with double-rigged Western Saddles and metal curb bits in their horses mouths. If you are aiming for authenticity, you'd better go all the way. Even in the John Colter episode, they are using saddles that hadn't been developed yet for the next 20 years, and those brand-spanking new saddles on their horses were a far cry from the big heavy square-skirted saddles that the Texas cowpunchers were using. My husband now refuses to even watch the series, so I'm having to sneak in an episode when I can. :/

Loved the series. Particularly liked the settings. HOWEVER!!! I really want to ask about the Bigfoot in the background in season 2, the Andrew Henry episode. At the 14:40 mark a large hairy beast can be seen in the background moving into the trees. Right side of the frame. I have played this many times and after viewing the fuzzy image so many times, it is either an effective ruse or a genuine siting.

Question: Was that just a dressed up crew member playing a joke or was it an actual siting?????? Where was it filmed? (Looks like the Pacific NW?) Can someone send me a note at FB and fill me in about my inquiry? I would just love to know.. Thanks. OR better yet, place the answer on your next bulk email.

I enjoyed the historical re-enactments as well as the discussions by historians and university professors. A miniseries on INSP that is much better than anything on cable or network TV, it depicts real people in the American west and is both entertaining and educational. Sad that comic book heroes are glorified on TV instead of these actual American heroes who played a large part in civilizing the American West. I grew up watching westerns on TV and the shows on now and the movies produced by Hollywood are mostly dreadful.

I'd love to see more shows like this one - good acting by young attractive unknown actors and a well done series.

I've enjoyed watching the first a few episodes. Good stories, well acted. But I do wonder where the Indians, living in middle of nowhere, with little to no contact with white men, get all those rifles., gun power, musket balls and saddles. Secondly, many of their horses bridles have modern steel bits. One scene had two horses wearing halters which appeared to be made of modern braded nylon. There has been a lot of attention paid to story detail so I was surprised to see these pretty obvious errors.

Good stories. We need more programs like this showing history, not just "shoot em up" Hollywood westerns.