Enigmi alieni

Should you ever encounter the History Channel (it will always be the HISTORY CHANNEL to me) documentary series "Ancient Aliens", it would be a wise choice to watch it not with a grain of salt, but rather, a whole salt shaker. The series, which chronicles theories about "ancient astronauts" and possible historical encounters primitive cultures had with extra-terrestrial life and how it impacted the world, is a fine example of pseudo-science at at times blatant science-fiction masquerading as scientific fact. While some of the stories are intriguing, and while I do indeed believe in extra-terrestrial life (and that it may have contacted the modern world), the show presents so much conjecture and idea-grasping, that one cannot possibly take this series seriously.

Each episode centers on a different topic, from alien technology, to rumored underground or underwater cities that were the result of alien/human contact. A panel of "experts" (aka, UFO enthusiasts and pseudo-scientists) discuses theories ranging from remotely credible to downright diabolically far-fetched and implausible.

Although given my complaints about the rampant idea-grasping, sensationalizing the series presents, and the blatant pseudo-science, I will give credit in that the show has a great deal of entertainment value when viewed as a piece of science-fiction and as mere entertainment. Some of the stories and theories portrayed are riveting in their own way, and it's a great deal of fun to watch. In addition, some of the "scientists" and "experts" who appear frequently serve as good presenters and real-life "characters", giving the show a bizarre watch-ability.

While the show desperately attempts to be a serious documentary series, it fails overall, and as a documentary, I'd give the show about a 3 out of 10. However, the interesting stories presented, the unintentional hilarity of the show, and the delightful "characters" who are humorously misleading and present wildly insane ideas, give this show a high entertainment value, and a likability factor of about a 9 out of 10. So, averaging those scores together, the show is elevated to a very watchable and enjoyably, slightly-above average 6 out of 10 when viewed strictly as entertainment. Like I said, swallow many grains of salt when you turn this on, and watch it is Science-Fiction, and it will provide some great laughs. But watch it as a serious, real-life documentary, and you will be sorely disappointed.

Legends existed in China about dragons? Must've been aliens.

Mayans thought there were Gods who could influence the weather? Aliens.

Primitive cave paintings resembling weird looking humans? Aliens.

I don't necessarily think that the ancient astronaut theory is totally ludicrous, but the evidence provided by "experts" in this show is lacking, and almost entirely driven by conformation bias. They have already drawn their conclusion (aliens), and work their way backwards from there.

That said, you'll probably learn some interesting things about the past, and the idea itself is, at least for me, quite thought provoking.

...white people didn't do it, doesn't mean it was aliens

Before letting you know my thoughts about the show,it would be very useful to inform you about my beliefs. In my opinion,when a person judges a documentary which presents non-mainstream information/ideas, the reader must be sure that there is no extremist or conservative point of view.

Personally i find it not only hard,but also foolish to accept everything mainstream archaeologists propose. But on the other hand i am not really a big alien fan,and i do not have a theory of mine which i am radical about.I simply like being skeptic and more importantly always trying to find reason in everything.That being said,let's move on to the actual review.

The biggest plus of the show is it's most obvious element: you know it is going to try to convince you about the existence of aliens and their appearing in human history and you definitely have the curiosity about how they are going to achieve it! Furthermore,you get what you would expect to get from a show messing around with that subject: lots and lots of footage from ancient monuments,artifacts,drawings,carvings,legends and scripts. That alone is justifying the summary of my review. Huge variety of information about many civilizations from all over the world are presented in good detail;not about every aspect of the culture thought, just information related to the topic of the show (personally i don't think it is bad to stick to the topic). The pieces of the "puzzle" created are so many, and at the same time the -original- footage is so eye-grasping that it gets you thinking.

On the other side however on SOME occasions, the philosophy and attitude of the "experts" presenting the show,follow the general rule of flawed approach to the truth:instead of trying to prove their claims the best logical way they can in order to MAKE YOU think for yourself (possibly) that "yea,they could be right,from what i see it is very possible that...", they prefer to prove them by disproving (and using irony in small doses) the other side,which on our occasion is mainstream archaeology. This,along with the fact that (again,on some occasions) they seem to jump on the desired conclusion a bit too easy, is why it gets 8/10.

As i pointed out,it is a decent show to watch no matter your beliefs, even if you don't care about aliens at all. The huge variety of original footage gives "Ancient Aliens" a quality only reduced by the occasional "extremism" of its main speakers. Bottom line:give it a try. It may convince you, or it may not, but you will learn something new for sure.

I use to love this show i still do like most of the previous seasons, especially the first few. But now every season is just re used content, nothing is new. I'm sick of them showing that Tic tac clip, give it a rest! It's time to cancel, if they can't find anything new what is this point.