IN SEARCH OF...

TELEVISION REVIEW
PAGE 2
HOME FEO'S STORE REVIEWS INTERVIEWS FEO AMANTE THEATER SCIENCE MOMENT UNFAIR RACIAL CLICHÉ ALERT
Movies E.C. McMullen Jr. Review by
E.C.McMullen Jr.
In Search of... Season 1
IN SEARCH OF...
REVIEW PG. 1
IN SEARCH OF... - 1976 - 1982
Alan Landsburg Productions
Rated: USA: N/A

Previous PagePage 1 IN SEARCH OF...

In fact, the show birthed six books.

Why?

During the Age of Aquarius, aging hippies were willing to abandon the clear fantasy of Western Christian religion and buy into everyone else's bullshit.

Chariots of the Gods

Why?

Show creator Alan Landsburg was the go-to guy for making television documentaries in the 1960s and 1970s. He made them for The National Geographic and Jacques Cousteau (who was a French oceanographer back when my Pop was a kid).

Landsburg, who was already gold on television, hit platinum paydirt when he made the documentary, In Search of Ancient Astronauts, in 1973.

Because of his unimpeachable resume, he gave the show credibility. He was the only person who did. The TV show was such a wild hit, it actually went from the television screen to theaters! It went up the slide backwards!

Understand the facepalm craziness of this moment.

The show was based entirely on the book of the same name by a hotel clerk named Erich von Däniken: A guy so racist his entire theory rested on the supposition that, in every non-caucasian culture, the non-whites were just too damn backwards to have done something as amazing as pyramids, statues, etc. Däniken would look at the people of Easter Island and basically say
"These people aren't white! So they're not smart enough to create these heavy statues? The only possible answer is ... Extraterrestrials!"

Kon TikiWhat's important to note here is that, even for its time, that was facepalm stupid because the wildly popular and best selling other book of the period, and for the past 20 years prior to that time, was from Scientist and Adventurer Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki. Back in 1947, Thor (a real life Indiana Jones) had already documented in detail how the heads of Easter Island (Moai) were made and he did so by actually asking the natives
"Hey! Howdja make them heads anyway?"

And he found out they weren't just "heads" but entire bodies buried up to the head.

And using their primitive tools the natives showed him!

And using those primitive tools he made one!

And using those primitive tools they put that one into place!

And it all worked!

AND... they got the whole thing on film and showed it in theaters everywhere and the book and the movie were a hit and the book was translated into over 60 freaking languages.

Moreover,

Thor's research was replicated by other scientists!

Yet 20 years later, all of that meant nothing to Erich who had never been to Easter Island or spoke to the natives.
"No, no. These people are too primitive. Too
Not-White. It had to be those damn aliens from outer space. No other explanation makes sense!"

Rod Serling was aware of the derisive laughter from the science community world wide. Hoping for credibility, Serling tried to get popular mainstream scientist, Isaac Asimov, to come onboard the Erich von Däniken gravy train: The same Asimov who had thoroughly debunked Däniken's work! Isaac commented to another publisher,

Isaac Asimov"The Serling show involved a book called "Chariots of the Gods" which I was asked to involve myself in and refused. It's hard being a rationalist. Always a minority."
- Isaac Asimov

Television show producer and screenwriter, Rod Serling (TWILIGHT ZONE, PLANET OF THE APES, Rod Serling's THE NIGHT GALLERY), who worked with Alan on The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, was utterly smitten with Däniken's concept (which started with his book, Ancient Astronauts), and happily narrated the pilot show, IN SEARCH OF ANCIENT MYSTERIES. Having a respected documentarian like National Geographic and Jacques Cousteau's Alan Landsburg, and a narrator like the respected Rod Serling on his side, Erich could blow past all of his critics and be taken seriously. As with any preposterous fluff movie disguised as science, Chariots of the Gods? was nominated for an Oscar in 1971. Däniken's book sales soared ever higher.

Publisher's noticed that any book that used that bold style of font and design flew off the shelves. Soon actual scientists from Arthur C. Clarke to Isaac Asimov were dismayed to see their publishers remake their own book covers, using the bold font type associated with the debunked and discredited Däniken (in order to ride Erich's coattails to sweet book sales).

"It is a mistake to believe that the ancients were not every bit as intelligent as we. Their technology was more primitive, but their brains were not."
- Isaac Asimov

It didn't matter what Asimov thought of Erich. To this day, other authors on Erich's side continuously pair the two together as if Asimov in life knowingly gave Erich validity. In his 2005 book, Evolution Of God: A Concept, Or Is God Stagnant, Robert E. West continuously equates Asimov with von Däniken, as if both men were each other's respected peers or contemporaries.

For Erich von Däniken, a convicted fraud and thief who could never keep his story straight, it all finally came apart in 1979 when Erich was not only debunked, but revealed on camera to be a fraud who, when faced by an interviewer for PBS's NOVA with the evidence of his open complicity (not for the first time) in his scam, was visibly uncomfortable and began blaming his publisher for all of the many instances of obvious untruths.

Then, when the interviewer pressed the point that Erich stood by those obvious untruths and used them in his many slide show lectures, and never changed those fabrications after over 10 years in publication, Erich began contradicting himself, changing his excuses with every new revelation.

Rendevous with Rama"I also hope for the continuing popularity of books like Chariots of the Gods? in high school and college logic courses, as object lessons in sloppy thinking. I know of no recent books so riddled with logical and factual errors as the works of von Däniken."
- Carl Sagan

That year, 1979 was the year IN SEARCH OF... went investigating the Amityville Horror. A book which also presented itself as fact, only to have the author, Jay Anson, recant that he made the whole thing up.

After Erich's fall from grace (he's had many) IN SEARCH OF... chose to deviate away from him and get a bit more serious. But not by much. Throughout its long run, IN SEARCH OF... only wanted to talk about mysteries and conspiracy theories, but never attempted to solve them or provide evidence to support their revelations.

That is until...

In Season 5, episode 1, IN SEARCH OF... UFO Cover ups aka Extraterrestrials, had no one but actual witnesses. Television interviews with the men who were actually in charge of project Blue Book and the Roswell cover-up, and the most "credible" of the UFO believers (the ones who didn't wear tinfoil hats or claim that they could psychokinetically bring one down).

Despite the expense of taking film cameras all over the world (mostly falsehood as most of the "world" clips were were simply old newsreels and aging film stock), the show was otherwise low budget and it showed. Which meant it didn't need a lot to be profitable. It wa so cheap that even Leonard Nimoy's wardrobe was by his then wife, Sandi Nimoy.

Ahem. So here we are today.

"In Search Of... frequently takes an intrinsically interesting subject and systematically distorts the evidence. ...

The graphics are indiscriminate. When an offscreen narrator is talking about dinosaurs; we see a woolly mammouth. The narrator describes a hovercraft; the screen shows a shuttle liftoff. We hear about lakes and floodplains, but are shown mountains. It doesn't matter. The visuals are as indifferent to the facts as is the voice-over."
- Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World

Visual Entertainment Incorporated has gathered all 152 episodes onto 21 DVDs. It also has a bonus of the first two specials that launched the series, hosted by Rod Serling. Those are the most far fetched of the bunch, but are worth viewing for the fact that one show actually pits the theories of Erich Von Däniken against Carl Sagan with filmed interviews of both!

The DVDs also contain all eight episodes of the show's relaunch, hosted by Mitch Pileggi (SHOCKER, THE X-FILES), which crashed and burned in the year of its birth, 2002. High tech society was just a little older then, slightly wiser, and access to factual information was a whole lot faster and more convenient (thank you Internet!). Also, those eight episodes were the most gullible of the entire franchise. At least our Online society was wise enough to go "In Search Of" the various claims made on the show and determine their authenticity (something a new "In Search of" type show, DARK MATTERS - also hosted by X-FILES alumni - needs to be aware of before they tumble completely over that cliff.

UPDATE: Too late. Oh well.).

Well over ten years after they stopped making new shows, IN SEARCH OF... continued in syndication. And as a kid I tried to watch every episode. I was far more open and ready to believe a lot of stuff as a kid, but even then most episodes left me saying, "No way!"

So what about me? Why did I keep watching it? When did I learn the truth and what did I do about it?

I was (more then than today) a hopeless Trekkie. So I watched and enjoyed the damn show warts and all (IN SEARCH OF... warts that is, not... why, how dare you imply that I meant...!). Eventually, I'd sit with my fellow geeks and we'd talk through IN SEARCH OF... Mystery Science Theater 3000 style. Because we were still watching it! And it was all because of One Guy.

STIII: The Search for Spock

Leonard Nimoy, man! Leo with 70s sideburns! Leo with Disco mustache!

You gotta love Leo! Everybody loves Leo! You don't love Leo?

What's wrong with you?

In the 5th season, Leonard even wrote two of the shows: In Search of... Vincent Van Gogh (fans who know Leonard, know how mad he is for Vincent van), and In Search Of... Great Lovers.

Ahem... Well it's hard to introduce science with those two subjects.

Taken as a whole, the shows are fascinating only if, either you uncritically believe everything they tell you, or you critically take them with a grain of salt.

IN SEARCH OF... was highly influential for its era and for a long time after. So wildly popular that in 1984, the third Star Trek motion picture was aptly named THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK. And while the title was an inside joke, the movie wasn't a comedy. Paramount was actually hoping to cash in on the successful series while showcasing Leonard Nimoy's first outing as a feature film director. Ouroboros there, since IN SEARCH OF... used Nimoy to cash in on Star Trek fans.

Overall, you may find your fascination poorly rewarded, as if caught in a bait and switch. You were promised an educational intellectual pursuit, but have to settle for bland conspiracy theory mixed with religion. And where that borderland of personal knowledge comes that you don't know the difference between either, you are left with nothing.

Then again, you can always use the information IN SEARCH OF... to give you a jump point, to search out the truth yourself. It all depends on where you search, what you choose to read, and what you want to believe.

I believe I'll give this series Three Shriek Girls.

Shriek GirlsShriek GirlsShriek Girls
This review copyright 2013 E.C.McMullen Jr.

In Search of... (1976–1982) on IMDb
DRESS NICE
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
In Search of Ancient Mysteries Arthur C. Clarke Collection John Carpenter's THE THING
Rod Serling's
IN SEARCH OF ANCIENT MYSTERIES

MOVIE REVIEW
ARTHUR C. CLARKE COLLECTION:
MYSTERIES

DVD REVIEW
John Carpenter's
THE THING

MOVIE REVIEW

*

TRIVIA

It's probably worth noting that Wikipedia has pages on Rod Serling, Alan Landsburg and Jacques Cousteau. However, while Landsburgh's page mentions Jacques Cousteau, it makes no mention of his long association with Rod Serling. Rod's Wikipedia page makes no mention of all of the productions he and Alan worked on.

Jacques name is left unlinked to Landsburgh's Wikipedia page. Moreover, Cousteau's WIkipedia page bears zero mention of Alan Landsburgh.

Alan Executive Produced 7 episodes of the first season of The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, with Rod Serling narrating. During that time and his National Geographic years, Alan went on to embrace Erich von Däniken along with Rod. This apparently broke all ties to Cousteau (and NatGeo).

After Serling's death in 1975, there seems to be a break between the three men which endures even after their deaths (Landsburgh died in 2014).

ERICH VON DÄNIKEN: A WEALTH OF LIES

Remembering Neil Armstrong's Brush with Ancient Astronauts
Yesterday we all learned the news of the death of Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon. Fans of alternative archaeology and ancient astronauts will also remember him as a member of the 1976 expedition that went in search of Tayos caves in Ecuador that Erich von Däniken claimed in The Gold of the Gods (1972) contained a vast library of metal books inscribed with the writings of an alien civilization. Von Däniken had claimed in Gold to have personally visited this metal library, but he was forced to admit that he had fabricated his account of the cave after its alleged discoverer, Juan Moricz, stated that he had never taken von Däniken to the cave.

Continued at Jason Colavito.

ancient astronauts
The term 'ancient astronauts' designates the speculative notion that aliens are responsible for the most ancient civilizations on earth. The most notorious proponent of this idea is Erich von Däniken, author of several popular books on the subject. His Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past, for example, is a sweeping attack on the memories and abilities of ancient peoples. Von Däniken claims that the myths, arts, social organizations, etc., of ancient cultures were introduced by astronauts from another world. He questions not just the capacity for memory, but the capacity for culture and civilization itself, in ancient peoples.

Continued at Skepdic.

The prophet of the space-gods
30 million books by the Swiss-born writer Erich von Däniken have been printed globally, in 35 different languages. All over the world, he has become famously controversial for his two claims, that go against all scientific dogma: One claim is that Earth in ancient times have been visited by creatures from space, and the other that these non-human guests have programmed humanity, as if we were biological computers.

Continued at SkepticReport.

Return to Movies

 

FEO AMANTE'S HORROR THRILLER
Created by:
E.C.MULLEN JR.
COME FOLLOW ME @
Amazon
ECMJr
Feo Blog
IMDb
Stage32
Twitter
YouTube
Zazzle Shop