Review: Monsterquest 1-2-08

The first new Monsterquest episode of 2008 examines a diabolical plan by Joseph Stalin to cross-breed Humans and Apes, and examines also the Almasty, and interviews Igor Bourtsev about Zana. Zana was used for manual labor, and had several offspring with human men and killed these children by washing them in a cold river until a local farmer's wife saved the children, including Khwit. A tooth from Khwit's skull is examined by Curt Nelson (who was also on the Sasquatch Attack episode) for DNA to see how human it might be. Ilya Ivanov was the man who was commissioned to create this army of super-soldiers. Dr. Esteban Sarmiento is also interviewed about his impressions. Apparently, Stalin wanted to use chimpanzees because of their propensity to war with each other. A hairy-faced Spanish acrobat named Danny Gomez is also interviewed who probably suffers more from hypertrichosis than being a hybrid. Kathy Strain and Russ Mittermeier are also interviewed about their impressions of mystery apes. Gigantopithecus is also examined. Hybridizations between different animals are examined as well. All in all, not a bad episode, but not as good as some of the previous ones. Next week examines the case of Rods, creatures from the fourth dimension. That airs next Wednesday at 10:00 EST/9:00 Central on the History Channel.