Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Review: Ancient Mysteries: Bigfoot

4.0 out of 5 stars Great and fair assessment of the subject matter, December 25, 2007
This documentary, originally aired in 1994 on A&E, was very well-done and was very fair as to its assessments of the Bigfoot Mystery. Luminaries in the Bigfoot field such as the late Dr. Grover Krantz, Peter Byrne, Scott Herriott, Al Hodgson and Roderick Sprague are interviewed about their research and their opinions on the hunt for these elusive creatures. Byrne was running the Bigfoot Research Project at that time out of Parkdale, Oregon, and is shown in the field investigating a sighting. Dr. Krantz is shown in his lab at Washington State University with his footprint casts and his Gigantopithecus model based on the jawbone of the mystery primate. Herriott's video (along with Darryl Owen's) are both shown, as is the Patterson/Gimlin Movie, with narration from Gimlin. Skeptical scientist John Crane is also interviewed about his opinions on the subject. This version is slightly different from the original, with Leonard Nimoy (In Search Of...) as the narrator, and some clips are edited a little differently, but overall it is the same one seen in 1994. It ends in Willow Creek, California during the Bigfoot Daze celebration with different townspeople giving their assessments of the reality of the creature, as well as the cultural influences Bigfoot has had through the years. I do recommend this documentary for anyone's Cryptozoology collection.

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