Sunday, July 20, 2008

Editorial: What are The Best Bigfoot Documentaries?

There have been many documentaries released on the subject of Bigfoot over the years, more especially since the 1970's, with the granddaddy of them all, Bigfoot: The Mysterious Monster (AKA The Mysterious Monsters) as well as the original In Search Of... with no less than 4 shows devoted to Bigfoot or Bigfoot-Like Creatures. There was also the Smithsonian-sponsored special Monsters: Mysteries or Myths? which had footage later used in B:TMM. There was also Bigfoot: Man Or Beast? (made in 1972, but later combined with Robert W. Morgan's documentary The Search For Bigfoot). Rounding out the '70's was 1978's Manbeast: Myth or Monster produced by Alan Landsburg (ISO) and featuring Peter Byrne. In the '80's and '90's, the documentaries were limited mainly to television, with programs such as Sightings and Unsolved Mysteries presenting new segments on the mystery hominoids, as well as Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World and Into The Unknown, as well as Ancient Mysteries devoting two hour-long segments to hairy hominids. Into the 21st Century, there has been a plethora of documentary/reality-TV devoted to hair-covered individuals, and the main individual responsible for some of the best programming on the mystery hominoids is Doug Hajicek and his production company Whitewolf Entertainment. They produced the gold-standard of Bigfoot documentaries, Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science and Mysterious Encounters, (2003) as well as Giganto: The Real King Kong (2005) and Monsterquest (2007-???). The newest series has devoted several segments to different hairy hominids around the world, with at least 4 more planned for the new season of the hit History series. Plus, Sci-Fi Channel has devoted a few segments to Sasquatch or related hominids on Destination Truth and Sci-Fi Investigates, and Discovery Channel devoted an episode of Best Evidence to Bigfoot. Plus, there have been independent documentarians who have emerged to create independent productions, such as Jay Michael, Autumn Williams, Don Keating, Scott Herriott and Ronald Roseman. But, what are the BEST documentaries? My top 5 are, in no particular order:

1. Bigfoot: The Mysterious Monster/Oregon Bigfoot: Search For A Living Legend Volume 1/Sasquatch Odyssey: The Hunt For Bigfoot/Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science/Squatching/Journey Toward Squatchdom
2. Bigfoot: Man Or Beast?/Bigfooting In Oklahoma/Shaawanoki/Mystery of The Sasquatch Triangle
3. Bigfoot FAQ
4. Ancient Mysteries: Bigfoot
5. Monsterquest

What are yours? Leave me comments on what you think are the best documentaries on our hairy cousins. Thanks.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well, my favorites are the ones I watch the most: My top 5 are in no particular order:
1. Oregon Bigfoot Volume 1
2: Bigfoot: Man or Beast? (Robert W. Morgan one)
3. Sasquatch Oddessey
4. Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science
5. Ancient Mysteries: Bigfoot

Darin