"Witnesses
around the world report seeing monsters. Are they real or imaginary?
Science searches for answers...on Monster Quest."
A Personal Note
I was never a big
cryptozoology buff. I mean, growing up, I heard about Bigfoot, and the
Loch Ness Monster. I
watched Harry And the Hendersons
a buttload of times, and liked it. But... These 'monsters' are all on
the other side of the country, or world. How was I ever going to get to
get interested in, or become knowledgeable about something that I could
never have any exposure to aside from watching the few documentaries
that showed up on TV every now and then?
As a matter of fact, this show is somewhat of a remake. If
you were alive, and into this stuff in the late 70's or early 80's, you
may
remember a show called "In
Search Of" which was hosted by Leonard Nimoy. For those of you
who don't know who
that is, it's Mr. Spock from Star Trek. Anyway, it had pretty much the
exact same premise as Monster Quest. I remember liking the show, but I
was too
young to REALLY 'get it'.
Because of that, the study of cryptids themselves really never did
anything for me. I mean, I liked these things cause they were
unknowns...you know, the same as ghosts and UFO's, but I just couldn't
do anything with them. I watched everything I could, of course.
In early 2005, when I started thinking about making a
paranormal based website, I thought about putting up a Cryptozoology Section
for you monster fans out there. I decided that it was a bad idea. After
all, at the time, I didn't know much about the subject. Since then,
I've made it a point to educate myself on it, and the inspiration to do
so actually PARTLY came from watching Monster Quest. So, needless to
say, unlike many of the paranormal or unknown based TV shows, I AM a
fan of this one.
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The
First Episode
Since 2004 The Sci-Fi Channel
had Wednesday nights all but won when it came to capturing our
imaginations with paranormal programming. As the years moved on, and as
interest in the Sci-Fi's flagship show began to increase, The History
Channel decided to go after its own piece of the pie.
Monster Quest, airing at 9PM
Eastern Standard Time on
Wednesday nights is a documentary series that's become a staple in the
History Channels lineup since its premiere in October of 2007 combating
The Sci-Fi Channels juggernaut, 'Ghost
Hunters'. To be honest, it
couldn't have come at a better time.
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For me, actually it was perfect timing. Ghost Hunters
was getting stale, and annoying with certain things that I won't go
into here. So, I changed the channel.
The first
episode delved
deeply into Lake Champlain, in
search of the mysterious lake serpent known as "Champ".
The show itself was pretty
much a standard documentary
like we've seen for years on the History Channel, Discovery, or an old
school National Geographic special. THAT is what I think I enjoyed most
about the whole thing, and ALL the episodes for that matter.
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See, lately in television,
and everywhere else, everyones
looking for the latest greatest thing. In television, that means that
they're going for an edgy format, some drama where it isn't needed, or
whatever other gimmick that they can think of to sell their show.
Unfortunately, in this process, MOST networks and producers forget what
has been time tested, and what has worked for years. Monster Quest did
not make this mistake.
When searching for Champ, they interviewed eyewitnesses
who gladly told their stories about their encounters with the creature.
Some even claimed to have taken pictures, and had the images available
for analysis. Then, they took the photos to analysis experts. Some,
cried hoax, others said that they were real. The picture above is one
of the most famous pictures of Champ. An analyst on the show explained
HOW it could be, and WHY he believed it to be only a log floating in
the water.
They had a team of divers out there swimming around. They
had a boat playin' around out there with some sonar. The sonar people
actually DID capture some anomalies on their equipment that could not
be explained.
My point is, what Monster Quest is, is a
simple scientific investigation of these
cryptids. The show does not rely on spooky camera angles. It does not
use spooky music to creep its viewers out before the commercial break.
It leaves no stone unturned
in an attempt to gain information about the monster it is searching
for. Some may call this boring. I call it a welcomed change of pace.
In the end, every episode does the exact same thing
I try to do with every page on this website. The show simply gives the
viewer the information that it has, or whatever it can find. It lays it
all out for us. It has no agenda, other than to make us think. Are
these creatures real? Here's the evidence we have both FOR, and AGAINST the
idea.
We're not going to tell you what to believe. Make up your
own mind.
I LOVE THAT! I wish there was more open-mindedness like this on the
tube.
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