| Ancient Aliens | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | |
| Narrated by | Robert Clotworthy |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 21 |
| No. of episodes | 277(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Camera setup | Multiple |
| Running time |
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| Production company | Prometheus Entertainment |
| Original release | |
| Network | History Channel |
| Release | March 8, 2009 (2009-03-08) – present |
Ancient Aliens is an American television series produced byPrometheus Entertainment that explores thepseudoscientific hypothesis ofancient astronauts in a non-critical, documentary format. Episodes also explore related pseudoscientific andpseudohistoric topics, such as:Atlantis and other lost ancient civilizations,extraterrestrial contact andufology, and popularconspiracy theories.[1][2] The series, which has aired onHistory since 2010, has been a target for criticism of History'schannel drift, as well as criticism for promoting unorthodox or unproven hypotheses as fact.[3] According toSmithsonian, episodes of the series overwhelm the viewer with "fictions and distortions" by using aGish gallop.[4]
Originally broadcast as two-hour documentary special in 2009,Ancient Aliens: The Series aired for three seasons as a flagship series on History from 2010 to 2012.[5] The series moved toH2 from 2012 to 2014, with frequent re-airings of episodes on History and otherA&E services. In 2015, the series returned to History after H2 was relaunched asVice on TV. A nineteenth season began in 2023.[6][1][7] All episodes are narrated byRobert Clotworthy.
The series is inspired by the works ofErich von Däniken,Zecharia Sitchin,Graham Hancock,Robert Bauval,Brinsley Trench,Charles Hapgood, andEdgar Cayce. ProducerGiorgio Tsoukalos, writerDavid Childress and journalistNick Pope are featured guests.
The series has been criticized byhistorians,cosmologists,archaeologists and other scientists for presenting and promotingpseudoscience,pseudohistory andpseudoarchaeology as fact. Episodes are frequently characterized as "far-fetched",[8] "hugely speculative",[9] and "expound[ing] wildly on theories suggesting that astronauts wandered the Earth freely in ancient times."[10] Many of the claims made by guests are not commonly accepted as fact by the scientific community.[11]Brian Dunning, debunking the series, called it "a slap in the face to the ingenuity of the human race".[12]
Executive producer of the series wasKevin Burns from 2009 until 2021.Giorgio Tsoukalos serves as consulting producer, and is a featured guest, appearing in every episode.[13]UFO researcherC. Scott Littleton served as a producing consultant during the series development until his death in 2010.[14]
Ancient Aliens originally aired a two-hour documentaryspecial for theHistory Channel on March 8, 2009. The special was re-run several times, and is now packaged with the series as its pilot episode.Ancient Aliens: The Series aired on History from 2010 to 2011, then moved toH2 where it was promoted as one of the network's flagship series until 2014. Frequent re-airings of episodes continued on the History channel, with highlights and repackaged episodes airing onA&E andLifetime. A selection of thirteen episodes which focused on the2012 phenomenon was made available for syndication in the United States and Canada during the 2011–12 television season.[citation needed] In some foreign markets, the series still carries theAncient Aliens: The Series title card.[where?]
In 2015, the series returned to History after H2 was relaunched asVice on TV. In response to complaints from disgruntled fans, Vice on TV createdAction Bronson Watches Ancient Aliens.[15] History renewedAncient Aliens for a fifteenth season which premiered on January 24, 2020.[6] Due toCOVID-19 pandemic disrupting production, the season ended after all completed episodes were broadcast. Production was soon restarted, and a sixteenth season began on November 13, 2020.[1][7] A twentieth season began broadcast in 2024.
The spin-off seriesAncient Aliens: Origins aired in 2024.
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The series is based on and inspired by thepseudoscientificancient astronauts hypothesis popularized inChariots of the Gods?, byErich von Däniken, andThe 12th Planet, byZecharia Sitchin. According to von Däniken, Sitchin, and others,extraterrestrial beings visited Earth in the distant past and introduced civilization, architecture, andhigh technology to pre-historic humans. Many, if not all, of ancient man's achievements in language, mathematics, science, technology and architecture, such as theEgyptian pyramids,Pumapunku,Teotihuacan, andStonehenge, are attributed to the influence of extraterrestrials.
Remnants of extraterrestrial visitations are claimed to be found in religious texts, ancient myths and legendary histories, in addition to fragments found in the sacred texts and practices ofHinduism,Ancient Egyptian religion,Gnostic Christianity, and more recent religious movements such asMormonism. The hypothesis also holds that ancient visitations left etymological remnants in many of the world's languages, such as the root words for "Dagon", "dragon", "dog", and "Danann", or the frequent occurrence of the prefixanu- to mean "friend" or "visitor." Additionally,anatomically modern humans are alleged to be the result ofgenetic modification and/or modern humans are somehow biologically descended from ancient astronauts, which is the focus of many of von Däniken's and Sitchin's works.
There is little use of precise dates in many episodes. Guests use terms such as "the remote past", "prehistoric times", "ancient times", or they refer to "our ancient ancestors" in the abstract, when discussing hypothetical or alleged historical events. A frequent demarcation of pre-history from the modern era utilized by guests is "before or after 'The Ice Age'", or approximately12,000 years ago. Many guests featured on the series, includingGraham Hancock, andRobert Schoch, have claimed a sophisticated, or highly advanced, human civilization was destroyed at the end of the Ice Age. The survivors or descendants of the survivors helped restart civilization beginning 8,500 years ago.
Many of the guests who appear in the series support and have expanded on such claims in their own work. The same guests have also promoted the work of other guests which has created a sharedcosmogony for the creation of mankind and a shared, homo-centric,cosmology with significance placed onSirius,Orion,Pleiades, theMoon, andMars.
The series presents all claims made by guests in an uncritical, fast-paced format. The narration frequently frames claims made by guests or their responses as rhetorical questions which are answered with "ancient alien theorists say yes," or a variation thereof. After a particular claim is introduced, and explored in some detail, the narration cuts away with, "Perhaps more evidence can be found..." Another location, archeological find, or alleged event, with a hypothetical connection to the previous claim is introduced.Chariots of the Gods? used a similar framing device.Smithsonian described this presentation style as aGish gallop, overwhelming the viewer with supposed evidence too quickly for them to fully consider any individual claim.[4]
When comments or claims are made by guests there is no indication made (either by the narration or on-screen) whether they are speculating on the rhetorical question made by the interviewer or narration, or if they are repeating claims made by other researchers, or if they are speaking of their own work or expertise. GeologistRobert Schoch said portions of his own interviews for the series are sometimes inserted into the finished episodes in a manner which is out of context, or wholly disconnected from the questions asked of him on and off camera.[16]
WriterDavid Childress, who appears in every episode, frequently concludes his comments with the exclamation, "—probably extraterrestrials!" Both Childress and Giorgio Tsoukalos repeatedly assert pre-historic peoples lacked the vocabulary to describe "technological" or "high-tech" devices (such as rockets or missiles, advanced weapons, aircraft, powered land vehicles, and medical instruments) that they allegedly witnessed, and thus referred to extraterrestrial visitors using such technology as gods.
Terms such as "ancient astronauts", "ancient aliens", "alien visitors", "extra-terrestrial beings", "ancient gods", and "otherworldly beings", are used interchangeably by guests and the narration. Guests frequently conflate the meaning of "theory" and "hypothesis", or they frequently obscure or ignore the difference betweenmythology andlegendary history, and verifiablearchaeology,anthropology, or documented history.
In the first season, credentialed scientists and professionals, such asSara Seager andMichael Denning, respond to claims made by other guests, but their rebuttals were not rigorous. In subsequent episodes, scientists and professionals offer explanations of scientific phenomena or historical events without endorsing claims made by other guests, or they offer personal commentary. PsychologistJonathan Young appears in 123 episodes, providing explanations of myths and legends, and legendary history. Boston University associate professorRobert Schoch presents hisSphinx water erosion hypothesis, as well as his hypothesis concerning the age and purpose ofGöbekli Tepe, in several episodes.Erich von Däniken is the featured guest in the pilot episode, in addition to being the focus of two biographical episodes: "The Von Däniken Legacy", in Season 5, and "The Alien Phenomena", in Season 13.
Radio talk show hostGeorge Noory appears in more than 80 episodes, including the pilot episode. ReverendBarry Downing, known for describing angels in the Bible as ancient astronauts, appears in the pilot episode, and his comments are repeated in later episodes. WritersRobert Bauval andGraham Hancock appear in many episodes. They both express skepticism of ancient astronauts, instead discussing their own theories of ancient civilizations. Hancock repeats the statement from his work that "There is a forgotten episode in human history."Nick Pope andTravis S. Taylor are also frequent guests.[17]
Segments and highlights from all first-season episodes, including the pilot, were edited into later episodes as late as Season 12, so that guests who appeared in Season 1 ostensibly appear in later seasons, although footage of their original interviews was re-used.
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In many episodes, little empirical evidence is offered to support the presented claims. Episodes or episode segments focus onout-of-place artifacts, such as: theLondon Hammer,Antikythera mechanism, or the Aiud object; or segments focus on alleged inconsistencies in the acceptedhistorical record. Guests discuss evidence which supports their claims in general or abstract terms. Some guests have alleged professionals and government officials have suppressed evidence of ancient mysteries, such as the in episode "The Prototypes" during which guests alleged that theSmithsonian Institution suppressed findings of "giant humanoids" found alongside American Indian remains in theKanawha Valley.
From Season 12 onward, some episodes have included segments in which evidence that potentially supports the ancient astronauts hypothesis is subjected to on-camera tests conducted by credentialed scientists and medical professionals. In the episode "The Science Wars", anelongated skull was subject to an MRI examination, and DNA was extracted and tested. In the episode "The Star Gods of Sirius" blue, porous, nitrogen-rich stones, allegedly retrieved from the site of an alien visitation were examined by geologists. However, none of the results—from the skull, the stones, or other objects examined in later episodes—proved conclusive.
Other claims linked to the ancient astronauts hypothesis featured on the series include:UFOs,alien abductions, theRoswell incident andRendlesham Forest incident,panspermia, andhuman space exploration. Guests have presented other pseudohistorical and pseudoscientific hypotheses related to, or dependent upon an understanding of:Atlantis and other lost civilizations as described in works byBrinsley Trench andEdgar Cayce; orley lines as originally described byAlfred Watkins, or more recent interpretations;cataclysmic pole shifts as promoted byCharles Hapgood; various forms of Christian and Hinducreationism, orpseudohistory and legendary history promoted followers of variousnew religious movements; mythical and gnostic elements of theKabbalah,Zohar, andBook of Enoch.
Other concepts explored include:faith healing,remote viewing, and variouspsychic phenomena. Guests frequently discuss various forms ofcatastrophism, and refer to other featured guests or historical figures as catastrophists. In several episodes, guests have claimed prominent historical figures were either influenced by or were possibly "extra-terrestrial" or "otherworldly beings." Guests have also discussed unrelatedpseudoscientific claims, such as:dinosaurs coexisting withhumans until a recentextinction event,crystal healing andcrystal skulls, as well asFreemasonry,Rosicrucianism, and theNew World Order.
Linda Moulton Howe appears in several episodes which explore alien abduction, animal mutilation, and conspiracies involving alleged military installations on Antarctica. The 2013Citizen Hearing on Disclosure features prominently in numerous episodes, such as Season 14's "The Nuclear Agenda".
Prior to December 2012, several episodes explored aspects of the2012 Mayan doomsday prophecy. The episodes "The Maya Conspiracy" and "The Doomsday Prophecies", which aired in February 2012, explored theMaya calendar and its relation to the construction ofPalenque, the godKukulkan, in addition to links between theMaya civilization and the ancient astronaut hypothesis. However, many featured artifacts, structures, and remains were actuallyAztec,Zapotec, orOlmec, and not Maya. Episodes focusing onMesoamerica broadcast after 2012 make no mention of the 2012 phenomenon. In the episode "The God Particle", guests linked theMayan long count to the discovery of theHiggs boson.[18]
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| Pilot | March 8, 2009 (2009-03-08) | |||
| 1 | 5 | April 20, 2010 (2010-04-20) | May 25, 2010 (2010-05-25) | |
| 2 | 10 | October 28, 2010 (2010-10-28) | December 30, 2010 (2010-12-30) | |
| 3 | 16 | July 28, 2011 (2011-07-28) | November 23, 2011 (2011-11-23) | |
| 4 | 10 | February 17, 2012 (2012-02-17) | May 4, 2012 (2012-05-04) | |
| 5 | 12 | December 21, 2012 (2012-12-21) | April 19, 2013 (2013-04-19) | |
| 6 | 11 | September 30, 2013 (2013-09-30) | December 13, 2013 (2013-12-13) | |
| 7 | 8 | January 24, 2014 (2014-01-24) | March 14, 2014 (2014-03-14) | |
| 8 | 9 | June 13, 2014 (2014-06-13) | August 22, 2014 (2014-08-22) | |
| 9 | 12 | October 31, 2014 (2014-10-31) | May 1, 2015 (2015-05-01) | |
| 10 | 10 | July 24, 2015 (2015-07-24) | October 9, 2015 (2015-10-09) | |
| 11 | 15 | May 6, 2016 (2016-05-06) | September 2, 2016 (2016-09-02) | |
| 12 | 16 | April 28, 2017 (2017-04-28) | September 15, 2017 (2017-09-15) | |
| 13 | 15 | April 27, 2018 (2018-04-27) | January 7, 2019 (2019-01-07) | |
| 14 | 22 | May 31, 2019 (2019-05-31) | November 29, 2019 (2019-11-29) | |
| 15 | 12 | January 24, 2020 (2020-01-24) | April 18, 2020 (2020-04-18) | |
| 16 | 10 | November 13, 2020 (2020-11-13) | March 12, 2021 (2021-03-12) | |
| 17 | 7 | August 6, 2021 (2021-08-06) | October 8, 2021 (2021-10-08) | |
| 18 | 20 | January 7, 2022 (2022-01-07) | September 16, 2022 (2022-09-16) | |
| 19 | 20 | January 6, 2023 (2023-01-06) | September 15, 2023 (2023-09-15) | |
| 20 | 20 | January 5, 2024 (2024-01-05) | September 13, 2024 (2024-09-13) | |
| 21 | 10 | February 7, 2025 (2025-02-07) | — | |
The program had 1.676 million viewers in late October 2010,[19]2.034 million viewers in mid-December (for the "Unexplained Structures" episode),[20] and in late-January 2011 the series had1.309 million viewers.[21][22]
The series has been criticized byhistorians,cosmologists,archaeologists and other scientists for presenting and promotingpseudoscience,pseudohistory andpseudoarchaeology as fact. Episodes are frequently characterized as "far-fetched",[23] "hugely speculative",[24] and "expound[ing] wildly on theories suggesting that astronauts wandered the Earth freely in ancient times."[25] Many of the claims made by guests are not commonly accepted as fact by the scientific community.[11] In 2009, history professorRonald H. Fritze observed that pseudoscience has a periodic popularity in the U.S.:[11][26]
In a pop culture with a short memory and a voracious appetite, aliens and pyramids and lost civilizations are recycled like fashions.
Brad Lockwood ofForbes characterizedAncient Aliens as an example of History'schannel drift toward "programs devoted to monsters, aliens, and conspiracies". He added that, "Ancient Aliens defies all ability to suspend disbelief for the sake of entertainment."[3] Alex Knapp, also ofForbes, citedarchaeologist Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews' rebuke of History for treating "nonsense as though it were fact."[27]
In 2011,South Park parodied the series in the episode "A History Channel Thanksgiving". Ramsey Isler ofIGN commented, "The aim is placed squarely onAncient Aliens specifically".[28] South Park's animation style created "a perfect satire of all the ridiculousness of this series, including the black and white art with aliens photoshopped in, and interviews with people of dubious authority".
Science writer Riley Black was critical of the series—particularly an episode that suggested "aliens exterminated dinosaurs to make way for our species"—which she characterized as "some of the most noxious sludge in television's bottomless chum bucket." Black accused the series of employing aGish gallop technique to overwhelm the viewer with many "fictions and distortions."[4]
Others have called attention to a paucity of opposing viewpoints, such asKenneth Feder, Professor of Archaeology atCentral Connecticut State University and author ofFrauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology. He was approached by producers with requests to appear in several episodes: "My response was, I'd be happy to be on your show, but you should know that I think that the ancient astronaut hypothesis is execrable bullshit."[29] He added, "I haven't heard back from them, rather remarkably. So, I guess maybe they're not interested in the other point of view."[30] In 2016,Vice on TV producer Jordan Kinley said ofAncient Aliens claims:[15]
You feel kind of lost when someone questions the historical narrative you've been taught. I don't believe much of what's talked about ... but I think it's a good time for people to realize that some of our history is manufactured. Some of it is manufactured to be accurate, and some of it is manufactured to excuse horrible things that have happened.
In the 2019 issue ofPublic Archaeology, Franco D. Rossi ofJohns Hopkins University published a retrospective of his experience at the 2018 Boston Alien Con. He characterizedAncient Aliens and its fans as a "science fiction fandom" which also trafficked in "misinformation" and "conspiracies."[31] He warned professionals in various history fields will have to reckon withancient astronaut hypothesis and its adherents. In March 2020, podcasterBrian Dunning challenged and debunked many of the claims featured onAncient Aliens. At the conclusion of the third episode, Dunning quoted Kenneth Feder's bookFrauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology:[32]
I realize that for some of you I'm being mean, snarky, and inflexible on this topic. And you'd be right. But in the face of a program and, at its core, a philosophy that is based on assumptions that degrade and diminish the inherent human capacity to invent, create, build, cooperate, and rise to the occasion to solve great technological challenges, both in the present and in the past [...]
Dunning emphasized Feder's conclusion: "I maintain that meanness and inflexibility are entirely appropriate responses."[32]
Many guests featured in episodes of the series have publicly expressed skepticism of the series' premise or of the ancient astronaut hypothesis. In the pilot episode, SisterIlia Delio of theWashington Theological Union repeated comments made previously[where?] about the predilection for literalism common among supporters of the ancient astronaut hypothesis:[33]
Can we liken Ezekiel's chariot to a UFO? The ancients used myth and metaphor and images to describe their experience of God. I think what we don't want to fall to is a type of 'fundamental literalism'. The stories of the Old Testament emerge out of the people of that time, out of their own context, to make sense of their experience of God. We can gain insight by reading the Old Testament and reading aboutEzekiel's chariot, but it's not to draw a strict analogy between his chariot and a UFO.
At a 2014 hearing of theHouse Committee on Science,Seth Shostak said, "The public is fascinated with the idea that we may be being visited now, or maybe in the past," but there is not any evidence which has convinced him "that we were visited in [historical] times."[34] Shostak has appeared in twelve episodes. In a 2018 episode ofThe Joe Rogan Experience,Robert Schoch said promoters of the ancient astronaut hypothesis "want everything to be 'ancient aliens'", which in his view was "sort of a cop-out". He added those same promoters are often motivated to sell books, DVDs, and conference tickets instead of presenting facts.[16] Belief in the ancient alien hypothesis and other ancient mysteries "fills a void" for some people, according to Schoch, but he "tries to fill that void with something real."[16]
William Shatner, who appeared in the Season 16 episode "William Shatner MeetsAncient Aliens ", toldInverse: "I had some spirited discussions with these experts who believe aliens were here, and like most people, I was dubious about the whole thing." He added, "They intrigued me enough to think something's going on."[35]
Many guests featured onAncient Aliens appear in other History channel series and specials, such asThe Secret of Skinwalker Ranch,America's Book of Secrets, andThe Curse of Oak Island. Segments from those series have appeared inAncient Aliens.[citation needed] William Shatner, who appears in two episodes ofAncient Aliens, presentsThe UnXplained which explores many of the topics featured in episodesAncient Aliens. Shatner narrated the English-language version ofMystery of the Gods (1976) which was based on von Däniken's books published afterChariots of the Gods?.
Tsoukalos's appearances inAncient Aliens inspired ameme highlighting his unusual hairstyle overlaid with the caption: "I'm not saying it was aliens ... but ..."[36] Variations of the meme were uploaded by users as early as November 2010.[36][37] According toDictionary.com, the meme mimicked "the tone of conviction used by Tsoukalos to present unfounded far-fetched pseudo-logic as fact."[37]
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From 2016 to 2018,A&E Networks co-produced a number of multi-day events branded as "Alien Con".[38][39] Some events were organized as symposia, and others were organized as residential conventions similar toWorldcon. Guests from the series hosted several panels, in addition to offering book signings and photos. Footage from the conventions hosted in 2016 and 2017 appeared in several episodes in Seasons 11, 12 and 13. Highlights from the 2018 Baltimore Alien Con were featured during the Season 14 episode "Project Hybrid".[40]
In April 2016,Vice on TV releasedAction Bronson Watches Ancient Aliens, which was followed by a ten-episode series, later retitledTraveling the Stars. Each episode features rapperAction Bronson and celebrity guests watching episodes ofAncient Aliens while intoxicated bycannabis. The series is presented in acomedy-documentary format which parodiesAncient Aliens's presentation style.
Bronson praisedAncient Aliens, saying it is "the best thing that was ever created by man."[41] According to producers Jordan Kinley and Hannah Gregg,Traveling the Stars was developed as a response to complaints by disgruntled viewers of H2 which Vice on TV's programming replaced.[15]Traveling the Stars was renewed for a second season in 2019.
A companion to the series,Ancient Aliens: The Official Companion Book (ISBN 978-0-06-245541-3) was published in November 2016. Included was an overview of the ancient astronaut hypothesis, and introductions to a number of topics explored by the television series up to Season 11. The audiobook adaptation, which is no longer available, featured the voices ofGiorgio A. Tsoukalos,Angela Cartwright,Bill Mumy,Robert Clotworthy, and producerKevin Burns.
Ancient Aliens: The Game is acity-building game developed by Fifth Column Games. The user plays as an alien-human hybrid who must oversee the construction of theGreat Pyramid of Giza. The game was released in 2016 as afree-to-play mobile andFacebook game. APC port was released byLegacy Games in September 2022.[42]
In April 2021, Counterbalance Entertainment announced they had closed a deal withLegendary Entertainment to produce a film adaptation ofAncient Aliens. Josh Heald, creator ofCobra Kai, will direct a script written by Luke Ryan who will also executive produce.[43] In July 2022, Legendary announcedCraig Titley would write the feature script with Josh Heald to direct in partnership withCounterbalance Entertainment.[44]