Ancient Aliens Ancient Aliens TV Pilot 91 minutes See below for purchasing options DVD & Blu-ray

Pilot Movie Special - "Chariots, Gods, and Beyond" directed by executive producer Kevin Burns written by Rob Hampton with additions by Kevin Burns produced by David Osper edited by Kevin Benson's crew of 7 consulting producer Giorgio A. Tsoukalos narrated by Robert Clotworthy (c) 2009 Prometheus Entertainment 1 documentary @ 91 minutes

This documentary promotes the "ancient astronaut" hypothesis, which I've always felt is far more likely to be the truth than the scientific community's favourite default proposition of "We are alone... so far." Whether or not the documentary makes its case well may be a different question altogether, but it does seem that this one-off TV special sparked enough interest in the topic that it then generated a long-running documentary TV series. The biggest plus in this "pilot" episode is the abundant presence of Erich von Däniken. After an unnecessarily religious 3-minute pre-amble, von Däniken and his infamous book "Chariots of the Gods" are introduced, and their historical impact on our culture covered. Excellent. Von Däniken's experience with the subject matter leads him to be the best presenter of information, and he can cut to the vital elements in it with surgical precision, avoiding many of the pitfalls that his fellow interviewees sometimes step into. However, all of the main interviewees bring something to the mix, resulting in a documentary that is rich with information about many ancient structures, artifacts, and pieces of literature. Quite contagious is their excitement about the mysteries surrounding these items as they offer their best theories as to what they might mean. My favourite piece of evidence comes early on, as we see the everlasting runways carved across the mountain tops in Nazca in South America. By far the BEST theory for what this is, is the most obvious answer: an airport/spaceport. No other answer comes close to being credible. Therefore, it seems to me that this idea should stand as the default assumption for Nazca, until anyone else can prove something different, if ever. The show features several naysayers whose attempts to reverse the burden of proof seem so ridiculous that one wonders if they were included merely to encourage the audience to feel anger towards skeptics, which seems to crop up at other points in this documentary as well. As the show attempts the good journalistic practice of showing "both sides" of its central issue, the ground gets a little shakier. The journalism concept itself, here and elsewhere, is never really complete in that it usually arbitrarily picks some dimension of its subject along which to polarize two opposite views, when indeed there are probably hundreds of different viewpoints, plus their direct opposites, which could also be contrasted. "Ancient Aliens" puts forth a compelling case that advanced technology was used in ancient cultures, in some cases technology comparable to our own, and in some cases (like Nazca) technology that we haven't even caught up to today. That alone makes this a must see documentary. Does that then mean that the wielders of this high technology were aliens from other planets? Many of the interviewees seem stuck on this idea, while the debunkers who want to disprove the alien presence wind up making laughable attempts to disprove the technology. There are also a lot of religious people here who are keen to preserve the mysterious, mythological aspects of the literature of their old teachings. For my part, as much as I do believe that spacefaring alien beings are a part of our ancient history and heritage, I want to put forth another obvious possibility that most of the hard evidence could equally support. It is simply the idea that some ancient Human civilizations could have enjoyed cultures with higher technology - technologies that were subsequently lost... and possibly rediscovered and lost several times again. It seems such cycles could occur more easily then than now, if technology was hoarded, and populations were relatively small and unconnected across the Earth. I don't think this documentary covers the ground of that possibility well enough.

Participants include: Erich von Däniken Author of "Chariots of the Gods?" supplies footage and photos for the film Giorgio A. Tsoukalos Publisher, Legendary Times Magazine David Childress Author of "Technology of the Gods" supplies footage and photos for the film Sara Seager, Ph.D. Professor of Planetary Sciences, MIT George Noory Radio Host, Coast to Coast AM Michael Cremo Author of "Forbidden Archaeology" Jason Martell Alien Investigator ========================================

Why do I want to dig in that direction if I do think there were aliens here? Perhaps in one sense it may help clarify some muddled arguments, reduce unnecessary tension, and produce a more productive discussion and tone. But perhaps more importantly, I also think it is VITAL for our current development that we see ourselves as equal to any alien visitors we may discover in our ancient past, our recent past, or our present.

In fact, some information points to the idea that the extra-terrestrials did what they did to help Mankind's development along, in the belief that their own souls would one day re-incarnate as Human beings. They were in some ways designing the species and culture that they would inhabit as they "moved in" here. Reincarnationally speaking, we are both the continuation of ancient man and the extra-terrestrials who visited here. We may indeed have enjoyed a mixed interplanetary culture back then sporting impressive technologies in small geographical pockets.

So, there is great value in looking at these mysteries and thinking, "This was us. We had greater technology then, and we lost it, and we are just catching up again now." There is value in thinking that without bringing up the question of aliens, because it's likely true with or without the aliens, and it may be an easier way for many people to wrap their minds around the vital concept of equality.

Perhaps Gene Roddenberry said it best in an interview for the 25th Anniversary TV special of Star Trek: "Ancient astronauts did not build the pyramids. Human beings built them because they're clever and they work hard!" I would call that the Roddenberry pride, and it speaks to the importance of taking pride in the achievements of our ancestors instead of looking down on them.

Perhaps what's really needed is to dissolve the arbitrary barrier between "us and them" when thinking of aliens. Perhaps it's best simply to expand the definition of "we". We were the indigenous Earthly Humans, and the extra-terrestrials, and the ancient astronauts. We are part of a great culture of galactic humanoids. And WE DID work together, and build the pyramids, and aren't they magnificent!

Modern equality between Earth Human and Ancient E.T. Astronaut could also take care of an important spiritual concern. As we identify the ancient astronauts in religious texts, and in a sense, begin to see through their claims to be gods and overlords and to set up monarchic religious cults, this may help us to clear away many of the false ghosts of our past religions to reveal the true mysteries that those texts have always hinted at, to see the true veil of what may be beyond the physical universe, and what may be its most important foundations. It seems to me most religions up until today have caught but a glimmer of these things before a monarchic figure jumps in between with the setup for a more materialistically-oriented cult.

Have I now here done, what Giorgio Tsoukalos says the East Indian culture would do, and put this documentary out of a job? Does it no longer matter if we prove aliens in our past?

Well, this documentary still goes far to help us appreciate all that we accomplished in our past, whether we were Aztecs or Mayans or Egyptians or Pleiadians or Siriuns or Martians, and it challenges us to think about what it means to our civilization to be of one planet or many, what it means to archaeology, or science and technology, to have more than one source. These are good questions to ponder, and apparently, there are plenty more episodes of the series in which to dig further into these questions.....

Ancient Aliens TV Special / Pilot 90 minute documentary	U.S.	Canada	U.K. Ancient Aliens [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
Ancient Aliens - The Series Season 1 Box Set 5 episodes + Bonus Pilot Special 3-disc set	U.S.	Canada	U.K.	Blu-ray U.S.	Blu-ray Canada	Blu-ray U.K. [Region Free]
	Season 1 set contains the following ~90 minute episodes: The Evidence The Visitors The Mission Closer Encounters The Return Bonus special: Ancient Aliens: Chariots, Gods, and Beyond
Ancient Aliens - The Series Season 2 Box Set 10 episodes @ ~45 min. each 3-disc set	U.S.	Canada	U.K. U.K. alternate:
	Season 2 set contains the following ~45 minute episodes: Mysterious Places Gods & Aliens Underwater Worlds Underground Aliens Aliens and the Third Reich Alien Tech Angels and Aliens Unexplained Structures Alien Devastations Alien Contacts
Ancient Aliens The Complete Seasons 1-6 Mega Set 82 episodes	U.S.	Canada
	from Season 1 (~90 minute episodes) The Evidence The Visitors The Mission Closer Encounters The Return Bonus special: Ancient Aliens: Chariots, Gods, and Beyond (episodes are ~45 minutes each from here on...) Season 2: Mysterious Places Gods & Aliens Underwater Worlds Underground Aliens Aliens and the Third Reich Alien Tech Angels and Aliens Unexplained Structures Alien Devastations Alien Contacts Season 3: Aliens and the Old West Aliens and Monsters Aliens and Sacred Places Aliens and Temples of Gold Aliens and Mysterious Rituals Aliens and Ancient Engineers Aliens, Plagues and Epidemics Aliens and Lost Worlds Aliens and Deadly Weapons Aliens and Evil Places Aliens and the Founding Fathers Aliens and Deadly Cults Aliens and the Secret Code Aliens and the Undead Aliens, Gods and Heroes Aliens and the Creation of Man Season 4: The Mayan Conspiracy The Doomsday Prophecies The Greys Aliens and Mega-Disasters The Nasa Connection The Mystery of Puma Punku Aliens and Bigfoot The Da Vinci Conspiracy The Time Travelers Aliens and Dinosaurs Season 5, volume 1: Secrets of the Pyramids Aliens and Cover-Ups Alien Power Plants Destination Orion The Einstein Factor Secrets of the Tombs Prophets and Prophecies Beyond Nazca Strange Abductions The Von Daniken Legacy The Vikings Gods The Monoliths Season 5, volume 2: The Power of Three The Crystal Skulls The Anunnaki Connection Magic of the Gods The Satan Conspiracy Aliens Operations Emperors, Kings and Pharaohs Mysterious Relics Season 6, volume 1: Aliens and Forbidden Islands Aliens and the Lost Ark Aliens and Mysterious Mountains Aliens and Stargates Aliens in America The Star Children Treasures of the Gods Aliens and the Red Planet Season 6, volume 2: The Shamans Aliens and Insects Aliens Breeders Aliens Transports Mysterious Structures Mysterious Devices Faces of the Gods The Reptilians The Tesla Experiment The God Particle Alien Encounters Aliens & Superheroes

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