"Finding Bigfoot" Reviewed: Alaska!


(This is JAAG, my new Bigfoot buddy)

"Maybe it was a dumb squatch." (Best line of the episode)

Well, we reached the final episode (crying like a baby) and hopefully if the Animal Planet is smart they bring them back in the fall for another 6 episodes and cut the season into 2 six-episode runs. So far, the feedback from people on the blog has been extremely positive. We still haven't won people over on Fact or Faked, but this show caught your attention and was compelling to watch.

The episode was great and the interview with the kid was shivery, but the time in the woods was limited and I seriously wanted to see more time in the woods for an episode that had this much promise. After hearing that kid's encounter, I just wanted to see at least a half hour in the forest, but it was more like 8 minutes or something like that. (frown)

I'd seriously like to remove Matt and put in a professional tracker, some rough around the edges rustic dude who's like a savant of the woodlands, maybe relates to animals more than people. Then, the mix would be a dream. Oh, and I'd like to see them make BoBo wear dark clothes all the time because when he's standing in as a squatch, he really needs to look similar to the photos and witness reports as well as comparing the woodland in a similar fashion.

I suppose with the end of the season, I should just say what I like and don't like about the show. (Sorry, "Fact or Faked," I don't have a lot to rip apart like I did on your show.)

Like:
Graphics--I like the animations of BF. They're pretty sw-eet!
The team--With the exception of Matt, who I think is a bit of a tool, I'd do as I said above--replace him with a misanthropic tracker, perhaps with a name like "Malachi" or "Ezekiel." Three of the members not only have distinct roles, but are actually likable. You know on Gilligan's Island, everyone had a purpose? Well, I'd put Matt in the category of Mr. Howell--an expendable fellow.
Interviews--I just can't get enough of people recounting their encounters with BF. It's something I've always loved in documentaries too. When they talk to a town meeting, very cool, but when they take a few of the more worthy stories on the road and interview them on the spot, it makes it palpable to see the person there reenacting the situation.
Field Time--I'm thrilled we get what I always wanted from a BF show--time in the woods in the dark. I would seriously like a whole hour spent with them in the woods alone--no interviews, no animations--just them living in the woods and trekking around.
Tools--They switch up their methods and try new stuff. It's sometimes hilarious, but other times thought provoking.

Don't like...
Squatch alert--Of course, you know I gotta say it, "everything is a squatch!"

"Finding Bigfoot" you better be coming back because I'm probably going to memorize every freaking episode waiting for the next season, you lucky Bigfoot hunting bastards! Oh, and please plan an episode in the White Mountains in AZ.

Comments

  1. I don't see why the show has to rely on the BFRO solely for its pool of talent. Fact or Faked gathered various different people. As did UFO Hunters. Maybe they were taking a Ghost Hunters spin on it, but I didn't like that either. I'd rather see an "all stars" lineup; you get better on-camera personalities that way. I haven't watched a single episode of this program, but I saw the promo with the kid. I didn't buy his story. He was...disconnected from his words, as if remembering them instead of recalling the experience. And when he said such a hackneyed line as "my life flashed before my eyes", I was like... C'mon! Had trouble swallowing that. And I like the Biggy graphics too, but less monsterish. All these shows turn Bigfoot into a horror show monster when the data does not support that conclusion. All that angry stomping and roaring. I guess it's for redneck ratings, but it's a shame nonetheless.

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  2. That is one lucky stuffed bigfoot! ;P

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  3. I had mixed feelings about the kid. I admit that when he said about his life flashing before his eyes and he talked about closing his eyes and looking down for 3 minutes, huge warning signs went off for me, but his recall of the incident was exactly how I go about it, in that I'm spatial and so the way I see and explain an event may seem detached because I'm replaying it in a 3-D grid outside of me. I also think, if I were out hunting and ran into a bunch of BF's and one of them were nearby, I'd shoot a warning shot off. Whether his story was accurate or not, it's the time in the woods I wait for. So far as the editing and the layout of the show, it's pretty satisfying, although as in any of these shows you can tell the producers are desperately trying to milk anything, breaking for a commercial in the middle of action and not following up because obviously whatever they ran into ended up being explainable.

    Zombie; Jaag is now kept up beside Dale on the bookshelf and Dale is not too happy. It would appear that, other than the girl dolls, the only doll-like thing I have that he likes is Clive the zombie statue and that's because his mouth is hinged open.

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  4. Missed it:( We went to the drive in and I have't gotten to the DVR just yet.

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  5. Def read the same post over at Cryptomundo--especially the comments. Some very insightful ones and a surprising number of those against it. Craig Woolheater defends it to the last. And Loren Coleman chimes in with a support for critical analysis.

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  6. Cullan;
    I think where people reviewing the show go wrong is that they believe what they're seeing is real. It's purely entertainment, even if these BF hunters hope to get info, it's presented for us in a way that makes it easy to digest in 40-something minutes' time. So, I'm not going to do a big critical analysis on how they hunt, but more what the show offers in the form of entertainment about the field of BF hunting. Ghost hunting is the singular most mind numbingly boring activity in the world and I suspect BF hunting is quite similar with hours of sitting and waiting and listening and chasing animals around the woods. If they can make a show based on people who cut down trees and catch crabs and hunt ghosts, they're at least ahead of the game to pick some people who wander the woods at night making animal calls and staring into a FLIR screen, it's actually a step up.

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