Y'all have not seen me review or get excited about a TV series in a while. It's all been done and it's all been seen (p.s. adding a redneck is not going to make the format better).
I have been exceedingly excited about the premiere of "Search For the Lost Giants" on History Channel for several reasons.
1. Look at the right-hand side of my blog and the list of favorite posts - how many involve giants, hmm??? Y'all have heard my theories from my own research and it jives a LOT with what Jim has thought about the subject.
2. Jim and his brother Bill Vieira have done an earnestly enthusiastic job of uncovering all the secrets of the giants and are now out to prove them - bless their hearts!
3. The History Channel is doing the show and the only para-reality type shows that I've liked and think were quality came from this channel, i.e. Monsterquest and UFO Hunters.
This was a perfect mix for a show that might satisfy my insatiable need for more and more giant info.
Other than donning my Indiana Jones fedora and searching dried out basins in the desert for the tall ones, this is how I can live vicariously.
"It sounds like science fiction, but the bottom line is, I believe in Giants." (Jim Vieira).
These brothers are stone masons and tenacious minds with a great body of experience to be an ideal team for this task.
I totally get Jim's mind like a sponge and obsession for accounts and cataloging them in his head. I am just so damned proud that they came out to the public with the ancient civilizations and capabilities of this race of human relatives. Their determination to find skeletons today is an outstanding mission and screw the Smithsonian! (that's me saying that)
The opening episode gave a great background on what the giant search is about and they go to the site that begat Jim's obsession with the giants. They utilized ground-penetrating radar to hopefully find something to show their culture or burial site.
I readily admit that Phoenix Cox Cable sucks big time because they force us to stay on California time, which means the show wasn't on until 11 pm on a week night, but I took the proper coffee in the evening to manage to stay awake for its start, but once the show was on, I wasn't groggy in the least. This was very well done, just like I expected from The History Channel. The brothers are fascinating (and handsome!) I was hooked within 10 minutes.
After studying ground-penetrating radar showing a 12 x 4 rock slab under the ground on Native lands, Jim moved the team to 20 miles away where there was an ancient tunnel (Goshen Tunnel) of curiosity. They planned to explore it. They put together a great team to help them explore.
It was adequately suspenseful to see them uncork the tunnel and prepare to descend into the stone pit. No tool marks or signs of Colonial Era construction. They realize there is rubble inside and need to clear it. (I'm not quite sure why they didn't use ground-penetrating radar to follow the shaft to the supposed chamber at the end and just go right to that by digging). A member of the team that explored it 30 years ago, takes Jim to a stone that shows some strange cravings into it and it could be connected with the chamber. Once down inside, they find an amazingly well constructed tunnel that is very purposeful. I was on the edge of my seat and forgot completely that it was almost midnight and I had been awake for 18 hours.
The tunnel had collapsed. They were determined, though. Their expertise as stone masons came into play at this point and they realized they might have been kept from the real burial area by a walled up area. They come up with a plan to bore a hole and perhaps drop a camera inside. They also talk to an expert about the strange writings on the stone and come to the conclusion it might be an old explorer's directional script marking what he found there.
They bring a core drill to see if they hit stone down there where they believe a chamber might be. They hit something hard and then some sand. Now, it's looking very odd and unexpected for what the core samples were showing higher up. They lowered a camera to have a look and find stone - they may have found the stone atop the chamber!
These lovable brothers who are also tenacious, realize fully that scientists and archaeologists and even general population likely think they are on a fool's task, but they are not giving up. This is the pair I want looking!
I have to admit that I hope at some point these two share the ancient legends of Natives about the race of tall people who were hairy and the tall hairy ones (Paiutes spoke of them and tribes of the NW spoke of the Seeahtik) and the correlations with the ones we have roaming the same lands around American today!
Most shows, I can find things I'd do different, stuff I'd like to change, but damn! There's not a thing I would change on this one!
I am absolutely hooked! I can easily say with just one viewing that this is my favorite show right now. Expect me to share it on the blog each time it airs!
P.S. The show on the History Channel, "The Curse of Oak Island" (on before "Search For the Lost Giants"), is a very engaging show revealing the still ongoing search for supposed pirate treasure up near Nova Scotia. The site has claimed lives and fortunes trying to discover it. Once again, another easily addictive show!
Great review. The Vieira's are a great team and I love the show too. Keep up the great reviews.
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