New and improved History Channel?

[Tim]

For several years now, I complained that the History Channel had strayed far from it's original mandate. IMO, shows like Pawn Stars, Ice Road Truckers, and Ax Men had no place on that channel.

While those shows do continue to air, History has started putting on shows that do reflect the original purpose of the channel. Examples include:

Alcatraz: Search for the Truth: This documentary revealed that perhaps the three cons that escaped in 1962, Clarence and John Anglin, and Frank Morris, may have succeeded. While no one is sure what happened to Morris. the Anglin family has a picture of two men, allegedly Clarence and John, that was taken in Brazil in 1975.

If the Anglin brothers are still alive today, both would be in their mid-80's. I wonder if they'll ever come forward. I mean is the government really going to lock up two old men. It's not like they're murderers (neither man ever killed anybody). They robbed a bank with a toy gun. I think the government can let this one go.

If the Anglin brothers came forward, I can see them getting book deals and such. They could tell their side of the story.


Hunting Hitler: This show airs Tuesday nights at 10:00 PM on the Canadian History Channel (not sure when it airs on the U.S. one). It speculates that perhaps Adolf Hitler did not kill himself in Berlin in 1945, but rather escaped to South America. It's building up a pretty good case. For example, the skull fragment the Russians have had for decades was DNA tested and turned out to be that of a woman, not a man, those that said Hitler died were Nazis themselves, hardly reliable witnesses.

Mind you, even if Hitler did get away, he'd be dead by now (he was born in 1889). However, it is fascinating that perhaps one of the most infamous dictators in human history fooled everyone and got away.


The Curse Of Oak Island: This show follows brothers Marty and Rick Lagina, originally from Kingsford, Michigan, through their efforts to find the speculated treasure or historical artifacts believed to possibly be on Oak Island.

The series explores possible theories through guest appearances of leading researchers from around the world to help solve the Oak Island mystery. Could there actually be treasure buried on Oak Island. The Lagina brothers hope to find out.


I'm sure there are other examples, but this does show that perhaps that the History Channel is finally moving back in the right direction.

Of course, there is always H2.

[Tim]

Jana wrote:

Huh? Now that sounds interesting for sure.

[Tim]

The Canadian History Channel showed something very strange a few years ago. I clipped the following from a Canadian web site.


“What if?” Literary scholars say that question has driven science fiction since time immemorial, and the made-for-TV movie The Great Martian War poses a doozy: What if Mars invaded Earth in 1913?

The Great Martian War isn’t a sci-fi B picture exactly. It airs on History and has been carefully crafted to look, sound and feel like a historical documentary, complete with grainy archival footage, witness testimony from aging survivors and the analysis and deconstruction of present-day experts.

The Great Martian War combines computer-generated images of alien invaders and film footage from the First World War to create the illusion that a Martian invasion actually happened. Think of it as Orson Welles’s The War of the Worlds crossed with Woody Allen’s Zelig, dressed up as a historical documentary, complete with portentous narration (“A century ago these fields were the bloody arena for the most terrible conflict in human history …”) and brooding, “important” background music.

“We were fighting monsters!” an elderly witness recalls, decades later.

Another elderly witness recalls, in a shaking, halting voice, “There was life beyond our planet! It went against everything I was raised to believe … An entire generation of young men, all of them vanished.”

Whether The Great Martian War is for you will depend a lot on your sensibilities. More serious-minded viewers may be offended that actual First World War film footage of a real, bloody conflict involving actual living, breathing people has been manipulated for use in a sci-fi pulp adventure.

Many viewers, though — most, perhaps — will be drawn in by the compelling way The Great Martian War poses its central mystery. It’s silly, sure, yet strangely addictive. It uses every film making trick in the history documentarian’s playbook, from grainy archival footage to the testimony of present-day experts such as “war historian and broadcaster” Duncan Mitchell Myers, who explains how an unexplained explosion in the middle of Germany’s Black Forest triggered a rush to war.

At two hours, The Great Martian War seems repetitive at times, a little like a one-joke comedy stretched too long. It’s cleverly put together, though, with small, welcome touches like war vet Hughie Logan “of Calgary, Canada” — “filmed in 1987,” according to the caption — who recalls that going to war meant leaving loved ones behind at home to ponder his fate on the battlefield.

The Great Martian War isn’t mere pulp entertainment. The centenary commemorations of the First World War — the actual war — are just around the corner. In an indirect, almost offhand way, The Great Martian War seems calculated to appeal to a younger generation raised to believe that historical documentaries are tedious and uninspiring.

[wakas]

Wow, quite intriguing ! That sounds like something I wanna watch, Tim !

[Tim]

It's an interesting take on the First World War.

No mention of what happened in Russia though.  Did the Martian go after Nicky and his family?

[wakas]

Too bad they didn't include the IF in the documentary. It would have been interesting to see that. What would Lenin and his thugs have been? Reptilians maybe    ?

[Tim]

What would Lenin and his thugs have been?

I would not have shed a tear if the Martians had killed them all. 

[wakas]

Well said. I definitely second that !!

[Tim]

Indeed. 

Nearly a century later, Lenin's shadow still hovers over Russia.  In fact, next year will be the 100th Anniversary of the Russian Revolution.

[wakas]

I'm so flabbergasted as there are still people in Russia who more or less "worship" that man and who go on pilgrimage to visit his grave. I mean, this is plain crazy. How can someone admire that ruthless dictator, that assassin who is responsible for the death of thousands if not millions of innocent??!

[Tim]

I know, it's crazy.  And there are people who love Stalin for the same reason.  This guys slaughtered millions of people, yet some Russians still think he was a great leader.

Of course, they say that Stalin was great because he beat Hitler.  However, they forget that Stalin sat down with Hitler, in  1939, and made a secret deal with him, that allowed Stalin to grab the Baltic States.  The fact that Hitler double-crossed Stalin does not invalidate the fact that Stalin was willing to make a deal with him. 

The Soviet Union was a horror story from start to finish.  Anyone who thinks otherwise is, IMO, a total moron, or is looking at the past through rose tinted glasses.

[wakas]

Do you know where I can watch the Great martian War? I searched for it on youtube but haven't find anything except for a few clips of the show.

[Tim]

Here is it, Tess, on Dailymotion:

www.dailymotion.com/video/x3p23nz_a-grande-guerra-marciana-the-great-martian-war-canal-historia_shortfilms

[wakas]

Thanks a lot for the link, Tim

[Tim]

Dailymotion comes through again . 

Enjoy the show.