NOTE: Major spoilers ahead. But people will probably read them anyway, just don't blame me for not warning you.
First let me state that I could not (Not "did not" but could not) watch all five episodes. At the 3/4 point of episode 2 my brain was on the verge of an explosion so I had to cut it short. So I am reviewing what I was able to watch before I had had enough.
The opening to the first episode looks like the staff stood around watching openings to movies and picked a Spaghetti Western as their template. The desert scene, the dirty faced boy who turns his head and looks on with a cynical expression, people walking down the sidewalk etc. All they were lacking was a Hugh Montegro score and they would have had a Sergio Leone opening, done poorly and too long. I suppose they were going for the mystical opening effect. They didn't succeed.
My hopes for this series was that it may be something like "The Rise of the Maya", with actual archeology that makes you think "Thats pretty darn amazing they could do what they did". And maybe a host like an actual archaeologist as you see in the Maya documentary. You can tell he is an actual archaeologist because he is clearly excited about rolling around in dirt, digging through dirt, holding up dirt and saying "This ain't dirt, this is real archaeology". You can tell a real archaeologist on a documentary because of their fascination with piles of dirt, and oh, they are dressed for and get dirty. Plus they are clearly capable of explaining their dirt and what it is we don't see it until we do see it.
So just let me run down the list.
1. This series is chock full of pseudoscience. If thats your thing, then your going to love it.
2. The Scientists are also pseudoscientists. So that makes them experts in their field (Told you that you would love it).
3. If you like the nonsense of Alice in Wonderland, you are going to go bonkers over all the Alice in Wonderland type nonsense in this series. For example(s):
Dr. whatever her name is clearly does not know the difference between a crystal and "not a crystal". There is a scientific way to tell the difference between a crystal and a stone. One looks like a crystal and one looks like a stone. The good Dr. has not evolved that far into her research yet.
Dr. whatever her name is points to s stone disk in the first episode. She exclaims "A laser cut stone". Eh? That was my first clue that this was no "Rise of the Maya". I was sure I was in for a treat, if you consider getting a shot of gamma globulan a treat (For some thats going to bring back...memories).
The series is full of Scientists whose observations (And degrees) have no actual basis in Science. For example, according to them we have recessed in technology and "The Ancients" were way ahead of us. If that is the case why did they build pyramids out of 200 ton Stones, why not just use their advanced Polymers. Would have lasted longer, been lighter and much easier to get to the top.
They claim the Pyramids were not Tombs but energy producers and in fact, are still producing energy. These were electrical sources, used to power their "Lasers"? But thats not all, the Pyramids are still producing electricity BUT its not measurable, some sort of Ancient mystical thing. Since it isn't measurable, how exactly do they know they are producing energy? It must be a secret since they never say why, they just allude to the fact they know they are producing energy. I suppose we are just going to have to take their word for it, us mere mortals will never know, nor how Sergia Leone did his opening shots without looking crappy like this one.
Interspersed throughout the episodes are familiar scenes, exactly like the opening scene to episode one. One of the things pointed out is that the Egyptian Museum has stopped allowing photography, while showing photographic shots of the interior of the Museum. They also point out that the Pyramids are guarded by 100 guards, that requests for scientific and archaeological research is usually answered with a "no". They want to know "What are they hiding".
I think I can answer that question. There is no shortage of Documentaries on the Pyramids, Valley of the Kings and the rest. I would suggest rather than trying to hide something, they are attempting to keep pseudoscience hacks from making idiotic documentaries and skewing fact with complete fiction.
If I were really able to rate this "documentary" on what I thought of it, it would be rated somewhere between Gigli and Battlefield Earth, lets say -26 Stars. To be fair, Battlefield Earth is probably way too high of a bar for this documentary to reach.
Scientifically however, I would rate this right up there with Santa Claus conquers the Martians, with the Science of the Martians that Santa conquers being about as high a bar as this documentary could possibly reach. Archaeology speaking.
Science = -1,384 Stars.
If you are looking for a real documentary to watch concerning the Pyramids, this ain't it. For something more realistic I would suggest the "That Darn Katz" episode of Futurama. There are more actual facts in that one 30 minute episode than this entire series.
First let me state that I could not (Not "did not" but could not) watch all five episodes. At the 3/4 point of episode 2 my brain was on the verge of an explosion so I had to cut it short. So I am reviewing what I was able to watch before I had had enough.
The opening to the first episode looks like the staff stood around watching openings to movies and picked a Spaghetti Western as their template. The desert scene, the dirty faced boy who turns his head and looks on with a cynical expression, people walking down the sidewalk etc. All they were lacking was a Hugh Montegro score and they would have had a Sergio Leone opening, done poorly and too long. I suppose they were going for the mystical opening effect. They didn't succeed.
My hopes for this series was that it may be something like "The Rise of the Maya", with actual archeology that makes you think "Thats pretty darn amazing they could do what they did". And maybe a host like an actual archaeologist as you see in the Maya documentary. You can tell he is an actual archaeologist because he is clearly excited about rolling around in dirt, digging through dirt, holding up dirt and saying "This ain't dirt, this is real archaeology". You can tell a real archaeologist on a documentary because of their fascination with piles of dirt, and oh, they are dressed for and get dirty. Plus they are clearly capable of explaining their dirt and what it is we don't see it until we do see it.
So just let me run down the list.
1. This series is chock full of pseudoscience. If thats your thing, then your going to love it.
2. The Scientists are also pseudoscientists. So that makes them experts in their field (Told you that you would love it).
3. If you like the nonsense of Alice in Wonderland, you are going to go bonkers over all the Alice in Wonderland type nonsense in this series. For example(s):
Dr. whatever her name is clearly does not know the difference between a crystal and "not a crystal". There is a scientific way to tell the difference between a crystal and a stone. One looks like a crystal and one looks like a stone. The good Dr. has not evolved that far into her research yet.
Dr. whatever her name is points to s stone disk in the first episode. She exclaims "A laser cut stone". Eh? That was my first clue that this was no "Rise of the Maya". I was sure I was in for a treat, if you consider getting a shot of gamma globulan a treat (For some thats going to bring back...memories).
The series is full of Scientists whose observations (And degrees) have no actual basis in Science. For example, according to them we have recessed in technology and "The Ancients" were way ahead of us. If that is the case why did they build pyramids out of 200 ton Stones, why not just use their advanced Polymers. Would have lasted longer, been lighter and much easier to get to the top.
They claim the Pyramids were not Tombs but energy producers and in fact, are still producing energy. These were electrical sources, used to power their "Lasers"? But thats not all, the Pyramids are still producing electricity BUT its not measurable, some sort of Ancient mystical thing. Since it isn't measurable, how exactly do they know they are producing energy? It must be a secret since they never say why, they just allude to the fact they know they are producing energy. I suppose we are just going to have to take their word for it, us mere mortals will never know, nor how Sergia Leone did his opening shots without looking crappy like this one.
Interspersed throughout the episodes are familiar scenes, exactly like the opening scene to episode one. One of the things pointed out is that the Egyptian Museum has stopped allowing photography, while showing photographic shots of the interior of the Museum. They also point out that the Pyramids are guarded by 100 guards, that requests for scientific and archaeological research is usually answered with a "no". They want to know "What are they hiding".
I think I can answer that question. There is no shortage of Documentaries on the Pyramids, Valley of the Kings and the rest. I would suggest rather than trying to hide something, they are attempting to keep pseudoscience hacks from making idiotic documentaries and skewing fact with complete fiction.
If I were really able to rate this "documentary" on what I thought of it, it would be rated somewhere between Gigli and Battlefield Earth, lets say -26 Stars. To be fair, Battlefield Earth is probably way too high of a bar for this documentary to reach.
Scientifically however, I would rate this right up there with Santa Claus conquers the Martians, with the Science of the Martians that Santa conquers being about as high a bar as this documentary could possibly reach. Archaeology speaking.
Science = -1,384 Stars.
If you are looking for a real documentary to watch concerning the Pyramids, this ain't it. For something more realistic I would suggest the "That Darn Katz" episode of Futurama. There are more actual facts in that one 30 minute episode than this entire series.