Ancient Aliens season 13
release year: 2018-19
genre: TV documentary (15 episodes)
viewing setting: home streaming 11/11-25/23
synopsis: Aliens might have been involved in our world's history, as can be seen if you look at all the various potential evidence.
impressions: It's season 13, with a new intro and opening credits. But just like before, its creators have taken a simple concept (aliens visiting Earth in the past) and devised a seemingly-endless number of episodes tying that idea to damn near everything they could think of. One example from this season: someone says basically "evidence from leaked government files shows that..." which she immediately follows up with "...files that, if genuine..." Now look here. You can't start your argument with the assertion that something's real and then say that if it's real, your other point is valid. That's idiot logic. Another time, the person interviewed is clearly already someone who believes that something weird happened (he wrote a book about it!) so this isn't valid research. It's like a club of people who all believe something and when they want to show proof, they just find another member of their club and act like it's an impartial testimony. But it's not! Another: one "expert" states an unproven theory as fact, then immediately uses that supposed fact to shore up the topic under discussion in that episode. At one point, someone is talking about supposed events from the 1880s and says "All of a sudden, he saw..." No. No! You can't do that. They forgot to include some key words such as "allegedly" or "claimed." Another: a couple of the ancient alien theorists are talking to an islander about the concept of "mana" energy, and he states his peoples' beliefs...and then there's an ominous sound effect and the two look stunned. Hey, guys, it's just a local telling you about his legend...it's not proof of anything. Another: that islander mentions that his people found giant bones. Do they ask to see them? Do we get to see them? Of course not. Another: an ex-Russian president is quoted telling a reporter that a new president always receives a folder with details about aliens in Russia...but the show conveniently leaves out the very next think that guy told the reporter, which was that more could be learned by watching the Men in Black movies. Only a complete idiot would fail to realize that the guy was joking. Understand: there could be some validity to some of this, and that's fun to think about...the problem is that the logic they employ to try and prove it is flawed...fundamentally flawed.
Another thing: several of this season's episodes (as well as others from past seasons, but it really became obvious here) have much raging about how the govenment is hiding things, won't answer questions, won't let people in to see things...yes. Yes. They call it "Top Secret" for a reason, dudes. In America, regular people don't get clued in on things that could affect the military, warfare, defense, etc. Every single person does not in fact have the right to know everything. That's the way it is. Why these UFO believers would think that they get to know everything is beyond me, but nevertheless...they don't get to know everything. Welcome to life living in a superpower country, guys. If you think it's not right or fair, you can go to another superpower country that gives out its secrets to everyone...say, Russia. Or China. I trust I've made my point.
This is mostly interesting material, although they often present it in a rapid-fire way that gives the viewer little to no time to consider what they just heard before the narrator zooms forward. Anyway, this 13th season had the following episodes/topics (the boldfaced ones were those I found most enjoyable and least insane) :
episode 1: the U.S. government's role in covering up UFO sightings and evidence that the people have a right to know about
episode 2: an examination about whether Leonardo Da Vinci's works might contain hidden knowledge and messages
episode 3: what if any governmental procedures are in place for potential contact with aliens
episode 4: the possibilities of black holes and related time/space portals on Earth, particularly in the Bermuda Triangle
episode 5: various theories about geoglyphs and stone formations
episode 6: the contents of Area 51, and the possibility that there are other such installations
episode 7: all about Egypt and what the possible new space within the big pyramid might mean, even though no one's actually proven the space is there
episode 8: some on-site investigation of Sardinia, which seems to have a lot of old structures that some people think were made by and for giants
episode 9: The Taken (this one episode is not on the streaming service that has the rest of this season)
episode 10: all about the Easter Island statues, and other statues elsewhere, and how they might be related
episode 11: the possibility that Russia and the U.S. both had alien technology, and maybe even worked together instead of as competitors
episode 12: meteorites and asteroids, and their possible greater meanings
episode 13: artificial human life, what it could mean, and the possibility that we are the artificial life created by aliens
episode 14: The Alien Phenomenon (was missing from the streaming platform)
episode 15: Return to Mars (was missing from the streaming platform)
acting: The narration is strong and consistent, and the interviews are usually interesting and entertaining.
final word: Interesting finds and ideas, some of which could be true, depending on how one applies logic.
back to the main review page