Was watching the episode of 'Columbo' where Nimoy was the murderer with this guy I went to school with. I commented that he,wasn't being very Spock-like. The guy had never seen 'Star Trek'. His parents wouldn't let him watch any shows or movies with aliens in them for some wacky religious reason.
If I'm remembering rightly the parents stance was God didn't 'create' aliens so they couldn't and didn't exist either in the real world or the tv version. They didn't believe in dinosaurs either but I don't remember why.
I was in high school when this show began broadcasting. I had already been burned by the Chariots of the Gods Von Daniken nonsense a few years prior, so was not buying this stuff. Watched a few episodes and gave it up.
You kind of wanted Nimoy at the end of each episode to come on and say you know all this stuff is really nonsense and you shouldn't believe it but alas it never happened.
I watched it but I think I preferred Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World. It really dependent on what the individual topic for each was if I even watched either. Sasquatch stuff might grab me just to see where they were filming I might've been, or mysteries involving ships and lost explorers. A lot of it was obvious hoo-hah even to me as a gormless kid. I remember the spontaneous combustion stuff freaking me out though.
Loved the show as a kid, because it freaked me out before I knew how dumb a lot of it was. The movie Amazon Women on the Moon did a great parody of it:
Before IN SEARCH OF . . . Leonard made a Tv movie -- could've been a 'pilot' movie for a series that wasn't picked up -- but I believe it was filmed in England. It was titled "BAFFLED!" (1972). Also starred Susan Hampshire, Rachel Roberts, Jewel Blanch. Mr. Spock played a race-car driver in "Baffled!".
I always thought this was hokum. It played as fiction. I always thought of this as your grandpa telling you hoary old stories. I’m surprised they even paid Leonard Nimoy the show came across as so cheap. Everyone forgets that the speicals were narrated by Rod Serling.
Rod Serling died before "IN SEARCH OF . . . " went on the air. It's possible Rod could've pre-recorded something to be presented later, but he died in June 1975 at age 50.
Leonard went through a bad divorce in 1987 and lost most of his money. He pretty much took any job he could get after that until he got past that personal crisis.
My favorite part of that episode is when Leonard Nimoy says that the video footage of the teenage boys in the 1700s is, in fact, a recreation. They didn't want viewers to assume that the film footage was actually from the 18th century I guess.
Tacky and unscrupulous as it was, In Search Of was quite ahead of its' time. I'm pretty sure that I first heard of the "Ancient Aliens" theory on In Search Of. Now the ancient aliens have their own long-running show. The producers must have consulted with the reincarnated Nostradamus regarding the future of "documentary" television.
Clearly ISO tv series influenced quite a few of these alien and reality shows over the last few decades. IMHO Love this episode it really used to make me wonder. Solid information and awesome soundtrack. What a trip 1977.
The Von Daniken TV specials of the mid-70s, like Chariots Of The Gods, were the precursors (and likely inspiration) for In Search Of.
I watched this show a lot. One night I was home alone sick while the rest of the family were at evening mass. The Amityville Horror episode played. Scared me witless.
Scared me as well in 1979. I was going to watch this episode a few nights ago but decided to pass. I had to work the next day I really had to sleep.
That's funny. I remember hearing about the Oak Island TV show, and thinking that it couldn't possibly be the same Oak Island as the In Search Of episode. I loved In Search Of, and I vividly remember the end of that episode, where they roll in heavy earth moving equipment and dig up half the island, leaving an enormous crater (about 20:50 in the Youtube video.) So, somebody saw the giant hole where the money pit was, deeper than anyone could have dug without heavy excavation equipment and giant dewatering pumps, and thought to themselves "Yeah they didn't look hard enough."
