This article is a couple of years old, but much of it still applies and is relevant:
Animal Planet's "Lost Tapes" - "Alien" foregoes science for sensationalism
Picture this; an astronaut returns from her final voyage into space and at first seems fine, then she becomes violently ill and in extreme pain. After being admitted to a hospital she begins to develop bloddy wounds all over her body, her face begins to resemble a bloody, aged woman, possessed by some interanl demon. She attacks her care-givers and finally a parasitic alien explodes from her chest. No, I am not referring to the "Aliens" film or even the movie "Exorcist" - I am talking about a show which apparently tries to describe possible cryptozoological speicies that may "Live Among Us" as the tagline of the Animal Planet show "Lost Tapes" eerily relays.
However, the program, that has had episodes on werewolves, vampires, demons and giant bat women is on a show that supposedly is a dedicated scientific channel, (it is a member of the Discovery Channel family of channels). There is very little science in these programs and are merely a poor man's Blair Witch Project. Therein lies the chief issue with the junk science that this show relays to the viewer - it is faulty and dubious at best.
The "alien" in this program apparently came from a spore that was carried through space via a comet. Now, while the concept of panspermia or the transfer of life through space via comets is viable, the pretense that an organism could survive for millenia on a comet only to land on an unlucky astronaut, whom it was somehow able to make compatible to its biological needs, gestate, escape and then begin picking off members of one of the most unfortunate VA hospitals in the country - is highly, highly unlikely. Worst, the show has segments of historical information about aliens, none are similar to the alien in the show, rather they are the "greys", the bug-eyed aliens form "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" fame. In short, they are all sentient aliens with technology, enforcing their will and medical experiments on the hapless residents of planet earth.
If the producers of this show wanted to talk aout possible aliens that resembled its fictional "Mimic" mimic - then perhaps they should have discussed extremophiles, the Martian asteroid ALH840001or anything else that was relevant. Instead they fill the show with fear-mongering aspects of what will happen to those that venture beyond our atmosphere. Given that the American public is far more versed in NASCAR than NASA - this is not a good idea and it made for some bad television.
At the end of the show, the hospital is supposedly on lockdown and one hapless doctor is being chased by the vile insectoid throughout the complex. We are repeatedly reminded that the staff cannot escape and are locked in with the demonic mosquito and then? It flies out the doors of the front lobby! Some lockdown! Which after the fear-filled doctor's expression relays to the viewer that this vile menace from space has escaped to infest our world. The announcer then describes fictional attacks in other parts of the world, cut back to the hospital where the doors shut close ominously...
The Discovery Channel has for some reason given up on science and has embraced a policy of ratings make right. In short shows that don't have any useful information whatsoever. Don' think that statement is true? One of the Discovery Channel's sister channels is TLC - Jon and Kate plus Eight anyone? How about American Chopper, BBQ Pitmasters, Toddlers and Tiaras or LA Ink? Originally this name meant - The Learning Channel, now? What are we learning now?? Animal Planet apparently either is or has gone the same route. While you may think this is fine, it really is not. These channels are viewed as channels that tell us about our world. Perception makes reality, and if people that have little to no understanding think that alien spores come from comets to take us over and turn us into a bloody pulp, well I doubt those people will get in line to support space exploration.
www.examiner.com/space-program-in-orlando/animal-planet-s-lost-tapes-alien-foregoes-science-for-sensationalism
