Reviews

I did watch some of the original Flemish Professor T, but gave up after several episodes, although I can't remember why exactly.

I was therefore delighted, when this British series began, with Ben Miller. He somehow conveys so much emotion, even though he doesn't always have dialogue. I think he portays Professor T amazingly well. I love seeing into his mind, when there is no dialogue eg. Inside the prison, when he can't stand the noise of the beating on the metal bars from the inmates. He puts his hands over his ears, and the tempo of the beating, becomes the tempo of the drum beats in a piece of classical music!

I WAS surprised that he coped so well in prison, but then I suppose he had to! Up until the very last episode, I think those conditions actually made him stronger, and helped him confront his OCD. This series is full of surprises, and you never see them coming, at least, I don't! The final episode of season 3 is heartbreaking, but I suppose there is a possibly of it having a happy ending, as I now see that there's going to be a season 4! There are so many great characters in this, and each one holds your interest. The beautiful scenery, filmed in Cambridge also really adds something, as does the wonderful music. I also really appreciate the fact that despite it being a detective/police series, graphic violence is not shown, which makes a massive difference. I miss so many highly rated movies and shows just because I can't cope with watching graphic violence, which is thrown into the vast majority of stuff nowadays.

Warning: if you have suffered childhood abuse, as I have, there may be a few brief flashback scenes in this, that may be triggering. They are certainly not enough for me to not love the series though, and I look forward to season 4!

I nearly turned the TV off, 20 minutes from the end as the middle section of this extended episode was just too drawn out and silly (the race between the two lorries) however, I decided to stick with it, and it got a lot better. As always, Jonesy saved the day, despite an "attack of Malaria", and having had an entire bottle of port! LOL Actually, another character REALLY saved the day....an unexpected suprise!

As per usual, this episode was filled with high jinx, from all the beloved characters that we've come to know. It included a rather touching tribute to the entire platoon (with the exception of Captain Mainwaring, who doesn't have any medals) when they were ordered to wear their medals for a public march through the town.

This episode was all about initiative, and working as a team....and they certainly achieved that, in their own unique way! Haha.

Rather confusingly, I have found this documentary has 3 differing titles in the uk: It's either called "Big Cat Britain Declassified", "Panthera Britannia" or "Panthera Britannia Declassified". Whenever I see "Declassified" in a title I am put off, as it smacks of one of the Discovery Channel's American over the top, sensationalist "documentaries" however, this was very different from that exaggerated style. I personally found the repetitive "Pirates of the Carribbean" type soundtrack REALLY annoying, esp as it repeats over and over 100s of times throughout the1 hour 20 minute run time! Also, I nearly gave up after the first 5-10 minutes, as it seemed like it was going down the "cryptozoology" path, and anyone who has lived 59 years in the uk, knows very well that the big cats that we have had in Britain for decades are very real. They are not the native species that we had 100s years ago, but are thought to be either escaped animals from zoos or previously privately owned ones from back in the days when people were allowed to keep them as pets, until a law came in that prohibited that.

The documentary really covered every aspect of big cats that have been sighted in Britain. It also dealt with the many physical tracks, scat, and hair samples that fit the profile perfectly, including DNA hair analysis. Analysis of puncture wounds found on dead livestock matches perfectly too. Many leading experts in this field were interviewed, and photos and videos were analysed too. No stone was left unturned, as it were.

I found it fascinating, and would highly recommend.

I decided to watch this, as I've seen all the other Small Town Monster productions, and they ARE very different from the normal UFO programs. As the presenter always says, she "collects stories". She interviews people, and let's them tell their story. This particular documentary mainly features the cattle mutilation phenomenon however, there are are other sightings such as lights in the sky, UFOs, orbs and even flying box-shaped orbs. All very interesting. Of course, there were no conclusions made, other than the link between sites of "high strangeness" seemingly always being situated between 37°N and 40°N. Also that these types of areas very often omit high levels of electro magnetic radiation.

As these interviews are not done in the usual sensational way, sometimes it can be a little frustrating, as they can skip over pretty quickly, some details that I woul have thought would have warranted further investigation eg.. I "think" one of the interviewees said that they were waiting on a vet to arrive, to examine another mutilated cattle. He rang them and said he was 10 minutes away, but just as he crossed a river, bright lights appeared, and he found himself 260 miles away!!! It then took him 1½ to drive to their house!! I had to rewind, and listen to this bit again, to make sure I had heard it correctly! If I DID hear this correctly, that is staggeringly, yet it was just said as a matter of fact, and wasn't questioned! Another frustrating thing that I think they should have looked into more, was that they had found high levels of EMR on the couple's ranch, and yet absolutely none at their house. This doesn't make sense, if the couple owned normal tech devices, such as WiFi, smartphones, DECT cordless phones, tablets etc. I think they should have questioned that.

Cons: Don't watch this if you are sensitive to flashing lights and the really annoying flashing images that tend to dominate these UFO documentaries. I was very disappointed to see that the STM production team feel it necessary to add all this unnecessary special effects to their documentary. I nearly turned it off after the first 15 minutes of this stuff! I have severe M. E. and find it exhausting, and horrible to watch.

This is a very well done documentary. I nearly turned off after the first 10 mins, as it seemed that they were taking all their information directly from Wikipedia....actually, they were highlighting the fact that Wikipedia can be VERY misleading, depending upon the author's views. If you find yourself flagging at this point, I would encourage you to stick with it.

It was refreshing to see Stanton Friedman expressing his frustration that people seem to think that UFOs and ETs "are only ever witnessed in America"! When asked the old familiar question that sceptics ask "if UFOs exist, why don't they land on the White House lawn", he bluntly says that "the White House doesn't rule the world, and that UFOs have landed all over the world, and people have had abduction experiences all over the world"! I personally get sick and tired of 99% of these types of documentaries being centred upon the US!

I think you will enjoy this, whether you are a believer or a sceptic.

This review comes after watching both season 1 and 2, as they were released, here in the uk. It's very interesting to actually be able to view Skinwalker Ranch. I actually find it quite relaxing to watch, as I have become used to all the team members now. A very likable group, although I wish "Dragon" would drop the stupid name...it niggles me a bit. He's not 10 years old! Lol. Like many others, I was initially baffled as to why he was having a say in the type of experiments that they do, as he was a Security man however, he, like the rest of the group, is very well spoken, and I think he contributes to the overall discussions very well, especially as Security in season 2 seems to now be handled mainly by another guy.

Part of me, wants to say that this show displays typical "American over the top dramatics", but actually it's not nearly as overly dramatic, as I thought it might be. The only real niggle is that they DO still do the "dramatic face" shot from everyone, whenever there is a surprise, which is completely unnecessary. There's non of the extremely annoying Americanisms such as "Let's rock and roll", "Yeah baby!" etc etc every few minutes. I think I would have turned off, if that were the case! Lol Travis Taylor makes me laugh though...he's such an intelligent guy, who has, if memory serves, 5 degrees in the various sciences, and yet he has the most adorable country boy accent. Yes, I said "adorable", and yes, I DO have a bit of a schoolgirl crush on him 💜 lol.

I was familiar with Skinwalker Ranch before watching this series. I even bought the book a few years ago, although must confess I haven't read it yet! I am however, familiar with quite a lot of the "high strangeness" that has gone on for decades , not only on this ranch, but within the entire area. Bringing in people who have experienced strange phenomena on the ranch, and in the local neighbourhood is always very interesting. The ranch was owned by Robert Bigalow for 20 years, working with the US government in studying the phenomena. Unfortunately, all of that data is confidential, so from that point of view, this series is unique, in that it's being shared with the public, for the very first time.

The team's scientific experiments are always interesting, although I wish they would go into a bit more detail about the results, as it's difficult to figure out just HOW high the readings are for various things, if your not a scientist. I also wish that they would repeat ALL the experiments several times, as that is what is needed to produce any real scientific data. Some of the odd results are a bit dubious in my book, like the clock rolling off the windowsill, the dead cow, the fact that they didn't find any of the dyed water, and the securityguard's phone going crazy (he does have a cracked screen...maybe that has something to do with it). I also don't understand why they don't cover the ranch in cameras, instead of having just a few scattered about. Another thing that I don't understand is why they can't set up telescopes with built in video, pointed in the general direction of the UAPs, so maybe one of them can get a closer look at these lights, to see if they are solid vehicles or just light. It's kind of frustrating. Maybe they'll do it in future episodes. Even if they all wore Go-Pros on their heads or chests, that might mean they would be more likely to get live data when something happens, although I do appreciate that the temperature varies hugely there, from freezing cold to boiling hot, so they would probably be too uncomfortable.

So....in summary, I would recommend this series. I think it gets better as it goes along, especially as you become more familiar with the different team members, and the different technologies used. The majority of the mysterious happenings are actually based on readings from various different pieces of scientific equipment, so if you're expecting to see a Skinwalker, a ghost or a giant wolf, you will be disappointed.

My ratings from one episode to another vary from 6/10 to 9/10, so I've given it a overall total of 8/10.