History Series / AncientAliens

* SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfDistance:
** Aliens come from stars tens to hundreds of light years away to mine gold (a relatively common metal in asteroids) on Earth, where the total amount of gold mined in the entirety of Earth's history was estimated as of 2011 to be about 171,300 tonnes, enough to form a cube just over 20 meters to a side.
** Some episodes also refer to aliens coming from "Orion" (the constellation), apparently not realizing that just because stars appear close together looking up at Earth's sky, that doesn't mean they actually ''are'' close together. Some stars making up Orion are more distant from ''each other'' than they are from Earth.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Genetic engineering by aliens is behind octopuses (which the show claims are unrelated to anything on Earth) and humans. HalfHumanHybrids, that is -- they claim we're the product of aliens combining their DNA with that of local critters, unless [[{{Panspermia}} they seeded the universe with life]] in the first place. And so on. Also, Big Foot.

** Almost every single argument made by the show's sources can essentially be boiled down to the claim that Ancient civilizations could not have had any way to build the impressive structures they left behind -- while conveniently ignoring every tool or practical knowledge historians have learned about of these civilizations.

** If you know ''anything'' about materials science and its history, you may wet yourself laughing at the show's claims about alloys. Example: a fairly ordinary ''brass ball'' (80% copper, 20% zinc and lead) must have been given to the Greeks by aliens, since the Greeks couldn't smelt zinc. Yup.[[note]]Actually, it's true -- they couldn't. But you don't need pure zinc to make brass, just the ore.[[/note]] Also, quazicrystals are made by aliens. And first swords were made of nickel.

* CreativeSterility: The hosts of the show basically assume that ancient man had no imagination, and it was only by the hand of aliens who gave them the technology that humanity has achieved anything. This goes beyond the ancient and into the more modern times; anyone who had radical ideas ([[Creator/LeonardoDaVinci Leonardo]], [[UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein Einstein]], Von Braun) must have been influenced by aliens.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Genetic engineering by aliens is behind octopuses (which the show claims is unrelated to anything on Earth) and humans. HalfHumanHybrids, that is -- they claim we're the product of aliens combining their DNA with that of local critters, unless [[{{Panspermia}} they seeded the universe with life]] in the first place. And so on. Also, Big Foot.

** Anyone influential or with ideas ahead of their time either had contact with aliens or was exposed to alien technology left on earth. This includes Gregori Rasputin, Nikola Tesla, Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, Socrates, and Srinivasa Ramanujan. Of course, their favorite is Creator/LeonardoDaVinci. The theories on him go all over the place, including suggesting he might have been a time traveler.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Genetic engineering by aliens is behind octopuses (which the show claims is unrelated to anything on Earth) and humans. HalfHumanHybrids, that is - they claim we're the product of aliens combining their DNA with that of local critters, unless [[{{Panspermia}} they seeded the universe with life]] in the first place. And so on. Also, Big Foot.

** Almost every single argument made by the show's sources can essentially be boiled down to the claim that Ancient civilizations could not have had any way to build the impressive structures they left behind - while conveniently ignoring every tool or practical knowledge historians have learned about of these civilizations.

** If you know ''anything'' about materials science and its history, you may wet yourself laughing at the show's claims about alloys. Example: a fairly ordinary ''brass ball'' (80% copper, 20% zinc and lead) must have been given to the Greeks by aliens, since the Greeks couldn't smelt zinc. Yup.[[note]]Actually, it's true - they couldn't. But you don't need pure zinc to make brass, just the ore.[[/note]] Also, quazicrystals are made by aliens. And first swords were made of nickel.

* BlindIdiotTranslation: This show becomes even more unscientific if you're not watching in the original English - looks like no borderline competent translator wants anything to do with this series. This leads to things like claiming humans have two blood groups, closely followed by saying we have four. Or that Rh- blood is impossibly rare, then that 15% of the world population has it. Also, "potassium nitrate" inexplicably gets translated as "soda".

*** One tactic they like to use on the show is to speak to a contractor, and ask "How could <ancient site> have been constructed without modern tools?" Invariably, the contractor will say they don't know. Which seems to support the Ancient Astronaut Theorist's claims on the surface. But while these people certainly know a lot about modern-day engineering, that doesn't mean they know anything at all about ancient techniques for construction. It doesn't help that the AAT often gives misleading or incorrect information about the structures they're asking about (such as claiming that a stone is much heavier, or much older, than they claim it is).

* ShoutOut: A 2019 promo starts in a museum room occupied only by the Art/NefertitiBust. As the camera approaches, it cracks open to reveal an [[AlienTropes alien]].

* ShoutOut: One theory mentioned a few times but never really discussed seriously is the idea aliens come to Earth to hunt the most dangerous predators on the planet, [[{{Film/Predator}} humans]].

** The most blatant and probably oft cited argument is that ancients could never have cut, moved, shaped, or lifted some form of stone without lasers, levitation, diamond saws, or whatever. This despite the fact you could literally do most of the work with stone tools, wood, sand, pure human labor, and a little bit of ingenuity.

* JediTruth: A lot of their claims fall under this. For instance, they state that Pumapunku could not have been constructed with the tools available at the time.[[note]]In spite of the fact that anyone visiting the site can see the tools used lying all over the place. As well as the equipment they used to build those tools on-site, and half-finished portions that make it plainly obvious how they built it.[[/note]] This is technically true, as they also claim that Pumapunku is way older than it actually is.

* AppealToAuthority: One tactic they like to use on the show is to speak to a contractor, and ask "How could <ancient site> have been constructed without modern tools?" Invariably, the contractor will say they don't know. Which seems to support the Ancient Astronaut Theorist's claims on the surface. But while these people certainly know a lot about modern-day engineering, that doesn't mean they know anything at all about ancient techniques for construction. It doesn't help that the AAT often gives misleading or incorrect information about the structures they're asking about (such as claiming that a stone is much heavier, or much older, than they claim it is).

** All instances of supernatural and mythological creatures were aliens. This not only encompasses the usual fare like demons, angels, giants, ghosts, etc, but also fairies, dragons, minotaurs, chimera; all of them were either aliens, or creatures genetically engineered by aliens. Or they were natural animals that the aliens killed so modern-day humanity could evolve.

* ArbitrarySkepticism:
** Following Giorgio Tsukalos' Twitter account shows him regularly butting heads with people who believe that the Earth is really flat. Apparently there's some pseudoscience that's too nutty even for him.
** In the show, this can happen sometimes. Religious explanations for certain incidents are never because of angels or gods, but aliens.

->"Is such a thing even possible? ''Yes, it is!''"
-->-- '''Giorgio A. Tsoukalos''' [[note]]No, it's not.[[/note]]

* SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfDistance: Aliens come from stars tens to hundreds of light years away to mine gold (a relatively common metal in asteroids) on Earth, where the total amount of gold mined in the entirety of Earth's history was estimated as of 2011 to be about 171,300 tonnes, enough to form a cube just over 20 meters to a side.

* DanBrowned: A staple of this show. About ten minutes research on some of the subjects they cover will turn up evidence that they're twisting facts, if not outright lying.

[[caption-width-right:350:Come for the ridiculous hair, stay for the apophenia.]]

Probably the most infamous example of Creator/TheHistoryChannel's NetworkDecay, ''Ancient Aliens'' is a program that deals with conspiracy theories about aliens. Taking a glance at a list of episodes reveals that--as far as this show is concerned--aliens did everything. No really, literally ''everything''--they exterminated the dinosaurs, they influenced all major religions, and they were in contact with all ancient cultures. Nazis, the Old West, {{Atlantis}}, GreekFire, Stonehenge, King Arthur, all influenced by aliens.

In July 2014, it received a pseudo spin-off called "''In Search of Aliens''", hosted exclusively by Tsoukalos as he explores the globe looking for evidence of aliens. It's just as outlandish and silly as the original; for example, offering the theory that the Loch Ness Monster is an alien craft docking at an alien base built beneath the lake.

* AncientAstronauts: It subcribes to this, using scripture and myths. Pretty much any instance of gods, angels, demons, spirits, etc, was ancient people meeting aliens and misunderstanding them.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Genetic engineering by aliens is behind octopuses (which apparently are unrelated to anything on Earth...) and humans. HalfHumanHybrids, that is - they claim we're the product of aliens combining their DNA with that of local critters, unless [[{{Panspermia}} they seeded the universe with life]] in the first place. And so on. Also, Big Foot.

* SpeculativeDocumentary: Basically, everything important happened because of aliens.

* LostTechnology: A number of artifacts, like the [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism Antikythera mechanism]], are claimed to be this. Alternately, several ancient sites, especially [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumapunku Pumapunku]], were made using Lost Technology.
* SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfDistance: Aliens come from stars tens to hundreds of light years away to mine gold (a relatively common metal in asteroids) on Earth, where the total amount of gold mined in the entirety of Earth's history was estimated as of 2011 to be about 171,300 tonnes, enough to form a cube just over 20 meters to a side.

* HumansAreMorons: The show's premise. It's impossible that we humans have ever done anything on our own throughout the millennia, and all technological innovation, scientific breakthroughs, grand construction projects, and figures of historical import, were helped along by alien influence. Not that this does ''not'' extend to records -- all myths, legends, religions, and visual art related to them, are interpretations of aliens and alien technology created by humans and are apparently extremely accurate recreations of whatever it was they saw.

** All instances of monsters, ghosts, demons, magic, etc, were aliens.

** As part of the show increasingly reaching for alien connections, a Season 7 episode claimed that aliens intervened in the Civil War as well.

* BigfootSasquatchAndYeti:
** They're aliens, too. Alien made hybrids of humans and something else.
** Or they're [[InsaneTrollLogic SHAPESHIFTING aliens, which is why we can't find them: they're disguised as humans.]]
** [[MultipleChoicePast OR]] they are the natural creatures who evolved on Earth and humans are the engineered hybrids. Bigfoot hides because we scare it.

* CreativeSterility:
** The hosts of the show basically assume that ancient man had no imagination. All myths, legends, etc, were attempts by our ancestors to accurately record things they saw and experienced first-hand. They just didn't have the technological sophistication to realize they were seeing aliens and machines, not gods and magic.
** They also seem to believe there is no such thing as true genius. As mentioned above, anyone who had radical ideas ([[Creator/LeonardoDaVinci Leonardo]], [[UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein Einstein]], Von Braun) must have been influenced by aliens. They never seem to consider the possibility that these people were visionaries who benefited mankind with their own brainpower.
** The whole "theory", when one thinks about it, is pretty darn misanthropic.
** And yet, hilariously, it assumes that while HumansAreMorons, their ''art'' is a 100% accurate representation of things. No stylisation, creative license, plain old ''inability to draw'' a specific thing... It's all as accurate as photography, it seems.

* HumansAreMorons: The show's premise. According to them, no ancient people could have thought up building or creating anything, everything was created by aliens.

** Here's a tip, kids. If someone presenting a theory to you uses the words "In my opinion," he's probably not doing real science. Everyone has opinions, but without evidence for them, they aren't scientific.