MonsterQuest: The Future

During the early part of this week, I spent time with a core MonsterQuest crew (e.g. senior producer Will Yates and cameraman/soundman Bill S.). They have been visiting beautiful, sunny Portland to talk with me about the future of the program and for some interviewing at the International Cryptozoology Museum.

I now have a better view of Season Three, but first a word about the final days of Season Two.

The four upcoming episodes should end the current run on a high note, with unique looks at giant spiders and inland shark reports. As far as getting away from the routine or to some, the mundane, MQ has hit a homerun here, for many people have expressed an interest in these kinds of off-the-beaten track shows. Considering that spotty stories about giant spiders have come out of Africa for years, it was great to hear that MQ is tackling this topic for South America.

Classics are good too, and I like that the Komodo Dragon and something on its possible cryptid kin is being screened.

Likewise, from what I get from grassroots viewers, Sasquatch Attack II is one of the most anticipated followups, and I look forward to seeing what MQ does with the subject.

Here is the published schedule of the broadcast dates and a brief summary for each of the initial screenings for the last four shows of Season Two:

31 :02×17 – Monster Spiders (Oct/22/2008)
Recently, American soldiers in Iraq were photographed with a 3 foot long arachnid. In Peru there is rumors of spiders large enough to attack and kill chickens. A MonsterQuest expedition is sent to South America in search of these creepy crawlers that so many fear.

34 :02×20 – Sasquatch Attack II (2008)
Another attempt at finding proof of the Sasquatch. Previously collected blood samples are further investigated, while another expedition is sent out in search of the famous hairy beast.

I was able to have a long and frank conversation with MonsterQuest’s Will Yates about the high points and low valleys of recent shows, from my own insights and via the feedback picked up from viewers who have written into Cryptomundo. Season Three sounds encouragingly fresh, with some general subject areas touching on new approaches to old classics mixed in with breaking ground on current horizons.

Some of the topics that have been confirmed and I am allowed to share with Cryptomundo readers are new programs on the Loch Ness Monster, Ogopogo, and Yeti.

Mystery cats have been a success in the past, so look for more variation on the theme in the future.

The MQIII season (premiering Spring 2009) is 20 episodes, and includes new foci on Colorado Bigfoot, Alligators-in-the-Sewers, the Boggy Creek Monster, and other little-discussed cryptids and related weird animals. (You, however, won’t have any misguided side treks into even one ghost story again, thank goodness. MonsterQuest is a very good show, and the senior and executive producers know there are many cryptid stories out there to explore and investigate. They are staying with their strong suit, in a big way, in the future.)

If there’s one theme that I think you will be seeing a lot more of in Season 3 on MonsterQuest, it may be the confrontations, sometimes violent ones, between humans and cryptids. The subject apparently is an unconscious or conscious subplot for many of Year Three’s programs. Don’t be surprised to find less two-day-trailcam investigations, and more thoughtful, analytic discussions overviewing the behaviors, traits, habits, and encounters between Homo sapiens and various unknown creatures.

Also, look for a change in the “face” of the show. I won’t say more about this now, but I think frequent and new viewers will enjoy the intelligent broadening that they will experience visually from the growing and maturing of MonsterQuest.

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

Email • Facebook • Twitter •