More Like Ancient FAILiens

Brandon and Toby welcome back Pedro Mendez to dissect Steven Spielberg's 1977 UFO classic. They dig into the film's chaotic family dynamics, aliens with a grudge against kitchen appliances, and a guy who abandons his kids to board a spaceship without a second thought. Plus: how the movie helped cement modern UFO lore and whether Spielberg should maybe think twice before going full disclosure on la...

Is your boss an alien? Probably not out of the question, right? Anyway, Jesse Plemmons thinks his boss is an alien and decides the best course of action is to kidnap her (this is not an endorsement). Toby and Brandon are joined by Failiens producer Gabby Lombardo to talk about the Yorgos Lanthimos movie, Bugonia. If you are considering getting your hair cut in a moving car, watch this movie first!...

Remember how useless 4th grade math seemed? Well, who’s laughing now because Aliens have made contact by beeping prime numbers at us? Oh yeah, and they also sent a Hitler video. Anyway, we’re talking the 1997 movie Contact with special guest Janet Varney. Matthew McCounaghey’s mane has never been finer. Follow Janet on Instragram: https://www.instagram.com/thejvclub/?hl=en More Like Ancient Failie...

Was there a more iconic duo in the 1990s than Fox Mulder and Dana Scully? Toby and Brandon don’t think so, and they’re talking about the X-Files, perhaps the most popular television series about UFOs and the paranormal. To look at the show, they discuss the much-beloved episode Jose Chung’s From Outer Space (season 3, episode 20), a comedic nesting doll of UFO tropes and stories, starring Hollywoo...

A group of plucky kids with emotionally stunted fathers battle an alien who’s just looking for a little empathy. Yes, we are discussing JJ Abrams’s Super 8 with special guest Alex Steed. We’re not going to bother listing the themes at play, but let’s just say we touch on making movies as a kid, how the actor who vomits all the time in this movie grew up to play JD Vance, and prominent directors’ U...

Are we humans really smart enough to come up with the GENIUS STUFF? The Ancient Astronaut Theorists have their doubts and, despite themselves, stumble upon some interesting ideas. Toby and Brandon are joined by Stuff They Don’t Want You To Know host Matt Frederick in a wide-ranging discussion that’s sort of about The Genius Factor (Season 9, Episode 4). We have Hammurabi’s thoughts on divorce, a r...

Brandon and Toby are joined by John Hodgman for part two of their look at Chariots of the Gods, a look at the movie made from the Erich von Daniken book that started the Ancient Aliens craziness. Huge desert drawings in Peru! Questionable use of drinking water during a desert expedition! And synths! Subscribe to hear this and other great podcasts early and ad free at ⁠ grabbagcollab.com ⁠. For mor...

What if the entities that ancient peoples called gods were in fact aliens? Mind blown, right? It all started with Chariots of the Gods, the book by Erich von Daniken and then the film based on that book. Comedian John Hodgman joins Brandon and Toby to discuss the movie version and so much more. Witness the birth of the gods were aliens weirdness as the Ancient Astronaut Theorists did, with B-roll...

On Saturday, January 10, the Godfather of Ancient Astronaut Theorists, Erich Von Daniken, died at the age of 90. In this episode of More Like Ancient Failiens, Toby and Brandon look at EVD’s life, from his time as a hotelier and embezzler to the successes of Chariots of the Gods and its sequels, to the final form of Ancient Astronaut Theory, Ancient Aliens. We look at the ups and downs, the dubiou...

Part two of Brandon and Toby’s discussion with journalist Keith Kloor about the documentary film, The Age of Disclosure. In this episode, we discuss Lu Elizondo and The Observables (not a band, alas), the time Keith made Lu sad, and bubbles that warp both space and time. Plus, the culinary delights of roadkill. You can read Keith’s reporting about issues we talk about here: https://www.poynter.org...

What is "The Age of Disclosure" and why is legacy media so obsessed with it? Toby and Brandon venture into a space that's slightly less ancient, but no less alien, than "Ancient Aliens" as they dig into the new documentary by Dan Farah, "The Age of Disclosure." With the help of freelance journalist Keith Kloor, we ask why so many government figures are so gaga for UFOs, why everyone from The New Y...

Have you ever gone metal detecting and found a twisted piece of wire? Well, Giorgio Tsoukalos has and it was at a skip site near Roswell, NM! I know, right? Toby and Brandon are joined by podcaster Michel Gagne to get a handle on the Ancient Aliens episode “The Relics of Roswell” (S15:E2). This one has it all: a budding love story, some industrial grade aluminum and explosive cratering! Plus a dra...

Not satisfied with small floods or even big floods? How about a great flood? Polymathic Canadian Pedro Mendes returns to the show to help Toby and Brandon bail water on the Ancient Aliens episode “The Great Flood” (S9:E8). Yes, we’ve got Gilgamesh. Yes, fallen angels once again seduce “our girls.” Yes, there are microbeads. No, it’s still not clear how it all fits together. But we don’t want God o...

What is it like to be an academic, talking about your legitimate research only to have it woven into a story of extraterrestrial interference in human history? This bonus episode features two conversations that Brandon and Toby had with experts featured on Ancient Aliens who aren’t ancient astronaut theorists! First, they talk with Jonathan Young, the curator of the Joseph Campbell Archives. In th...

Let's finally just ask the big question: Just exactly how does Bigfoot fit into this whole doggone UFO thing? That's what we're answering once and for all in our exploration of the Ancient Aliens episode "Aliens and Bigfoot" (S4:E7). Luckily Toby and Brandon get help from journalist and documentarian David Farrier, creator of such wild and fascinating dives into culture as the doc Tickled and the...

Ever notice that the Sphinx’s head is kind of small compared to its body? Unsurprisingly, the Ancient Astronaut Theorists are on top of it and so much more. Journalist Maggie Rahr joins Brandon and Toby to delve into The Mysteries of the Sphinx. That’s Season 9, Episode 2. Be amazed by the Blinking Eye of the Lord, intrigued by the theory that ancient sarcophaguses (sarcophagi?) might be teleporta...

Giorgios Tsoukalos and Nick Pope go on a sort of disappointing field trip to Britain’s Area 51 and Brandon and Toby are right there with them in spirit. It’s Season 12, Episode 3, The Mystery of Rudloe Manor. We’ve got a stately British manor house sitting on an underground complex that might or might not have UFO stuff, a teenager who seems to have basically run a town in Wales, and Giorgios disp...

Supposedly there was a period in pre-history where the planet was like Lord of the Rings. Can this be true? Toby and Brandon are joined by Jack Brewer to look into this. It turns out the answer is that, no, it is not true. But it’s not the destination, it’s the journey. We meet the giant Denisovans, the little Hobbits (not the going-on-a-quest type), and a guy traipsing around Europe with a replic...

You ever run into a smart kid and think, hmm, probably a human/alien hybrid? If so, the Ancient Astronaut Theorists have some “facts” you can use at cocktail parties. Brandon and Toby are joined by Sarah Carradine to discuss The Star Children (Season 7, Episode 3). We meet a child who joined Mensa at age 2, which must have been awesome for him, along with the Dalai Lama, Pythagoras’ adoptive broth...

We are back at Skinwalker Ranch, where there is apparently an interdimensional portal somewhere, or something like that. Regardless, Toby and Brandon are joined by Erica Lukes for part two of their examination of The Mystery of Skinwalker Ranch (Season 15, Episode 10). We have a perp line-up of wolves, Skinwalkers who can alter their own DNA and an incident at Dead Man’s Curve! Also, dudes hanging...

More like the Secrets of Glibtalker Ranch, amiright? We have giant wolves, poltergeists acting like 10-year-olds and quantum jiu jitsu. Fortunately, we are joined by Erika Lukes, an expert on Skinwalker Ranch who keeps Brandon and Toby sane as the Ancient Aliens and Skinwalker Ranch universes collide. And this is just Part 1 of our conversation about The Secrets of Skinwalker Ranch (Season 15, Epi...

Brandon went to Antarctica, but didn't see any giant pyramids, under-ice Nazi cities, or even have his boat attacked by a squadron of laser-firing alien craft. That's not the Antarctica that the Ancient Astronaut Theorists hold dear to their hearts. Anyway, you get the picture. We're talking about the Pyramids of Antarctica on this week's More Like Ancient Failiens. More Like Ancient Fail-iens is...

Ah yes, the Book of Enoch. Where would Ancient Aliens be without it? It is a question for which there is no answer. Fortunately, Toby and Brandon are joined by podcast and radio documentarian Pedro Mendes, who studied early Christianity and has a lot of answers, most of which are “that is not correct.” We’ve got ancient Ethiopian bibles, an alien hybrid Noah, and giants mating with Neanderthals. S...

Ayahuasca and aliens, two great tastes that go great together? Maybe. While they don’t take ayahuasca or see any aliens, Brandon, Toby, and musician Aimee Mann try to work through an episode that is light on UFOs, but heavy on tenuous thematic connections. Other topics include whether angels’ wings depicted in art would actually work anatomically, poltergeists poppin’ bottles, and multiple univers...

Ever wonder what the academics on Ancient Aliens would say if they were given more than 20 seconds a clip? Well, wonder no more! Toby and Brandon are joined by Ancient Aliens subject matter expert Sabina Magliocco, from the University of British Columbia! They talk about the episode Magic of the Gods (Season 6, Episode 4) and what it’s like to be an expert on Ancient Aliens. Plus, the guy who did...