Review: Man V. Monster: Amazon River Beast

Richard holding the green anaconda.
Image credit National Geographic.

In the fifth episode of Man V. Monster, Richard Terry travels to the Amazon Rainforest in search of a creature responsible for a series of violent attacks. This is the second episode dealing with the Amazon: the first covered giant spiders, and the already-reviewed Mapinguary episode was the third and final. Like with that review, this is constructed entirely from memory.

Review: Man V. Monster: Brazilian Bigfoot

Richard with a two-toed sloth.
Image credit National Geographic.

Man V. Monster was (is?) an interesting series. Aired on National Geographic and presented by English filmmaker Richard Terry, there have been two series' so far. Most of the episodes end with Richard deeming the cryptid he's searching for to be a regular animal mistaken as something else, and the episodes themselves sometimes focus more on the trecherous terrain than the cryptid. Not necessarily a bad thing. "Brazilian Bigfoot", the Mapinguary episode, is something of an exception.

No episode of the series is available for purchase, physically or digitally, so this review is constructed from memory. Some information may be incorrect or in the wrong chronological order.

Review: Destination Truth: Flying Dinosaur & Sloth Monster

Josh with another well-known model Mapinguary.
Image credit TVrage.com.

Although Destination Truth is the third review here, it does deserve credit as the first TV series to investigate the Mapinguary, being aired in 2008, two years before Beast Man and Man V. Monster.

As is the norm for Destination Truth, the first investigation, the Mapinguary, only takes up half the episode before being replaced by another cryptid - this time the African Kongamato. The beginning of the Mapinguary segment sees Josh visiting the famous Mapinguary statue (and some jaguars at a zoo), and the folklorologist who would later be cut from Beast Man. He also interviews David Oren, who tells him about his ground sloth theory. It seems rather rare for Josh to carry out research and interviews before looking for the animal itself, something which changes for the better in this episode.

Review: Beast Man: Nightmare of the Amazon

Pat with a well-known Mapinguary model in the city.
Image credit National Geographic.

Beast Hunter (titled Beast Man in the UK), although a short series - consisting of only five episodes - might just be the best cryptozoological TV series since MonsterQuest - in fact, it probably beats MonsterQuest.

The series follows biologist Pat Spain, great-nephew of Charles Fort, as he travels to five different locations around the world, searching for the local cryptid. Fort was an American scientist who researched phenomena such as ball lightning and raining fish, which were dismissed in his time but are now known to be fact.