Beast Legends DVD Review!

There are many cryptozoological shows, focusing on mysterious creatures, cryptids, that defy scientific identification, and mythological creatures.  There was the classic In Search of… (1977-1982) and Destination Truth (2007-2012) on Syfy.  Beast Legends was the best.  It was a television series that had all of the fun of traveling to exotic places, a little science, and fun, knowledgeable hosts.  The point was not to find the cryptozoological creature, it was to visualize the creature and it’s behaviors, which makes it superior to the other shows.  It aired in 2010, I asked one of the hosts, Francis Manapul about it at Comic Con, but I only saw it on DVD yesterday.  The field team had the team of Steve Leonard, noted as adventurer, he has exploration experience, and comic book artist, Francis Manapul, he was the artist for Top Cow’s Witchblade, then moved to DC with the Flash and then wrote and provided art for Trinity.  This duo makes the show for me, going to different locations, and Francis works out what the creature might look like in different mediums.   

The Beast Lab has the other experts and consultants, two scientists, Kathryn Denning, an anthropologist from York University in Canada, and Scott Edwards, a biologist from Harvard University.  They also have the resources of Mike Paixao, a computer animator, who gathers all of the data on the creature and puts it into a short film at the end of the program.  There were only three episodes for this show; “Wild Man of Vietnam”, “Winged Lion”, and “Fire Dragon.”  I would love an episode on the Loch Ness Monster, Chupacabra, Nandi Bear, Thunderbird, and the Wendigo.  I’ll cover the first episode as an example of the television series.  The beginning previews some of the scenes narrated by Steve Leonard. We see Francis and Steve walking with backpacks on the streets of Vietnam.  The team at the Beast Lab show a black and white animation of the legend of the Wild Man.  

Beast Legends DVD, photo by the author.

Kathryn mentions that the cryptid is centuries old and that it is shorter than Big Foot with a different hair color.  She explains the eyewitness account of Gary Linderer, a Vietnam Vet, who gives a description of an encounter with the Wild Man while on patrol.  He has seen various animals and would not confuse them with the Wild Man.  In Hue, Vietnam, Steve and Francis, ride in a jeep.  They are stopped by a flood and start to push the jeep with two other helpers.  Francis flags down a truck to hitch a ride.  They reach the house of Ho Van Hanh, who was a Viet Cong, and Francis sketches with watercolor as the man describes him.  The Beast Lab receives the sketch and begins working out what it might look with a computer rendering with input by Kathryn and Scott. Next, they travel to Hanoi to see a foot cast of the Wild Man, Steve runs and Francis uses his skateboard.  

Francis and Steve move through the heavy moped traffic.  They both get lost.  Francis arrives first at the Hanoi Pedadgogical College.  They meet with Dr. Tran Hong Viet and Francis asks about the cast of the Wild Man’s footprint.  Dr. Viet says it is an ancient form of man, Homo erectus. He is working on publishing his findings and doesn’t want it filmed.  Steve and Francis are allowed in.  Scott goes to consult.  Kathryn sends Francis and Steve to the exact coordinates of Linderer.  They run through the rain forest.  They find that the jungle is cropped for farm land.  Scott goes to Pocatello, Idaho.  I meets with Dr. Jeff Meldrum, anatomist, at Idaho University.  He analyzes the photographs of the footprint.   He uses a cast of a bear’s and drags the toes.  He mentions possible living bears; the Malaysian sun bear or the Asiatic black bear.  

Francis and Steve go to see skeletal remains and meet with anthropologist, Dr. Vu The Long.  Steve mentions orangutan characteristics.  Francis sketches a full size Wild Man in black Sharpie.   They travel on motorcycle again and we see animation of the Wild Man in the forest.  Hoang Trong Quong is a farmer and eyewitness. His encounter was at Ke Bang National Park.  They go from motorcycle to train at night.  The duo reach the park which is thick with jungle.  Steve has that 60% of the park was never been seen by people.  Francis sketches out the foot structure and Steve works out how it could grab trees.  Mike works out how the Wild Man would have moved.  Steve graphically describes to Francis how the primates can be carnivorous.  Mike adds fangs to the model.  Next, the duo find a jungle cave.  Francis gets startled by a noise.  They find cows standing around a cave.  The herd start to stampede away.  Steve mentions even though they are large they hear nothing.  They return back to the Beast Lab to see the finished film.  An Asian man is looking at roots and is watched by the Wild Man.   This is fun to see the process of studying what could be an actual living creature through science and creativity.  

Five Footprints out of Five! 

#BeastLegends, #SteveLeonard, #FrancisManapul, #KathrynDenning