In Search of... is an American television series that was broadcast weekly from 1976 to 1982, devoted to mysterious phenomena. It was created after the success of three one-hour documentaries produced by creator Alan Landsburg: In Search of Ancient Astronauts in 1973 (based on the 1968 book/ 1970 film Chariots of the Gods? by Erich von Däniken), In Search of Ancient Mysteries (1974), and The Outer Space Connection in 1975 (later adapted into popular paperbacks written by Landsburg), all of which featured narration by Rod Serling, who was the initial choice to host the spin-off show. Serling died before production started, and Leonard Nimoy was then selected to be the host.[1] The series was revived with host Mitch Pileggi in 2002 and again in 2018 with Zachary Quinto for the History channel.
The original series was shown in Australia in the 1980s under the title Great Mysteries of the World, with each episode having an introduction and conclusion presented by television presenter Scott Lambert.
Each episode of the program explored a general or specific topic in one of several general categories as given in the opening titles: Extraterrestrials, Magic & Witchcraft, Missing Persons, Myths & Monsters, Lost Civilizations, and Special Phenomena (changed to Strange Phenomena from season 3 onward).[2] The program conducted investigations into the controversial and paranormal (e.g., UFOs, Bigfoot, and the Loch Ness Monster). Additionally, it featured episodes about mysterious historical events and personalities such as Anna Anderson/Grand Duchess Anastasia, the Lincoln Assassination, the Jack the Ripper murders, infamous cults (e.g., Jim Jones), and missing persons, cities, and ships (e.g., Amelia Earhart, Jimmy Hoffa, D. B. Cooper, the Mary Celeste, the Titanic, the lost Roanoke Colony). Each episode's opening credits included a verbal disclaimer about the conjectural nature of the evidence and theories to be presented:[3]
This series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture. The producer's purpose is to suggest some possible explanations, but not necessarily the only ones, to the mysteries we will examine.
The program included interviews, reenactments, and host segments including Nimoy on location or in studio, and each episode featured voiceovers by Nimoy. The music was composed by Laurin M. Rinder and W. Michael Lewis. A soundtrack album was released on AVI (American Variety International) Records in 1977.[4]
Nimoy wrote an episode about the turbulent life of artist Vincent van Gogh, having earlier played the artist's brother Theo in a one-man show.[5] As part of his research, Nimoy found records in the archives of the hospital where Van Gogh was treated that suggested that he suffered from epilepsy rather than insanity.
The show also spawned at least six spin-off books, all written by Landsburg with forewords by Nimoy: In Search of Lost Civilizations, In Search of Extraterrestrials, In Search of Magic and Witchcraft, In Search of Strange Phenomena, In Search of Missing Persons, and In Search of Myths and Monsters, with an additional book that collected the best segments from these existing volumes.[6]
In 1978, Landsburg produced a Bigfoot documentary using portions of two In Search of... episodes ("The Monster Hunters" and "The Yeti") called Manbeast! Myth or Monster, based on his book In Search of Myths and Monsters. Though Nimoy had written the foreword to Landsburg's book, he did not narrate this documentary.[7]
Reruns of the In Search of... series aired during the early 1990s on the A&E Network. In the later 1990s, the show aired on another of the A&E Television Networks' properties, the History Channel. The licensing agreement with MCA Television/Universal Domestic Television expired in the early 2000s, ending the show's run. When the show aired on A&E, a re-recording of the original theme music was used plus a new alternate theme. The original opening titles were also modernized. In this incarnation virtually all of Nimoy's on-camera appearances in the series were replaced with reused footage, so viewers could hear Nimoy but not see him.
A short-lived revival of the show, featuring Mitch Pileggi, aired on the Sci-Fi Channel in 2002.
In January 2018, it was announced that Zachary Quinto, who, like Nimoy, stars as Spock in the rebooted Star Trek films, would host the revived version of the show on History Channel.[8] On March 27, 2019, History Channel announced the series was renewed for a second season.[9]
The original series ran for six seasons, hosted by Leonard Nimoy.
A revival of the series aired on The Sci-Fi Channel for one season, hosted by Mitch Pileggi.
A second revival of the series aired on The History Channel for two seasons, hosted by Zachary Quinto.[21]
In February 2012, it was announced that Visual Entertainment, under license from Universal Studios, had acquired the home video rights to the original series for the United States and Canada. In Search of: The Complete Collection was released in Canada and the U.S. on December 11, 2012, from VEI's website.[22]
The 21-DVD set includes all 144 installments hosted by Leonard Nimoy. Also included are two Rod Serling specials: In Search of Ancient Astronauts and In Search of Ancient Mysteries which aired prior to the start of the regular Nimoy series. Three Landsburg specials The Outer Space Connection (1975), Secrets of the Bermuda Triangle (1978), and Manbeast! Myth or Monster (1978), are not included. VEI also included all eight episodes of the short-lived 2002 series hosted by Mitch Pileggi.[23]
The style of the original In Search of... has been paid homage to and parodied by many productions. Examples include Mysteries in History, a show-within-a-show that plays a part in the plotline to Men in Black II (the faux series is hosted by Peter Graves in the film; coincidentally, Graves once co-starred with Nimoy in Mission: Impossible). Two other examples are Truth from Legend and Fact from Myth, two nearly identical series existing in alternate universes for which "mini-episodes" were created for YouTube as part of the viral marketing campaign for the two-part video game BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea.
Other series using a similar title: