Expedition Unknown - General Discussion

[satrunrose]

Loved the search for Moses! I'm not particularly religious, and certainly not go on a pilgrimage level, but man, climbing Mount Sinai looked cool. 

[rmontro]

On 8/10/2022 at 9:24 PM, satrunrose said:

Loved the search for Moses! I'm not particularly religious, and certainly not go on a pilgrimage level, but man, climbing Mount Sinai looked cool. 

It did, and it looked like it drew a healthy crowd.  I confess I had never heard of this as being a thing before.  Nice to see Josh take advantage of the monk's gift at the summit.  I think it was a copy of the New Testament that he had bought back in the 70s?

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

Seeing commercials today about a new show, Tales from the Explorers Club, that will be starting on 8/31 - at least on D+.  It must be going to be hosted by our favorite TV show host, Josh Gates.

Anyone know what it is, exactly?  From the preview, it looks like a gathering of explorers and they will be sharing tales of their adventures - those of the not-so-televised variety. 

Edited August 17, 2022 by iRarelyWatchTV36

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

Joshtails;  The Kilimanjaro.

JG:  *while mixing the drink*  Fun fact, if elephants eat too much of this (African fruit), they get drunk.  So, yes, now we'll add this 1.5 ounces of elephant tranquilizer.

JG:  Ooh.  Tastes just like an orange grape-sicle!  A few more of those and I'll be exploring the underside of my desk.

lol

Edited August 17, 2022 by iRarelyWatchTV36

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

*under the tarp/sheet with the guy to collect samples in this new episode*

JG:  Just two guys, under a sheet in the desert - in the dayime - alright.  ...  Why are you taking your pants off?  (I'm not)  Kidding, just kidding.

lol

Josh's sense of humor is almost an exact mirror of mine.  No wonder I like watching this so much.

Edited August 18, 2022 by iRarelyWatchTV36

[crazycatlady58]

I do not know if Josh writes his own jokes or someone else does but his delivery is on point. 

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

Joshtails, The Moonwalk.

JG:  The official recipe calls for 3 drops of Rosewater, but what am I, a chemist?  ....  And after enough of these, you'll feel like you're walking in zero gravity.

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

JG:  The (snowbike), which is basically the result of a snowmobile and a motorcycle getting drunk, spending the night together and having a baby.

JG:  *after falling off the vehicle*  I think my bones broke my fall, which is good.

Edited August 25, 2022 by iRarelyWatchTV36

[Grizzly]

I knew nothing about the Donner party so I found this episode to be fascinating. If the person is already dead, then eat them if that's what you have to do to survive. The word cannibalism makes me think a person was killed in order to be eaten. Speaking of killing, was it the guy who stabbed someone in the desert, the same one who was the first brought to Johnson ranch?

[rmontro]

The Donner party story is always interesting, and no exception here.  The axe story is pretty amazing, even if there's no real way to prove it's the same axe.  Those guys seem to be dedicated to continue to explore the story, I wouldn't mind if Josh checks in with them again somewhere down the line.  

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

6 hours ago, Grizzly said:

If the person is already dead, then eat them if that's what you have to do to survive. The word cannibalism makes me think a person was killed in order to be eaten.

The word does have very seriously all-encompassing negative connotations, no matter the circumstances.

When it comes to the lawful aspects, there should be degrees of Cannabilism, just like the levels given to other crimes.

If you're eating the dead only as a means of survival, such as the situation as the Donner Party, then that should be - at worst - cited as a Cannabilism Misdemeanor.  Or even let off with just a warning.

Edited August 26, 2022 by iRarelyWatchTV36

[rmontro]

16 hours ago, iRarelyWatchTV36 said:

If you're eating the dead only as a means of survival, such as the situation as the Donner Party, then that should be - at worst - cited as a Cannabilism Misdemeanor.  Or even let off with just a warning.

Obviously, it's only acceptable as a means of survival.  But I've heard enough of these cases to think that rather than a misdemeanor, it should probably be thought of as an act of courage.

[ForumLou]

The other pretty famous story of cannibalism was of the kids on a sports team that crashed over the Andes Mts and that's how they stayed alive for something like 3 mos or more.  I don't think any of them were charged with anything.  It affected them profoundly. The movie is really really good.  What these poor kids went through.  Not poor financially, poor in that they're on a crashed plane, in a blizzard, on top of a mtn.  And then there's ....that....lol 

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

1 hour ago, rmontro said:

Obviously, it's only acceptable as a means of survival.  But I've heard enough of these cases to think that rather than a misdemeanor, it should probably be thought of as an act of courage.

I completely agree.

My previous post was just a moment of really dark humor.

[tljgator]

Really enjoyed the first part of the season-opener. I usually know a least a little of the history behind the episodes, but this one was new to me and I loved getting to learn and see something new (Kushite kings! Sudanese pyramids! Battles with Egypt! Ridiculous Harvard archeologists botching up history!)

Totally agreed with Josh about those dives into the pyramid being the most dangerous combination of what's horrible about cave diving and unstable ruins...for once, I really was worried for their safety (even if it they purposely played it up for added drama), though he obviously makes it out.

Season Preview: It looks like he actually finds real relics at various locations this year (not just random coins or beer cans)!

[iRarelyWatchTV36]

Because I don't want to assume anything;  has Expedition X been cancelled?

I only ask because it seems odd that Discovery paired new episodes of EU and Ghost Adventures back2back on the same night if (new) EX is still around.

[jennblevins]

11 hours ago, iRarelyWatchTV36 said:

Because I don't want to assume anything;  has Expedition X been cancelled?

I only ask because it seems odd that Discovery paired new episodes of EU and Ghost Adventures back2back on the same night if (new) EX is still around.

Phil and Jessica have mentioned doing filming recently on social media (as of mid-May), so maybe it’s just not ready yet?

[ForumLou]

15 hours ago, jennblevins said:

Phil and Jessica have mentioned doing filming recently on social media (as of mid-May), so maybe it’s just not ready yet?

I don't think it has.  Showing new eps now before GA.  I hope X comes back with new eps, I loved those two. I think Discovery is redefining itself  as the testosterone network haha

[SVNBob]

On 6/8/2023 at 11:24 AM, ForumLou said:

I hope X comes back with new eps

I wonder if they've decided to spread out the ExU franchise over the year instead of having big blocks of everything all at once like they'd done previously.  Meaning that perhaps ExX will return once the current run of new ExU episodes is over.

Or maybe they don't want to have another "spooky" show "competing" with GA, and ExX will return after that show finishes its' season.  Both seem like actual intelligent programming choices.

The new ExU episodes have been really good so far.  The teaser was right in that Josh is finding more stuff relevant to the investigations than previous seasons.  In the past, there may have been one or two episodes per season with actual relevant finds.  Thus far, it's been 3 of 4!  (I'm not counting the 3rd episode.  The on-site archaeologists had found that mosaic prior to Josh's visit, and that was likely the main impetus for the episode in the first place.  Still a significant find, and very cool that Josh got to be the first media source to show the entire inscription to the world.)

[rmontro]

15 hours ago, SVNBob said:

I wonder if they've decided to spread out the ExU franchise over the year instead of having big blocks of everything all at once like they'd done previously. 

I hope so, those three hour blocks were a bit too much of a good thing, they were quite a slog.  I don't even know if I'll watch Expedition X at all if it's not paired with the main show though.

[CAM]

https://variety.com/2023/film/news/titanic-submersible-concerning-problems-explorer-josh-gates-1235651930/

An article about Josh and his experience with the missing sub.

[badhaggis]

34 minutes ago, CAM said:

https://variety.com/2023/film/news/titanic-submersible-concerning-problems-explorer-josh-gates-1235651930/

An article about Josh and his experience with the missing sub.

Wow I am very glad he declined to go!

[rmontro]

3 hours ago, badhaggis said:

Wow I am very glad he declined to go!

Josh has done a lot of crazy things, that sub must have really raised some concerns for him not to go.  

[badhaggis]

6 minutes ago, rmontro said:

Josh has done a lot of crazy things, that sub must have really raised some concerns for him not to go.  

Exactly!

[EyewatchTV211]

2 hours ago, badhaggis said:

Exactly!

I was thinking the same as the two of you. I guess unlike the concerns he saw here, maybe the other crazy things were at least connected with experts who clearly knew what they were doing so he felt better about the risks. 

[rmontro]

1 hour ago, EyewatchTV211 said:

maybe the other crazy things were at least connected with experts who clearly knew what they were doing so he felt better about the risks. 

Here's the pertinent quote from the article IMO:

Quote

Gates added, “To those asking, Titan did not perform well on my dive. Ultimately, I walked away from a huge opportunity to film Titanic due to my safety concerns with the OceanGate platform. There’s more to the history and design of Titan that has not been made public — much of it concerning.”

 

[CAM]

I didn't see a forum for Expedition X, but did anyone watch the season premiere?

[pezgirl7]

9 hours ago, CAM said:

I didn't see a forum for Expedition X, but did anyone watch the season premiere?

I did! I just happened to come across it and saw that Josh was in the episode, so I watched it. I don’t believe in ghosts, and I have a hard time believing Jess every time she experiences something, so I just try to debunk everything. The photo they took with the shadow was interesting, along with the mass grave. I’m glad they were able to make a match with one of the markers. Josh getting a scratchy voice all of a sudden was also interesting, but it seemed to go away a little while later. And it probably could have just been due to dust or something nasty in the air.

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Will try and catch this next time.😀

[CAM]

It is nice to not have a 3 hour block of Expedition (fill in the blank) back to back this year.

The loud bang was interesting (but could be explainable; old building and all) but the elevator chime was spooky, and unless Josh and Co. fall into the days of the old Ghost Hunters, then that was a bit harder to explain.

18 hours ago, pezgirl7 said:

hard time believing Jess every time she experiences something

Yeah,  Jess does sometimes seem to overreact (like when she saw something right when they started investigatingl; if she was on any other show I probably wouldn't watch.

Overall it was just so sad and heartbreaking to hear about what happened to the patients. It would be nice if Josh would do a follow-up as more of the graves are matched to death certificates.

[pezgirl7]

49 minutes ago, CAM said:

 The loud bang was interesting (but could be explainable; old building and all) but the elevator chime was spooky, and unless Josh and Co. fall into the days of the old Ghost Hunters, then that was a bit harder to explain.

I feel like the loud bang could have been anything falling in that building, but the chime was interesting. Even before they said anything, I thought it sounded like an elevator chime. I wish they would have tried to debunk it, but I guess they didn’t want to waste time on it. 

[SVNBob]

Some closure on this old investigation.

https://people.com/wizard-of-oz-ruby-slippers-stolen-man-pleads-guilty-8357766

[Natalie68]

On 8/25/2022 at 3:43 PM, rmontro said:

The Donner party story is always interesting, and no exception here.  The axe story is pretty amazing, even if there's no real way to prove it's the same axe.  Those guys seem to be dedicated to continue to explore the story, I wouldn't mind if Josh checks in with them again somewhere down the line.  

I know this is an old thread but if you are interested in the Donner Party, check out Ask A Mortician on Youtube.  She does an episode on this and I learned so much stuff!

[rmontro]

20 minutes ago, Natalie68 said:

I know this is an old thread but if you are interested in the Donner Party, check out Ask A Mortician on Youtube. 

I see she's also covered the Dyatlov Pass incident.  This is something I've changed my mind on.  After watching the Expedition Unknown episode on it, I was leaning toward the parachute bomb theory.  The post is in this thread somewhere, but I'm too lazy to track it down.   

Anyway, now I'm inclined, if not fully convinced it was an avalanche, in this case more like an ice slab striking the tent that was loosened in part by the hikers digging into the snow for their camp.  

[Natalie68]

18 hours ago, rmontro said:

I see she's also covered the Dyatlov Pass incident.  This is something I've changed my mind on.  After watching the Expedition Unknown episode on it, I was leaning toward the parachute bomb theory.  The post is in this thread somewhere, but I'm too lazy to track it down.   

Anyway, now I'm inclined, if not fully convinced it was an avalanche, in this case more like an ice slab striking the tent that was loosened in part by the hikers digging into the snow for their camp.  

I really enjoy her shows.  It is a bit macabre but I have learned a lot!  the Edmund Fitzgerald ep is also very good.

I could believe any one of the theories about Dyatlov to be honest.  It is just really strange.

[SVNBob]

Vulture article about how Josh "took over adventure television":

https://www.vulture.com/2024/01/how-josh-gates-took-over-adventure-television.html?fbclid=IwAR2hYwlcDtSI180NWxJsRHgx76ennXBv6UfybP0dbydnISP2nD_Kta5WsgM

[SVNBob]

While watching the (new to me) episode on Bonnie and Clyde yesterday, I saw a promo for ExX's return on Feb 7.

[ForumLou]

On 1/19/2024 at 12:08 AM, SVNBob said:

While watching the (new to me) episode on Bonnie and Clyde yesterday, I saw a promo for ExX's return on Feb 7.

I saw that too.  Woohoo finally! My guess is.... There's a European forest they went to a couple of time on Dest Truth and some scary things happened.  It's like in Bulgaria or Romania or something like that.  I think Josh is going back

[Ananayel]

Ah yes. Hoia Baciu, in Romania. That was actually extremely frightening. Though Zak Bagans made it seem OTT and somewhat funny, what happened to Evan of was legit scary. 

[Natalie68]

On 1/23/2024 at 6:14 AM, Ananayel said:

Ah yes. Hoia Baciu, in Romania. That was actually extremely frightening. Though Zak Bagans made it seem OTT and somewhat funny, what happened to Evan of was legit scary. 

Bucket list place for me

[SVNBob]

So...

I just found this on iTunes; Expedition Unknown - the podcast.  Also available on Spotify.

It's an "official" "podcast" from Discovery that's been releasing episodes for about a year now.  But "podcast" is quotes because it's just semi-uncensored audio ripped from episodes.  (I've only listened to one episode, and Josh drops a couple F-bombs, but there was something else that was bleeped).

Not necessarily the best form or format for a podcast, but if you want the occasional dose of Josh, it may be a thing to listen to between seasons.

 

[SVNBob]

While watching the timely re-airing of the Normandy episode yesterday, I saw promos for the next season

New episodes start on the 19th.

And it kicks off with Josh looking for the tomb of Alexander the Great!

[Grizzly]

I don't like the new intro.

[SVNBob]

I'm not a fan either, but for a weird reason.

I like the new VO in the intro.  The original VO was mostly about Josh and how he ended up in "strange places".  The new VO is more about the expeditions themselves; talking more about the history and legends that Josh and crew are looking into, and I like the change of focus.

What irks me is in the visual presentation.  The giant individual letters in the intro that are obviously meant to spell out "Expedition" only get up to the T, so they just "spell" the non-word "Expedit."

[rmontro]

The "St. Mark is Alexander the Great" theory is not new.  A lot of times this show presents existing theories as if Josh or his guests are just discovering them.  I'm not going to complain though, as it is still interesting and informative, and it's a good way for people to pick up on them.

[Lovecat]

On 6/28/2024 at 3:10 AM, SVNBob said:

I'm not a fan either, but for a weird reason.

Me neither, but for an even weirder reason.  In the old intro, he always said, "...with a degree in archaeology..." after which my husband and I always rushed to squeeze in "...AND DRAMA!" because Josh indeed does hold degrees in both. I  believe in early seasons he said both, and then cut it down to just archaeology.  It was our stupid little "thing" to squeeze it in there, and I will miss it.

We enjoyed the Doan Gang episode last night, as lifelong residents of eastern PA.  We've even been to the Doan distillery tasting room in Quakertown (EU showed a brief flash of their chalkboard menu in the episode).  I've got several of their Quakerades in the fridge; one might go down nicely this evening :)  I think we're going to make a field trip to the Mercer Museum to see the Doan Gang exhibit.

Edited July 5 by Lovecat

[rmontro]

This is not about the intro, but we did get to hear what must be Josh's catchphrase in the latest episode:  "Oh.....my.....word!".  If there was an Expedition Unknown drinking game, that would have to be in it.  And also take a drink every time Josh has a drink.

[Arynm]

9 hours ago, rmontro said:

This is not about the intro, but we did get to hear what must be Josh's catchphrase in the latest episode:  "Oh.....my.....word!".  If there was an Expedition Unknown drinking game, that would have to be in it.  And also take a drink every time Josh has a drink.

My favorite thing is when he says "oh...my... God" Then I know he is actually impressed. "Oh my word" is his polite way of showing interest.

[SVNBob]

13 hours ago, rmontro said:

we did get to hear what must be Josh's catchphrase in the latest episode:  "Oh.....my.....word!". 

We also heard a nice variation while in the cave, which was also in the promos for the episode: "Oh My Goonies!"

Not being from the PA area, I hadn't heard of the Doans before.  But it was a fascinating and timely story (in multiple senses), so I'm glad to have seen this investigation.

[Frost]

The show about building a Barracuda from parts found from crashed planes was fascinating.  So many of the episodes, especially the treasure hunts, are a lot of running around with no pay off.  It was great to see some true excitement.