US Television, Beast Legends, Episode 1.5 "Wildman of Vietnam"

Beast Legends
Season One, Episode Five, Wildman of Vietnam
Original Air Date:  Thursday, October 7, 2010

Episode five begins with Steve and Francis in southeast Asia to get the ball rolling on the teams research into the Vietnamese Wildman.  Kathryn, Mike and Scott are back home in the Beast Lab researching the origins of the legend.  The Wildman of Vietnam is said to roam the rainforests.  The beast walks like a man, has superhuman strength and an appetite for flesh.  According the Kathryn, the legend has been around for centuries. 

First person accounts of the Wildman of Vietnam have been given by inhabitants of Vietnam as well as by American soldiers who fought on Vietnamese soil during the Vietnam conflict.  One American soldier who was willing to tell the tale of what he witness during his tour of duty is Gary Linderer.  Linderer was stationed in central Vietnam in 1968.  He had been in country for approximately a month before encountering the Wildman.  He was dropped into the jungle by helicopter before dawn.  When the sun came up, he saw the creature.  Linderer recorded his recount of his experience on video.  Linderer describes the creature as being approximately 5'6"-5'10" tall and the eyes were very clear and intelligent looking.  Mike begins constructing their creature by starting with the form of a man.

US Television, Beast Legends, Episode 1.4 "Winged Lion"

Beast Legends
Season One, Episode Four, Winged Lion
Original Air Date:  Thursday, September 30, 2010

In this weeks episode, the team researches and creates the winged lion, or as it is also known, the griffin.

Steve and Francis begin in Germany where they are searching for the bones while the rest of the team is at home in the lab researching the griffin legends.

The Griffin can be traced back even farther than Greek legends to Mesopotamia onward to the Mongolian area of Central Asia.  Scott suggests that they break the project into two parts.  Since there is an eagle in the front and a lion in the back, he suggests starting with a cave lion.  Currently, there aren't lions in Mongolia but there were cave lions that went into extinction 10,000 years ago. 

Steve and Francis are looking for the bones of a cave lion found in Zoolithen Cave in Burggaillenreuth, Germany.  They enter a deep cave protected by scientists for the valuable information contained within it.  Dr. Cajus G. Diedrich takes them into the dark and dangerous cave.  They want to see the bones to help determine the size of their griffin.  Only 1% of the bones found in the cave were lion bones.  They find cave bear bones but must continue down through dark and tight crevices to reach the few precious lion bones the cave contains.  They turn off their torches and the cave is literally pitch black.  Steve describes a scenario of how it might have been for the sleeping bears when the lions came to prey upon them.  Francis takes some time to make some amazing drawings of the bears and lions but he still would like to get the scale of lion to human. 

US Television, Beast Legends, Episode 1.3 "Mega Jaws"

Beast Legends
Season One, Episode Three, Mega Jaws
Original Air Date:  Thursday, September 23, 2010

In this episode of Beast Legends, the team is researching the Fijian legend of Dakuwaga, the Shark God.

While Scott, Francis and Mike stay in the lab researching the legend, Steve and Kathryn head to a small Fijian island to meet with the locals to learn more about the Dakuwaga legend.  The legend states that Dakuwaga is a shapeshifter that can be a man, sea snake or giant shark.  The Shark God protects the innocent and punishes evildoers.  The all-knowing, all-seeing Shark God has a terrifying wrath.

Tiger, reef and bull sharks are known in Fijian waters and are used as the starting point for the team to base their creature on.

US Television, Beast Legends, Episode 1.2 "Fire Dragon"

Beast Legends
Season One, Episode Two, Fire Dragon
Original Air Date:  Thursday, September 16, 2010

In the second installment of the Beast Legends series, the team sets out to create the fire dragon.  Kathryn, Mike and Scott are in the lab researching the dragon legends.  The Polish legend of Smok the Dragon is their starting point.  They next look over images of dragons from all over the world and find they all typically have wings and fire breathing in common.

Steve and Francis start in southern Poland on their search for information about the fire dragon.  They are in Krakow, Poland looking for the bones of Smok the Dragon at Wawel Castle.  They see the bones that have hung on the cathedral wall for centuries.  What has been believed to be the rib bone of the dragon Steve identifies to be the jaw bone from a whale.  The skull, Steve identifies as that of a rhino, possibly even an Ice Age woolly rhino.  The large thigh bone:  an elephant or mammoth.

They get in out of the rain where Francis begins his sketching.  Using the measurements of the bones at the cathedral, the sketch shapes up to look more like an "overweight dragon" than the fearsome beasts of mythology we've all come to know.  Even once the dragon is on the computer, it still doesn't look the least bit fearsome thanks to its roly-poly belly.

US Television, Beast Legends, Episode 1.1 "The Kraken"

Beast Legends
Season One, Episode One, The Kraken
Original Air Date:  Thursday, September 9, 2010

I've got to say, I love stuff like this.  I've always had a fascination with mythology and legend.  When a television show comes along that looks to take myth & legend and build upon it with biological facts I've got to check it out.

Beast Legends is a new six-part documentary series currently being aired on the SyFy Channel.  The goal of the show is to take legendary creatures and bring them to life using state-of-the-art computer graphics.  Behind those computer graphics is old fashioned research, planning, animation and hard work.  The investigative team consists of five individuals who bring a unique eye and imagination to each project.  Steve Leonard is an adventurer and veterinary surgeon.  Francis Manapul is a very talented comic book artist.  Kathryn Denning (anthropologist, archaeologist & associate professor, York University, Canada) is a Legend Specialist.  Scott Edwards (Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University) is a biologist.  Mike Paixao is an animator skilled at bringing anything to life using a computer.