Well-tested gimmicks may not be enough to save the Planet

TV Review: Leigh Hart's Mysterious Planet, TV One, Fridays, 9.30pm Reviewed by Nick Ward

Back in the mists of time, I was hooked on a series called Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World, which looked at things like Stonehenge, UFOs, sea monsters, crystal skulls and the like.

Leigh "That Guy" Hart is on the same trail in Leigh Hart's Mysterious Planet, but he's got a hard road ahead of him trying to provide equally riveting viewing.

Hart has donned his safari gear, professing to be a cryptozoologist (those people who search for the Loch Ness Monster, lenient parking wardens and other mythical creatures) and travelling the world to get the lowdown on all things unexplained – but you know it's mostly an excuse to take the Burt Munro lemon tree fertiliser out of various assorted cranks.

He kicked off by bowling up to the annual Bigfoot conference in Ohio to look at grainy photos, visit the locations of Bigfoot sightings, and meet guys who collect what they claim to be Bigfoot poo. It probably wasn't wise of some of them to admit that their sightings took place during boozing sessions around the campfire.

One delegate admitted that he attended "for the entertainment of watching these people – it's a sociological experiment". Another was brave enough to admit that some of them were the kind of people who see Bigfoot in every forest shadow. Others were what might be called the Sasquatch Sierra Club. "We're a no-harm, no-kill group – but we sure would like to find one that's died a natural death," one of them enthused.

Anyone familiar with Moon TV's absurdist, deadpan style of humour could see how this was going to pan out. The interviews were an excuse to lure the Bigfoot believers into embarrassing themselves, before surprising them with dumb and challenging questions. There were also Eating Media Lunch-type spoofs, such as when Hart shared his "findings" on the Waitakere Yeti, who apparently lives in Central Otago, is very short and has a thing for rape (though Hart is a faster talker and less deliberately offensive than Jeremy Wells, so he's able to get away with this sort of thing without risking arrest).

And then there were the obligatory behind-the-scenes ructions with the camera crew, including blundering around in the forest at night with torches, Blair Witch-style.

This show has a strong whiff of the Matt 'n' Marc junket about it. Congratulations to Hart for parlaying the sleeper success of Moon TV into a big-budget series – he does sly humour best, such as when the camera lingered on hirsute, overfed delegates while Hart addressed them about his professed interest in "large upright walking hominids". But it sandwiches facts between the bouts of mickey-taking, which makes for a confused blend, and drags – I was bored well before the second ad break. And the cod-serious deep-voiced narration and cod-Survivor theme music gimmicks have run their course.

Even the best efforts of the Naan Doctors wouldn't be enough to save this show.

But we might end up learning something useful from it, such as whether Nessie wears anything under his kilt.

- © Fairfax NZ News