MysteryQuest: The Complete Season One

The initial 10 episodes of this series debuting in 2009 on the History Channel investigate purported historical mysteries in a style suggestive of supermarket tabloids. Subjects include provocative locales (the Bermuda Triangle, Stonehenge, Atlantis, Area 51, and an Amityville-like house in California), “new suspects” in unsolved serial murder cases (Jack the Ripper and San Francisco's Zodiac Killer), and the ever-popular Nazis (one episode questions whether Adolf Hitler might have lived and fled to South America, while another focuses on the so-called Odessa organization that helped high-ranking officials escape to sanctuaries outside Europe). The formula in each case is to combine impressive, high-tech scientific examination with farfetched commentary, cloaking bald speculation in a veneer of objective data. While MysteryQuest could be called sensationalistic, the combination of lurid subject matter and serious investigation will still appeal to many, thanks to series' slick productions, which feature expertly edited collages of archival material, interviews, and ostensibly authoritative exposition. DVD extras include additional footage. Optional. (F. Swietek)