DVD Review :: The Legend of the Crystal Skulls

Got a rare documentary DVD in the other day here at our Blog. It was from our friends at the Smithsonian channel in HD and was called "The Legend of the Crystal Skulls". As I sat and thought about it I couldn't place where this was fimilar? Were these mentioned in some myth books I read as a kid? Alongside Atlantis and Bigfoot? Then it hit me. These are the same crappy skulls that were the basis for that horrible Indiana Jones movie this summer. You know the crappy one about aliens and nazis that was a CGI mess? That one. Not a good start. However this documentary traces the dramatic, true life story of the Crystal Skulls and the state of the art tech that proved them fakes.

Not just a thing of crappy sequels the Crystal Skulls have a real life following of new agers who believe in thier mystical  abilities and thier supposed Myan origins. Today there are a handful of cryatal skull relics including one at the Smithisonian museum in Washington, DC. This DVD is the story of curator Jane MacLaren Walsh and her 16 year quest to trace it's origin. It takes us from new age hippies to the acient Mesoamerican archives in London.

Of course what makes this all interesting is that the skulls are made to mess with scientists. Made of pure quartz crystal they not only reflect light and conduct electricity  (and store it!) they also contain no carbon, which makes it impossible to carbon date them.

Add in a real life Indiana Jones, his 20 year younger "companion" and the story of where and who made these
makes a really good documentary. The filming is well done and the acting (when needed) is well done and subdued. Also the folks at the Simthsonian pull no punches. When something is fake they tell you so, and if it's real...well watch the documentary.

It's out on DVD October 14th for around $15.00. I give the DVD a B+