Relatively rational

“Weird or what” is a TV series about unexplained phenomena and bizarre events, hosted by William Shatner. Yes, the guy who starred James Kirk in “Star Trek”. The show is intended as entertainment rather than documentary, but this first season is nevertheless quite interesting. It has a more sceptical slant than most other TV productions about the unexplained, and could appeal to science buffs and open-minded sceptics.

However, I guess that this angle didn't work too well, since the second and third seasons of “Weird or what” changed the concept somewhat, concentrating much more on the usual sensationalist paranormal stuff (aliens, Mothman, Mayan apocalypse 2012, etc). The first season sounds more rational. Well, almost. The show goes off the deep end in the sixth episode, featuring an interview with Whitley Strieber! Ahem, is he even *allowed* near civilized company these days?

Otherwise, we get a mostly rational (or seemingly rational – I haven't studied all these subjects!) look at mysteries such as the cocaine mummies, the Voynich Manuscript, sailing stones, ghost lights and The Bloop. Several episodes deal with seemingly impossible events, such as the man who fell from a 46-story building in New York City and survived, or the skinny 14-year old boy who managed to lift a car long enough to save his father trapped underneath. And why did the famous sea lions at San Francisco's Pier 39 suddenly leave all at once, leaving slightly bemused tourists behind? (Clue: it was El Nino's fault, as always.) Speaking of weird weather, we also have a new climate change-induced threat to worry about: megacryometeors (that's mega-cryo-meteors), large chunks of ice formed in the lower stratosphere and tumbling down on unsuspecting citizens and their houses… Surely the government will do something? No? The most bizarre mystery of all is the case of the “Salish Sea human foot discoveries” (to use Wikipedia's term): severed feet wearing sneakers have washed ashore outside Vancouver on a semi-regular basis. Somebody's sick idea of a joke, or…?

As already pointed out, “Weird or what” is somewhat uneven, and Shatner's jokes don't always work very well, but this production nevertheless deserves the OK rating, three stars.