Lost Tapes
{{short description|American factual found footage television series}}
{{Other uses|The Lost Tapes (disambiguation){{!}}The Lost Tapes}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| italic_title =
| image = lost tapes.jpg
| caption =
| genre = Found footage
Horror
Thriller
Paranormal
| creator =
| developer =
| writer =
| director =
| presenter =
| starring =
| judges =
| voices =
| narrated = Rick Robles
| theme_music_composer = Devin Powers
| opentheme =
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| country = United States
| language = English
| num_seasons = 3
| num_episodes = 34
| list_episodes = List of Lost Tapes episodes
| executive_producer =
| producer =
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| runtime = Approx. 22 minutes
| company = Go Go Luckey Entertainment
| channel = Animal Planet
| first_aired = {{start date|2008|10|30}}
| last_aired = {{end date|2010|11|9}}
| related =
}}
Lost Tapes is an American fiction television series that aired on Animal Planet. Produced by Go Go Luckey Entertainment, the program presents reenacted found footage depicting traumatic encounters with creatures cryptozoological, supernatural, mythological or extraterrestrial.{{cite web |title=Lost Tapes Schedule Fallback |url=http://animal.discovery.com/tv/lost-tapes/ |website=Animal Planet |access-date=9 March 2021 |date=25 September 2014}} Creatures featured include Bigfoot, the chupacabra, vampires, werewolves, and reptilians.
The pilot ("Chupacabra") aired on Animal Planet on October 30, 2008, for Halloween, but the series officially premiered on January 6, 2009.[https://archive.today/20130210040750/http://tvlistings.zap2it.com/tv/lost-tapes/episode-guide/EP01086200 Zap2it] {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2022}} {{Dead link|date=October 2023}} Animal Planet commissioned a second season, which premiered on September 29, 2009.{{cite press release |title=Animal Planet Unleashes Bold Entertainment Slate in 2009-2010 Upfront Season |url=http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20090402animalplanet01 |publisher=Animal Planet |date=2009-04-02 |access-date=2009-07-23}} Season 3 premiered on September 28, 2010, with episodes featuring creatures such as zombies and the Kraken. The show also used to air on Planet Green.
Overview
Lost Tapes depicts traumatic scenarios where people are attacked and/or killed by mysterious, dangerous, deadly, wild, and ferocious paranormal cryptids. The series is shot in a documentary style. Most episodes begin with a quick introduction of facts, which include interviews with experts explaining scientific theories or facts and folklore behind the episode's titular creature. In the second season, some episodes began with footage of a person being violently attacked and often killed by the episode's creature, an introduction meant to set up the events of each episode. In the third season, every episode had such an introduction. The events of every episode in all three seasons are accompanied by videos of scientists, cryptozoologists, and folklorists giving their very thoughts and opinions of the creatures, which are called Lost Tapes: Revelations.
Episodes
{{main|List of Lost Tapes episodes}}
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |
| style="padding: 0px 8px" colspan="2" rowspan="2"| Season
! style="padding: 0px 8px" rowspan="2"| Episodes ! style="padding: 0px 80px" colspan="2"| Original airdates |
|---|
| Season premiere |
| bgcolor="db7d86" height="10px"|
| 1 | 14 | October 30, 2008 | February 17, 2009 |
| bgcolor="cc99ff" height="10px"|
| 2 | 10 | September 29, 2009 | November 24, 2009 |
| bgcolor="F66B1B" height="10px"|
| 3 | 10 | September 28, 2010 | November 9, 2010 |
Critical reception
{{expand section|date=May 2017}}
Lost Tapes has received mixed reviews from critics. In a review of the season one DVD, TV Squad writer John Scott Lewinski gave the series a mostly unfavorable review, stating that in the case of this series, "Animal Planet could be accused of repacking a horror/sci-fi show as an animal documentary" and that much of the program is "outright bollocks." He did, however, state that the show holds some appeal for audiences looking for a scare, or "incredibly gullible people."{{cite web |url=http://www.tvsquad.com/2009/07/18/mysterious-creatures-haunt-animal-planets-lost-tapes-dvd/ |title=Mysterious creatures haunt Animal Planet's Lost Tapes DVD |publisher=TVSquad.com |author=Lewinski, John Scott |access-date=2010-02-13 |date=2009-07-18}} Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave the series three out of five stars, noting that while the acting was "subpar", the show overall was "simultaneously scintillating and bone-chilling."{{Cite web|url=http://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/lost-tapes|title = Lost Tapes - TV Review|date = 30 September 2009}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{official website|http://animal.discovery.com/tv/lost-tapes/}}
- {{IMDb title|1314008}}
{{Cryptozoology}}
Category:Animal Planet original programming
Category:Cryptozoological television series
Category:2000s American horror television series
Category:2010s American horror television series
Category:2000s American mockumentary television series
Category:2010s American mockumentary television series
Category:2008 American television series debuts