Mystery Hunters

Last updated
Mystery Hunters
Created byJonathan Finkelstein
Starring Christina Broccolini
Araya Mengesha
David Acer
Country of originCanada
No. of seasons4
No. of episodes78 (list)
Production
ProducerJason Levy
Running time25 minutes
Production companyApartment 11 Productions
Release
Original network YTV (Canada)
Discovery Kids (U.S.)
Syndication
NHK (Japan) ABC Spark (Canada)
Original releaseSeptember 9, 2002 (2002-09-09) 
February 15, 2009 (2009-02-15)

Mystery Hunters is a Canadian documentary television series aimed at a young audience. It aired on YTV in Canada and on Discovery Kids and MeTV in the United States. It was also dubbed in Japanese and aired in Japan on NHK.

Contents

Teenage hosts Araya and Christina investigate paranormal or global historical reports of mysteries such as legendary creatures/monsters, disembodied spirits, dinosaurs and aliens/unidentified flying objects. They use scientific rigour to try to find plausible explanations for the sightings and eye-witness accounts that trigger their investigations. In another section of the show, Doubting Dave, a scientist played by David Acer, attempts to explain mysterious personal experiences that have been emailed in by viewers, in a feature called "V-Files", as well as a way to create your own versions of the mysteries in the show in his "Mystery Lab" segment.

Produced by Apartment 11 Productions, four seasons and 78 episodes of the series have been made, and it has garnered awards and accolades from around the world, including eight Gemini Award nominations,[ citation needed ] a 2006 Parents' Choice Award,[ citation needed ] and a 2007 Japan Prize (sponsored by the Japanese television network NHK) for the "Stonehenge" episode, awarded the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Prize in the Early Education category.[ citation needed ]

Sequence

The program begins with a question that introduces the two investigations of the week, leading into the opening title sequence. Then follows part one of each of the two stories with Araya and Christina each featured in one. Then the "V-File"; Doubting Dave answers a viewer's question about some mysterious occurrence. Then, part two of each adventure. Next comes the "Mystery Lab" segment featuring Doubting Dave doing some kind of experiment or laboratory demonstration to illustrate a point that is most often related to that week's theme. Finally, Araya and Christina conclude their stories. At the conclusion of each program, the hosts appear together in a comedic wrap-up link, usually closing out with the Mystery Hunters signature tag-line: "Remember, things aren't always what they seem!"

Episodes

Mystery Hunters has aired 78 episodes over four seasons.

Characters

Doubting Dave

Doubting Dave, played by David Acer, has two segments in each episode, in which he provides more logical answers. In one segment, he answers questions sent in to Mystery Hunters by fans of the show. In the other, he conducts an experiment that has to do with the episode's topic (e.g. UFOs)

Araya and Christina

Christina Broccolini and Araya Mengesha are the ones who go to a wide variety of locations to investigate the topic(s) included in the show. In most episodes, they go to separate locations, but in some episodes, they go together to the same location.

Music

Claude Castonguay, Christian Clermont and Marc Ouellette compose the musical score for Mystery Hunters. It is a mixture of pop, techno and orchestral styles. The composers were nominated for Music Score for a Documentary Program or Series".

DVD releases

In September 2007, the first-ever Mystery Hunters DVD was released in Canada, a three-episode collection timed for Halloween called Mystery Hunters: Beastly Beings and Monstrous Mysteries, and in the Fall of 2008, a Mystery Hunters/Doubting Dave guide to paranormal tricks and hoaxes called Gotcha! 18 Amazing Ways to Freak Out Your Friends will be [ needs update ] published by Kids Can Press.

Another DVD was released early December 2007, titled Mystery Hunters: Alien Encounters, featuring three episodes from the series about the said topic. Extras include interviews with the cast and a behind the scenes featurette with Araya.

Online games

In September 2010, a set of Mystery Hunters themed online adventure games entitled Mystery Hunters Training School was released. The website was produced in an 'interactive comic book' format containing 13 episodic adventures featuring intro and closing videos from Christina and Araya, quizzes in Doubting Dave's voice, and puzzle games and animation following themes presented in the show.

Related Research Articles

<i>Unsolved Mysteries</i> American true crime television series

Unsolved Mysteries is an American mystery documentary television show, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, it began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Karl Malden, and Robert Stack, beginning on NBC on January 20, 1987, becoming a full-fledged series on October 5, 1988, hosted by Stack. After nine seasons on NBC, the series moved to CBS for its 10th season on November 13, 1997. After adding Virginia Madsen as a co-host during season 11 failed to boost slipping ratings, CBS canceled the series after only a two-season, 12-episode run on June 11, 1999. The series was revived by Lifetime in 2000, with season 12 beginning on July 2, 2001. Unsolved Mysteries aired 103 episodes on Lifetime, before ending on September 20, 2002, an end that coincided with Stack's illness and eventual death.

<i>Ace of Wands</i> (TV series) British TV series or programme

Ace of Wands is a British fantasy children's television show broadcast on ITV between 1970 and 1972. Created by Trevor Preston and Pamela Lonsdale and produced by Thames Television, the series starred Michael MacKenzie as Tarot. It ran for two seasons of thirteen episodes, and a third season of twenty.

<i>In Search of...</i> (TV series) American TV series

In Search of... is an American television series that was broadcast weekly from 1977 to 1982, devoted to mysterious phenomena. It was created after the success of three one-hour TV documentaries produced by creator Alan Landsburg: In Search of Ancient Astronauts in 1973, In Search of Ancient Mysteries and The Outer Space Connection, both in 1975, all of which featured narration by Rod Serling, who was the initial choice to host the spin-off show. Serling died before production started, and Leonard Nimoy was then selected to be the host. The series was revived with host Mitch Pileggi in 2002 and again in 2018 with Zachary Quinto, currently airing on the History Channel.

<i>Ghost Hunters</i> (TV series) American paranormal reality television series

Ghost Hunters is an American paranormal and reality television series. The original series aired from October 6, 2004 until October 26, 2016 on Syfy. The original program spanned eleven seasons with 230 episodes, not including 10 specials. The series was revived in early 2019 and aired its twelfth and thirteenth seasons from August 21, 2019, to May 27, 2020, on A&E, after which it was cancelled and then revived for its fourteenth season only months later on Discovery+, which started airing on October 31, 2021. Season 15 began October 1, 2022 on Travel Channel. Season 16 of Ghost Hunters is set to release on Travel Channel on April 6, 2023.

History's Mysteries is an American documentary television series that aired on the History Channel.

<i>So Weird</i> Supernatural TV series

So Weird is a television series that aired on the Disney Channel as a mid-season replacement from January 18, 1999, to September 28, 2001. The series was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia. In the first two seasons, the series centered on the teenage Fiona Phillips who toured with her rock-star mom, while encountering paranormal activity along the way. The series was compared to the Fox TV series The X-Files since it took a darker tone than any other Disney Channel show at the time. For the third and final season, Disney replaced DeLizia with actress Alexz Johnson playing Annie Thelen. Production ceased after 65 episodes.

Paranormal television is a genre of reality television that purports to document factual investigations of the paranormal rather than fictional representations seen in traditional narrative films and TV. Over the years, the genre has grown to be a staple of television and even changed the programming focus of networks like the History Channel and the Travel Channel. By highlighting beliefs in topics ranging from Bigfoot to aliens, paranormal television continues to elevate popular interest in the paranormal.

Proof Positive is a reality television paranormal investigation show broadcast by the SciFi Channel beginning on October 6, 2004, through December 8, 2004. It was shown as part of the "SciFi Wednesday" evening schedule line up in the United States along with other reality television programs as Scare Tactics and Ghost Hunters. Proof Positive ran for ten episodes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Radford</span> American writer, investigator, and skeptic (born 1970)

Benjamin Radford is an American writer, investigator, and skeptic. He has authored, coauthored or contributed to over twenty books and written over a thousand articles and columns on a wide variety of topics including urban legends, unexplained mysteries, the paranormal, critical thinking, mass hysteria, and media literacy. His book, Mysterious New Mexico: Miracles, Magic, and Monsters in the Land of Enchantment, was published in the summer of 2014 and is a scientific investigation of famous legends and folklore in the state of New Mexico. In 2016 Radford published Bad Clowns, a 2017 IPPY bronze award winner, and he is regarded as an expert on the bad clowns phenomenon.

<i>Cowboy Who?</i> Canadian TV series or program

Cowboy Who? was an original 45 episode children's television series in Canada, which aired in a half-hour Sunday morning timeslot between 1990 and 1994 on the MCTV system. The show was a collaboration between then radio producer Jeff Green and the children's theatre group Salt & Pepper Theatre Company. In 1987, the Salt & Pepper Theatre Company had written and performed an 8-part series of 30 minute children's radio programs for Ottawa album oriented rock station CHEZ-FM on which Green had acted as producer and engineer. In addition, the theatre group had been involved with CHRO-TV, supplying children's theatre workshops in schools throughout the Ottawa Valley. When the Salt & Pepper Theatre Company were offered a regular slot on the station to help fulfill its CRTC license commitments for original local children's programming, they approached Green to collaborate on a series. In 1990, the team produced a pilot for Cowboy Who?, which gained them a commitment for a season of 13 episodes, and primary shooting began in the fall of that year. Two and a half more seasons were eventually created. The show spent several years in rotation on the MCTV stations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josh Gates</span> American explorer and television host

Josh Gates is an American television presenter and television producer who hosts and co-executive produces The Discovery Channel series Expedition: Unknown and also Legendary Locations. He is also the host of live specials for, and a guest investigator on, the television series Ghost Hunters and its spin-off Ghost Hunters International. He produces the related Ghost Nation series along with other paranormal television shows through his production company Ping Pong Productions. He was the host and co-executive producer of Destination Truth and Stranded on Syfy.

<i>UFO Hunters</i> American television series

UFO Hunters is an American television series that premiered on January 30, 2008, on The History Channel, produced by Motion Picture Production Inc., and ran for three seasons. Jon Alon Walz was the executive producer of the show and was responsible for selling the series to History Channel after a bidding war for the rights to the show broke out between History Channel and Sci-Fi Channel.

<i>Ghost Adventures</i> American paranormal reality television show

Ghost Adventures is an American paranormal and reality television series that premiered on October 17, 2008, on the Travel Channel before moving to Discovery+ in 2021. An independent film of the same name originally aired on the Sci-Fi Channel on July 25, 2007. The program follows ghost hunters Zak Bagans, Nick Groff, Aaron Goodwin, Billy Tolley, and Jay Wasley as they investigate locations that are reported to be haunted.

<i>Thrilling Adventure Hour</i> Staged production and podcast in the style of old time radio

The Thrilling Adventure Hour was a staged production and podcast in the style of old time radio that was held monthly at Largo, a Los Angeles nightclub located in the former Coronet Theatre. The show ran from March 2005 to April 2015. Each episode featured three non-serialized segments as well as songs and commercials from fictional sponsors. The show was written by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker; and directed by Aaron Ginsburg. The show's original songs were written by Acker & Blacker with the composer and band leader Andy Paley.

Carolla Digital is an American podcast network. The flagship program of the network is The Adam Carolla Show, which is released daily. The network also produces several other shows that are released on a weekly basis.

<i>Paranormal Challenge</i> Television series

Paranormal Challenge is an American competitive paranormal reality television series that aired from June 17, 2011 to September 16, 2011 on the Travel Channel. A spin-off of Ghost Adventures, the series was created and hosted by lead investigator Zak Bagans, with each episode featuring him challenging two teams of ghost hunters to go head-to-head in a weekly competition to gather paranormal evidence by spending a night in reportedly haunted locations in the United States. The final episode aired on September 16, 2011 and judge David Schrader announced that the show would not be renewed for a second season.

<i>Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator</i> Video game series

Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator is a freeware episodic point-and-click adventure video game for Microsoft Windows developed by Francisco Gonzalez of Grundislav Games. The game consists of eight individual episodes, or cases, with an overarching plot connecting them together. The game has won numerous Adventure Game Studio Awards, including a 2005 AGS Award for Best Gameplay.

Sherlock Holmes or Puppet Entertainment Sherlock Holmes is a Japanese puppetry television series written by Kōki Mitani and produced and broadcast by NHK. The puppets for the series were designed by Bunta Inoue. The first series of 18 episodes was broadcast on Sundays from 12 October 2014 to 15 February 2015 by NHK Educational TV (ETV); the first six episodes were broadcast by NHK General TV (GTV) in March and August 2014. A special programme was broadcast on 5 October 2014 while a "Sherlock Holmes Award" was broadcast on 28 December 2014. Each episode was rebroadcast on successive Fridays. The programme won the Japan Sherlock Holmes Award on 22 March 2015.

<i>BuzzFeed Unsolved</i> Investigative web series

BuzzFeed Unsolved is a documentary entertainment web series created by Ryan Bergara for BuzzFeed that ran from February 4, 2016, to November 19, 2021. It first appeared on the YouTube channel BuzzFeed Blue and was later given its own flagship channel BuzzFeed Unsolved Network.

References