User reviews

I stumbled upon this when they re-ran it on the Discovery Channel. It looked fishy (no pun intended) from the beginning, but, since this was the Discovery Channel, I thought that it was a reenactment of actual statements. Wrong. It was very easy to tell that the "scientists" were actors. They were trying too hard to look "candid" and genuine. So that struck me right off the bat. Then we were treated to a "video" of a teenager stumbling across the body of an alleged mermaid. Again, very obvious that it's fake with blatant, poor CGI.

I have no problem with any of this. It's a free country and there are people who believe this stuff. However, I do have a problem with this kind of stuff being shown on the Discovery Channel. The Discovery Channel has (or had) a reputation of having legitimate scientific programing. They've had plenty of ACTUAL documentaries in similar style to this and to put this program on the channel, regardless of how many times they alluded to how it was fake, is completely inappropriate. I expect this kind of stuff on the SyFy Channel, where it would be appropriate, not on a channel like Discovery. I believe this program, more than any other in recent times, speaks to the poor state of U.S. television.

I dont know why everyone is so upset by this, mermaids do not exist so obviously this is not a documentary. Animal planet did another mockumentary on the Yeti and the Dyatlov pass incident. This one got a lot of hate speech also but if you watch these with an open mind and realize that they are actually for entertainment purposes you can actually enjoy it. If they can do documentaries on real animals, why cant they documentaries on mystical ones? Ask yourself, do you hate all fictional movies, books and songs because they are based on an unreality? no, so what good reason is there to hate this?

The mocks use factual mystery to create this fiction, that is what makes it better. The bloop sound for example. The acting is good and I like it how the interviews are done. Animal planet clearly has enough money to go beyond the study of animals and I think its a fine thing that they do things like this. Im impressed that Animal Planet are actively willing to destroy their own market by taking a less serious root but in doing so they possibly might be creating a new one? I hope they make more like this, I think one on the Lochness would be a great show.

"Fun Fact: It's always fun when a network with a reputation for fact based programming decides to present a non-factual program with no warning!"

This show is the reason I quit watching Animal Planet and Discovery Channel. After the initial airing and subsequent negative feedback, I thought they had learned their lesson. I just saw that they are re- broadcasting this pathetic show. The very nature of both networks has been completely compromised by this "found footage" rip off. Every development executive involved in this project should have been fired immediately. Now I see they are actually re-broadcasting this garbage. Thank goodness for Natgeo and PBS. I really love nature television but I have lost faith in the credibility of the information presented on Animal Planet and Discovery Channel.

As far as mocumentary goes this one is very compelling. It makes the audience think and ponder the possibility of a mermaid while still maintaining a healthy amount of fiction. It is far from perfect but highly entertaining.

It's not as bad as some say. On the contrary it's very interesting and catchy. Well spent time.

Why has animal planet given away its status as an iconic factual and educational channel and prostituted itself in a way that is only known to itself, to bring a programme like mermaids into its fold? It was obvious from the outset that we were listening to actors in studio's rather than in lab surroundings. This transmission should have been televised on April 1st. How many times in the past have Animal Planet tried to dupe its viewers? Obviously we will have to view every other transmission with a critical or unbelieving eye from now on. The most upsetting part of this fiction is that we were missing better programming on other channels. Very let down!

I do agree with everyone that Animal Planet and Discovery Channel has, for the most part, lost their factual take on shows and specials, and after watching this, I've lost my respect with both. The fact is, is that we're not here for 'What If' documentaries that claim to be true when they aren't! Not only was it stupid but also very dramatized and hard to sit through all of it.

If most people are curious to watch it because of the horrible reviews its getting, to have their own opinions... There are better things to do with this time, such as: biting all your fingernails completely off, giving yourself 1000 paper cuts on your face, take a nap on shards of broken glass, or to even have all your blood sucked out by leeches... All in which would be more productive and entertaining/informative....

All in all, fake (duh), stupid, waste of time and widely advertised as a documentary that only belongs on the sci fy Chanel, not either one that people are supposed to have any respect for factual documentaries on! Animal Planet, Discovery.. You disgust me...

Im just a simple computer guy I love history and mythical stories. This mermaid documentary caught my attention I saw those closed websites you see on all the articles a guy with my background I can probable research a website a little more then the average person all the websites shows as shutdown by homeland security are in fact owned by the discovery channel. Now answer me why would Dr Paul Robertson's personal website be owned by the Discovery channel? That piece of evidence alone shows me one financial reason to create a back story for the show. While entertaining, I would love to entertain the ideal of real life mermaids. However this particular show to me shows a lot of work to make. What could be a true story has a lot of hidden un-truees. Have fun! You never know what's on TV I am a found believer do your own research I don't believe everything I see or read.

Very entertaining flight of fancy, a 'what if' which made a few base suppositions and then went from there, allowing the story to develop. Very obviously fake, but entertaining to follow what might have happened had humans evolved into the oceans. Tying it into conspiracy theories was a bit dodgy, but also gave the film a good plot device about why nothing would have been heard about across the globe- "the government covered it up".

Now, if you're one of the screamers out there crying that Animal Planet dared to show a fictional documentary, what you're really saying is "I have no ability to think critically and so depend upon the television to tell me the truth, because of course, television never lies and channels shouldn't ever change their programming. Animal Planet shouldn't ever expect me to think for myself and judge whether something is fiction or reality." I recommend this 'documentary' to anyone with enough sense to know when something is a work of pure (if enjoyable) fiction.

You have to ask yourself why and how someone would fund such a contemptuous piece of rubbish? Seriously, why would anyone actually want to spend any time making this?

Personally, those responsible should be horsewhipped or made drink their favourite sugary drink laced with LSD just so they understand when and when not to cry wolf. Sad, middle class twats laughing at their middle class parties toasting their fanny award and thinking what childish spoof they can get away with next. Sad c@@ts. Glad I'm not paying for this sh@t!

In fact, In the words of the great Bill Hicks, go kill yourselves you f@@@in waste of space.

Was doing some work when my fair lady put this on. It seemed like it was serious, and we could not find any info in the guide saying otherwise. I logged in here to find that Animalplanet was playing it like it was real to get more viewers. This is in poor taste and I have lost massive amounts of respect for this channel...then again I don't watch it much so perhaps they always play crud like this. Poor acting, poor cgi, poor plot (really mermaids with nets and spears? Where do they put them?), and poor photo-shopping skills on all the "proof" images. THe acting is over the top, but nowhere as bad as the music choice that tries its best to pull you in but makes you want to rip your ears off.

The only good thing here was the computer animation. And I do believe if mermaids were indeed real, they would look more like this and not like "Splash" (which I love) and "The Little Mermaid" (not liked).

But, where did these docufictions come from? This makes a mockery of real documentaries. This is a fictional program that is based off real science of DNA testing and so on; but mocks the discovery of real animals. I do believe there are indeed animals that we have yet to discover; but not mermaids or unicorns (will they do that one next?).

Shame on Discovery networks for airing this. This should have gone to DVD with a disclaimer on it. Sad that they sold out for ratings.