The best known television productions covering the ropen of Papua New Guinea are probably by Destination Truth and Monsterquest:
- Ropen episode of Destination Truth (2007), Season 1, “Ropen/Chupacabra” Broadcast
- Flying Monsters episode of Monsterquest (2009), Season 3, #15
Both of them consulted with me during their pre-production research, before their respective expeditions in Papua New Guinea. I recommend the Destination Truth episode.
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Josh Gates (left) interviews an eyewitness (Ropen episode of Destination Truth)
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From the Third Edition of “Live Pterosaurs in America” (book)
I am grateful that the History Channel’s MonsterQuest episode on “flying monsters” in Papua New Guinea revealed to many Americans the living-pterosaur searches by Garth Guessman and Paul Nation; but the MonsterQuest expedition on New Britain Island, in early 2009, was not itself a serious living-pterosaur investigation but a show that cast doubt on that belief of those two Americans. . . .
I had assisted two of the production researchers with early pre-production, answering questions by emails and short phone conversations, notwithstanding the show’s title, “MonsterQuest,” made me suspicious. . . .
And I’m grateful that viewers of the June 3rd [2009] episode were introduced to Guessman and Nation (two of the most-active explorers searching for living pterosaurs), for the complete truth will eventually come out, regardless of present limitations: I noticed limitations in the knowledge and understanding of the show’s writers or editors. . . .
. . . Now for the show’s content. Impressive 3-D animations of giant pterodactyloids give no hint that many important eyewitness testimonies clearly include long tails. I realize the constraints involved with a one-hour episode: little time for distinguishing between sightings of the long-tails Rhamphorhynchoids and the short-tailed Pterodactyloids. But the World War II veteran Duane Hodgkinson is briefly interviewed, giving viewers the impression that he saw something similar to that 3-D creature.
The day after the broadcast, I talked with Garth Guessman on the phone. He told me that eyewitness reports on New Britain Island are of short-tailed creatures, rather than long-tailed ones common elsewhere in Papua New Guinea; that justifies the producers. But other things made it difficult to imagine how the producers could have been justified in their decisions. . . .
Some viewers of this episode may have become convinced that evidence for living pterosaurs is scarce. Why? The eyewitness testimonies, scarcely covered, were overshadowed by a fossil-expert’s declaration about ancient extinctions and his personal disbelief in extant pterosaurs. Truth would have been better served with more coverage of the eyewitness evidence, rather than the overemphasized personal doubts of that man.
The world’s greatest expert on chickens—that’s a fox. The details of that expertise culminate in picking bones, executed differently than, but for the same purpose as, the work of a fossil expert: to make a living. The hope differs: The paleontologist searches for ancient bones somehow protected from the destructive forces of time; the fox, for fresh meat, somehow unprotected by the farmer for a time. Interminable dogmatism keeps both of them searching: one for death anciently; the other, death soon-to-be. [Excerpts from pages 116-118 of the nonfiction book]
I am grateful that my friends and associates Garth Guessman, Clifford Paiva, and Paul Nation were featured on this Monsterquest episode. I am also grateful that Duane Hodgkinson was part of this television production about these wonderful flying creatures.
More recently, I have been communicating with a lady who is researching accounts of apparent pterosaurs for a possible television production. Some of the recent sightings discussed include those in the U.S. states of Georgia and South Carolina. I hope that at least a few American eyewitnesses will be interviewed and shown on this documentary, but there is not yet any guarantee that production will take place. For now, I am helping with early pre-production.
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Jonathan David Whitcomb, a forensic videographer, interviewed Hodgkinson, in 2004, and found his testimony credible. In 2005, Garth Guessman, another ropen investigator, in Montana videotaped his own interview with Hodgkinson and the session was analyzed by Whitcomb, who became even more convinced the World War II veteran was telling the truth: The man had seen a ropen.
Ropen Episode of Destination Truth
Just before Eric Wing and Neil interviewed me in their Hollywood office, I had received news that Paul had videotaped some ropen lights . . .
Destination Truth Arrived Honestly
We must understand, however, the great difference between a well-funded scientific expedition and a television adventure series, for Destination Truth had several purposes for visiting the southwest Pacific, and the glowing ropen was only one of them.