Star Trek And AI May Be Bigfoot's Best Friend
Artificial Intelligence Breathes New Life Into The Famed Patterson-Gimlin Sasquatch Film & Even Classic Star Trek Contributes To The Ongoing Bigfoot Debate
It’s one of the shortest films ever shot, but arguably one of the most groundbreaking. And even after more than half a century, it’s still wildly controversial. Did two cowboys on horseback capture proof of a legendary creature so elusive even Native American hunter trackers struggle to prove its existence?
Maybe…
Shot in 1967, on a 16 millimeter camera, the Patterson-Gimlin Film aka PGF has never been completely proven nor disproven. Both sides hold firm in their steadfast conviction; they either roundly deride its fakery or joyously celebrate its authenticity. So named for the men who took it - Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin - the PGF keeps intriguing and frustrating all who see it. Is it a real bipedal hominid told of by ancient Indian lore for centuries, or is it simply a big hoax scammer dressed in a convincing suit and mask?
This last descriptor always seems lost in serious PGF discussions. If it’s a hoax, it’s far more than merely a sophomoric joke. Though it was minimally profitable at best, Roger Patterson still made more than a few bucks on broadcast rights. Now deceased, Patterson’s partner that fateful day, Bob Gimlin, still alive, says he never saw a cent.
Still, the many documentaries, TV shows and feature films on Sasquatch which use or refer to PGF have turned it into a cottage industry all its own.
Film Limitations
Remember film? I don’t mean Hollywood’s dream factory at its ever crazy, corporate culture churning work. Film as in buying it to load a camera. Way back when, we used 35 millimeter, disposables, disc cameras, Polaroids and everything else in between.
Then came the bulky camcorders eventually slimmed down to palm sized. They all used film, tapes, cassettes or discs. It was mostly convenient to watch, but getting your footage into a computer to enhance and edit was cumbersome at best.
Now, it’s all mostly an all digital photographing world. You may still enjoy the grain or look of old school film, but for convenience and budgetary demands, digital image capture can’t be beat.
And that’s important for many reasons. Today’s photographers both pro and novice employ digital cameras or mobile phones. Entire Hollywood movies have been filmed on Apple iPhones. Once an image is captured digitally there’s no end to how it can be watched, manipulated and analyzed.
When Patterson and Gimlin took their soon to be earth shattering film, they couldn’t have dreamed of the toys and tools we can throw at it today. And though AI can use a big PR firm to polish its current negative reputation, the complex processing power of artificial intelligence may eventually prove to be Bigfoot’s best ally.
AI Meets Patty
Today we all have access to professional video tools which yesterday’s Hollywood FX men would have been shocked to see in action. YouTubers such as MK Davis do incredible analytical work studying PGF all on home computers. Professional outlets such as National Geographic use advanced video processing gear to shed new light on PGF, and now media experts use artificial intelligence to further our pursuit for truth.
On History Channel’s video analysis series, The Proof Is Out There, hosted by Tony Harris, the PGF and its celebrity subject known as Patty, was analyzed and processed through the latest AI inspection, stabilization and enhancement apps.
No truly definitive results were scored, however, focused AI enhanced portions such as seeing far clearer moments in the subject’s arm swing, overall walking gait, specific foot flexibility and even backside (butt crack) motion points to either a real living creature walking away from nosy human interlopers or a suit so advanced for the time, it rivals the pro cinematic trickery found in Planet Of The Apes, the primate suit state of art at that time. If Patty in PGF is indeed a big guy in a suit, the new AI analysis pretty much says those suit creators should have won an Academy Award.
The expert panel assembled by The Proof Is Out There included respected full Professor of Anatomy and Anthropology, Dr. Jeff Meldrum. After seeing the newly enhanced AI powered PGF, he concluded the subject’s feet flexing as she walks is utterly convincing that we’re looking at an organic limb, not an artificial, prosthetic foot.
Panel FX expert Bill Munns agreed, saying any suit wearing human would have to be wearing modified shoes - especially back in 1967 - covered with fur which could never afford such clear freedom of movement. AI has made the foot flexing now so clear, one can see toes arching up - something nearly incomprehensible if connected with a big fake bulky set of fake Squach shoes for a human hoaxer.
Gorilla, monkey suits or even Sasquatch like body suits fabricated in the late 1960’s for film and TV simply would never convince us it wasn’t an actor portraying a role for the cameras. Even the expensive and groundbreaking sci-fi Hollywood FX for the time, Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek, could not get it quite right.
Star Trek’s Bigfoot Suit
Mugato. A Private Little War. Star Trek fans aka Trekkies or Trekkers will quickly recognize those terms. And what of the crazy coolness of Sasquatch in outer space? Where No Bigfoot Has Gone Before may be most apt to describe.
Captain Kirk meets Bigfoot? Yup. It basically happened on creator Roddenberry’s classic original series, in the aforementioned, A Private Little War. Our noble and courageous Enterprise commander must battle Klingon interference with primitive aliens living on a lush, Earth like planet. However, Kirk tangling with a Sasquatch type creature certainly can never measure up in visuals to the stark imagery we see in the PGF.
See for yourself. Take a look at what top Hollywood FX and wardrobe artists could achieve nearly exactly the same time PGF was filmed.
It’s a still photo, so it’s hard to fully compare to Patty, but though quaint or a fun look, anyone can clearly see it’s a suit, not anything close to a convincing us Captain Kirk is dealing with large bipedal ape creature.
Why is this so important to consider?
Sci-Fi fans are vastly creative. We love to use our imagination, but a suspension of disbelief for even creative Trekkers would be too much here. To think a well funded TV show - with many thousands of dollars in FX budget - could not achieve a realistic ape creature, then posit a financially struggling cowboy could somehow best Star Trek by several orders magnitude to produce as form fitting, muscularly authentic version to fool global experts tickles one as wonderfully laughable.
But hey, maybe Roger Patterson was a dreamscape visionary Rick Baker or Stan Winston like FX artist prodigy in disguise. The mind boggles as to why he kept his artistic talent so hidden for so long...
AI continues to expand and effectively uncovers unseen details in our legacy media which would be impossible even a few years ago. The Beatles even used AI to complete their last song by incorporating a cleaned-up John Lennon demo track. As the tech gets ever better and more affordable, perhaps the Patterson-Gimlin Film and others like it will finally be proven to be genuine missing link videos of yet unclassified animals or maddening elaborate hoaxing scams designed to fool or outright con a trusting public.
This is a fun read, Will! Thanks for writing it.