From Monster Midas: An Unauthorized Biography of James Golden, by Alexis Bowman, originally published 2018 The ship was found six weeks later, adrift and abandoned. Imagine filled a ship with scientists, actors, and camera crews, and sent it out into the Pacific Ocean.Ĭommunications were lost on May 17. The filming of Lovely Ladies of the Sea: The True Story of the Mariana Mermaids should have been routine. It seemed the public’s thirst for cryptozoological fiction thinly veiled as fact was insatiable.

The Search for the Chupacabra aired in 2009, followed by Expedition Yeti in 2010, The Last Dinosaur in 2012, and Unicorn Road in 2014. Loch Ness: A Historical Review brought in high ratings, renewed advertiser interest, and strong DVD sales, sparking a wave of similar programming. The first Imagine “mockumentary” was conceived and scripted by the Imagine Network’s then president, Benjamin Yant. Still, the Imagine Network endured and, by 2008, was providing a reasonable return on Golden’s investment. Originally envisioned as a home for Golden’s prodigious backlist, many dismissed the Imagine Network as the final vanity project of an aging man, noting that the Sci-Fi Channel, launched the previous year, had a larger and more robust stable of original programs. Called the King of Schlock by his detractors and Monster Midas by his fans, there was no question the name Golden carried substantial weight by 1993, when he announced the establishment of the Imagine Network. Golden-an aspiring media mogul who felt movies and television had become “too serious”-proceeded to make his name producing a string of B-grade horror movies, latter-day grindhouse films, and remarkably ambitious science fiction epics. Founded by James Golden in 1972, Imagine Entertainment was intended to “restore the fun” to the entertainment industry.

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant