Episodes also explore related pseudoscientific and pseudohistoric topics, such as: Atlantis and other lost ancient civilizations, extraterrestrial contact and ufology, and popular conspiracy theories.

The series is inspired by the works of Erich von Däniken, Zecharia Sitchin, Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval, Brinsley Trench, Charles Hapgood, and Edgar Cayce.

Episodes are frequently characterized as "far-fetched",[8] "hugely speculative",[9] and "expound[ing] wildly on theories suggesting that astronauts wandered the Earth freely in ancient times.

In response to complaints from disgruntled fans, Vice on TV created Action Bronson Watches Ancient Aliens.

The series is based on and inspired by the pseudoscientific ancient astronauts hypothesis popularized in Chariots of the Gods?, by Erich von Däniken, and The 12th Planet, by Zecharia Sitchin.

According to von Däniken, Sitchin, and others, extraterrestrial beings visited Earth in the distant past and introduced civilization, architecture, and high technology to pre-historic humans.

Many, if not all, of ancient man's achievements in language, mathematics, science, technology and architecture, such as the Egyptian pyramids, Pumapunku, Teotihuacan, and Stonehenge, are attributed to the influence of extraterrestrials.

The hypothesis also holds that ancient visitations left etymological remnants in many of the world's languages, such as the root words for "Dagon", "dragon", "dog", and "Danann", or the frequent occurrence of the prefix anu- to mean "friend" or "visitor."

Many guests featured on the series, including Graham Hancock, and Robert Schoch, have claimed a sophisticated, or highly advanced, human civilization which pre-dates our own was destroyed at the end of the Ice Age.

The narration frequently frames claims made by guests or their responses as rhetorical questions which are answered with "ancient alien theorists say yes," or a variation thereof.

Geologist Robert Schoch said portions of his own interviews for the series are sometimes inserted into the finished episodes in a manner which is out of context, or wholly disconnected from the questions asked of him on and off camera.

In the first season, credentialed scientists and professionals, such as Sara Seager and Michael Denning, respond to claims made by other guests, but their rebuttals were not rigorous.

From Season 12 onward, some episodes have included segments in which evidence that potentially supports the ancient astronauts hypothesis is subjected to on-camera tests conducted by credentialed scientists and medical professionals.

In the episode "The Star Gods of Sirius" blue, porous, nitrogen-rich stones, allegedly retrieved from the site of an alien visitation were examined by geologists.

Guests have presented other psuedohistorical and pseudoscientific hypotheses related to, or dependent upon an understanding of: Atlantis and other lost civilizations as described in works by Brinsley Trench and Edgar Cayce; or ley lines as originally described by Alfred Watkins, or more recent interpretations; cataclysmic pole shifts as promoted by Charles Hapgood; various forms of Christian and Hindu creationism, or pseudohistory and legendary history promoted followers of various new religious movements; mythical and gnostic elements of the Kabbalah, Zohar, and Book of Enoch.

Linda Moulton Howe appears in several episodes which explore alien abduction, animal mutilation, and conspiracies involving alleged military installations on Antarctica.

Episodes are frequently characterized as "far-fetched",[23] "hugely speculative",[24] and "expound[ing] wildly on theories suggesting that astronauts wandered the Earth freely in ancient times.

[28] South Park's animation style created "a perfect satire of all the ridiculousness of this series, including the black and white art with aliens photoshopped in, and interviews with people of dubious authority".

Science writer Riley Black was critical of the series—particularly an episode that suggested "aliens exterminated dinosaurs to make way for our species"—which she characterized as "some of the most noxious sludge in television's bottomless chum bucket."

"[30] In 2016, Vice on TV producer Jordan Kinley said of Ancient Aliens claims:[15] You feel kind of lost when someone questions the historical narrative you've been taught.

At the conclusion of the third episode, Dunning quoted Kenneth Feder's Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology:[32] I realize that for some of you I'm being mean, snarky, and inflexible on this topic.

But in the face of a program and, at its core, a philosophy that is based on assumptions that degrade and diminish the inherent human capacity to invent, create, build, cooperate, and rise to the occasion to solve great technological challenges, both in the present and in the past [...]Dunning emphasized Feder's conclusion: "I maintain that meanness and inflexibility are entirely appropriate responses.

We can gain insight by reading the Old Testament and reading about Ezekiel's chariot, but it's not to draw a strict analogy between his chariot and a UFO.At a 2014 hearing of the House Committee on Science, Seth Shostak said, "The public is fascinated with the idea that we may be being visited now, or maybe in the past," but there is not any evidence which has convinced him "that we were visited in [historical] times.

In a 2018 episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Robert Schoch said promoters of the ancient astronaut hypothesis "want everything to be 'ancient aliens'", which in his view was "sort of a cop-out".

[40] In April 2016, Vice on TV released Action Bronson Watches Ancient Aliens, which was followed by a ten-episode series, later retitled Traveling the Stars.

"[41] According to producers Jordan Kinley and Hannah Gregg, Traveling the Stars was developed as a response to complaints by disgruntled viewers of H2 which Vice on TV's programming replaced.

Included was an overview of the ancient astronaut hypothesis, and introductions to a number of topics explored by the television series up to Season 11.

The audiobook adaptation, which is no longer available, featured the voices of Giorgio A. Tsoukalos, Angela Cartwright, Bill Mumy, Robert Clotworthy, and producer Kevin Burns.

Josh Heald, creator of Cobra Kai, will direct a script written by Luke Ryan who will also executive produce.

[43] In July 2022, Legendary announced Craig Titley would write the feature script with Josh Heald to direct in partnership with Counterbalance Entertainment.