Reptilian Humanoids, V and the Underground City

The most popular subject on this blog is almost always Reptilian Humanoids conspiracy theories.
I have done several entries on them here, and I even created a Hub about it on Hub Pages that is pretty popular.
So what is it about reptilians that seems to get so much attention?

Well if it is a conspiracy, it's pretty far reaching.

You have reptilians in mythology like Quetzalcoatl (the "feathered serpent" of the Aztecs), the Dragon Kings (from Chinese mythology), The Serpent (from the Bible) and Boreas (or Aquilon to the Romans) the god of the cold north wind.

Cryptozoology is full of reptilian beings like the Loveland Frog and the Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp.

Of course reptilians figure in heavily in some ufology and conspiracy theories, especially those of David Icke.

And Sci-Fi, comic books, TV and movies, video games and fiction in general is full of strange reptilian beings, both in space and here on the Earth like "The Race" from Harry Turtledove's Worldwar series, The Visitors from the 1983 and 2009 "V" TV series, Bowser (aka King Koopa) from Nintendo's Mario series, The Lizard (from Spider Man) and Killer Croc from Batman.

So what is it that makes reptilians so popular, especially as villains?

We like Godzilla (okay he's a huge monster, but he's kinda humanoid, just really big) we like The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but those are the only two cases where reptilian creatures are heroes that I can think of.

Is it the primal fear some people have of snakes?
Is it the Bible story that shows a reptilian tricking the human race?

Did the 1983 TV series "V" really kick all this off?
I mean it was popular, but the series only lasted one season.
But it all fairness, "V" must have touched a nerve because since 1984, eighteen novels have been released, an 18-issue V comic book series by DC comics was done, a manga series was produced in Japan and even a PC video game was made.

Well V wasn't the main stream media's first run in with reptilians.

Brian Dunning has suggested that a 1934 Los Angeles Times article may have actually been the origin of the modern day reptilian theory.
The article said that a geophysical mining engineer named G.Warren Shufelt had found subterranean labyrinths beneath Los Angeles that led to an underground city.
The city had been built by an advanced race of “Lizard People” to escape surface catastrophes some 5000 years ago.

You can see the article reprinted here at Reptoids.com:
http://reptoids.com/Vault/Schufeltsearch.htm
They even have the original map there.

It's noteworthy that Shufelt convinced the City of Los Angeles to allow him to dig a tunnel straight down to find the underground city.
The shaft hit 250 feet, but nothing was ever found.

So was there no underground city?
Did they not dig deep enough?

The City of Los Angeles must have gotten tired of it, because on March 5th 1934, the tunnel was filled in and the contract with L.A was canceled.

But the city never came out and said the theory was hog-wash.
As a matter of fact, in December of 1947, Mr. Arche Dunning of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce made a statement that would suggest no cover up or government conspiracy was at work here.
He said:

"It is quite possible, of course, that the supposed labyrinth really exists. But in view of the fact that the overlaying area is the immediate Civic Center area where an important building program is to be carried out, including federal, state, county and city building, there is little probability of any further excavations."