The Phenomenon

I've been a science guy all my life. A little over 20 years ago I worked the Drake equation with numbers that seemed pretty reasonable to me and came up with N a bit less than 1, meaning that the odds were, we were alone in our galaxy and that other life probably exists in other galaxies, but we're alone here. I caught the David Fravor episode of Joe Rogan Experience and that really kinda did it for me. The thing about this documentary is that the vast majority of the witnesses are sober, serious, credible people. Generals, naval aviators, presidents, senators, defense department officials, missile launch officers, etc. These are not easily excitable whack jobs. What is abundantly clear is that they are out there. They are also, for the most part, not interfering. Here's my theory on it: They made a huge display of force and a "hey, here we are" back in the early 50s. Then Roswell happened, and the government started trying to suppress discussion of it to the point where it became fringe, "whack-job" seeming territory. The "visitors" probably decided that we're not ready for them and backed off. Here's the thing: I think as a species, we're desperately in need of help. I think we're on the fast track to extinction. According to a 2010 Nature article, since 1950, 40% of the phytoplankton in oceans has disappeared due to ocean heating and acidification. Phytoplankton accounts for half of our oxygen supply and it's quickly disappearing. The other half of our oxygen supply is rapidly being burned to the ground and we have an addiction to oil that's making all this worse. And this isn't our only problem. We have lots of them. Nuclear waste, biological weapons (and the capability now for anyone with a few tens of thousands of dollars, to build custom viruses. How long until an psycho biologist wipes us out?). We're doing a lot of things wrong and I think most of us feel overwhelmed by the problems and I think as a species, we're overwhelmed and don't know how to fix these things. We should ask them for help. They're clearly not here to hurt us. Maybe they're just waiting for us to ask the question. I think the UN should send a signal out, doesn't matter where. Just broadcast. They'll get it. If they're inclined to help they will. If they don't, we're no worse off. But if nothing else, maybe us asking for help will also be us admitting we have a problem and that may be a big help too.

I've seen just about every documentary there is about this subject, so naturally I watched this one too! I really liked it, I liked it even more because they avoided the usual frauds and attention seekers in this field. (Maybe with the exception of George Knapp but he was barely featured - thankfully!) So it immediately had more credibility than some of the other docs about the UFO phenomena. If you are interested in the truth or just want to know what's happening in your own "backyard" this is a good starting point.

If you're an avid UFO buff, there isn't much new in this documentary. It is, however, an excellent narrative of all the known "facts" to date. The highlight is definitely the children from the Zimbabwean primary school and their reactions to their contact experience. For anyone interested in the phenomena, this is a must see introduction to the most sinister cover up in human history.

Greetings again from the darkness. One has to hand it to documentarian James Fox. He is nothing if not persistent. And persistency is a requirement for anyone involved with researching and reporting UFO sightings that now date back more than 70 years. To give you an idea of Mr. Fox's commitment to the cause, he also directed OUT OF THE BLUE (2003, which was also narrated by Peter Coyote) and I KNOW WHAT I SAW (2009), and produced (with his father Charles) UFO'S: 50 YEARS OF DENIAL (1997).

Peter Coyote is back as narrator for Mr. Fox's latest project, apparently inspired by the 2017 New York Times report of the secret Pentagon UFO program called Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), which details US Navy Pilots' multiple encounters with Unidentified Flying Objects. And just this year (2020), the US Defense Department confirmed encounters classified as 'unconfirmed'.

For many years now, we have heard the claims that, "We are not alone in the Universe", and "There is something else out there." This film lays out the photographic evidence and the eyewitness testimony, as well as researching the secretive nature of the government on this topic for so long. We hear from some of those affiliated with Project Blue Book, the UFO investigative initiative formulated by the US Air Force. Many pilots and crew have documented what they've seen, and there is even a 1998 interview with Astronaut Gordon Cooper, providing more credibility to the sightings and encounters.

The film somewhat works as a timeline, but director Fox chose to bounce around in time, which provides some structure, while also working against a chronological perspective. It goes back to 1947, when pilot Kenneth Arnold reported an encounter with multiple flying saucers in formation near Mount Rainier, and then details more sightings that occurred over the next few decades, including: 1952 invasion of secure airspace, 1955 military pilot William Coleman, 1957 Levelland, Texas sheriff, 1966 landing in Michigan, and the 1966 Congressional hearings. We learn of "The case that changed everything", a 1964 New Mexico encounter with Officer Lonnie Zamora, which left evidence such as landing gear imprints, footprints, and a burn area.

As you would expect, Dr. Jacques Vallee and Dr. J Allen Hynek are included here. They are two of the foremost experts on UFO research, and Dr. Vallee was the inspiration for Francois Truffaut's Dr. Lacombe in Steven Spielberg's classic CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977). Director Fox does a nice job mixing the interviews with experts, historians, military personnel, intelligence officers, and eye witnesses - interviews that have taken place over many years. For skeptics, plenty of international work is blended in, as we learn of the students in 1966 Australia, the 1982 Ukrainian nuclear site, and in the "Contact" section, we hear of 1959 New Guinea where the aliens "waved" back, and 1994 Zimbabwe, where students reported being communicated with telepathically.

Billionaire Laurance Rockefeller held a lifelong interest in UFO's and used his influence during the Clinton Presidency to drive the de-classifying of crucial documents pertaining to the 1947 Roswell, New Mexico incident. We also learn how the government has invoked similar cover stories for the public for many decades ... does "weather balloon" sound familiar? Harry Reid, Senate Majority leader from 2007-2015 also pushed for more transparency, but even with his "insider" power, it seems clear some things fall into the "Above Top Secret" category, and will likely never see the light of the day. That's part of what causes the "stigma" for those who speak up, and why certain folks remain persistent in uncovering the truth ... it's out there. Cue the "X-Files" music.

I'm over 50 and this documentary finally convinced me that we are being visited by others of some sort. Whether they are from another planet or the future or something else is of course undetermined. But so many reliable witnesses as well as the captured footage is convincing. If the former Senate majority leader believes then you probably should too. The two events witnessed by multiple children are also very convincing. There is no way you can get 20 or 30 kids to agree on a lie and flawlessly maintain the lie over decades. They very likely have stealth technology, so the one comment that stands out is "why are they allowing themselves to be seen at all." My guess would be to prepare us for an eventual public contact. But hey who knows. Maybe their stealth technology is unreliable :)