Fall is starting to settle in around the US, bringing the new television season along with cooler temperatures and falling leaves. As we realize that our loyal listeners probably tear themselves away from their MP3 players and computers at least occasionally to watch a little TV, we thought this week we would present some thoughts on some of the new and returning UFO shows.
ALIEN MYSTERIES
"60 Min, Destination America"
The press releases announcing Alien Mysteries promised state of the art special effects to recreate stories of encounter with extraterrestrials. Unfortunately, this show just does not deliver the effects promised. Instead, the show has primitive CGI effects which are repeated several times each episode. Even relatively simple scenes, such as cars driving down highways, are presented using the poor effects and overall the sub-par effects detract from the show. If you can get past the poor visuals used during the re-enactments, though, Alien Mysteries does a fairly good job using the words of the original witnesses and investigators to tell the stories of close encounters. Each episode focuses on a single event (such as Rendlesham Forest) or the experiences of a single group of witnesses, so Alien Mysteries has the time to explore each story they just unfortunately do not seem to have enough footage for each episode. http://www.discovery.ca/showpage.aspx?sid=49594
ANCIENT ALIENS
"60 Min, History (current new episodes; it is scheduled to return to sister network H2)"
Ancient Aliens is not a new series; it has been on since 2010, but it has returned for its sixth season. It has been shown on both the History Channel and H2 during its run, with the current batch of new episodes premiering Monday nights on History Channel. Ancient Aliens probably has the highest budget and production values of any of the current batch of UFO related shows on television, making it very easy to watch. Each episode focuses on a specific topic or theme with the main body of information being presented by an off screen narrator. Thoughts and opinions are added to each episode in the form of on-screen comments. In many ways, Ancient Aliens is the best UFO show on television. It has the budget to include footage from around the world as well include guests ranging from UFO researchers to historians and scientists. It does have a few flaws, though. Throughout the series run it has spoke of "ancient alien theorists" as if there is a single, unified viewpoint among UFO researchers. The show has also arguably exhausted the topic of ancient aliens at this point and has strayed into topics such as UFO stories of the Old West (a tie-in with the film Cowboys and Aliens), UFOs and bigfoot and even episodes discussing decidedly non-ancient subjects such as Einstein and NASA. http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens
THE UNEXPLAINED FILES
"60 Min, Discovery Science"
A relatively new offering from Discovery Science, The Unexplained Files is not dedicated solely to the topic of UFOs. Instead, it is a magazine style show that covers a variety of topics ranging from the paranormal to scientific mysteries. In many ways it is a throwback to the days of Sightings or Unsolved Mysteries. Stories are presented using a mix of re-enactments, on camera interviews, source video/photographs and new footage. Stories are not simply presented without comment; most are investigated in some way and multiple viewpoints are possible explanations are often given. If you are interested in mysterious subjects beyond UFOs, The Unexplained Files is definitely worth watching especially since it seems that most episodes manage to cover at least one UFO related story. http://science.discovery.com/tv-shows/the-unexplained-files
UNSEALED: ALIEN FILES
"30 min, 2nd season syndicated with 1st season replays on Destination America"
The intro to Unsealed: Alien Files states that secret files that detail every alien encounter are now publicly available, implying these documents form the basis of the show which is a stretch. Unsealed, which is narrated by Coast to Coast AM weekend host John B. Wells and features John Greenewald Jr. and Bill Birnes, is, at best, sensationalist. It walks a fine line, never quite stating the claims presented are facts. Instead, the claims are made without question or comment and then the narrative quickly jumps onto the next topic, piling tenuous conclusion on top of tenuous conclusion. For example, in a show on Los Angeles as a UFO hot spot, the show jumps from the story of the Battle of Los Angeles to the theory Kennedy was killed because he requested UFO information with nothing to connect the two topics (much less support the Kennedy assassination theory). The show itself is made up of a combination of stock footage, on screen interview and CGI. Some guest comments are offered through some type of lower quality video conferencing, though, which does betray the fact that Unsealed is a fairly low budget offering. In all fairness, Unsealed: Alien Files has some kind of charm. It is fluff, full of wild theory and supposition, but it is entertaining. http://www.unsealedfiles.com/the-alien-files
