hotkministry
Uploaded on Jul 3, 2011It has begun.
Rod Serling! WoOt!
I love Rod Serling. His awesome imagination and exceptional creativity played a very large part in shaping my mind. For that I am grateful to him. The Twilight Zone… Rocks!
And here he is… narrating this rather well done UFO documentary, infusing it with his inimitable style. Not only that, it also features Dr. Jacques Vallee; and two other very nice people, Mr. José Ferrer and… Mr. Burgess Meredith! Whee! How cool is that?
The film was originally released in 1974 as UFOs: Past, Present and Future with Rod narrating. It won a Golden Globe Award. This is the updated version released in 1979 with the new title. I do not know what the ‘update’ consisted of, however, as I have not seen it. Hadn’t seen this one before, either, actually, until last night via a thread by Karl 12.
The film was produced by Allan F. Sandler, directed by Ray Rivas and written by well known UFO researcher Robert Emenegger, who also composed the musical score.
There is a treasure trove of rarely, if ever, seen historical footage and interviews with some significant individuals and witnesses. It is long, but if you have an interest in this subject it is decidedly worth the watch.
It is said that there was US Government co-operation in the production of this film… and that claim is evidenced by the inclusion of interesting interview footage filmed inside the Pentagon. That interview is with Colonel Bill Coleman, Chief of Public Information for the US Air Force from 1969 to 1974.
Well, now. I have heard as may you have, too, of cases where official help is offered as a lure of some sort, perhaps and then reneged on. It may just be that the reneging was not fully implemented in the case of Mr. Emenegger.
From this fine page at Ron Schmidt’s Pegasus Research Consortium site, we note this, quoted thereon, from here…
The Holloman AFB UFO landing event was featured in Robert Emenegger’s/Alan Sandler’s 1974 documentary ‘UFO’s: Past, Present and Future’, and in an updated 1979 version ‘UFOs: It Has Begun’. These documentaries were both narrated by Rod Serling. Towards the end of the documentary, a ‘what if’ scenario was presented to the viewer about a landing that could happen in the future, or perhaps already could have happened…
“Let us look at an incident that might happen in the future, or perhaps could have happened already. The premise is that contact is made by extraterrestrial beings with representatives of the United States Air Force at Holloman Air Force Base in the deserts of New Mexico.”
Rod Serling goes on to narrate the Holloman landing event which consisted of illustrations of the landing and the aliens meeting Air Force officials. These illustrations were inter-cut with actual footage from the base. At one point in the re-enactment there is footage of a strange white-yellowish object descending towards the base, with the mountains in the background (some people have suggested it is part of the authentic UFO landing tape that slipped though).
From a 2005 pdf file by Steve Johnson giving a blow-by-blow description of the film we read this…
It is said that the producers of the film were promised unprecedented cooperation from the US military, and the inclusion of many military reports and interviews seems to confirm that suggestion. It is also said that actual footage from a real incident at Holloman AFB would be provided to them and that this would be used as the startling finale to the programme. Unfortunately, it seems the authorities got cold feet and we ended up with some hastily-prepared footage and artwork. But was it all a fiction? During the segment, we are shown a bright light descending towards the desert. Is this a real UFO, or just an out-of-focus aircraft coming in to land?
Why are specific names used, exact times and usage of precise amounts of film? What is the King One area at Holloman AFB? Apparently, in the novelisation of the film, the King One area is described as being on Mars Street in Building 930. I have been unable as yet to find a plan of the AFB with Mars Street or Building 930 noted.
And from an article (in pdf) called A History of Government Management of UFO Perceptions through Film and Television, we read…
There was more comprehensive, high-level cooperation from the DoD for the production of one particularly unusual film, though – the documentary, UFOs: Past, Present and Future (1974), which considered the extra-terrestrial hypothesis in a much more serious light. The film’s director, Robert Emenegger, was given unprecedented access to DoD facilities, including the highly sensitive Holloman Air Force Base and the Pentagon itself. “The Secretary of the Air Force [Robert Seamans] gave the order to co-operate,” explained the director, who was granted time with highranking military officers apparently well-versed in UFO-related matters, among them Colonel William Coleman, a former spokesman for Project Blue Book, and Colonel George Weinbrenner, then head of Foreign Technology at Wright Patterson Air Force Base.
The film even included a detailed reconstruction of what Emenegger claims the USAF told him was a real extraterrestrial landing at Holloman Air Force Base in 1971, complete with artistic renderings of the alleged aliens.
The USAF even provided Emenegger with a few seconds of footage showing what appeared to be an unusual, bright object descending slowly and vertically over the base. These frames, Emenegger claims, were taken from the “genuine” alien landing footage and officially authorised for use in his completed documentary, which, in line with a 49th Parallel, Vol. 25 (Spring 2011) Graham & Alford ISSN: 1753-5794 (online) 14 recommendation by the USAF, presented the incident as “one that might happen in the future – or perhaps could have happened already.”74 Emenegger claims that he was approached by the USAF to initiate this project, which would be in line with his scholarly interest in propaganda, his history as a Vice President at Grey Advertising, and his personal involvement in the Nixon Campaign to Re-Elect the President (CREEP).75 The film also received support from the Army, the Navy and NASA, with the latter furnishing Emenegger’s production with previously unreleased photographs of what appeared to be UFOs taken in space by Gemini astronauts..
Fascinating!
Seems legit, too, at least to this tired mind.
Oh, by the way, here is Angelia Joiner’s Interview with Robert Emenegger at the 2008 X-Conference.
I dunno… I love this stuff. Maybe someday I’ll even go so far as to write up my own sightings…
Anyway, enjoy!
Peace.