No, it’s not the moon… Not a reflection of a light bulb in a dark window… Sometimes it resembles a saucer from my grandmother’s tea set, sometimes it resembles Comrade Fidel’s cigar. This Is An Unidentified Flying Object. With bug-eyed green degenerates on board. Maybe they came to steal your food, maybe the food for them is you… But you already know who to complain to about poor people who have lost weight on a long flight: call the FBI to Scalder and Malley, call agents Jay and … however, any letter of the Latin alphabet will do.
Nowadays, the investigation of contacts with strays from outer space is set on a grand scale. But how were things in the past? In the Middle Ages, when demonic lights appeared in the sky, burning a witch was a sure way to get rid. During the Renaissance, it was good form to depict a “plate” in oil on canvas, lying to the holy fathers that it was the annunciation. In the middle of the twentieth century, the US Air Force undertook to study the phenomenon, for national security and/or possible geshift.
In 1952, they established the Blue Book Project, which was preceded by the observation of strange lights in the sky over Lubbock, Texas, a year earlier (by the way, at that time a young man named Charles Hardin Holly lived in Lubbock). An outside expert on the project was invited by astronomy professor Joseph Allen Heineck, whose skepticism and scientific approach helped distinguish weather balloons from weather phenomena, and lambs from goats. However, as more and more military pilots and other sober people became witnesses, and the leadership insisted on explanations in favor of the natural causes of the incidents, the professor began to lose his ironic view of the question of “plates”.
Black-black man in a black-black car
After the closure of the Blue Book in 1969 due to the “insignificance,” according to Air Force generals, of the “observed phenomena,” Hynek founded the UFO Research Center in his native Chicago, remaining one of the world’s leading ufologists until his death in 1986. In 2019, Robert Zemeckis and a group of friends aired the first season of the series “The Blue Book Project”, the role of Professor Heineck went to the Irish actor Aidan Gillen, also known as This one… Pinky from Game of Thrones!.
Professor Hynek is an unfinished Little Finger
According to the script and facts, Allen Hynek, reinforced by his partner, veteran pilot Captain Quinn (textured Michael Malarkey), travels from state to state to the places of “contacts”, interviewing eyewitnesses, peering into the sky. As expected, a mysterious Man-In-Black suddenly appears, throwing mysterious messages and disappearing into the night like a shadow. The Cold War is gaining momentum, Mrs. and young Heinek are building a plywood bomb shelter in the backyard.
Soviet intelligence is not asleep, a Russian-made actress with the appearance and name of a porn star, Ksenia Solo, charmingly portrays a spy, Susie, ingratiating herself with Mrs. Heinek. Ksenia has experience, she spied on Tom Hiddleston in the TV series “Turn”. The head of the Russian residency (Curry Graham), according to legend, Susie’s husband, unexpectedly expected, a tyrant, sadist and patriot. Air Force General Harding (Neil McDonough), the project’s curator, is a patriot, a tyrant, and hiding something.
A simple Soviet woman
In accordance with the laws of procedural drama, each episode is a new case. Each new case begins with exciting footage of an encounter with the unknown, ending with an official explanation from Prof Allen for the peace of mind of the public and the general. Psychological portraits of characters are archetypal and do not require disclosure. The intrigue is light and pleasant, the surroundings are archaically white and heterosexual, the motives and dialogues leave no room for interpretation. It’s just an early Hitchcock!
The second season reveals the secret hangars of Area 51, the nascent CIA, Senator John F. Kennedy, and more Russians. And the main highlight of the series (after Susie the spy) is the luxury car park, the “megalodons” of the American car industry in the middle of the last century. These cars convey the spirit of the era better than hats and smoking in any place.
General Harding and... the lamp?
Uncomplicated, a little goofy, but so cozy, this multi-part film can be watched at any age, from which comes an understanding of the structure of the Solar system. Thinking about distant galaxies… Something round and luminous appeared above the horizon, Moon Dogs!
PS: Five years after the beginning of the events described, Billy Lee Riley will record the song Flying Saucers Rock And Roll. The accompanying line-up is “Little Green Men”. They were in Memphis, Professor, right under your nose!
Billy Lee Riley – Flyin’ Saucers Rock’n’Roll
And the actor who plays General Harding is known to us from the TV series Justice, where he went by the nickname Photoshopped.