Fear the moon, Hollywood tells us

Last Saturday's "super moon" had stargazers agape and caused widespread speculation that the moon's unusually close proximity to Earth might wreak havoc on our planet by precipitating destructive geological and tidal activty.

Of course, humanity's fascination with the mysteries of our celestial neighbour is as old as humanity itself, so it was only natural that as we strode into the age of mechanical reproduction the moon assumed the leading role in cinema's very first science fiction film. Georges Méliès' 1902 classic A Trip to the Moon depicted a group of astronomers journeying to the moon only to find it populated by hostile insectoid aliens known as "Selenites."

The moon has been subject to the silver screen treatment many times since Méliès' pioneering cinematic lunar excursion, but, for obvious scientific reasons, few films besides Méliès' have ever connected the moon with the idea of extraterrestrial life. Over the next 18 months, however, no less than three films will do just that: Apollo 18 (April 2011), Transformers: Dark of the Moon (July 2011), and Dark Moon (Sept. 2012), and it is notable that all three of these films will be tapping directly into real-life debates among UFO researchers surrounding the idea of a 'black ops' space programme.

Is there more to NASA - and to our moon - than meets the eye? Hollywood certainly thinks it's a cool concept, but will its upcoming movies along these lines serve to open minds to the not entirely far-fetched idea of a secret space programme, or to push the notion further into the realms of public fantasy as an implausible cinematic fiction?

For information relating to alleged moon anomalies and secret NASA activities, see the testimonies of Disclosure Project witnesses Donna Hare and Karl Wolf, as well as that of the now legally imperilled computer "hacker" Gary McKinnon.

'Battle: LA' tops box office

Shoving aside its many critics, Battle: Los Angeles, has manoeuvred straight to number one at the US box office. This should come as little surprise considering that the film's sophisticated viral marketing campaign - central to which was an authentic photograph of the real life 'Battle of Los Angeles' of 1942 - began as far back as July of last year.

While Battle: Los Angeles brought in an impressive $36 million in its opening weekend, the other UFO/alien movie of the moment - Disney's Mars Needs Moms - opened to a disappointing $6.8 million.

Silver Screen Saucers updates

Just a quick note to regular visitors: Now that Silver Screen Saucers is established and relatively up to date with regard to recent UFO movie-related news stories, the frequency of my updates will reduce to once (maybe twice) a week, or as and when relevant news breaks, or as and when I publish new articles and commentary pieces. Thanks for your visits so far - and do keep coming back!

Aliens vs. Navy in Universal's 'Battleship'

Fast running out of ideas for alien invasion movies, Hollywood visionaries have decided it would be a good idea to produce a $200 million big screen rendering of the Hasbro board game, Battleship. But with added aliens, naturally.

And who is to star in this epic motion picture? Which actors would most seem at home on the high seas battling an alien foe? Pop star Rihanna and underwear model Brooklyn Decker, that's who. Just in case you were thinking there might be better uses for $200 million - Golden Globe and Oscar nominee Liam Neeson is also on board. Chew on that, naysayers. The Universal Pictures production is scheduled for release 18 May, 2012. Thanks Hollywood.

Spielberg's 'Super 8': full trailer

The full trailer for what promises to be this Summer's biggest UFO movie - Super 8 - is now online. Produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by J.J. Abrams, the film appears to be heavily influenced by Spielberg's early works in this genre, particularly Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. The Extraterrestrial. This time, however, the ET isn't quite so angelic. Intriguingly, the movie's plot is rumoured to feature Area 51. See the full trailer here.

'Battle: Los Angeles' bombs with critics

In cinemas today, the UFO movie Battle: Los Angeles has received a swift kicking from film critics.

The consensus? A relentless two-hour battle scene peppered with dreadful dialogue and infused with excruciating war movie cliche does not a good movie make. That the film is lacking in subtlety is hardly surprising considering the intimate involvement in its production process of the US military.

In exchange for the free use of military hardware and personnel onscreen, as well as access to military installations - including Barksdale Air Force Base and Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base - as realistic filming locations, in line with its standard operating procedure, the Pentagon's entertainment liaison office will have had considerable control over the movie's content, from start to finish. The critics reviews are unlikely to bother the Pentagon or the filmmakers, though. After all, a military recruitment advert can hardly be expected to win any Oscars.

For a selection of mainstream critics reviews of Battle: Los Angeles, head on over to Rotten Tomatoes, where you'll also find a list of other UFO movies, along with their 'Tomatometer' critics ratings and original theatrical trailers.

I'll be posting more information on the production process of Battle: Los Angeles in the coming months.

Hollywood propaganda

My frequent writing partner Matthew Alford - a leading expert in the study of Hollywood propaganda - was interviewed recently on PsiOp Radio.

In a lively eighty-minute discussion with the show's hosts, Matthew covered a range of fascinating topics relating to the politics of Hollywood, effectively busting the myth that Tinseltown is, in any meaningful sense of the term, a "liberal" institution.

Corporate shenanigans and issues surrounding product placement are explored; so too Hollywood's symbiotic relationship with the US government in the form of the DoD and CIA. Also discussed in this latter context are Hollywood's UFO movies. You can listen to the interview at PsiOp Radio's website. It's eighty-minutes well spent!

Dark Skies on DVD

Created by Bryce Zabel and Brent Friedman, the UFO-themed TV series Dark Skies was first broadcast by NBC in 1996 only to be cancelled the following year, placing it in the good company of innumerable challenging TV shows to have been shoved unceremoniously by cigar-chomping corporate executives into the televisual memory hole.

Great news, then (for those of you that didn't know already) that Dark Skies has finally come to DVD. Both slickly entertaining and UFOlogically fascinating, the series will resonate with casual fans of the sci-fi genre and seasoned UFO researchers alike.

For much more information about Dark Skies, including where you can purchase the series, head on over to Bryce Zabel and Richard Dolan's website, After Disclosure.


For the Dark Skies DVD trailer, see here.

Aliens to experience British hospitality

Following on from the success recently of Brit sci-fi comedy Paul comes another UK UFO movie: the genre-bending Attack the Block, with a story pitched as 'inner city vs. outer space.'

For anyone who's ever asked the question: "If aliens are real, why don't they just come and visit us?" a selection of Britain's best and brightest youngsters have the answer.


Attack the Block hits UK cinemas May 13, 2011.

UFOs and Hollywood: Fact and Fantasy

My latest article - a detailed analysis of how Hollywood UFO movies shape/distort popular perceptions of the UFO phenomenon - is now accessible at UFO Digest and will be permanently accessible here at Silver Screen Saucers in the 'Articles' section.

The article draws considerably from my current doctoral research and hopefully brings into sharp focus ideas that have long been swirling around in the UFO research field. Do UFO movies serve to fictionalise the UFO phenomenon for audiences, or to actualise it? I suggest that Hollywood achieves both results simultaneously. For discussion of the cinematic and UFOlogical processes at the heart of this curious dynamic, check out the article: UFOs and Hollywood: Blurring the Line between Fact and Fantasy.

CIA advised secretly on 2009 Disney UFO movie

An active operative of the Central Intelligence Agency provided detailed, on-set advice to the makers of the 2009 Disney film Race to Witch Mountain - this according to the film's director, Andy Fickman. In a September 2010 interview, Fickman revealed to me that his CIA advisor - who had been hired "through back door channels" - personally designed the written alien language seen in the flying saucer during the film's climactic scenes. The advisor also recommended that certain UFOlogical content be removed from the script.

Along with an active Air Force Colonel (also advising uncredited on the film), the CIA man even accompanied Fickman and selected members of his production crew on a private tour of NORAD's sensitive Cheyenne Mountain facility, where Fickman discussed the UFO question with top-ranking military personnel, including the heads of NORAD themselves.

The full details of the CIA's clandestine involvement in Race to Witch Mountain will feature in the Spring 2011 issue of 49th Parallel - a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary academic journal devoted to North American Studies - in a new article co-authored by myself and Matthew Alford.

The in-depth article, entitled: A History of Government Management of UFO Perceptions through Film and Television, brings together six-decades-worth of concrete cases in which the US government and military have attempted - often successfully - to shape the content of UFO-themed film and TV products. I'll be providing a direct link to this article as soon as the journal publishes it online this April.

MIB III due May 2012

Things haven't been going too smoothly of late for the third installment of the Men in Black franchise with its script having been subject to a number of rewrites and the film's production currently on hiatus. Nevertheless, Columbia Pictures is standing firm on its scheduled release date of 25 May, 2012.

The film's plot will see Will Smith's 'Agent J' travel back in time to 1969 to team-up with a younger version of Tommy Lee Jones' MIB curmudgeon 'Agent K' in order to once again save the world from 'the worst scum of the universe.'

With Josh Brolin in the role of the young 'Agent K' and with other new cast members including Emma Thompson and Alice Eve (with the latter playing a younger version of the former), as well as Jemaine Clement on villian duty, Columbia Pictures clearly is hoping that some fresh faces and a temporal change in scenery will breath new life into the MIB universe. The other added ingredient this time around, of course, is 3D.