This past Friday, January 10th, Discovery Channel [Discovery Canada] aired its new UFO series in Canada, "Close Encounters." The first episode had a 15 minute segment on the alleged Malmstrom AFB Oscar Flight UFO incident which highlighted Robert Salas' experience. Leslie Kean and Kevin Randle provide commentary. Actors were employed to re-enact the event.
I was asked by an associate to provide a critique, that is, separating fact from fiction. The only good thing that I can say is that the quality of the program's sound was exceptional (HD). Other than that it was unsettling in so many ways. I personally think that it would have or should have been an embarrassment even for Salas to watch.
Kean and Randle follow the well worn script. I assumed that both were used with the attempt to provide legitimacy to the story. I've not read any of Keene's work, but I'm aware of her views on UFOs...her reputation precedes her.
Kevin Randle provides his thoughts for a potential fear of a Soviet incursion into the area based on the incident happening during the height of the Cold War. Randle's comments were curious as I recall watching a Robert Salas interview on Frank Warren's UFO Chronicles site. Salas appeared to have supported this view point as well.
The bottom line is that the Malmstrom/Oscar segment is presented as fact and well documented and investigated. There are no opposing view points made as a counter argument, but truly that's not the purpose of the program.
As far as the actual production, the props were horrid, reminding me of Ed Woods "Plan 9 from Outer Space". The actual physical set up is all wrong, Launch Control Center, Topside security set up, Launch Facility, uniforms, signs, etc. All of those were poorly depicted as visual components supporting the story line.
The poor visual inaccuracies can all be somewhat forgiven because its a Canadian production attempting to show a U.S military installation, but I'm a purist at heart and frankly demand a realistic set up based on the actual time period even if one is trying to spoon feed a mass population of unadulterated fantasy.
The program gives the impression that the sighting occurred on Malmstrom AFB itself, but that is not true as Oscar Flight was located well over 120 miles to the east of the base.
Of course the production staff has only 15 minutes to portray the so called event, so a lot of what Salas had written/talked about is omitted. The end of the segment gives the impression that the AF had conducted an extensive investigation, but there is no documentation/reports that supports the conclusion.
There are extensive reports for Echo Flight which actually did occur a week prior to Salas' contention. There is/was no evidence of UFO activity for Echo...rumors/pranks run amok...James Carlson's father, Eric, confirmed that the story was bogus in an interview with Ryan Dube, Realityuncovered.net.
Lastly, there is a reference made that FAA radar had captured the Oscar Flight UFO on screen. This information supposedly obtained by way of FOIA. I've yet to come across this information as being mentioned by Salas and others. Could the program producers have mistaken this from a different incident?
"Close Encounters" will probably air here in the states at a later date. All that I can say is that viewers beware. And ask your self....Did it really happen?
IRT: "Lastly, there is a reference made that FAA radar had captured the Oscar Flight UFO on screen. This information supposedly obtained by way of FOIA. I've yet to come across this information as being mentioned by Salas and others. Could the program producers have mistaken this from a different incident?"
ReplyDeleteI suspect they think they can get away with this commentary given the radar hits over the Malmstrom admin areas. They have nothing within 120 miles of Oscar, but facts never get in their way. I notice they also neglected to mention that those radar hits they did have acted just like balloons tied to a flare or battery light -- slow speed. moving about aimlessly, and nothing worth the time to consider, exactly like the numerous hoaxes being put forth by newspapers nation wide. They published a recipe of hoax lessons, and someone followed the script. Nobody ever considered these loose contacts to be possible aircraft -- NOBODY. How do we know this? If anybody thought they were real, why would have scrambled aircraft immediately. Instead they did nothing.
Also, have you heard about the missile officers recently arrested on numerous drug charges? I would be interested in knowing if they had provided any testimony to Robert Hastings -- it sounds just like someone he'd use as a source!
James Carlson
James, thanks for the comment. I further appreciate your full comment on Realityuncovered. I don't know if you had full access to the actual program, but rest assured it was flawed in so many ways. But, you and I are not surprised about the programs story line. UFOs sell, either in books or programming on TV and nobody wants to hear or see the other side of the coin.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the current issue at Malmstrom, drug issues, I find it troublesome and quiet frankly sad for my old unit. This isn't the first time that such things have occurred as the crew force ( and military in general) remains a cross section of our society. Despite a few bad apples in the bunch, most perform their duties in a professional manner and they are the ones who should be recognized for what they do.
I tend to be a purist as well. I can't stand submarine movies that are not accurate. As a WWII buff, I also tend to watch those movies looking for vehicles that were not from the era. Unfortunately, these shows often do not bother to research the details. After all, they aren't going to show the program to a group of missile crew personnel.
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