DVD
Out of the Blue - The Definitive Investigation of the UFO Phenomenon
$5.64
About this product:
As you can probably tell by reading most of the previous reviews, this documentary (like most everything associated with UFOs) inspires a "love it/hate it" attitude. Most skeptics dislike this documentary because it takes a "pro-UFO" approach - while it carefully avoids stating that UFOs are alien spacecraft, the documentary does argue that UFOs are a "real", physical phenomenon and aren't simply hoaxes or people seeing swamp gas, stars, meteors, etc. Believers may not like the documentary because it doesn't claim that UFOs are from outer space, only that the phenomenon can't be dismissed as bunk and a sham. As a longtime UFO buff, and as someone who takes an "open-minded skepticism" towards the topic, in my opinion this documentary, while flawed, is nevertheless a high-quality, well-made effort to look seriously at the phenomenon. As a previous reviewer noted, the documentary consists mostly of "talking head" interviews with people who claimed to have seen UFOs, and with scientists debating whether or not travel between the stars is even possible. I thought "Out of the Blue" did a good job of showing that many credible scientists believe that interstellar travel is a possiblility, and that the common dismissal that UFOs can't exist because space travel is "impossible", is increasingly inaccurate. Several of the scientists interviewed - and they are all credentialed scientists in their fields - offer some intriguing theories as to how interstellar travel may be possible within the next few centuries (and if it could become possible here, who's to say some other intelligent life form hasn't already discovered how to do it?). In addition to the scientists, the documentary features interviews with pilots, astronauts (such as Gordon "Hot Dog" Cooper, an original Project Mercury astronaut), retired military officers, and ordinary citizens talking about their own UFO experiences. Some of these people will be familiar to UFO buffs, and their credibility varies. One of the most dubious people interviewed is Philip Corso, a former U.S. intelligence officer who claims that he was an "insider" on a massive government coverup of UFOs. Corso's often wild claims have come under considerable criticism from not only UFO skeptics but even from many believers, and a number of his claims have been proven to be false. A number of prominent skeptics have even used Corso's presence in this documentary to dismiss its credibility entirely. And that's a shame, because the documentary also offers interviews with other, much more credibile, witnesses. Among them is Robert Jacobs, a former military officer who in 1967 was assigned to film a missile launch in California; he claims that his film clearly showed a strange object shooting down the missile. His claims were verified by his commanding officer; the documentary shows copies of the letters verifying Jacobs' story. Overall, I found "Out of the Blue" to be a well-made and persuasive argument for the notion - not that UFOs are alien spacecraft - but rather that not all UFO incidents can be dismissed as hoaxes or misidentified natural phenomena and that some of them are still "unsolved" and are worthy of serious study. Recommended for any UFO buff or anyone with a passing interest in the phenomenon.
