THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER
April 10, 2016
www.theparacast.com
The Paracast Explores UFOs, Pop Culture and Hollywood
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY A PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to After The Paracast, plus a higher-quality version of The Paracast free of network ads, and chat rooms when you sign up for The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes, and we've launched The Paracast+ Video Channel. Check out our new “Lifetime” membership! For more information about our premium package, please visit: Introducing The Paracast+ | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio.
This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris discuss movies, TV shows, pop culture and UFOs with Robbie Graham, author of “Silver Screen Saucers: Sorting Fact from Fantasy in Hollywood’s UFO Movies.” According to his bio: “Robbie Graham is a leading authority on the cultural and political interplay between UFOs and Hollywood. He has been interviewed on these subjects for BBC Radio, Coast to Coast AM, Canal+ TV, and Vanity Fair, among others. His articles have appeared in a variety of publications including The Guardian, New Statesman, Filmfax, Fortean Times, and the peer-reviewed Journal of North American Studies, 49th Parallel.” Consider how the classic 1951 sci-fi film, “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” influenced early flying saucer contact claims from George Adamski and others.
Chris O’Brien’s Site: Our Strange Planet
Robbie Graham’s Site: SILVER SCREEN SAUCERS
After The Paracast -- Available exclusively to Paracast+ subscribers on April 10: Gene and Chris talk about aging rock stars with some trivia from the early days of classic rock, with a few anecdotes along the way about their favorite artists. Gene remembers when he had press tickets for the original Woodstock festival, and why he never went. The discussion moves to the “third rail subject” of politicians supporting serious UFO research. Is there a danger, for example, in Secretary Clinton’s promise to look into UFOs if she becomes president. But does anyone believe she’ll keep that promise if she’s elected? It is always thus. Gene wonders whether people would even believe a President of the U.S. who disclosed the presence of alien craft in our skies.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums.
UFOs and Classic Sci-Fi Films
By Gene Steinberg
When I read my first UFO book, “Flying Saucers from Outer Space,” by Major Donald Keyhoe, I did not imagine that it could or would ever be made into a motion picture. When I read Keyhoe’s description of his encounter with tinsel town, in a later book, it’s clear he didn’t think it through very carefully, since he naively believed the filmmakers were going to make a documentary about flying saucers.
Now one thing about selling your literary property to Hollywood: Unless you are a bestselling author, with a lot of clout, who can secure some level of script approval, which is rare, you can bet there will be major changes. Indeed, the final movie may have but a superficial connection to your book.
In this case, the producers took that flying saucer book and threw most of it away. Instead, they delivered a B-grade sci-fi movie about alien invaders. You’ve probably seen it if you’re into classic sci-fi. “Earth Versus the Flying Saucers,” released in 1956, was elevated above pedestrian fare with terrific flying saucer visuals from stop-motion special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen.
It was a fairly entertaining film, depicting the survivors of an alien race that wore metallic suits hiding features that, to a large degree, resembled gray aliens. The invaders were defeated by a brilliant scientist (portrayed by Hugh Marlowe) and his beautiful wife and assistant (portrayed by Joan Taylor). Oh well, nothing too original there either.
So why did the producers waste money to buy somebody’s non-fiction book about flying saucers when very little of that book ended up in the finished product? I suspect it may have been the result of a silly attempt to gain the right to use the name “flying saucers,” although the term was in the public domain. All right, there was a brief segment at the beginning of the film that briefly covered UFO sightings in a pseudo-documentary format.
I would call it a minor classic, since it was one of the better low-budget sci-fi films of its time. But it had nowhere near the impact of yet another flying saucer film, from 1951, “The Day the Earth Stood Still.”
It was loosely based on a fairly obscure short story, “Farewell to the Master” by Harry Bates, which was published in a pulp sci-fi magazine in 1940. The twist in the story, not used in the film, was that the “master” was the robot, rather than the other way around.
Directed by Robert Wise, who later directed “The Sound of Music” and “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” the film focused on the attempt by the alien, Klaatu, to convey an important message to the people of Earth, that they must give up their warlike ways, join the galactic brotherhood, or be destroyed by ET.
One curious sidelight: In the latter part of the film, Klaatu is gunned down by a military panicked by the presence of an alien on Earth. That shooting occurred off Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. The location wasn’t far from the future headquarters of Major Keyhoe’s UFO group, NICAP. What a curious coincidence. It had to be a coincidence, right?
The movie had a level of influence far beyond that of other sci-fi films of the era. In the years that followed, such flying saucer contactees as George Adamski claimed to have met up with tall handsome human-like aliens wearing silvery uniforms. Except for the long hair, that being resembled Klaatu.
However, the typical message said to come from ET was highly sanitized. There was no carrot and stick approach. The Space Brothers, typically urged us to accept the ways of peace, but that request did not carry the threat of decimation. I suppose it wasn’t considered to be politically correct.
Some of the film’s influences did go a little too far. So contactee Howard Menger, a sign painter by trade, produced paintings of the flying saucers that he claimed visited him. One of the paintings I saw, however, depicted the spacecraft from “Day the Earth Stood Still” as it departed the Earth in the film’s closing scenes.
One minor piece of trivia: The boyfriend of the Earth woman who befriends Klaatu, was also played by Hugh Marlowe. He wasn’t typecast as a sci-fi actor, however, despite his later role in another flying saucer flick. He actually achieved a level of notoriety as detective Ellery Queen in a TV series, and, after a series of character parts, concluded his long career as a featured player in a soap opera, “Another World.”
No doubt the most popular UFO film over the years was the Stephen Spielberg classic, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
Now some felt that films of that sort may, in part, have been intended to introduce the concept of flying saucers to the general public as a precursor to disclosure. While Spielberg was long interested in UFOs, it’s not at all clear that such films had any intent in mind other than to entertain the public, and make boatloads of money for the producers.
There’s little doubt, however, that the cultural image of UFOs has heavily influenced Hollywood, both movies and TV, and perhaps vice versa. The original “X-Files” TV show, from writer/producer Chris Carter, used popular legends about UFOs and government conspiracies as key points of conflict. The 2016 reboot has turned the ET conspiracy on its ear, however, and cast it as a government conspiracy influenced by the Roswell saucer crash.
Please don’t ask me to explain it any further. After six episodes, a lot of it still doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, and it’s clear the producers were hoping to continue the series for at least another season; that is if its stars will agree to new contracts.
As most of you know, I enjoy reading about and discussing pop culture. It’s also clear to me that a lot of what we have discovered, or believe, about UFOs and other mysteries is highly driven by such influences. So I was particularly curious about a new book on the subject, “Silver Screen Saucers: Sorting Fact from Fantasy in Hollywood’s UFO Movies.”
The author, Robbie Graham, is featured on this week’s episode of The Paracast, and you’ll enjoy his fascinating journey into the world of entertainment and how some of your favorite films came to be, including possible interactions in the scriptwriting process with the military.
Rather than attempt to censor UFO evidence, however, it appeared they were more interested in presenting a favorable image. However they refused to cooperate with the producers of the 1996 popcorn blockbuster, “Independence Day,” largely because of its emphasis on the legends of Area 51 and Roswell.
While Robbie is relatively new to the UFO field, it’s clear from this interview that he is highly plugged into what’s actually going on in this field, which makes his work even more intriguing. As you read this book, you’ll be fascinated how popular movies and TV shows, over the years, have influenced our belief systems about the amazing mysteries that surround us.
Copyright 1999-2016 The Paracast LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!
April 10, 2016
www.theparacast.com
The Paracast Explores UFOs, Pop Culture and Hollywood
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY A PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to After The Paracast, plus a higher-quality version of The Paracast free of network ads, and chat rooms when you sign up for The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes, and we've launched The Paracast+ Video Channel. Check out our new “Lifetime” membership! For more information about our premium package, please visit: Introducing The Paracast+ | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio.
This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris discuss movies, TV shows, pop culture and UFOs with Robbie Graham, author of “Silver Screen Saucers: Sorting Fact from Fantasy in Hollywood’s UFO Movies.” According to his bio: “Robbie Graham is a leading authority on the cultural and political interplay between UFOs and Hollywood. He has been interviewed on these subjects for BBC Radio, Coast to Coast AM, Canal+ TV, and Vanity Fair, among others. His articles have appeared in a variety of publications including The Guardian, New Statesman, Filmfax, Fortean Times, and the peer-reviewed Journal of North American Studies, 49th Parallel.” Consider how the classic 1951 sci-fi film, “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” influenced early flying saucer contact claims from George Adamski and others.
Chris O’Brien’s Site: Our Strange Planet
Robbie Graham’s Site: SILVER SCREEN SAUCERS
After The Paracast -- Available exclusively to Paracast+ subscribers on April 10: Gene and Chris talk about aging rock stars with some trivia from the early days of classic rock, with a few anecdotes along the way about their favorite artists. Gene remembers when he had press tickets for the original Woodstock festival, and why he never went. The discussion moves to the “third rail subject” of politicians supporting serious UFO research. Is there a danger, for example, in Secretary Clinton’s promise to look into UFOs if she becomes president. But does anyone believe she’ll keep that promise if she’s elected? It is always thus. Gene wonders whether people would even believe a President of the U.S. who disclosed the presence of alien craft in our skies.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums.
UFOs and Classic Sci-Fi Films
By Gene Steinberg
When I read my first UFO book, “Flying Saucers from Outer Space,” by Major Donald Keyhoe, I did not imagine that it could or would ever be made into a motion picture. When I read Keyhoe’s description of his encounter with tinsel town, in a later book, it’s clear he didn’t think it through very carefully, since he naively believed the filmmakers were going to make a documentary about flying saucers.
Now one thing about selling your literary property to Hollywood: Unless you are a bestselling author, with a lot of clout, who can secure some level of script approval, which is rare, you can bet there will be major changes. Indeed, the final movie may have but a superficial connection to your book.
In this case, the producers took that flying saucer book and threw most of it away. Instead, they delivered a B-grade sci-fi movie about alien invaders. You’ve probably seen it if you’re into classic sci-fi. “Earth Versus the Flying Saucers,” released in 1956, was elevated above pedestrian fare with terrific flying saucer visuals from stop-motion special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen.
It was a fairly entertaining film, depicting the survivors of an alien race that wore metallic suits hiding features that, to a large degree, resembled gray aliens. The invaders were defeated by a brilliant scientist (portrayed by Hugh Marlowe) and his beautiful wife and assistant (portrayed by Joan Taylor). Oh well, nothing too original there either.
So why did the producers waste money to buy somebody’s non-fiction book about flying saucers when very little of that book ended up in the finished product? I suspect it may have been the result of a silly attempt to gain the right to use the name “flying saucers,” although the term was in the public domain. All right, there was a brief segment at the beginning of the film that briefly covered UFO sightings in a pseudo-documentary format.
I would call it a minor classic, since it was one of the better low-budget sci-fi films of its time. But it had nowhere near the impact of yet another flying saucer film, from 1951, “The Day the Earth Stood Still.”
It was loosely based on a fairly obscure short story, “Farewell to the Master” by Harry Bates, which was published in a pulp sci-fi magazine in 1940. The twist in the story, not used in the film, was that the “master” was the robot, rather than the other way around.
Directed by Robert Wise, who later directed “The Sound of Music” and “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” the film focused on the attempt by the alien, Klaatu, to convey an important message to the people of Earth, that they must give up their warlike ways, join the galactic brotherhood, or be destroyed by ET.
One curious sidelight: In the latter part of the film, Klaatu is gunned down by a military panicked by the presence of an alien on Earth. That shooting occurred off Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. The location wasn’t far from the future headquarters of Major Keyhoe’s UFO group, NICAP. What a curious coincidence. It had to be a coincidence, right?
The movie had a level of influence far beyond that of other sci-fi films of the era. In the years that followed, such flying saucer contactees as George Adamski claimed to have met up with tall handsome human-like aliens wearing silvery uniforms. Except for the long hair, that being resembled Klaatu.
However, the typical message said to come from ET was highly sanitized. There was no carrot and stick approach. The Space Brothers, typically urged us to accept the ways of peace, but that request did not carry the threat of decimation. I suppose it wasn’t considered to be politically correct.
Some of the film’s influences did go a little too far. So contactee Howard Menger, a sign painter by trade, produced paintings of the flying saucers that he claimed visited him. One of the paintings I saw, however, depicted the spacecraft from “Day the Earth Stood Still” as it departed the Earth in the film’s closing scenes.
One minor piece of trivia: The boyfriend of the Earth woman who befriends Klaatu, was also played by Hugh Marlowe. He wasn’t typecast as a sci-fi actor, however, despite his later role in another flying saucer flick. He actually achieved a level of notoriety as detective Ellery Queen in a TV series, and, after a series of character parts, concluded his long career as a featured player in a soap opera, “Another World.”
No doubt the most popular UFO film over the years was the Stephen Spielberg classic, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
Now some felt that films of that sort may, in part, have been intended to introduce the concept of flying saucers to the general public as a precursor to disclosure. While Spielberg was long interested in UFOs, it’s not at all clear that such films had any intent in mind other than to entertain the public, and make boatloads of money for the producers.
There’s little doubt, however, that the cultural image of UFOs has heavily influenced Hollywood, both movies and TV, and perhaps vice versa. The original “X-Files” TV show, from writer/producer Chris Carter, used popular legends about UFOs and government conspiracies as key points of conflict. The 2016 reboot has turned the ET conspiracy on its ear, however, and cast it as a government conspiracy influenced by the Roswell saucer crash.
Please don’t ask me to explain it any further. After six episodes, a lot of it still doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, and it’s clear the producers were hoping to continue the series for at least another season; that is if its stars will agree to new contracts.
As most of you know, I enjoy reading about and discussing pop culture. It’s also clear to me that a lot of what we have discovered, or believe, about UFOs and other mysteries is highly driven by such influences. So I was particularly curious about a new book on the subject, “Silver Screen Saucers: Sorting Fact from Fantasy in Hollywood’s UFO Movies.”
The author, Robbie Graham, is featured on this week’s episode of The Paracast, and you’ll enjoy his fascinating journey into the world of entertainment and how some of your favorite films came to be, including possible interactions in the scriptwriting process with the military.
Rather than attempt to censor UFO evidence, however, it appeared they were more interested in presenting a favorable image. However they refused to cooperate with the producers of the 1996 popcorn blockbuster, “Independence Day,” largely because of its emphasis on the legends of Area 51 and Roswell.
While Robbie is relatively new to the UFO field, it’s clear from this interview that he is highly plugged into what’s actually going on in this field, which makes his work even more intriguing. As you read this book, you’ll be fascinated how popular movies and TV shows, over the years, have influenced our belief systems about the amazing mysteries that surround us.
Copyright 1999-2016 The Paracast LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!