Customer Reviews

UFO Diaries [VHS]

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4 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have viewed a wide collection of ufo video and this is one of the worste. Although some of the information contained is quality the script is written with a hoax spin and is tailored for dimwits. The shakey camera work is sure to give a person a headache after a couple minutes and makes the viewing session unbearable. The ufo clips are cut off and the testimonies are taken out of context.I wasted my money expecting to add to my collection only to find repeat and censored junk. One star is too much credit. Stay away. Dissapointed. Norm

This is a 13-part series that aired around 1994-1995. Each episode runs about 24 minutes and deals with UFO and paranormal related topics. Depending upon your interest in this subject, this is probably all old news. I'm not into this subject as much as I am schlock and mock documentaries (F for Fake, etc.), so I stumbled upon this via recommendation. Episode 1 is a general intro concerning the first UFO's - Columbus, to 17th century, religious views and warnings, the comet seen before the battle of Hastings 1066, etc.; 2 starts getting wacky with the episode, "What are they like?" with an emphasis on UFO abductions; 3 concerns crop circles and contains some interesting footage; 4 is a blurb on whether or not abduction stories can be believed (Budd Hopkins, a skeptic, and others debunking the debunkers, basically); 5 is a focus on abduction stories; 6 deals with Mars and the "face" on Mars, Cydonia (while it looks like mountain ranges to me, you get a lot of conspiracy theories and way out ideas as to where it came from); 7 busts out a ton of conspiracies concerning NASA and gets real far out - the episode is simply titled, "NASA"; 8 deals with the Bermuda Triangle and features some tall tales attributed to ET activity when mundane explanations are skipped; 9 features Area 51 with a focus on Bob Lazar back when that was sort of in vogue and also includes stories about men in black and black helicopters; 10 tails off a bit just when things were getting real wacky and rehashes Roswell (same old thing, this is what you've read in the newspaper); episode 11 hits Kecksburg, PA and again, features some townfolk talking about their theories and disagreements and what the government said and so on; 12 discusses the pyramids of Egypt, and actually isn't bad, but you're in Zecharia Sitchin territory - expect to hear from him throughout the series from time to time; and finally 13 ends with a rehash of Project Blue Book. Everything is always inconclusive at the close, aside from the crop circles bit. The show seems to think something's going on there.

The point: In all, it's not bad for what it is. A mocky type documentary which probably rehashes a lot on purpose. Its sets and mini re-inactments (especially corny are the re-inactments) cast a huge sci-fi spin on the whole subject, and that might be why people wanting a more serious approach dislike this series. The host of the show always opens each episode in a cluttered room that's decorated for the subject of each episode. So in the Pyramids episode, there are model pyramids and deserty looking things around. Some odd lighting and non-distracting camera cuts and jerks during the segments with the host as he walks behind set pieces, around props, etc. summarizing what we have heard from witnesses and posing vast, open ended, ridiculous questions. The host and host room also close each epsiode.

If you expect something serious, I don't know what to recommend. But if you're expecting something of which I have noted, you'll likely get a chuckle, maybe a belly-laugh, out of the thing.

The series is a bit lame, but you get the information (in a sad, but dramitic way), several interesting theories, accounts of evidence, and I find it to be fairly convincing to non-believers. And though out-dated, enjoyable.