PROJECT BLUE BOOK, THE SERIES
Having just finished streaming the series, Project Blue Book, originally produced for the History Channel and now available on the Roku Channel streaming, I wanted to jump back into sci fi activity by sharing a few thoughts. Although the series credits the activity of Prof. J. Allen Hynek as its inspiration, it explicitly states that the influence is strictly fictional, rather than purporting to recreate real events. Various episodes cherry pick UFO events from the early 1950's, they are not presented in the real life chronological order in which they occurred, nor is Hynek's previous experience with earlier projects, such as Grudge, included in the fictional time line. Likewise, the identity of Hynek's coworker from the Air Force is not the same. Russian spies and open and covert ufologists are also included in the cast for dramatic reasons. Hynek's connections to Hollywood films of the succeeding decades are also shown in a very different light from reality.
The series does indeed present a speculative approach to many recorded controversies of the last years of the Truman administration and the earliest ones of the Eisenhower years. Some of the UFO reports are dismissed as elaborate hoaxes, though even these are often mitigated by some measure of doubt or unexplained factors. In particular, an episode set in the Kentucky hills is attributed to trickery on many fronts, including that of Air Force staff itself attempting to capitalize on false reports of aliens for strictly political reasons. Other episodes, such as those set in Roswell, Area 51, and Wright-Patterson Air Froce Base, are deliberately left to a much more open interpretation because of the huge gaps in reasonable assessment left by intervention from the Air Force or more secretive organizations.
Furthermore, the possibility of the existence of UFOs and aliens is lent a great measure of credence by the involvement of the fictional Air Force officer, Captain Quinn. He is shown experiencing personal close encounters of the third kind in a fighter jet over Washington DC, as well as in a submarine under the North Atlantic. This is rendered more powerful to the viewer by the fact that Quinn is presented throughout the series as being much more skeptical than Hynek. He is also shown as having a huge reserve of repressed emotions, to the point that he has an affair with a beautiful Soviet agent. If Hynek is the brains of the investigation, Quinn is the guts. For him to personal acknowledge proof of the "impossible" greatly increases the involvement of the viewer in the UFO continuum.
In a different way, the same may be said of the character of Hynek's wife, Mimi. First seen as a classic 50s housewife in the Harriet Nelson mold and usually relegated in opening episodes to an indirect experience of the UFO proofs and near proofs, she becomes more and more closely involved in the plots. As with Quinn, she also functions as an emotional conduit to the viewer. Her powerful concerns for her husband and son are set in contrast as she develops a deeper relationship with the spy Susie that culminates in a lesbian encounter. She functions much like the generally practical Han Solo in Star Wars when he mutters, "I have a bad feeling about this."
I would urge all sci fi fans to take the opportunity to stream Project Blue Book while this chance exists and to form and share their own reactions to this program, which unfortunately was cancelled before a season three could be produced. The acting and technical aspects of the show are first rate and will not disappoint. We plan to return to some particular aspects of the events portrayed in coming posts.
