UFOs: It Has Begun

Steel-jawed Master of Mystery, Rod Serling, invites us to contemplate other-worldly life in this documentary on the subject of unidentified flying objects.

Robert Emenegger said he began making these film specials out of curiosity. However, in 1973, his working in the paranormal arena became all too real. Officials at California’s Norton Air Force Base suggested to him and fellow producer Allan Sandler a documentary film that incorporated UFO information, including as its centerpiece the genuine footage of a 1971 UFO landing at New Mexico’s Holloman Air Force Base and communication with an alien group. Although promised, no film was ever presented. The documentary, hosted by Rod Sterling, Jose Ferrer, and Burgess Meredith, was released in 1974 as “UFOs: Past Present and Future” and won a Golden Globe Award. The alleged Holloman UFO landing was discussed in the documentary and depicted with illustrations. It was later updated and released as “UFOs: It Has Begun.”

Towards the end of the documentary, a ‘what if’ scenario was presented to the viewer about a landing that could happen in the future, or perhaps already could have happened…

“Let us look at an incident that might happen in the future, or perhaps could have happened already. The premise is that contact is made by extraterrestrial beings with representatives of the United States Air Force at Holloman Air Force Base in the deserts of New Mexico.”

Rod Serling goes on to narrate the Holloman landing event which consisted of illustrations of the landing and the aliens meeting Air Force officials. These illustrations were inter-cut with actual footage from the base. At one point in the re-enactment there is footage of a strange white-yellowish object descending towards the base, with the mountains in the background (some people have suggested it is part of the authentic UFO landing tape that slipped though).

Dr. Josef Allen Hynek was a United States astronomer, professor, and ufologist. He is perhaps best remembered for his UFO research. Hynek acted as scientific adviser to UFO studies undertaken by the U.S. Air Force under three consecutive names: Project Sign (1947–1949), Project Grudge (1949–1952), and Project Blue Book (1952 to 1969). For decades afterwards, he conducted his own independent UFO research, developing the Close Encounter classification system, and is widely considered the father of the concept of scientific analysis of both reports and, especially, trace evidence purportedly left by UFOs.

Jacques Fabrice Vallée is a venture capitalist, computer scientist, author, ufologist and former astronomer.

In mainstream science, Vallée is notable for co-developing the first computerized mapping of Mars for NASA and for his work at SRI International in creating ARPANET, a precursor to the modern Internet. Vallée is also an important figure in the study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs), first noted for a defense of the scientific legitimacy of the extraterrestrial hypothesis and later for promoting the interdimensional hypothesis.

Vallée proposes that there is a genuine UFO phenomenon, partly associated with a form of non-human consciousness that manipulates space and time. The phenomenon has been active throughout human history, and seems to masquerade in various forms to different cultures. In his opinion, the intelligence behind the phenomenon attempts social manipulation by using deception on the humans with whom they interact.

Rodman Edward Serling was an American screenwriter, novelist, television producer, and narrator best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen and helped form television industry standards. He was known as the “angry young man” of Hollywood, clashing with television executives and sponsors over a wide range of issues including censorship, racism, and anti-war politics.