Will_B
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2001
- Messages
- 4,730
Paul, amazing you mentioned theoretical physicist Brian Greene because Green's outstanding NOVA special is exactly what I feel is what this Jennings special needed to be like!
Jennings' special had only about five minutes of theoretical physicist Michio Kaku on in the second hour, but in my opinion the only way to have made this special OUTSTANDING would have been if the entire second hour had been about modern physics.
As everyone here has noted, Jennings' special seemed to retread the whole 1970s In Search Of kind of UFO sightings that have been documented by other documentaries for years. The "interstellar visitors" theory has been done to death by other documentaries.
Yet the interdimensional theories, which became popular in the 1980s and remains the current popular theory, was only given five minutes of time? And even then, Kaku's comments were limited to concepts of bending space to arrive across vast distances via another dimension, there was hardly any mention of the possibility of life existing natively in other dimensions (which is something which Brian Greene's NOVA special touched on effectively).
I don't understand that decision to neglect more modern theories. Today, even the people who report alien encounters aren't talking about aliens arriving in spaceships, they're talking about time being distorted, of aliens walking through walls, of strange light effects -- they're describing a very David Lynch kind of experience which many of them say seems more likely to be some sort of crossover from another dimension than anything that could have been imagined in the 1950s (or 70s - not much difference there actually).
In short, my problem with the show was that it seemed to throw up its hands and say "well, if we describe modern theories, that will be too complicated, so let's go with the old 'aliens from another planet' theory instead." Resulting in a wholly unoriginal special. Why couldn't Jennings be as sophisticated as NOVA's Brian Greene special?
Ok, now I've ruined the objectivity of this thread. But I had to jump in because that Briane Greene special for NOVA (based on his book, The Elegant Universe) was excellent. (And it's only $11 at deepdiscountdvd by the way).
Jennings' special had only about five minutes of theoretical physicist Michio Kaku on in the second hour, but in my opinion the only way to have made this special OUTSTANDING would have been if the entire second hour had been about modern physics.
As everyone here has noted, Jennings' special seemed to retread the whole 1970s In Search Of kind of UFO sightings that have been documented by other documentaries for years. The "interstellar visitors" theory has been done to death by other documentaries.
Yet the interdimensional theories, which became popular in the 1980s and remains the current popular theory, was only given five minutes of time? And even then, Kaku's comments were limited to concepts of bending space to arrive across vast distances via another dimension, there was hardly any mention of the possibility of life existing natively in other dimensions (which is something which Brian Greene's NOVA special touched on effectively).
I don't understand that decision to neglect more modern theories. Today, even the people who report alien encounters aren't talking about aliens arriving in spaceships, they're talking about time being distorted, of aliens walking through walls, of strange light effects -- they're describing a very David Lynch kind of experience which many of them say seems more likely to be some sort of crossover from another dimension than anything that could have been imagined in the 1950s (or 70s - not much difference there actually).
In short, my problem with the show was that it seemed to throw up its hands and say "well, if we describe modern theories, that will be too complicated, so let's go with the old 'aliens from another planet' theory instead." Resulting in a wholly unoriginal special. Why couldn't Jennings be as sophisticated as NOVA's Brian Greene special?
Ok, now I've ruined the objectivity of this thread. But I had to jump in because that Briane Greene special for NOVA (based on his book, The Elegant Universe) was excellent. (And it's only $11 at deepdiscountdvd by the way).