The Roswell Incident – Part 1 and 2

Hi everyone,

Much of my time of late has been spent on things other than this website, so it’s nice to get an opportunity to write something new. I’m glad we’re not that far behind the US in seeing this back on television. The welcome return of Project Blue Book begins with Quinn reminiscing over his close encounter and the pair re-establishing their positions to the audience. The action then quickly shifts to Roswell, New Mexico. Choosing to kick off with the Big Daddy of UFO legends in season 2 is a bold move and very wise in my opinion.

Getting started with a two-part journey into one of the biggest stories in UFO history gives a great opportunity to set the expectations for the series. The Roswell crash of 1947 is the most famous UFO incident in history. The stories of alien bodies and crashed spacecraft refuse to go away, even after being debunked by the Air Force in several reports. The official line is that the crash was of a top secret high altitude balloon designed to listen out for Soviet atomic tests. If you believe the Air Force reports, the debris from this type of balloon would have looked extremely strange to the casual observer. many still cling to the idea that there is more to the Roswell story than hust a cover up of a top secret balloon

The most pleasing thing about this first episode of Project Blue Book is that, even though we start with something so familiar to the general public in the annals of UFO lore, the producers have managed to find a fresh way to present it. Hynek and Quinn are not so much investigating the crash itself, but more the original investigation into it. There are some great bits of misdirection thrown in across the double episode (the second part of which is the highlight of the whole series so far) and Gillen and Malarkey do a great job sliding back into their roles.

Even Mimi has something interesting to do now. She’s infiltrated the local chapter of what I can only describe as the ‘lone gunmen’ and is using this to find out things to aid her husband. Hey, better than getting drunk and doing target practice in her fallout shelter, I guess.

This double episode moves along at a brisk pace and we get lots of chances to see Neal McDonough in action as the increasingly deranged General Harding (who gets his hands a lot dirtier than you might expect someone of his rank to). there are flying saucers, alien autopsies, fights, creepy special effects, beatings, sleight of hand tricks and the climax at the TV station is a brilliant piece of television; well scripted and thought-out with great performances all round.

Add to this our favourite Russian agent now having her claws into Captain Quinn and things are nicely set up for a new season.

What a great way to start series 2, and then we’re off to Area 51 next week!

 

Thanks for reading,

Richard

Project Blue Book – Season 1: Episode 10 Review

Project Blue Book – Season 1: Episode 9 Review