Die Alien-Entführung von Manhattan

A fraudster claims to be abducted by aliens and a brave woman then tries to show it was all a scam but is threatened by the criminal who made it all up.

Bring in some hypnotism and other junk science and we have a series that could have been shortened by a couple of hours.

Nevertheless, the show as a whole is watchable and compelling.

Who on earth in their right mind can come to the conclusion this was anything other than a fraud and the that one claiming to be abducted is delusional, intentionally or not.

And the use of a child to propagate the scam is unforgivable.

There is simply no scientific or other evidence at all for aliens or alien abduction and saying that people experienced such a thing or witnessed it has for years been discredited.

I just wish the production had done more to uncover the falsity of the claims:

7/10.

And owing to spoilers I can't say exactly why - I can say that I'm unbiased on which way I want for this to be proven true - although granted the romantic in me wants for the abduction to be proven sound and valid - but the scientist in me can't help but to applaud this women's doggedness and dedication to methodically and meticulous pursuit of the truth, however damaging to her relationships that may be - I can not express the admiration I have for someone to be this stalworth and true to one's ideals and principles ideals - what an absolute pleasure to have been able to see this thoughtful documentary take shape over three episodes into its inevitable conclusion

Brava.

You can tell that some of these reviewers are young and don't even know who Budd Hopkins was. Also they don't realize that the woman doing the debunking was his other half. Budd Hopkins was a famous UFO Investigator of his time, talking this issue seriously and documenting cases because no one else was doing it back then. Problem is that most people in those times would think you are crazy if you even talked about it. The talk shows of that era (Oprah, Geraldo, Ricky, and many more) were all competing for ratings with the most controversial subjects they could find. When they started inviting Budd Hopkins on TV, it was more about ratings than a true concern for humanity in those days - and came across as mockery as the audience just laughed at his serious work. This Linda case got out of hand with Budd believing her every word and his objectivity was being over shadowed by basically getting hooked on her every call and whim. His other half who always filmed for him started to notice his bias and loss of objectivity in this particular case since it was so bizarre. She tried talking to him but by this time he would not entertain any discussion. So she started to piece together all the scientific evidence it was a hoax. The ending of this story is enlightening and I won't spoil it but some shocking evidence that wasn't brought out in the beginning shaped my own opinion whether this was a hoax or not.

I'm going to start this review by saying that I do believe that we aren't alone in the universe. There being other civilizations in the universe is far more likely than that we're all alone. BUT... Just because other civilizations exists, doesn't mean that they have found their way to us, or even know about our existence.

I went into this documentary with an open mind. The real skepticism started already in part 1 of the documentary when Linda claimed to be scared, Budd told her to come to him, and she said she was going to do her makeup first.. like.. girl, what!? If you truly were scared you'd leave the apartment as soon as possible.

Part 3 of the documentary was a big clownfest that even ended with Linda openly threatening Carol.. Will Linda face any consequences for that?.. probably not. Linda also claimed that nobody believes Carol, but nah.. I, and probably many others, believe in Carol's theory. I'm not sure if Budd was in on it all, but he most certainly did cherry pick among the information that was given, because he wanted to believe Linda sooo bad.

I kind of feel like I've wasted my time watching this. Do I recommend it? Meh.. I feel like it's up to you if you want to waste time learning about this hoax or not.

This is not an investigative piece of documentary filmmaking. At most, there are presented 2 sides of a story that was thin on details even when new 25 years ago. Unfortunately, the only sane voice in the series - that of Carol Rainey - cannot be encouraged to speak more on the matter because she has died. The only voices left to speak to this are those of the alleged abductee and her son, whose face never appears on camera. There is no evidence provided by the filmmakers to support the assertion that the "Johnathon" that appears on camera is even the son of Linda, who is the main subject of the story.

The filmmakers missed every opportunity to support or refute the claims made by the participants in the series. Was there a city wide blackout in 1989 on the alleged date of the abduction? Are any of the alleged witnesses still alive? What are the opinions of Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (the former UN Sec-Gen who is named-checked throughout the series)? What happened to the alleged implant in Linda's nose? What are the well-known issues with hypnotic regression therapy? I don't know, because the filmmakers don't provide the simplest form of fact checking.

If you watch this, understand that the series is not an attempt at journalism. At least I hope that wasn't the intent of the filmmakers. What is presented is exactly what the title of this review states: an interesting subject with no legs on which to stand.