Encounters: Témoins d'un autre type

The name "Encounters" is appropriate as it focuses on events with actual witnesses statements, but with Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment behind it there's a purposeful link to Spielberg's own Encounters of the Third Kind. Think of it as branding enhancement as one may be expecting more knowing Speilberg's long standing interest in UFOS/UAPS, even ETS. That said, I wonder how much input he really had?

Encounters isn't too different than better made for TV documentaries on the subject of unexplained aerial phenomena. There is only a few new folks rolled out as witnesses so it's hardly groundbreaking. But, in the four events covered in the four episodes it does bring each up to speed. I will say I enjoyed not seeing the usual "talking heads" ,such as Nick Pope for instance, as in most cases these people suffer from over exposure with almost nothing important being said. Others in the same category often suffer from saying too much regarding "fringe" stories involving abductions and ways of establishing contact through intent. Yes, I'm referring to Steven Greer who has done as much to hurt the credibility of ETS and UFOS as he has to establish concrete inroads. That would be his famous National Press Club event which was a bonafide cry to the government to stop the ridicule and denial through dramatic testimonies by extremely credible people. Fortunately, there's not too much "fringe" stuff here.

With the docu-series focusing on four "big" events the viewer may find some more of interest than others. Personally, I did. My favorite was the update on the Stephenville Texas flap which I always felt was well documented by many credible witnesses and the concrete science of radar data. Deniers gonna deny, but this one has solid legs to stand on. I had previously found Steve Davis to be a believable and likable interview so catching up with his time since was definitely bittersweet as I think the unexplained nature of what he saw took his life over and now wholly for the best. Even so, he relays it was a blessing to have witnessed what he saw and vies to still find answers. In a nutshell this is the conundrum of the whole thing. You have to have some kind of actual experience to really believe UFOS are not of earthly origin...for the most part.

So, for those of us quite interested yet not ready to wholly buy into extraterrestial origins it pushes us a bit closer to thinking "perhaps?". By this measure the series largely succeeds and does bring each of these "encounters" up to the current time. I'd say it lacked the impact of James Fox's body of work while it adds some more needed credibility to remind the world of these widely witnessed events.

Important stories to tell the world. It is not even the tip of the iceberg.

I hope this docuseries will continue to provide the opportunity for more voices to be heard, and expand beyond just encounters as this phenomenon is more than just witnesses. There are physical materials that need following up, places to study, expeditions to document and legislation to chase. Most importantly to connect all the dots across different people from different times and places.

You won't find the answers to the jigsaw puzzle without looking at every piece of the puzzle. This here is a puzzle across a loooooong time.

This is a well made documentary but the topic was not taken seriously enough for me. It might be intentional but not sure, maybe the director and producers aren't believers. What could have been two steps forward for disclosure and understanding just ended up being one step forward, then two steps backward. The pacing was okay but slowed in the final segment. I was entertained but as a believer that we have 'someone' with us from somewhere else, this was a let down. Hopefully any future documentaries will focus on the UAP phenomenon and not muddy the waters with offshoots of people with alternative thoughts and theories that can't at this time be corroborated.

After seeing several reviews about how the first episode is just about a few possibly crazy people seeing lights in the sky with no evidence, I actually had to check and make sure this was the same show I watched. The "few crazy people" were actually 100s of witnesses, including prominent members of the community who risked their jobs and reputation by going on record. And after the military said there was nothing on the radar but refused to release the data, a reporter still obtained it through FOIA -- and it corroborated exactly what the witnesses described. Obviously this doesn't mean it was aliens...but it was SOMETHING, and that's compelling enough for me.

The filming and storytelling are really great as well. It definitely had me hooked, and doing some Googling later. I'm not sure where such negative reviews are coming from on here, though. Unless they were expecting the filmmakers to interview an actual alien or something...

I'm sure people saw something they can not explain, but that's the only relevation. One guy talking about knowing and having encoubters at night in his bed, clearing describing sleep paralysis. People are suggestible and have very different interpretations of unusual events and novel experiences. Unexplained doesn't necessarily mean extraterrestrial. This series tilts toward conspiracy and apocalypse cultures merging, and a subtle anti or post scientific pov. People are reaching for connection and creating these hybrid belief structures to replace what they have lost in traditional belief structures. Poignant, credulous revelations from real people and one or two skeptics or experts per episode to make it all 'fair and balanced'. Considering who some of the creative and productive crew are, you might think the final product would be better, but in the end it's just a more refined version of the traditional unexplained phenomenon media presentation that H. G Wells and Orson Welles proved was possible.