Project U.F.O.

Project UFO was another fine Jack Webb production, but where did it go? Once aired, it never reappeared again. Everything from I Love Lucy, to Green Acres, at least ran on local UHF stations as reruns, but not Project UFO. If this series was struck on 16mm film to the TV stations, not one reel of it fell into collector's hands. The nation's biggest collectors claim to have never owned even one episode. Not available for sale on any format. Some Universal Studios personnel claim this series never existed. I remember seeing these films when they originally aired and believe they were very well done. Might they have been a little too well done? I would love to see them again.

This series was based on Project Blue Book, and one of the former officers assigned to Blue Book was actually a technical adviser to the show.

The problem, of course, is that today, we know that Blue Book was an attempt at Public Relations by the USAF to show that they had a handle on this UFO thing when they really didn't, and that they frequently used the most ludicrous explanations for sightings they could think of. Usually, an officer who was assigned to Blue Book was someone who was at a career dead end, and the Air Force was happy to get out of the whole thing in 1969.

The problem with Jack Webb's concept is that he tried to treat it like one of his cop shows, but still create a little action. So you'd have this elaborate special effects sequence setting up the story, followed by some "prosaic explanation" (as famous UFO Debunker Phil Klass used to say) as to what they actually saw. OH, that was swamp gas? Really?

To be absolutely fair, they were right. 95% of UFO sightings can be explained as something that was misidentified by people. Still, that didn't make for very good drama. The Air Force even cooperated in this series, hoping it would be good PR, but it was anything but.

This series was called Project Bluebook when it aired back in the late 70's.

UFO investigations by the US military.

I remember watching this in my 70s youth and I found it reasonably entertaining. However, I think I was a bit turned off by the formal nature of the two leads. Not saying their acting was unrealistic or anything like that but in this period there was another investigation-into-the-weird series going on - Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974) - and when I was a kid I warmed to that more light hearted approach to lead characters.

I always liked the footage of the actual UFO encounters. When watching today I think I heard a sound effect from Star Trek Original Series (1966) and at one point I almost thought I was looking at stock footage from This Island Earth (1955) - today it looks very retro!

Not sure if I would ever bother getting this show on DVD (if it is available?) but I would suggest a few screenings on Youtube if you have time to kill.

Author kjq45 from United States, a fan of Jack Webb's "Project UFO", writes that "Some Universal Studios personnel claim this series never existed." I was a guest star on "Project UFO" under what was then my stage name, Christie Wagner, and I can assure that it definitely existed.

I wonder if the Air Force behind the scenes contributed to taking the show off the air? After all, on the 50th anniversary of Roswell, New Mexico's alleged extraterrestrial craft and personnel sighting and interaction, the Air Force issued a long disclaimer in the media that it was only a "weather balloon" which crashed with "dummies" inside it.

If the space alien phenomenon really didn't happen then it's a non-issue so why issue a disclaimer half a century later? That disclaimer alone, some would believe, confirms that it really did happen.

Christie Wagner