Good news everyone! Robbie Graham’s long awaited book Silver Screen Saucers: Sorting Fract from Fantasy in Hollywood’s UFO Movies is now available. What started out as Robbie’s doctoral thesis eventually morphed and was abducted by Destiny itself –see what I did there?– in order to become one of the most highly anticipated UFO books of this year.
More so than any other medium, cinema has shaped our expectations of potential alien life and visitation. From The Day the Earth Stood Still and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, to Battleship, Prometheus, and beyond, our hopes and fears of alien contact have been fuelled by the silver screen. But what messages does Hollywood impart to us about our possible otherworldly neighbours, from where do UFO movies draw their inspiration, and what other factors – cultural or conspiratorial – might influence their production and content? Silver Screen Saucers is a timely and revealing examination of the interplay between Hollywood’s UFO movies and the UFO phenomenon itself, from 1950 to present day.
The book grants the reader a rare, close-up examination of the DNA that builds our perceptions of the UFO mystery. One strand of this DNA weaves real events, stories, and people from the historical record of UFOlogy, while the other spins and twists with the film and TV products they have inspired. With our alien dreams and nightmares now more fully visualized onscreen than ever before, Silver Screen Saucers asks the question: what does it all mean? Are all UFO stories just fever dreams from LA screenwriters, or are they sprung from something more tangible?
From interviews with screenwriters and directors whose visions have been shaped by their lifelong UFO obsessions; to Presidents talking UFOs with Hollywood heavyweights; to CIA and Pentagon manipulation of UFO-themed productions; to movie stars and producers being stalked by real Men in Black, Silver Screen Saucers provides fresh perspective on the frequently debated but little understood subject of UFOs & Hollywood.
I’ve been a fan (and a friend) of Robbie for quite a while. To say I can’t wait to get my greasy palms on this book is an understatement as big as an ID4 mothership.
But wait, there’s more! Robbie, along with his associates Bryce Zabel (producer of the cult TV series Dark Skies) and Ben Hansen (host of Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files) are right now in the middle of developing a TV adaptation of Silver Screen Saucers, and are currently pitching the series to the networks: Here’s the sizzle reel:
Here’s my 2 centavos, you guys: EFF the Jurassic networks! Pitch the show directly to Amazon. They already are the biggest retailer in the WORLD, so if they were to produce and distribute SSS as a free series, they could entice costumers to purchase those UFO/ET movies they *already* carry (along with the book itself). Win-win, y’all!
Silver Screen Saucers: The perfect stocking filler for any UFO buff/Sci-Fi fanboy this Xmas*! [Amazon US & UK]
(*)Reese’s Pieces, smashed potatoes and Neuralizer sold separately
