Project Blue Book - sci-fi show set in the 1950's

I'm only three episodes in but this is a fun and exciting ride.

"The series revolves around the real-life Project Blue Book, a secret series of investigations into supposed UFO encounters and unexplained phenomena undertaken by the United States Air Force with skeptical astrophysics professor—and eventual ufologist—Dr. J. Allen Hynek in the 1950’s and 1960’s. With his partner, Air Force veteran Captain Michael Quinn, they investigate sightings across the U.S., and Dr. Hynek discovers that not everything can be explained by science."

 

Sounds interesting. What platform is it on?

 

The History Channel.
I've watched it from the beginning, and I feel it's terrific. They've just started the second season, and it seems
as though they've increased the budget over the first season. The actor that plays Hyneck is perfect, and if you're
familiar with his story and how he went from being a skeptic to one of the most important people in the
UFO community, it seems as though the series is gradually following that and it's fascinating. Plus, as it says
at the beginning, it's based on actual true incidents.
Steven Spielberg gave Hynek a brief cameo toward the end of "Close Encounters"...

 

I watched season one and liked it. Haven't watched season two yet.

 

I watched season 1 and am 3 episodes into season 2. So far, I'm sort of inclined to stay with it, but then it's been a lousy new TV season, so guess I;ll invest some more time in it.

Not really related, but I've noticed that at least some of it is filmed in Canada. I was watching one of the cars they use in it and thought it was a 1949/50 Ford, but just didn't look quite right. That's because it was a Canadian Ford, which has some different features from a US-made Ford of that vintage!

 

Yep, watched from the start.

Only started binging Game of Thrones early this January (about to finish) so we saw Aiden Gillen as Dr Hynek before Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish, probably backwards from most people.

 

I think everything is shot in the BC/Vancouver area. It's a canadian production like so many other shows

 

I watched the original series in the 70s when I was a kid. UFOs, bigfoot, etc., were big at the time, I loved that stuff even if I was more in the skeptic category just because it was fun and interesting. Hynek wrote some interesting books if you ever get the chance, too.

 

Hopefully this makes its way to blu ray before too long.

 

Which original series are you referring to? This is a straight dramatic show, but based on the life of Hyneck
and documented cases he investigated. It's not a documentary series or a "What If?" type of show.

 

Here is the show I was referring to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_U.F.O.

It says it was also called Project Blue Book in some countries. My memory is that is was called Project Blue Book on NBC when I watched it, but perhaps I am not remembering correctly - it's never aired since!

 

also where the idea of the X-files comes from too !

 

I struggled to get through the first 2 episodes of S01 due to either bad acting or bad writing, although I suspect mostly the latter.

 

It’s kind of a remake. This series ran in 1978-79. Hynek (who provided some of the inspiration of Close Encounters and appears in the film).

 

The show is very reminiscent of X-Files, since the two lead characters spend a lot of time arguing about whether the phenomena they're investigating is real or not. A lot of aspects of the show leave that open to interpretation, but it actually got pretty good in the last couple of episodes. There was a lot of extraneous plot about Russian spies, philandering spouses, and stories that kind of led nowhere, like they were throwing the kitchen sink into the production, all really weird. I was shocked that the show picked up an ASC Award for Best Cinematography, because to me while the show isn't ugly, it isn't that outstanding, either.

I'm watching it, but this is one of these "fast forward through the slow parts" series. I did laugh when I discovered that the actor playing Dr. Hynek is the same British guy who played the evil "Littlefinger" on Game of Thrones, only now he has an almost-convincing fake American accent.

 

Season two is better.

 

The first season episode(#3 I think) in Texas was pretty damn good looking I thought. The scene in street with the mob when the street lights exploded and also on the field with the night sky.
Nothing spectacualar maybe but better than the average tv show.

Also, I love that it rains a lot. Gives the show a great atmosphere.

 

I'll get caught up on it.

 

Vancouver.

 

Nice - I see it is on Hulu - I'll check it out.

 

Curious who may have seen last night's episode. There are several scenes in 1976 of Hyneck and his wife 23 years older on the set of Spielberg's "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind" and I must say it blew me away and was totally unexpected. There's a one minute clip from it on youtube, which I'll post as a spoiler.

Spoiler

 

Yeah, I remember it as Project Blue Book. I was probably around 8-9 years old when it aired but I definitely remember it.

 

I remember one episode where an alien debarked from its ship, but they couldn't understand it at first. It kept repeating the same phrase, and each time it sounded more and more like English, until finally it was saying "Do you understand me?"

It had some kind of universal translator that took time to get it right I guess, I thought that was pretty cool!

 

Sounds like the scene in "Mars Attacks" (Ack...Ack Ack....."We Come In Peace").

 

2nd season is great. Much better than the first. The very annoying b-story with the wife and the Soviet spy lady is given less time and it is reworked and split up into two different things.

The skinwalker episode was fun and really scary. My favorite together with the Area 51 one. The two parter Roswell was also very good.