The Real Story: Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Gr 3–5—This installment of the Smithsonian Channel series tests the facts behind the classic sci-fi movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The episode starts out by explaining the true events that inspired the movie, including the UFO sighting classification system upon which the movie's name is based and supposedly real-life alien encounters such as the Barney and Betty Hill UFO sighting. While under hypnosis, the couple claimed to have been abducted by a UFO. The series does a fascinating job refuting that assertion with a demonstration of a hypnotist implanting a false memory in a student. The majority of the piece focuses on the work of Dr. J. Allen Hynek, noted UFO researcher and technical advisor to the Steven Spielberg film. While the program casts some doubt on his findings, the producers try to stay as neutral as possible, letting viewers make up their own mind. The last few minutes focuses on the SETI Institute and the current movement to search for extraterrestrial life and interstellar space travel, with noted physicist Michio Kaku wonderfully breaking down the two subjects and describing their realities and possibilities.