New Area 51 program on History Channel

The latest television epic on Area 51 airs tonight on The History Channel. Although the title is "Alien Cover-Up," the bulk of the material shot for the show was on the base itself and various secret projects. Anything extraterrestrial was, at best, a sidebar. Of course this may have changed in the editing room. Here is the official program description.

MYSTERYQUEST : ALIEN COVER-UP
Airs On Wednesday October 14 10:00 PM
Newly declassified documents are providing the opportunity for a deeper investigation into whether governments around the world are engaged in a cover-up of UFO research. MysteryQuest's expedition and science teams travel to locations in the Nevada desert and in Utah to investigate. Using state of the art technology they investigate these covert US government sites looking for clues about what the government may know. And they experience just how much the government wants to keep its secrets when military helicopters and a fighter jet shadow the team on their trek near the base.

The producers said they were planning to tell the real story about Area 51 and get away from the mythology. They lied. I'm not sure why they called it "Alien Cover-Up" since their investigative team spent all their time examining the history of the Groom Lake base and various aircraft projects that took place there.

Despite the wealth of new information about Area 51 has surfaced over the past decade, the MysteryQuest crew decided to follow the same well trodden paths of visiting the "Black Mailbox," facing off against the "Cammo Dudes" at the border, setting up night-vision video cameras (with wide-angle lenses so every airplane looks like a dot), and climbing Tikaboo Peak.

They might manage to squeeze in some new information between these segments but don't blink or you will miss it. The investigative team's visit to the crash site of a D-21B drone from Area 51 was handled very poorly. Expect melodrama and don't believe everything you see.

At least the impromptu air show on Tikaboo Peak was authentic. That really is a two-seat F-16 from the Groom Lake base along with one of the GHOST Squadron's MH-60G helicopters. I have never heard of the helicopter being sent to Tikaboo before and the F-16 was totally unprecedented. The production crew departed the motel in Alamo around 4:15 a.m. and drove up to a spot in the mountains more than 26 miles west of Groom Lake. Somehow, base security knew they were there and sent a greeting committee. At least it gave the camera crew some dramatic footage.

Hmm this will be something to watch. Most of the time they announce new shows about something and just recycle old footage...or like you said do the same thing that has been done before.

Hopefully there will be something new I always enjoy watching these things even if it's the same old same old.

The base sends the Ghost choppers once in a while. Usually when I'm in the tent trying to get some sleep. However, some people have had the chopper show up in the daytime. [I think there is a youtube video of the chopper bugging those Brits that make the pilgrimage yearly.]

I just did a Tikaboo hike on Sunday (10/11/2009), coming down on Monday. The viewing conditions were pretty poor. I'll put together a pano, but hey, my heart isn't in it considering the viewing conditions.

I did appreciate the night time landing on N623RA on Sunday night around 7:30PM. They put the landing lights on full brightness. Nothing like 3 miles of blue runway lights in the middle of nowhere. This must look amazing from passing aircraft. I noticed they added landing lights for the taxiway that was added a few years ago. The plane landed and then took off in about 20 minutes. They left the lights on the whole time. I didn't have the telescope set up unfortunately.

Regarding the night vision and planes looking like dots, I'm not really sure mere civilians can do any better. Since magnification means a reduction in illumination, you really can't magnify without increasing apeture to compensate for the light loss. [Magnify by two and get a quarter of the light.] I think you would need something on the order of a cinetheodolite.

The base can out wait the observers. What film crew is going to camp out for months to snoop on Groom Lake? It's just not in the budget. They show up to the site with the script already written, and then take photography to match the script. What you really need is someone like Paul Allen to fund a Groom "observatory". Even so, you could probably only safely monitor the base about half the year. If the snow doesn't get you, the lightning will!

I believe this setup would work fine for Groom Lake night vision. If only we knew someone who worked at Dryden.....

KTM with IR telescope

As you know, IR is not the same thing as night vision, so I'm guessing they can image the aircraft due to a temperature differential between the plane and the background, especially since the plane with be hotter than the background due to friction with the air.

What a waste of prime time network space. More of the same old stuff we already know about.

Anything new to show?????? So a helicopter showed up....and an F-16....

And?????

the show stunk like the rest of them. More dummies walking through motion detectors then surprised they don't see anything but people watching them. I guess the shows are good for keeping interest up for those less knowledgable on the subject, but nothing else.

Actually, hold on, the piece on the Navy Research Base on Andros Island was quite informative though. Was new to me.

[edit on 15-10-2009 by rygi23]

reply to post by Shadowhawk


Nothing really new was learned on the program as the items tested were man made. However, there were some nice eyewitness accounts told and the skyquake was an interesting phenomena I would of liked to know more about.

There are no aliens at Area 51, it is a test area for our equipment. The air show was done to show the crew the Air Force was aware of their presence.

Watching it right now. I'll write my observations as I see em.

- Wow ok so Lear is on it and also Peter Merlin on the same show.... Possible that we will see balanced discussion of both sides?

- Lear is talking about Lazar. Wonder where ATSers opinion is in-regards to how factual they think Lazars testimony is. Nothing new info wise.

- Is the footage Lear showing in what I think his garage public about him talking about their encounter?

- 3-4 solid minutes following Peter and Mark and the stupid narrator won't shut up.

- Interesting fighter pilot story but nothing substantial

- They talk about sky quakes and Aurora its been a while since I've seen a Doc with it in the show

- Any reason Peter why you wouldn't take a sample of the larger sample?

- Sort of a over reaction to chopper? but easy for me to say not being there I'm sure I'd of enjoyed it in a way.

-Interesting to see the use of the high power camera but the editing really didn't allow anyone watching to put it all together in one slow pan.

Anyways let me know what you guys think.

Originally posted by SlinkyDFW
What a waste of prime time network space. More of the same old stuff we already know about.

Anything new to show?????? So a helicopter showed up....and an F-16....

And?????

Exactly what I thought. It was a waste of space on my DVR.

Originally posted by Canada_EH
Watching it right now. I'll write my observations as I see em.

- Wow ok so Lear is on it and also Peter Merlin on the same show.... Possible that we will see balanced discussion of both sides?

Never happened. I was not at all impressed by either of them. I heard more from the narrator than I did from anyone else. (stick with dirty jobs Mike Rowe)

- Lear is talking about Lazar. Wonder where ATSers opinion is in-regards to how factual they think Lazars testimony is. Nothing new info wise.

I think Bob Lazar had some credible information.....not all of it mind you, but some of it at least.

- Is the footage Lear showing in what I think his garage public about him talking about their encounter?

No idea. What pissed me off was that they talked about Bob Lazar taking him out there at this precise time to see a UFO....and they NEVER even showed the crucial part of the video! All they showed was a bunch of re-enactment clips.....very low budget stuff.

- 3-4 solid minutes following Peter and Mark and the stupid narrator won't shut up.

Totally agree.

- Any reason Peter why you wouldn't take a sample of the larger sample?

Because he is an idiot. SERIOUSLY......even my wife (who NEVER watches anything about UFO's) said that the piece he sent to the lab looked like a part off a car. Then, low and behold, the guy at the lab mentioned the same thing. Those guys made fools of themselves out there in the desert...."GUYS COME OVER HERE....I THINK I HAVE SOMETHING"....dude.....please.

- Sort of a over reaction to chopper? but easy for me to say not being there

I'm sure I'd of enjoyed it in a way.

Yes, very over dramatic reactions to the chopper. Now.....if it would have buzzed them and hovered right by them....maybe I would have got a little excited. I saw more footage of terrestrial aircraft in this Area 51 show than I did of EXTRA terrestrial craft!

-Interesting to see the use of the high power camera but the editing really didn't allow anyone watching to put it all together in one slow pan.

They brought that thing out like it was the holy grail or something. I have seen the same resolution photos of area 51 on my computer while surfing the net. They played up all these remote cameras as well, and then only caught headlights and a cloud.....WOW. I actually felt bad for those guys that had to lug that overrated piece of crap up the mountain. There was more footage of them lugging that thing around than there actually was of the thing being used. LOSERS

And how about that abandoned missile base that was supposed to be the new Area 51.....that sucked.

In case you can't tell, I was not impressed. IMHO, they should not have even made the show. It did nothing for the UFO community, the Area 51 community, or anything else for that matter. It just made them look like idiots. It was just fodder for the brain.

[edit on 17-10-2009 by desertdreamer]

I don't blame Peter for the poor quality of the direction/editing of the show. I find Peter's work to be top notch when it comes to aero history, projects and crash sites. I'm simply posing a question to him in regards to why the show took that direction when it came to that crash site.

Also I like Mike Rowe for his narration of deadliest catch and work on dirty jobs but I've been very unimpressed by pretty much the entire mystery quest series. You can check out other episodes on ninjavideo but yeah take it from me that they usually make me feel like I've wasted a half hour of time.

Originally posted by desertdreamer

- Any reason Peter why you wouldn't take a sample of the larger sample?

Because he is an idiot. SERIOUSLY......even my wife (who NEVER watches anything about UFO's) said that the piece he sent to the lab looked like a part off a car. Then, low and behold, the guy at the lab mentioned the same thing. Those guys made fools of themselves out there in the desert...."GUYS COME OVER HERE....I THINK I HAVE SOMETHING"....dude.....please.

I suggest you go to dreamlandresort.com and read what really happened, according to Peter Merlin.

Can you post a link I went on there earlier but didn't see anything. ( I find the site not the greatest navigation wise) Thx!

The MysteryQuest episode was originally to focus solely on Area 51. Halfway through the final edit, the producers decided to expand the scope to include a whole bunch of unrelated stuff (Roswell, Nazca lines, the jet pilot's sighting, etc.). It went from a coherent narrative to a confusing jumble. The result was terrible and an insult to the audience.

Even the original concept had serious problems. I had been promised that this show would tell the real story of Area 51 and that my expertise was needed. Unfortunately, the script outline was already fixed and the field producer stymied me at nearly every turn. If I tried to give some facts about Area 51 that had been uncovered through hard research efforts after the mid 1990s, I was told I couldn't say that because it would spoil the mystery. I was repeatedly told to remember that "Area 51 is a mystery." Well, I thought the point was to solve the mystery. Apparently not. They just wanted to tease the audience.

It was mostly kabuki theatre, highly stylized moves. All the drama about the cameras set to record the skyline over Groom Lake was bogus. The cameras had such wide-angle lenses that they wouldn't capture anything. They fed into VHS tape decks so resolution was poor. The big lens on Tikaboo was wasted because it was to shaky and the air temperature was too hot by the time we reached the peak. We had to "oooh" and "ahhh" about the "biggest lense ever taken up Tikaboo Peak even though we could clearly see the pictures were not as good as those taken under better atmospheric conditions with smaller lenses.

The crash site visit was another problem. We had a clearly identifiable structure from the front end of the DZ-1 rocket booster that propelled the D-21B drone. I said I could prove this through the materials (no lab analysis needed), construction methods, paints and coatings, manufacturer's inspection stamps ( Skunk Works), part numbers (see the tech manual), and recognizable components (from photos). The field producer insisted that this would "spoil the mystery" and that we had to send a sample to the lab for scientific analysis. She didn't want a sample off the big piece because it was obviously rusted steel. So I gave her a small brass fragment from some electronic component because it looked more exotic than any other piece, very distorted and "alien." Off course, the lab tech doesn't have any knowledge of aerospace vehicle construction so all he can tell is that it was made on Earth and could be from just about anything.

I fought hard to get some factual information into the show and I fought to make the program more original. I consider it a minor victory that they allowed me to say that, over the years, there has never been any hard evidence of "Aurora." They cut out the part where I explained the origin of the AURORA name (line item for B-2 budget). They also perpetuated the myth that Area 51 was an officially unacknowledged base, something I have disproved with extensive documentation. I spent a lot of time in front of the camera revealing information about Groom Lake that has never been included in an Area 51 documentary. As in the past ("Return to Area 51," UFO Hunters," etc.), these scenes never made the final cut.

I downloaded and watched it last night - that was absolutely THE worst Area 51 documentary I have ever seen. Whoever wrote and produced that crap should be ashamed of themselves.

And the constant camera shots of documents, "aliens", jumping around, going in and out of focus.... a bit of that would have been fine, but the WHOLE "documentary"? The cheezy staged scenes of Lear and Lazar... pathetic. "Wow, this is new - I haven't seen that before" - come on Glen, where have you been? Haven't used Google Earth lately? Haven't been lurking on dreamlandresort? You sure as hell didn't discover it that day!

I wish someone would actually do some research, talk and LISTEN to people like Peter, Joerg, gariac, hell even myself... the history, the reality and facts are so much more interesting than this alien connection crap.

And don't even mention John Lear... geez - "aliens are everywhere"

if the story is covering military bases...it passes through the eyes of military intelligence first, before it even gets to the editing room. you will only see and hear what military intelligence wants you to see and hear.

anyone want to place bets on the exposure of alien life in this show?? c'mon...old black and white movies and stills, talk of nuclear testing, ww2, sr-71, stealth, dropping of atomic bomb on japan, a few tin-hatted interviews, and maybe some white dots in the black sky in utah captured on film. i think that will cover it, except for 16 to 20 minutes of commercials.

Damn, I missed it. I'm sure it will appear on youtube sooner or later anyway. To be honest though, it just sounds like the same old stuff that I've seen on countless other programs. It really annoys me when they present it as if they've got some sort of breakthrough but, when you watch it, you know what conclusions they'll draw inside 10 mins of the show starting.

Actually, hold on, the piece on the Navy Research Base on Andros Island was quite informative though. Was new to me.

That also was a crock. I was stationed at the base and ALL they do there is calibrate the sonars for the submarines and the subs fire mock torpedoes at the range.

The place and people are so laid back it is surreal.

You could walk down the beach and enter the base if you wanted to.

They just always have included it because they are ignorant of what it is.

Some reason they want to believe there are secrets there other than what they are actually doing.

You can't convince fools of anything.

Guard are all private security and don't even carry weapons,or at least didn't when I was there.

It is almost all civilians that run the place and you can even invite relatives to come down to the base and visit for a month I think.

That's such a shame that they would neglect the information you were giving them Shadowhawk.

I was going to download it, but after reading your post i will avoid this show.

Were you surprised that they were being quite obvious they still wanted to keep some facts a secret?

Did you ever think of just leaving, or was it not completely clear until towards the end?