UFO - The Hidden Truth: Box Set (VHS, 1999, 4-Tape Set)

I got a bargain on the boxed VHS set of 4 tapes (2 on Area 51, 1 on crop circles, 1 on UFOs). I'm no expert on crop circles, but I've done a lot of research on the other two topics, hiked to see Area 51 in person, etc. So I'll comment mainly on that, and a bit on the UFO material.

The Area 51 tapes at least touched ALL of the bases which any serious Area 51 researcher needs to touch, which is quite unusual. Namely, they did not omit Bob Lazar and try to dismiss him as a kook, or ignore Chuck Clark's more fantastic observations, as a famous "debunker-type" Area 51 website (which ironically counts Chuck as a "Senior Researcher" or some such thing for their site) does.

Nor did they simply spew out all speculation as "conspiracy theorist / underground base promoters" do. They went to the defended border, they went to Tikaboo Peak, they flew just outside the restricted airspace and drew in F-15s (not F-16s as stated...F-16s don't have two tails!) to harass them, they got angrily shooed away from the McCarran JANET car entrance as well as from EG&G office property nearby. They got excellent video of all of the above, including showing runway activity at Area 51 itself, the F-15s buzzing their Cessna, daring personally-identifiable closeups of Area 51 workers deplaning at McCarran, and Lazar's SSN intact on the infamous W2. Most American videographers do not push the boundaries so hard as these Brits did.

At one point they did make an unjustified leap to considering major underground facilities at Area 51 "proven" by them (apparently due to the number of JANET passengers, in their view), just as debunkers unjustifiably leap to the opposite conclusion. The truth is, I find hard proof of either viewpoint as lacking, considering the secrecy, viewing distances, and possible disinformation out there in both directions.

Their range of interviewees went beyond what I had seen before, despite my keen interest and research on the topic. For example, I'd never seen tape of Gene Huff before, and my impression of him on tape was quite different from my impression of him from internet flame-war postings. Similarly, though I'd seen Glenn Campbell and Chuck Clark on TV before, I found the segments they were in to contain significant info that I'd never seen presented in such detail before.

Enough about the Area 51 tapes....suffice it to say that those two tapes alone, are reason enough to buy this boxed set. It is a must-have for any Area 51 aficionado or researcher.

I found the UFO tape to also be quite thorough and balanced considering its short length relative to the amount of information out there on the topic. There were even one or two "famous" UFO photos in it which I had never seen before, which is quite a statement considering that I've been quite interested in UFOs for about 40 years. For the most part, they did an excellent job of selecting photos, films, videos, incidents, and interviewees to help any serious viewer in choosing a reasonable starting point of interest, to begin researching a number of topics regarding UFOs. Rather than dragging things out with scary music/stories, they pack a lot of history into each minute. You almost need your finger on the "pause button" to read the photo captions, for instance!

I highly recommend this set...get it before VHS is obsolete, or the corresponding DVDs come out at much higher prices!