FIRST CONTACT in SCI-FI depicts the first meeting between Humans and Extraterrestrials —
a life-changing event, to say the least. Hollywood storytellers have explored many scenarios … ranging from friendly collaboration to conflict and fear(invasion). Realistically, the arrival of Aliens on Earth may also be compared to encounters in the natural world — between native and invasive species.
HOLLYWOOD STORYTELLING
The Day the Earth Stood Still — (1951)
An Alien (Michael Rennie) lands in Washington, D.C. and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind — (1977)
Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss), an Indiana electric lineman, finds his quiet and ordinary daily life turned upside down after a close encounter with a UFO, spurring him to an obsessed cross-country quest for answers as a momentous event approaches.
2010: The Year We Make Contact — (1984)
In this masterful sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), a joint USA-Soviet expedition (led by Roy Scheider & Helen Mirren) is sent to Jupiter to learn exactly what happened to the “Discovery” and its H.A.L. 9000 computer.
The Abyss — (1989)
A civilian diving team (headed by Ed Harris & Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) is enlisted to search for a lost nuclear submarine and faces danger while encountering an Alien aquatic species.
Star Trek: First Contact — (1996)
Star Trek: First Contact depicts humanity’s first meeting with an Alien culture, the Vulcan race, in Montana on 5 April 2063, after the passing Vulcans’ attention is attracted by the detection of the energy signature from scientist Zefram Cochrane launching humanity’s first warp flight.
Contact — (1997)
Dr. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster), after years of searching, finds conclusive radio signal proof of Extraterrestrial intelligence, sending plans for a mysterious machine.
Arrival — (2016)
A linguist (Amy Adams) works with the military to communicate with Alien lifeforms after twelve mysterious spacecraft appear around the world.
REAL WORLD ENCOUNTERS
In the real world, of course, “First Contact” with Extraterrestrials has already happened … many times to people around the globe, in encounters stretching back to at least 1947. Anyone familiar with the work of serious UFO investigators like Budd Hopkins, David M. Jacobs, Linda Moulton Howe and Richard Dolan is well acquainted with the phenomenon of ALIEN ABDUCTION.
It is our greatest hope, as authors of THE SURVIVAL TRILOGY — Inspired by Real Events — that more storytellers and filmmakers will strive to do the same.
To anyone who has not already seen it, we highly recommend the recent documentary from j3Films: “Extraordinary: The Revelations” — currently available on Amazon Prime.
FIRST CONTACT between Humans and Extraterrestrials — in SCI-FI or Reality — can open the door to a kind of Enlightenment … that forever changes our understanding of who we are, and our place in the universe. Storytellers have tried to prepare us. Investigators and Eyewitnesses tell us that Aliens are already here.
Sooner or later, we’ll All know … exactly what that means.
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