The relationship between government liaison offices and the entertainment industry usually works well, resulting in added production value for the industry’s products and the furtherance of the government’s agendas. But sometimes things go wrong. This week we look at what happens when the relationship breaks down, using examples from the ...
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The US Air Force recently released a tranche of documents on the support they provided to the Neil Armstrong biopic First Man.  This included their Rules of Engagement for companies filming on Edwards Air Force Base, which detail the stringent and at times ludicrous restrictions the Air Force places on ...
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In 1977 the producers of Superman and Superman II approached the Pentagon to try to obtain stock footage of missiles launching, for use in depicting Lex Luthor's dastardly plot to nuke the San Andreas fault.  The Air Force and Strategic Air Command were provided with copies of the script in ...
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Four years ago, scholar Ben Urwand revealed how the Nazis' man in Hollywood Georg Gyssling censored and rewrote film scripts to remove scenes and dialogue that criticised the Nazi regime. He also repeatedly removed references to the suffering of Jews in post-WW1 Germany. Hidden until now, the DOD continued this ...
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The first two Iron Man movies are far more important to cinematic history than their daft scripts, super-arrogant star performer and cartoonish presentation might suggest. Between them they made over $1.2 billion worldwide and established the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has since become the biggest film franchise of all time ...
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I don't believe any of the alternative theories about the moon landings but this week I thought it would be fun to explore some of the arguments around these seminal events. We begin by looking at some of the arguments people have made in support of the conspiracy theories and ...
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NASA's Multimedia Liaison Office was founded in the 1990s but they have recently become more aggressively involved in the entertainment industry. In particular they have replaced the Pentagon as the most prominent government agency working on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the world's biggest film franchise, working on The Avengers, Captain ...
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Have you ever wondered about the relationship between UFOs or aliens in movies and the real-life experiences of people who report contact or abduction or witnessing these things? Have you ever wondered whether the government is using UFO movies to influence people's perceptions of these fringe but popular and captivating ...
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Mockumentary is perhaps the best sub-genre of cinema, and conspiracy-themed mockumentaries even more so. In this episode we look at four films - The Conspiracy, The Last Broadcast, Trollhunter and Apollo 18 - and examine why conspiracy mockumentaries are so good. The blend of realistic documentary formats with fantastical and ...
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Ed Opperman invited me back onto his show to discuss the Pentagon's involvement in Hollywood and the rest of the entertainment industry. We talked about my FOIA successes of recent months and what they reveal about the scale of the DOD's involvement in the industry. The aggressive nature of the ...
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The internet is awash with talk of the new mini-season of The X-Files. As predicted, conspiracy theorists have been particular susceptible to the charms of the reborn UFO extravanganza, searching for clues and meaning in every line and frame of the show. Having now watched the opening two episodes (My ...
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Comic-Con has been a useful (and fun) hunting ground for the Pentagon's entertainment liaison offices for years, but NASA have recently jumped on the bandwagon. The combination of nerds and sci-fi fanatics has proven too alluring to ignore and so one of the world's biggest scientific institutions has joined the ...
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