The Program

 

James Fox' new documentary, The Program (sic), is one of the most hotly anticipated new movies in present day UFOlogy, and that's in quite a crowded market. It was a very troubled production. The Anglo-American film maker has had to wait a long time before releasing his new and updated report on the UFO scene because a previous distributor pulled the rug out. That will no doubt have allowed him to add new scenes, so I'm sure the time was not wasted. A lot has changed in the world, especially the United States, in the intervening period, see: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2021/01/donald-trump-portal.html. The film is not cheap, £15 to buy on Amazon UK. Once again there is no rental option. Is it worth it? The style is similar to James' other productions, see background links below. There are some very well composed time-lapse vignettes. It begins with a recap of the history behind the current situation and includes interviews with people who haven't yet spoken out about it, like Andre Carson. The narrative moves on to interviews with a series of people who claim to have insider information on the UAP programme; some speaking out anonymously. However a few are quite prepared to talk openly in a lit location and giving their full identity, like Lenval Logan, somebody I had not heard of before. Some witnesses are more famous and often more controversial, like Jason Sands; although his story sounds like many other close encounters and it is accompanied by newly released footage. Some participants are very persuasive; Sarah Gamm, in particular, impressed me with her testimony. There is one scene where she gives a long pause before answering a question and there is a close-up of her facial expression that I sense is sincere. Compare that with this very contrived piece of theatre: https://youtu.be/7ByWCFX4ZQs?si=QodDgckduvT-6Hj1&t=2759. One interviewee goes to a long way to protect his privacy. He is dubbed "Naval X", in the same pattern as the Brazilian "Military X" in Moment of Contact.

The Program delves into a quite old but very important piece of UFO Disclosure history, the case of Gary McKinnon. It includes some new and often quite shocking information about Gary's case regarding his personal experience. See here for my own coverage: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2012/10/gary-mckinnon-free-man.html. James Fox also investigates the Calvine UFO incident, the "photograph of the century". He interviews Dr David Clarke, Nick Pope (of course!) and Craig Lindsay. Fox believes he has found the exact location the photo was taken; this has always been a big mystery. In one scene Fox confronts Dr Clarke over the same conundrum I had with him, that "Folklore man" had ruled out a non-human origin for the object. Clarke's response was not included in the film. See here for background: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2024/06/would-real-kevin-russell-please-stand-up.html. James includes his own reportage of his presence at the recent NASA press conference, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2023/09/new-nasa-press-conference.html. The Program is a good summary and introduction to the modern Disclosure discourse and "New UFOlogy". A lot of it I'm already familiar with, because I'm such an enthusiast that little escapes me attention; but it contains some information I had never heard of before and some intriguing interviews with people who have hitherto remained silent. Is it worth the fifteen quid? Although it is less groundbreaking than Moment of Contact I would still say yes.
See here for background: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2020/02/ufo-disclosure-portal.html.
And: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2022/11/moment-of-contact-watch-party-review.html.

Ben Emlyn-Jones and The Crafty Nihilist 4

I have been featured on a livestream by The Crafty Nihilist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9CQklxG4aw.

An informal panel featuring myself talking to The Crafty Nihilist. We were joined on the air by our friend "Secret Sally". Unlike previous livestreams we were all physically in The Crafty Nihilist's studio.

See here for my previous appearance on the Crafty Nihilist's channel: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2024/10/ben-emlyn-jones-and-crafty-nihilist-3.html.

Skullduggery

 

I can't remember who recommended me the film Skullduggery, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066384/, but they said it would suit me. The subject matter does, but it was very badly executed. I don't know if this is a pattern, but it is based on a French novel, like Planet of the Apes, another clanger. Do French novels always adapt into bad English movies? The lead is played by Burt Reynolds, normally one of my favourite actors. I know him primarily for his series of outstanding comedy road movies directed by Hal Needham such as Cannonball Run and Smokey and the Bandit. His character in this film really makes no sense. Well, it seems to split into two halfway through the film. He is, on the one hand, a classic 60's alpha male; conventionally good-looking, pragmatic, single-minded and materialistic. He and his friend have a plan to make their fortune mining a mineral in Papua New Guinea for use in making televisions; a reference to third world commodity exploitation in the western luxury goods industry. Indeed, Skullduggery tries in vain to become an early form of eco-fiction; a proto-Avatar. This falls flat on its face because of the failure to make Reynolds' character credible. It's almost inevitable that he would end up in the love interest subplot, a must for all films of that era; but his relationship with the leading lady, played by Susan Clark, is bootstrapped very badly into the narrative. They seem poorly matched as a couple with zero chemistry. She plays a scientist studying the "Tropies", a species of cryptid primate living in the middle of the island's dense forest. Reynolds and his mate decide to use Tropi slaves on their mining operation as unpaid labour. For a while it looks like the story is blending with my own novel Rockall, see: https://hpanwo-bb.blogspot.com/2009/02/rockall-chapter-1.html. So where is the Dill Gibson? The answer is almost unbelievable; Reynolds' character becomes the Dill Gibson. It appears even the film makers themselves seem to realize how inadequate their composition is because in one scene Clark says to Reynolds "I never knew you were the bleeding heart type." Nor did anybody else, especially this viewer. There is no process or development explaining Reynolds' transformation. Ideally that role should have been the domain of another character, but no such character was ever written. So when Reynolds decides on the spot that he is no longer the hard-headed entrepreneur and is instead a crusading humanitarian conservationist, he ends up in court accused of murder when one of the Tropies dies. The essence of the trial is whether the Tropies are human or not. This could have been a profound storyline, exploring what it means to be human in a deep spiritual sense, but instead it all came down to whether they were fertile with humans and whether they had a spoken language etc. What a missed opportunity Skullduggery is. The title is also very odd; and it's spelled differently from the similar word "skulduggery". I'm not sure why it was chosen, possibly because skulls appear a lot in the film.
(Apologies for the current lack of activity on HPANWO Voice. I've not had time to update it.)

Ben Emlyn-Jones live at Dorset Earth Mysteries 4

 

I will be speaking at the Dorset Earth Mysteries group on Thursday the 4th of September 2025.My talk will be entitled: SETI and UFO's. Blurb: "The news has announced that "BLC1" a signal from an extraterrestrial civilization might have been found. SETI, the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence, is a scientific project to find intelligent life beyond the earth. So is UFOlogy. Then why are the two so divided from each other?" The venue is: Stapehill Village Hall, 224 Wimborne Road West, Stapehill, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 2DY. The event starts at 7.15 PM. See here for details: https://dorsetmysteries.org/index.php.
See here for a recording of my last appearance at the DEMG: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2024/08/neil-wards-dorset-tour-videos.html.

Why I left FMOTL

 

One of the central drives of the Truth movement in the 2000's and early 2010's was the "Freeman on the Land" movement and it's associated philosophies. It was embodied by its charismatic chief theorist, John Harris, see background links below. I was very keen on its ideas and the people proposing it. I was a member of TPUC, went on protests and attended British Constitution Group meetings. FMOTL sounded like the perfect solution. The very law of the land itself contained the means to undo the New World Order and change our society into a just and free one. It even sounded easy; certainly controlled and non-violent. Today I have completely abandoned FMOTL. How I rejected its ideas is a long and complicated story, but I am not alone. In fact most people I know who used to be Freemen are now as cynical about it as I am. Several things have happened that made me realize that it is wrong. The first was the fate of Carla Buckle. Carla is a friend of mine who used to help run the group Oxfordshire and Berkshire Seeking Solutions. She endured fifteen minutes of media infamy after she refused to pay her council tax and was jailed. I remember talking to her about this before she started her project. She had researched it thoroughly and examined every element of the legal situation and was confident that the authorities could not wriggle out of it... But it was not to be, see: https://hpanwo-radio.blogspot.com/2015/03/programme-131-podcast-carla-buckle.html. The second lesson I learned is far more recent, the defeat of Richard D Hall at the Royal Courts of Justice, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2024/07/rdh-lawsuit-mini-portal.html. I have not rejected FMOTL because I think it is fundamentally incorrect, morally or lawfully; it is not. I've rejected FMOTL because it is impractical. It is based on the assumption that our enemy has a sense of fair play and will obey its own rules when those rules are wielded against them. It will not. In both Richard and Carla's court cases, the defendants technically won. They were both right, but they still "lost", meaning that the government just replied with a "So what? Yah-boo sucks to you, we're still going to screw you!"

I'm a big fan of the science fiction TV series Blakes 7; it is one of the most interesting and meaningful TV shows ever made. I've even reviewed the entire series, see: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2007/10/blakes-7.html. There's an episode called "Voice from the Past" in which a group of three rebels plan to overthrow the Federation by establishing a legal challenge to its rule. The leader of the Federation, Servalan, responds simply by cornering the three and killing them. In the classics this is called a "Melian dialogue", a conversation in which only one side has the power. It is from an incident in which Athens blockaded the island of Melos in 416 BC and negotiated with the captives. There is no point trying to use the system to overthrow the system. This is a common mistake also found in the world of politics; it's a lesson Nigel Farage has not yet learned, see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2024/07/general-election-2024-livestream.html. So what is the solution then, Ben? I hear you ask. To be frank, this country has become so authoritarian that there is actually a limit to how I can answer that question without ending up in prison myself. I will say this much, I still have faith in something coming out of left field. It could be something related to Donald Trump, "that letter of the alphabet", see: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2022/08/pr-portal.html, UFO's, or a revelation by a group of insiders. It might be something else we haven't yet heard of. All I know is that I must stay on course in the present. We need patience. The future must be left where it is.
See here for background: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2015/06/john-harris-dies.html.
And: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2022/03/andy-barlow-in-oxon.html.