Encounters is a four-part documentary series directed by Yon Motskin (Generation Hustle) and executive produced by Amblin Television, Emmy-winning Boardwalk Pictures and Vice Studios. It has a runtime of about 45-53 minutes and explores true stories of encounters with otherworldly beings.
The documentary features Matthew Roberts, Steve Allen, Sara Vanden Berge, Lee Roy Gaitan, Robert Powell, Pat Leatherwood, Dr Norma Biseno, Eddy Weiss, Ralph Blumenthal, Emma, Tapfu, Erick Macleish, Judy Bates, Shawn Garrison, Gareth Lewis, Francine Granville, Mark Marston, David George, Yuko Sakuma, Dr Diana Pasulka, Dr Tanaka Kazuo, Miho Nahagawa, Tomonori Izumi and others.
Encounters Review
The first episode dives into the 2008 sightings of strange lights in the sky over Central Texas, as many as 300 people came forward from Stephenville and Dublin, Texas. What brought attention to the story was a front-page coverage in a local newspaper. At first, people were curious and realised what they had witnessed wasn’t some illusion but a real thing that others had also seen at the same time. It certainly became a well-known event in the state and got attention from all over the country.
But with attention, also came the trolls and ridicule that made many hesitant to come out and support the claim as fact. The same turn of events is seen in each episode where a few people who witnessed a UFO or even an alien being are too stunned to carry on their lives as usual, while other people make fun of them or call it a bluff. So even if there might have been some truth, it gets buried by mockery or might be done so deliberately by secret organisations.
In the second episode, we go back in time to 1994, when over 60 children at a Zimbabwe school claimed to have seen aliens. The creators interview the same kids who were on the news at that time and go over their experiences again. Many stick to their words and what they have seen while one of the classmates disregards it all by saying that he made the rumour to get out of a class. Painting it as a prank that got out of hand while others share how everything became quite traumatic when people wouldn’t believe them.
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The third episode goes back to another school sighting in 1977 in Wales, UK. Along with a few kids who shared their experiences publicly, the series features a hotel owner as well, who witnessed the spacemen from close proximity. While in the last episode, we revisit the tragic incident in the Fukushima Nuclear Power plant in 2011 where a number of people saw various lights flying over the accident site.
Another strange incident was how everything was destroyed in the tsunami except the Buddhist temple which was completely unhindered. It is now called a Miracle temple and many visit the place and hike the mountain beside it to gain good energy. The main contrast between alien sightings in the West and the East was how people described them as good or bad.
People in the US and UK call it a terrifying experience or evil beings and share that they got the telepathic message from the alien that humans are destroying the planet. On the other hand, experiences from Japan are quite similar to their cultural beliefs that the aliens come to Earth to restore balance. They are like guarding angels that want to keep us safe (to explain UFO sightings after various nuclear disasters).
In the end, everything comes down to one’s own personal beliefs, whether they think aliens exist or they are just illusions of the mind. The series presents both accounts – of those who truly believe in it and others who give a logical explanation for everything & debunk the claims. The complaint from the series is that the runtime didn’t need to be this long.
It could have been one documentary film with each episode given 20 minutes, as the stories became the same after a point. Also, the introduction of Matthew Roberts (a US Naval service member who had inside info about otherworldly sightings) in the first episode created an anticipation that he might spill something secret or new information. Alas it was quite disappointing with the man hinting that there are so many secrets and he wants everyone to know yet says nothing at all.
Rating: 2.5/5
Encounters is available for streaming on Netflix.
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