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dark skies takes place in the 60s and it's all\h
about historical events reinterpreted through\h\h

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the eyes of an alien conspiracy so those stories\h
they're all true well nothing is all true depends\h\h

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on who you talk to as a consequence most of\h
what we know about the way history went down\h\h

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in the last sixty to seventy years has been\h
colored by that and yet it's been covered up\h\h

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you don't keep the President of the United\h
States in the dark about this it's wrong so\h\h

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everything that you know about our American\h
culture was not inspired by Americans but in\h\h

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fact by either aliens or the government trying\h
to suppress the information it didn't change\h\h

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history it just gave it a little twist I\h
don't know who your friends are the town\h\h

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air force is out there far more powerful\h
that's the essence of the of the series

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a good family friend of ours at when I was just\h
getting out of high school was working at a very\h\h

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high level in the Reagan administration and one\h
night he took me aside and was telling me some of\h\h

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the things he was doing in the government and\h
he was going to get us a white house tour and\h\h

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everything and ended up you know telling me some\h
pretty shattering stories and in particular he\h\h

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knew that I had always been into science fiction\h
and fantasy in comic books and whatnot and very\h\h

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casually just threw out there that aliens were\h
real they're here and I've seen them the story\h\h

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goes on to much greater detail because at the time\h
I was just absolutely shocked and this is a person\h\h

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I grew up with and I completely trusted and and\h
he just rocked my world and I have not told a\h\h

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lot of people the story but I made this kind of\h
connection with Bryce over lunch and realized how\h\h

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deeply he was into UFOs and I said well I have to\h
tell you the story then I thought either that's\h\h

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true in which case this is phenomenal and an\h
incredible story and I'll have to do something\h\h

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with it or I also thought if it's not true he's a\h
hell of a storyteller and we should be working so\h\h

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we decided to work together and we started talking\h
over UFOs I had been working on something called\h\h

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majestic I think at the time and Brent came in\h
one day and said I got a better title for you\h\h

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dark skies and that kind of stuck and then for an\h
entire month we we're at my office at Universal\h\h

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and you would come by every day and we would\h
just work on on the notebook that became this\h\h

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thing that we ended up selling it with him we just\h
worked we didn't tell anybody what we're doing it\h\h

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was perfect dark skies Ian's development where you\h
do it you don't tell anybody and you go a little\h\h

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bit insane and that kind of worked usually you\h
know you're you're developing something and you\h\h

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start hyping your agents and your lawyers and\h
getting people excited about something and we\h\h

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went completely off the grid totally and had this\h
whole thing and by the time anyone heard about it\h\h

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it was through this top-secret briefing book that\h
they had to read you know like a hundred pages of\h\h

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content it wasn't just a TV pitch it was a whole\h
world in the days when we were putting together\h\h

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the briefing book we were working in a vacuum\h
which was very exhilarating but there was a bit\h\h

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of madness going on you know we we envisioned this\h
big epic series and we just kept feeding our own\h\h

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imaginations wealth well if we open up that thing\h
in history let's open up this and let's say this\h\h

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and we decided once we kind of went down that\h
rabbit hole well let's just come out with the\h\h

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whole five-year vision you know I mean this was\h
in reaction to other shows that felt like they\h\h

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were just making it up as they went along we\h
said well let's do the antithesis let's come\h\h

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out with a whole blueprint so we've got a big\h
epic show we can actually prove to people that\h\h

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we've thought this through and but what it meant\h
was in the span of a month or so thinking out\h\h

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five seasons which is a lot to do and and we just\h
kept falling in love with the idea of well let's\h\h

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put more details because again we had history to\h
mine from I mean I remember seeing this thing I\h\h

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still have it I have that dark skies Bible that\h
he handed to me and said this is top secret and\h\h

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it was basically it spelled out the five seasons\h
I thought these guys brilliant they have captured\h\h

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an idea that really was ahead of its time it was\h
sort of out of the box at some point we started\h\h

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realizing we're gonna put all of this out there\h
and then people are gonna know where it goes so\h\h

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we're gonna have to put we're gonna have to put\h
certain versions out there to get people going\h\h

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what's the truth what's the truth you know what\h
blows my mind still today if you look at this\h\h

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original briefing document the timeline goes from\h
75 million BC to which admittedly was not part of\h\h

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our series at least for a while to 2020 yeah so\h
that's kind of a lot of extra credit yeah I know\h\h

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that we ever got the extra credit for doing it\h
but well you know one certainly did it one thing\h\h

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you're always asked to do when you're developing\h
a show is they say well you know come up with some\h\h

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outlines for what a an episode would be just to\h
show that there's actually something there so we\h\h

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said well we actually have millions of years but\h
you know we did that for a reason we knew that the\h\h

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the thing that we were pitching was so outlandish\h
mm-hmm and so outrageous that conventionally it\h\h

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would just be rejected and people go out you\h
know what it's a great concept this thing about\h\h

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the Kennedy assassination you know it's but it's\h
a one-off you know you get away with it once and\h\h

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that's it so we've sort of felt that that it was\h
important for us to prove to people that it wasn't\h\h

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a one-off that that there were lots and lots of\h
stories so we sort of accepted the in advance\h\h

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the skepticism that might might have greeted us\h
and that's why the notebooks were so overwhelming\h\h

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they were overwhelming because we felt that the\h
opposition would be overwhelming and we had to\h\h

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defeat them on the field of battle yes it was it\h
was a preemptive strike it was a bold brave for\h\h

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they could start doubting anything we overwhelmed\h
them with a vision that could not be refuted

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now history is an extremely important part of\h
dark skies not just because it's interesting\h\h

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but because it gave us a way to tell the story\h
in a totally different way what I fundamentally\h\h

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loved about the pilot that was successful in the\h
first half of the series was visiting historical\h\h

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events week by week and putting our two heroes\h
into the mix to find the truth in a situation\h\h

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there's a whole genre of alien invasion movies\h
and television series that have gone on before\h\h

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where it's primarily battling the invasion\h
we wanted to add an element to it that made\h\h

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it compelling in its own right and that was\h
history for us the level of writing and the\h\h

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forward thinking of how they were able to tie\h
in actual historical events and put a twist on\h\h

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it to include this suspected alien invasion was\h
brilliant kind of in the early stages it was let's\h\h

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do Forrest Gump me tour of the Worlds let's do a\h
complete revisionist history of the 20th century\h\h

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as if aliens really existed and that kind of\h
opened the door to all sorts of possibilities

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freeze it right there and steal behind the cowboy\h
two feet from Oswald when he got shot it's a very\h\h

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high concept but at the same time it's all rooted\h
in real history and logical ideas about why or how\h\h

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things happen things that aren't actually\h
explained generally the best ones are the\h\h

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ones that are left a bit of a mystery like the\h
assassination of JFK we all really don't know\h\h

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exactly what happened so it leaves a lot of room\h
for interpretation in life President Kennedy had\h\h

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inspired me to a higher standard I resolved that\h
his death would have no lesser effect the enemy\h\h

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was out there they had claimed our leader but\h
the war was far from over it just allowed us to\h\h

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point of view into a wealth of a pre-existing\h
material where we'd go in and say okay this is\h\h

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what everyone thinks happened what's our darks\h
guys take and we could go backwards and forwards\h\h

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in history and start applying that to everything\h
that's one of the things you're always looking\h\h

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for when you're breaking you know TV episodes\h
is I need some traction I need something to\h\h

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get me going here that became our franchise is\h
that we just went in in mind history for all of\h\h

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these interesting incidents and put a dark sky\h
spin on control we are in contact with the range

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gentlemen mission controls in a state of lockdown\h
until everyone has been debriefed I loved visiting\h\h

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these times in our history it was fun to do and\h
it was educational for me and I also think it was\h\h

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entertaining every week I was like Oh how's this\h
gonna be well I get to be in haight-ashbury oh\h\h

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my gosh you know I get to be in these times it\h
was sort of thrilling personally to experience\h\h

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that I've had people tell me that yeah I love dark\h
skies I mean the alien stuff was fascinating but\h\h

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I just loved the nostalgic ride sir mr. Kennedy I\h
want to apologize for ever dragging you and your\h\h

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brother into this it's President would never\h
accept that apology neither will I one of the\h\h

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reasons by the way we wanted to start with Kennedy\h
and and with the 60s was just sufficient time had\h\h

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passed that Kennedy had become mythology not not\h
a real flesh-and-blood guy and it was okay to sort\h\h

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of have fun with that the Kennedy assassination\h
to the average member of the audience the Kennedy\h\h

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assassination was like the Lincoln assassination\h
that's certainly true today you know if you talk\h\h

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to any kids it's like Lincoln Kennedy whatever\h
right a dead president the other opportunistic\h\h

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thing about the Kennedy assassination was that you\h
know despite what the Warren Commission said a lot\h\h

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of people never believed the truth had come out\h
so there was still an open right for an another\h\h

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dramatic interpretation of what really happened\h
behind the scenes for that assassination and we\h\h

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felt like well no one has come out with that\h
theory but what we really were trying to do at\h\h

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the very beginning that that got us excited\h
when we started to develop this UFO series\h\h

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together we said wait a minute the two biggest\h
conspiracies that people have think are going\h\h

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on right now in conspiracy theory would be the\h
Kennedy assassination clearly a major conspiracy\h\h

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UFO cover-up clearly a major conspiracy what if\h
we put them together into the granddaddy of all\h\h

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conspiracies and we call the you know the the\h
unification theory of conspiracy to put Kennedy\h\h

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and UFOs together and honestly this day I still\h
have to pinch myself that that in America network\h\h

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in an American production studio would give\h
us millions of dollars to to make a two-hour\h\h

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movie that suggests the Kennedy and UFOs are tied\h
into the same overarching I can't believe that in\h\h

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the wake of dark skies you actually can now go on\h
some UFO sites and forums and whatnot and see that\h\h

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people are saying you know there is some evidence\h
that links aliens to Kennedy's assassination\h\h

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that's become something where once you put that\h
theory out there people start saying oh yeah\h\h

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there that's unless that's a legitimate theory\h
when we were doing dark skies the first majestic\h\h

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documents had leaked out it was basically the\h
Eisenhower briefing memo that was leaked in 1984\h\h

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that was a briefing memo for Dwight Eisenhower in\h
1952 and that's kind of the the wellhead of the\h\h

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conspiracy with majestic but what was interesting\h
is that there were new documents that came out in\h\h

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2000 a whole slew of new majestic documents so\h
this is after dark skies has been cancelled for\h\h

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three years these documents come out also majestic\h
documents and they are about Kennedy some of them\h\h

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are about Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe yeah we tied\h
in as well in the in the war and omission episode

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turn it off honey no yes sir it's gonna be\h
authenticated as having been filmed on the\h\h

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day miss Monroe's has tragically died there\h
is a copy at another location there were two\h\h

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parallel tracks of research being done and I was\h
history was interesting to me but with Bryce it\h\h

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was part of his life and his upbringing so he\h
had a wealth of information about just general\h\h

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history as well as a real immersion in a lot of\h
cultural events we were gonna be deconstructing\h\h

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well we differ in one respect which I almost\h
hate to admit because I lived through some of\h\h

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those events and and so I actually remember you\h
know what happened when Kennedy died and how I\h\h

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felt and you were just born so I don't think you\h
had you did remember that so so there's that my\h\h

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father was a history teacher so history was very\h
important and and one of my little passions came\h\h

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in really happy happily coincided with our dark\h
skies research which was collecting Time and\h\h

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Newsweek magazines because that allowed us\h
to really you know history books are about\h\h

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the big picture and you get the trends and all\h
that but what what happened in those magazines\h\h

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you'd find all the different things that were\h
happening at the same time in detail and what\h\h

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people were saying and we're able to just\h
constantly match those up with UFO events\h\h

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and find details I mean there are people who\h
watch our show and and still say boy they got\h\h

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that wrong that songs not right or whatever\h
but overall it's meticulously researched

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got a thing for these guys don't you we\h
also both had a real interest in UFOs\h\h

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so he had read a bunch of books and he has a\h
very impressive UFO library I have something\h\h

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smaller and mine's more esoteric but I think\h
between us it had kind of covered the bases\h\h

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and we had a pretty good knowledge and what we\h
started doing was we started saying okay here\h\h

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are all of these recorded events in history as\h
we know it and here are all of these recorded\h\h

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events in the UFO history and let's just look for\h
synergistic opportunities to start marrying them\h\h

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together and there are so many famous events\h
in in you know UFO history and certainly lots\h\h

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of cultural touchstones throughout you know the\h
20th century that we were able to just find all\h\h

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of these great little inflection points to\h
say okay well this happened about this time\h\h

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that this was going on let's say that they're\h
connected somehow a good classic for us is to\h\h

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pray in darkness which is takes place during the\h
New York Power blackout of 1965 which happened\h\h

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the day before Dorothy Kilgallen died which is\h
alleged to have been potentially influenced by\h\h

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UFOs because they caused the blackout\h
sometimes they'd all this came together

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everyone knows what Roswell is now or what it\h
represents to people but it was our opinion that\h\h

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if Roswell was the crash of flying saucer or an\h
unidentified flying object or even two of them in\h\h

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1947 if we don't know about it and yet it happened\h
well then as we've said in the series history is\h\h

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a lie there's truth and then there's truth if you\h
really want to tell the American people the real\h\h

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truth about this we're gonna be at war nuclear war\h
almost immediately there are other ways to fight\h\h

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sir and keep the Cold War cold I think neither of\h
us would argue that everything in dark skies is\h\h

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true but but the underlying essence of it is true\h
which is if you want to look at history since the\h\h

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late 40s and you start to think about the fact\h
that contact with and other intelligence has\h\h

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occurred and is occurring then you don't know the\h
whole story and someday when it's all comes out\h\h

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they're gonna have to rewrite every history book\h
and that will be an interesting time for the world

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my name is John Bowen Garth I'm recording this\h
because we may not live you the night they're\h\h