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Hanger 18: The One that Got By Them

It's that boring Xmas day again and I finally found a way to alleviate it. I pushed myself away from the comfy chair and the com, where my endless work has been put into turtle-slow mode, to make a cup of tea, and did some browsing in my old videos for some sci-fi classic to pass the boring afternoon with. Well, the classic I discovered would be best classified as a cult-classic due to its contemporary perspective, since it was produced in the early 80s, just before the feds started to crack down on everything coming out of Hollywood.

Hanger-18 probably got by them because they were too busy pouring and drooling over the X-rated video industry, which was primarily one of their main concerns at the time. I say "got by them" because if they had reviewed it before it was released, some of the more hypocritical conservatives, worried about the deteriorating public image of the Washington "D-C-vers", might have decided to stop it, pull it, and prevent it from going public.

The reason why I say this is because the image it presents of the Presidential administration does nothing for its desire to keep the public thinking only the best about them. In fact, the image it presents of the administration is exactly the way it is in reality, rather than the regular BS that the public has been programmed with, for the most part, ever since. After Hanger-18, there were no Hollywood sci-fi movies to compare to it in this realm.

Never again was the presidential administration ever portrayed in such a negative light. Sure, we've been fed movies with governmental corruption, but never quite on such a scale as Hanger-18. Instead, what we've been fed is the idea that "individuals" are responsible for any US governmental corruption and that the "checks and balances" always work to expose them and bring them to justice.

Hanger-18 showed us something that the administration and all the lackys and yes-men that work for it don't want us to know: the idea that corruption in the government is engineered by representatives working behind the back of the American public all the time and there is very little that anyone can do about it.

Hanger-18 was also one of the last non-military dominated science-fictions which gave credit to NASA and the kind of intelligent and objective people that represent the core and heart of its mission. Instead of relying upon the sensational explosions and special-effects that the popular science-fiction industry has been dominated by in the latter 80s and 90s, Hanger-18 managed to retain the element of fascination and mystery of the unknown which originally made most of the sci-fi greats.

There are two reasons why it was easy for the public to dismiss Hanger-18 as anything but just another conspiracy-theory movie and let it be buried in the vaults of classical Hollywood before gaining any real significant attention. One, the idea of aliens from outer-space was one of the oldest and easiest ideas for the US to turn into a joke and laugh off in every public restaurant and bar-room tavern since the Department of Defense invented the first boogey-man and devised a way to destroy it. Two, Hanger-18 was introduced at a time when special-effects and things that go "boom!" were being upgraded yearly and sensationalism was becoming all the rave in science-fiction movies. After that, a "good" science-fiction movie was judged first upon its realistic special-effects and second on its actual content. As actual content goes, Hanger-18 was an extraordinary piece of realistic science-fiction, however, its special-effects were a bit short of "sensational".

Americans that were weened on the fast-paced, action-packed sci-fi movies dominated by the military and special-effects in the latter 80s and 90s might be a bit bored with a movie like Hanger-18, but if they do manage to sit through it and give it the benefit of the doubt, it might just make them think twice about some things. In fact, everything about Hanger-18 makes it a good, intriguing and compelling science-fiction, despite the lack of things that go "boom!"

If you need a little more convincing, here's some history to take into account: Much of the plot about the aliens in Hanger-18 has some real basis in fact, in the same way that "Stargate" shares, in the same way that Von Daniken originally reported and was discreditted for doing so, in the "ancient" texts and symbols that other scientists seem unable to explain. In other words, Hanger-18 and Stargate actually have something in common: the idea that aliens visited the Earth in ancient times and manipulated civilization on Earth.

Well, even if one isn't sold on the "conspiracy-theory" or the inside perspective on US politics, Hanger-18 is nonetheless a fairly interesting and compelling piece of science-fiction and one of my favorite "cult classics" of all time. Nothing else could have alleviated my boredom on this eventless Xmas day.

Nick Zentor,
12/25/06

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Updates Movie Reviews Star Trek Reviews Stargate Reviews Anime Science Fiction's Most Popular Theme Book Reviews Light Focal Points of Reality	Sci-Fi Movie Reviews Hanger 18: The One that Got By Them It's that boring Xmas day again and I finally found a way to alleviate it. I pushed myself away from the comfy chair and the com, where my endless work has been put into turtle-slow mode, to make a cup of tea, and did some browsing in my old videos for some sci-fi classic to pass the boring afternoon with. Well, the classic I discovered would be best classified as a cult-classic due to its contemporary perspective, since it was produced in the early 80s, just before the feds started to crack down on everything coming out of Hollywood. Hanger-18 probably got by them because they were too busy pouring and drooling over the X-rated video industry, which was primarily one of their main concerns at the time. I say "got by them" because if they had reviewed it before it was released, some of the more hypocritical conservatives, worried about the deteriorating public image of the Washington "D-C-vers", might have decided to stop it, pull it, and prevent it from going public. The reason why I say this is because the image it presents of the Presidential administration does nothing for its desire to keep the public thinking only the best about them. In fact, the image it presents of the administration is exactly the way it is in reality, rather than the regular BS that the public has been programmed with, for the most part, ever since. After Hanger-18, there were no Hollywood sci-fi movies to compare to it in this realm. Never again was the presidential administration ever portrayed in such a negative light. Sure, we've been fed movies with governmental corruption, but never quite on such a scale as Hanger-18. Instead, what we've been fed is the idea that "individuals" are responsible for any US governmental corruption and that the "checks and balances" always work to expose them and bring them to justice. Hanger-18 showed us something that the administration and all the lackys and yes-men that work for it don't want us to know: the idea that corruption in the government is engineered by representatives working behind the back of the American public all the time and there is very little that anyone can do about it. Hanger-18 was also one of the last non-military dominated science-fictions which gave credit to NASA and the kind of intelligent and objective people that represent the core and heart of its mission. Instead of relying upon the sensational explosions and special-effects that the popular science-fiction industry has been dominated by in the latter 80s and 90s, Hanger-18 managed to retain the element of fascination and mystery of the unknown which originally made most of the sci-fi greats. There are two reasons why it was easy for the public to dismiss Hanger-18 as anything but just another conspiracy-theory movie and let it be buried in the vaults of classical Hollywood before gaining any real significant attention. One, the idea of aliens from outer-space was one of the oldest and easiest ideas for the US to turn into a joke and laugh off in every public restaurant and bar-room tavern since the Department of Defense invented the first boogey-man and devised a way to destroy it. Two, Hanger-18 was introduced at a time when special-effects and things that go "boom!" were being upgraded yearly and sensationalism was becoming all the rave in science-fiction movies. After that, a "good" science-fiction movie was judged first upon its realistic special-effects and second on its actual content. As actual content goes, Hanger-18 was an extraordinary piece of realistic science-fiction, however, its special-effects were a bit short of "sensational". Americans that were weened on the fast-paced, action-packed sci-fi movies dominated by the military and special-effects in the latter 80s and 90s might be a bit bored with a movie like Hanger-18, but if they do manage to sit through it and give it the benefit of the doubt, it might just make them think twice about some things. In fact, everything about Hanger-18 makes it a good, intriguing and compelling science-fiction, despite the lack of things that go "boom!" If you need a little more convincing, here's some history to take into account: Much of the plot about the aliens in Hanger-18 has some real basis in fact, in the same way that "Stargate" shares, in the same way that Von Daniken originally reported and was discreditted for doing so, in the "ancient" texts and symbols that other scientists seem unable to explain. In other words, Hanger-18 and Stargate actually have something in common: the idea that aliens visited the Earth in ancient times and manipulated civilization on Earth. Well, even if one isn't sold on the "conspiracy-theory" or the inside perspective on US politics, Hanger-18 is nonetheless a fairly interesting and compelling piece of science-fiction and one of my favorite "cult classics" of all time. Nothing else could have alleviated my boredom on this eventless Xmas day. Nick Zentor, 12/25/06	Star Trek Novels by Nick Zentor The Lost Planet Ntzeon Science Fiction and Fantasy Digest Dead Ends
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