Fire in the Sky

Mortal Envelope · October 11, 2007, 11:46:41 AM

A group of rednecks have a close encounter in the mountains of Arizona, one of which gets a close encounter of the 3rd kind (abduction) for being moronic and walking up to the ship.

Rednecks get blamed for missing guy's murder while said missing guy gets the Physical from Hell(TM) before the aliens non-sensically release him back to Earth.

Apparently, aliens obtain extrodinary technology of interplanetary travel just to play sadistic doctors on poor human specimans.

I remember when this movie was released back in the early 90s when the paranormal seemed to be the greatest thing. This movie kinda hits home with me because while growing up, the weird old man up the block used to stand in the middle of the street waving at stars, blabbering on about how they (the UFOs) used to pick him up, give him (more friendly) physicals, and fly him around the planet for fun on given Saturday nights.

Now I'm not going to argue the merits and flaws of the various schools of thought pertaining to whether UFOs exist or not, but I always figured the aliens were smart by picking up my looney neighbor knowing full well that no one would ever believe a word out of his mouth hehe.

Look for a full reader review coming soon.

Pilgermann · October 11, 2007, 02:16:58 PM

I think this movie teeters closer towards the Good Movie category. I haven't seen it in a while but I remember that the sequence on the alien ship is quite freaky. The only reason I was able to handle watching it was because the aliens didn't have the huge black eyes that bother me so much.

ghouck · October 11, 2007, 02:32:32 PM

Quoteclose encounter of the 3rd kind (abduction)

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_Encounters, which mirrors what I've always understood, abduction is a close encounter of the FOURTH kind. .

Torgo · October 11, 2007, 10:27:03 PM

This is a half/half movie for me. The first half in which the redneck gets abducted and all of the nightmarish stuff that occurs on the ship is fantastic.

The 2nd half of the movie after he is returned to earth and what happens afterwards suffers from some really subpar acting and writing.

nada · October 12, 2007, 03:48:59 AM

Quote from: Torgo on October 11, 2007, 10:27:03 PM
This is a half/half movie for me. The first half in which the redneck gets abducted and all of the nightmarish stuff that occurs on the ship is fantastic.

The 2nd half of the movie after he is returned to earth and what happens afterwards suffers from some really subpar acting and writing.

Yep ... watch the alien scenes on youtube and save yourself 1hr.

the guyver · October 12, 2007, 10:35:22 AM

Funny this came up! I was just talking about this the other day! I LOVED this movie. Mostly because just all the hype and mystery about the actual event. Here is the link for more info!
http://www.travis-walton.com/

trekgeezer · October 12, 2007, 11:22:37 AM

I remember reading about this not long after it happened. When they were making the movie James Garner and some of the other actors made statements that they believed something happened to these guys. Travis Walton didn't even have a phone for years because of all the nutjobs calling him .

Travis Walton appears in the movie. He's in the town meeting scene.

This is a good movie and really shouldn't be over here with the bad ones. It does an effective job of telling the story of the hell that Travis' work mates went through over his disappearance. The ending is one of the creepiest and most terrifying scenes I recall in long time.

Mortal Envelope · October 12, 2007, 02:46:31 PM

...indeed it was a close encounter of the 4th kind ...my bad. Anyway, yeah, I went back 'n' forth on where exactly to post this - (general movies?). It had both bad and good elements throughout. I mean, I was totally pulled into the story and also found the on-board scene quite gripping, but then there were other elements that really jerked me out of my sense of disbelief too. But by no means is this "bad" in a Manos-type way either. Still, I found some of the pacing and the plot a bit lacking - seemed that some more closure was needed in some areas, but then, if it's based on a true story, I guess I can't expect nice and tidey closure on everything, so I suppose it was kinda realistic in that sense.

I guess I'm saying it was a good bad good bad movie lol. Maybe I should have put it in the good movies section, but there were just too many little things (IMO of course) that made me put it here. Anyway, the point of my post isn't to say how bad it is, but more just to talk about a recent movie I have seen, which has some elements of a "B-movie" whether good or bad. Ok, I think I've rambled enough about that.

The Good:
Travis's hellish experience - very gripping and creepy as hell, even if what the aliens did was incoherent (but then what do I expect from "alien" beings - they're not suppossed to make sense in their actions).
The other workers' experience with the blame and how they dealt with it

The Bad:
Some of the acting
Some of the bad decisions made by various characters (I wouldn't call the UFO specialists in before the doctors myself once Travis was discovered)

The Fugly:
The aliens ...creepy bastardos
The aliens about to drill Travis in the eye (ouch!)
The townsfolk's reaction to the whole event (but then, what should I really expect if such a thing were to happen).

Scott · October 12, 2007, 03:48:53 PM

It was a great topic for a movie when it was released as not many "serious" UFO/Alien films had ever come out. The film tells what is suppose to be a "true" story and just wasn't done very well at the end. Maybe just not enough visual facts for a whole film. I don't know. It would have been better as a documentary than as a feature film I guess. I remember being a bit disappointed with FIRE IN THE SKY.

Susan · October 12, 2007, 09:46:15 PM

i always found it amusing aliens travel billions of miles across time to find life out there.

to find us.

And what do they want? To destroy us? To befriend us? To teach us? To learn from us?

No my friends, for that would be far too obvious. The truth of the matter is all they're interested in are anal probes

Andrew · October 12, 2007, 09:57:18 PM

Quote from: Susan on October 12, 2007, 09:46:15 PM
i always found it amusing aliens travel billions of miles across time to find life out there.

to find us.

And what do they want? To destroy us? To befriend us? To teach us? To learn from us?

No my friends, for that would be far too obvious. The truth of the matter is all they're interested in are anal probes

Maybe Earth lifeforms are the only ones in the universe that possess an anus? They're not random aliens, they are all graduate students working on their thesis.

"I have a Doctorate in Anus Theory."
"You mean Earth anuses?"
"Yes, of course."

Susan · October 13, 2007, 07:18:22 AM

Quote from: Andrew on October 12, 2007, 09:57:18 PM
Quote from: Susan on October 12, 2007, 09:46:15 PM
i always found it amusing aliens travel billions of miles across time to find life out there.

to find us.

And what do they want? To destroy us? To befriend us? To teach us? To learn from us?

No my friends, for that would be far too obvious. The truth of the matter is all they're interested in are anal probes

Maybe Earth lifeforms are the only ones in the universe that possess an anus?

So all aliens have is...anal envy?

Mortal Envelope · October 13, 2007, 09:46:55 AM

Lol anal envy. Billions of years of technological advancement and the aliens are still obsessed with the arse (and/or arse jokes - heheh same as us a billion years from now I bet). [queue alien Beavis and Butthead laughs]. Seems to me the aliens in this movie had nasal envy too (I didn't see no nose!).

So would any of you done what Travis would have done and approached the ship/flying lights? Common sense says no, but I'm thinking curiousity might have gotten the best of me if I had been in that situation.

One thing that I thought of, and this pertains to a concept of "War of the Worlds" is that, once Travis was on board, wouldn't just his mere presence introduce the aliens to a horde of bacteria and viruses? (and vice versa?) Hmmmm, maybe that's why they ejected him back to Earth (in the same area no less).

Either that or they didn't like his anus.

Scott · October 14, 2007, 04:58:37 AM

Quote from: Andrew on October 12, 2007, 09:57:18 PM
Maybe Earth lifeforms are the only ones in the universe that possess an anus? They're not random aliens, they are all graduate students working on their thesis.

"I have a Doctorate in Anus Theory."
"You mean Earth anuses?"
"Yes, of course."

You know..............I never thought about this possibility. They never covered this senario on the History Channel.

RCMerchant · October 14, 2007, 07:58:06 AM

Quote from: Scott on October 14, 2007, 04:58:37 AM
Quote from: Andrew on October 12, 2007, 09:57:18 PM
Maybe Earth lifeforms are the only ones in the universe that possess an anus? They're not random aliens, they are all graduate students working on their thesis.

"I have a Doctorate in Anus Theory."
"You mean Earth anuses?"
"Yes, of course."

Would make a good movie title..."ROCKET to URANUS".

Alien -( weird robot type voice) WE MUST STUDY URANUS.
Travis - But...but this is Earth! You got it all wrong! I'm an Earthling!!"
Alien-NO. WE MUST STUDY YOUR ANUS.

I enjoyed the movie...but personally...I really don't know what to think about the abduction . I really have a hard time believing that he wa s ever abducted. I've read the case history...just seems too much phonus balonus is involved. And I'm really open minded about these type of things.