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IMDbPro

Alternative 3

  • TV Movie
  • 19771977
  • 56m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
257
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
34,159
4,123
Alternative 3 (1977)
MysterySci-Fi
TV Sci-fi drama/documentary, which caused world-wide headlines when first broadcast as it purported to show a link between Britain's 'brain-drain', climate change and a human colony on Mars.TV Sci-fi drama/documentary, which caused world-wide headlines when first broadcast as it purported to show a link between Britain's 'brain-drain', climate change and a human colony on Mars.TV Sci-fi drama/documentary, which caused world-wide headlines when first broadcast as it purported to show a link between Britain's 'brain-drain', climate change and a human colony on Mars.
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
257
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
34,159
4,123
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Christopher Miles
    • Writers
      • David Ambrose(deviser)
      • Christopher Miles(deviser)
    • Stars
      • Tim Brinton
      • Gregory Munroe
      • Carol Hazell
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Christopher Miles
    • Writers
      • David Ambrose(deviser)
      • Christopher Miles(deviser)
    • Stars
      • Tim Brinton
      • Gregory Munroe
      • Carol Hazell
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 11User reviews
    • 9Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • Photos13

    Brian Pendlebury in Alternative 3 (1977)
    Tim Brinton, Carol Hazell, and Gregory Munroe in Alternative 3 (1977)
    Alternative 3 (1977)
    Linda Cunningham, Gregory Munroe, and Shane Rimmer in Alternative 3 (1977)
    Tim Brinton in Alternative 3 (1977)
    Alternative 3 (1977)
    Alternative 3 (1977)
    Gregory Munroe and Shane Rimmer in Alternative 3 (1977)
    David Baxt, Gregory Munroe, and Phoebe Nicholls in Alternative 3 (1977)
    Gregory Munroe and Shane Rimmer in Alternative 3 (1977)
    Tim Brinton and Christopher Miles in Alternative 3 (1977)
    Alternative 3 (1977)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Tim Brinton
    • Self…
    Gregory Munroe
    • Colin Benson
    Carol Hazell
    • Katherine White
    Shane Rimmer
    Shane Rimmer
    • Bob Grodin
    Richard Marner
    Richard Marner
    • Dr. Carl Gerstein
    David Baxt
    David Baxt
    • Harry
    Alec Linstead
    • Prof. Broadbent
    Norman Chancer
    • Charles Welbourne
    Anthony Roye
    • Robert Hendry
    Patsy Trench
    • Dr. Ann Clarke
    Phoebe Nicholls
    Phoebe Nicholls
    • Harry's Girlfriend
    Ivor Roberts
    • George Pendlebury
    Linda Cunningham
    • Annie
    Nancy Adams
    • Doreen Patterson
    Jonathan Hieatt-Smith
    • Young Man in Laboratory
    Alice Wade
    • Mrs. Pendlebury
    Brian Pendlebury
    • Graham Fowler
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Christopher Miles
    • Writers
      • David Ambrose(deviser)
      • Christopher Miles(deviser)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      As it was produced like a documentary and meant to be shown as an episode of the series "Science Report", many people believe it was based on a true story. The fact it has never been repeated on British TV has given ammunition to conspiracy theorists who believe it was meant to blow the whistle on an actual government project and alien threat. The film was originally intended to be broadcast on April Fools' Day as a hoax, but it was delayed until June by industrial action.
    • Connections
      Edited into UFO to bei so uchû kaihatsu no inbô (1982)

    User reviews11

    Review
    Top review
    10/10
    The Martians don't want you to watch this film.
    I saw 'Alternative 3' when it was originally transmitted on 20 June 1977. It was indeed intended originally for transmission on All Fools' Day: however, the reason for the delay was a labour dispute. (Wot, in Britain? Impossible!) This notorious hoax film has been banned from repeat transmissions in Britain ever since, thus unintentionally adding fuel to the cover-up theories. It's now (as I write this) resurfacing at long last, in a DVD edition, just in time for the annual spaghetti harvest.

    Tim Brinton had been a genuine news-reader with Auntie Beeb for more than 20 years, so his presence in this hoax film lent it an air of authenticity. All the other 'real' people interviewed in this alleged documentary are in fact actors speaking scripted lines (some of them with dodgy Yank accents); the end credits include a conventional cast list (i.e., conventional for a FICTION film), which ought to have tipped the wink to viewers. Evidently it didn't.

    Basically, presenter Brinton reveals 'evidence' that the space race and the cold war between the Yanks and the Soviets are both fake: the two super-powers have been secretly co-operating to build a colony on Mars. The alleged Apollo moon landings were, in fact, camouflage to cover-up what NASA are really doing on the moon: building a launch platform for the trips to Mars.

    It seems that the people in charge of the United States and the Soviet Union are aware that the Earth is about to choke on its own pollution (I can certainly believe THAT part), and -- rather than attempt to clean up their own mess -- the people in charge have plumped for a third (sic) alternative: namely, they're going to up sticks and move to Mars with a selected population of the elite, leaving the rest of us behind. After all these years, I can't recall if there was a SECOND alternative offered by Brinton; I think that the people who wrote this thing just felt that 'Alternative 3' sounded more dramatic than 'Alternative 2'.

    Some authentic footage is put to cheeky misuse: the view from a helicopter landing in a Terran desert shows up here as the view from a Mars lander approaching the Red Planet. All of the 'interview' footage is faked, as is some other footage: a shot of some subterranean Martian life-form burrowing through the Martian soil is actually the director's forearm buried in sand. The new DVD is chock-full of extras, rumbling the fakery.

    As might be expected, a lot of viewers were taken in by this. Comparisons to the Orson Welles radio broadcast are inevitable. By the way: I've always felt that Welles's broadcast received a bad rap. Supposedly, Welles's Martian invasion caused a nationwide panic. I believe that, in fact, only a small number of people panicked ... but they were spread across the entire United States, thus constituting a 'nationwide' panic. In the case of 'Alternate 3', after the hoax was confessed, a lot of believers refused to accept that they'd been hoaxed ... and they downplayed the confession as proof of a cover-up.

    Since this film has been unavailable (in Britain, at least) for so long, people's memories of it have become unreliable. Several people who viewed the same broadcast that I saw have described to me in detail the realistic UFOs which they remember seeing in this programme: too real to be faked, they assert. Except that, in fact, there *aren't* any UFOs on offer in this film, genuine or otherwise.

    Bearing in mind that this film is faked, it definitely succeeded in what it set out to accomplish ... and I'll rate 'Alternative 3' a full 10 out of 10. Surrender, earthlings!
    helpful•11
    0
    • F Gwynplaine MacIntyre
    • Dec 9, 2007

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 20, 1977 (United Kingdom)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Languages
      • English
      • Russian
    • Also known as
      • Science Report: Alternative 3
    • Filming locations
      • Anglia Television Norwich - Studio 'B', Norwich, Norfolk, England, UK
    • Production company
      • Anglia Television
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      56 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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