WATCH THE SKIES! BQ STARES SAUCER-EYED AT "PROJECT BLUE BOOK"

Project Blue Book (2019)    We solemnly promise not to belabor comparing this show to "The X Files".......

                 No doubt, this History Channel series arrived like a dream-come-true for viewers itching for creepy sci-fi, alien craft zipping through the night sky.......and loads of sinister conspiratorial characters - U.S. Generals, Men In Black Hats, and a Hot Babe Spy Next Door.....

                   Not to mention President Harry Truman........who hopes the UFOs give him a good excuse to slam dunk the Russkies.......

                   Man, that's a lot of balls to throw up in the air........and we're not sure this show's creators knew how to handle them all........

                   Ambitious as it is, we got the feeling this show leaned heavily on its murky, grim 1950's atmosphere to carry it through eleven episodes.......(lovin' that scaled down version of Ken Adam's circular War Room table from 'Dr Strangelove'....)

                     Even when it's bouncing around its multiple plotlines and various character agendas....at least the series always looks great........like somebody found the footage in Ray Harryhausen's basement.....

                    And the idea of warping true case histories into the show's own exaggerated fictional version of them intrigued us.........(especially the episode dipping into the fledgling U.S. space program spearheaded by German rocket scientists, fresh out of the defeated Third Reich......)

                     As for Ksenia Solo's role as the suburban neighborhood's Mata Hari, puttin' the forbidden moves on Dr. Allen Hynek's wife.....we kind of dug it.......probably cause we're still pining for the fake-American Soviets of "The Americans"......

                   Our only historical quibble, having grown up in the era the show depicts.........fallout shelters (the serious ones, anyway) were put together with prefab corrogated metal, not wood. Memo to the show producers:  Think about it, guys.......if you're building a fallout shelter out of wood, you're about as smart as the first two of the Three Little Pigs.  You might as well stay put in your own house when Moscow drops the Big One down your chimney....

                   Other than than that, we had a fine time watching this show try to juggle every possible 1950's trope (even beatnik Bohemia) simultaneously.....

                     None of it ever blends together coherently........but the at the series finale, the History Channel promised us that Season 2 is already in production.......so maybe all these plot threats will start to blend.....

                    Go for it, we say. Can't wait to start watchin' those skies again........you never know which one of those bright lights might hide James Arness in a jump suit.....3 stars (***)