HANGAR 18: Is it disclosure ?
Hangar 18 is a sleeper film that is a very noteworthy ESDA project from 1980. The eighties were a massive time for science-fiction films and this is due in no small part to the efforts of the ESDA. They really hit their stride during the blockbuster era, and this set them up for the role they would play in ExoPoli up to our time and probably beyond. That said, Hangar 18 is important for a couple of reasons, but lasting mainstream popularity is not one of them.
Oh, hi! Olson Peter Iggers here! T.A. Wardrope has given me a regular blog now as he continues to work feverishly on revisions to Encyclopedia Retptilica. I thought Hangar 18 would be a great follow-up to the Sender. They are alike in many ways, but not alike in many others. Interesting that they are almost 20 years apart and both star Robert Vaughn.
So, Hangar 18 concerns itself with what happens after a space shuttle and satellite mishap knocks a curious alien spacecraft out of orbit and into the Arizona desert. (Not the New Mexico desert!) One of the space shuttle astronauts, Frank Morrison (Phillip Abbott), is killed in the collision. The remaing two witnesses to the UFO crash are astronauts Steve Bancroft (Gary Collins) and Lew Price (James Hampton). Upon landing they are blamed for the accident and placed in quarantine lockdown while the crash is investigated.
NASA scientist Harry Forbes (Darren McGavin) (leader of the shuttle mission) is sent to Arizona to investigate the recovered UFO (UAP) at the behest of Chief of Staff Gordon Cain (Robert Vaughn). Cain wants to keep the crash covered-up and pin the blame for the disaster on Bancroft and Price. Bancroft and Price have, um, other plans and break out of their confinement. This sets off a chase through the desert, as several pairs of MiB try to stop them. (The MiB are wearing more standard not black government suits, but they do drive black cars and we get the idea.)
As I am fond of saying, a bunch of stuff happens. Government will stop at nothing to keep the crash retrieval secret and Forbes and his team become obsessed with cracking the code that is revealed inside of the recovered craft. Hint, it is not a cookbook. Things don’t go as planned, but unlike many films in this sub genre, the film’s narrative ends with…
SPOILER
SPOILER
SPOILER
…total global disclosure.
HANGAR 18: Why Does it matter?
There is a lot in Hangar 18 that makes it essential viewing for anyone looking into the history of ESDA and communication efforts regarding UFO/UAP. Located between such tentpole projects as Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), this effort can be seen as more “targeted” media. Similar to The Sender in goals, scope and budget, no doubt.
While the timeline for this production puts it within the scope of Operation Crimson Dragon; T.A. Wardrope and I agree that it likely was part of smaller campaign targeted to specific communities. Sources in EWO have suggested it was part of Operation Bright Lion, but this cannot be verified.
Hangar 18 was intended for audiences with a casual interest in UFOs but who would not find the plot details as being too basic. Which is funny, because considering the credited players in this production, this movie becomes a very soft form of disclosure.
During my viewing, I kept wondering how it was they were allowed to use the NASA symbol in this b-movie. It is clearly the official NASA logo, and not something you can just throw into the production design of a studio film. Well, watching to the very end had its rewards! As it happens both NASA and APRO (not to be confused with EWO, of course) are listed in the credits as organizations that assisted with the production of the film. So, on some level, somewhere, this project was taken VERY seriously.
Obviously NASA and APRO would’ve been under the umbrella of ESDA during the 1980s. So, their involvement isn’t too surprising. WHAT is interesting is that they feature so prominently in the credits. This is not a high-brow film so the named involvement of a US “clear” agency is no small thing. Normally, this is the sort of project NASA would want to keep far away from. Especially considering the provocative ideas it brings forward. For the era it was produced during, at least.
ANCIENT ALIENS and HANGAR 18
The biggest surprise in Hangar 18 isn’t global disclosure or the triple-dog twist ending, but how assertively the script leans into what would become Ancient Aliens theory. Now, this is only 10 years after Chariots of the Gods (1970) got this movement rolling. In fact, it wouldn’t be TOO much of a stretch to draw a line from the vaguely Armanem looking alien pilots in Hangar 18 and The Engineers from Prometheus (2012).
In all honesty, despite the requisite mis-direction about the particular role the ExoPoli played in Earth history, this film has got to be the closest an ESDA project has come to unfiltered disclosure. While the ancient aliens stuff is mostly nonsense, it does treat the established lore pretty well. The depiction of ExoPoli as mostly benevolent is not quite true either, but certainly closer to accurate than many other “Star Scare” projects of past eras.
In this film, the aliens are also here to defend us from ourselves, since humanity is essentially a science project for them. The crashed UFO was simply checking in on us before an inevitable return visit by the creators of humanity. Again, not quite accurate, but it does point to the known reality of Galactic Accord, the Siriusian “landlords” and the attempts of Armanem to return to Earth. Totally fair for a film like this to take some creative license to simplify very complicated exopolitical facts.
The government seeking to cover-up this discovery at all costs is a recurring theme in some ESDA projects (looking at X-Files in particular), but it is still an interesting choice. I am inclined to think it serves the purpose of keeping confusion constant in all media related to UFO/UAP. However, I think it also (along with E.T.) was an acknowledgment that ExoPolitics are as complicated as Earth politics, and not everyone is “on message” or even on the same team regarding Galactic Accord. Certainly, recent developments in the world of UAP and “Galactic Federation” theory make this feel prophetic.
Hangar 18 is easy enough to find, it can be seen on Plex, rogue YouTube accounts, Tubi, and Amazon. Like most films I will be highlighting, it is not great cinema, but it is a great example of some of the tropes and tricks the ESDA can bring to a commercial film project. Enjoy!
