If an alien race ever was unfortunate to visit Earth they would have my sympathy and full understanding if they got back in their craft travelled back into space and blew us to oblivion as a precaution against ever meeting such a sanctimonious bunch of self important so called experts again.Starting with the idea that an extra-terrestrial craft has landed somewhere we find that our governments would not want us to know about it as we would of course all panic and start stealing stuff and killing each other.They of course would address this calmly and considerately and assemble an elite team led by David Attenborough as his face is so instantly recognisable. Unless of course you are an alien who has travelled billions of miles and did not have Dave or Discovery channel. Imagine the conversation as the team arrive. Alien. 'who's that?' other Alien 'That's David Attenborough they brought him as his face is so well known.' First Alien 'Oh yeah I loved him in Fools & Horses'.David's team would approach the craft which would by now be surrounded by tanks and missiles and rather scared soldiers who remember how this turned out in Independence Day. Jeff Goldblum may have been drafted as he did well in ID1 and also knows some good stuff about dinosaurs and Math. Bruce Willis and Arnold would be on stand by just in case this goes t#ts up. Also Rodney Trotter for some strange reason may have been alerted.After being allowed an audience our elite team will assault the visitors with a whole range of patronising questions and try to assure the aliens that we came in peace. Which having the History channel would have assured them that this was a lie. We never go anywhere in peace.Do they come in peace? And if so how can we kill them and steal their stuff. Just like we did with the Dodo and the American Indians. The team would have to be careful as words matter. They may ask 'how do you think?' The aliens would reply suspiciously.... 'what do you mean?'. The team would respond 'we want to know how your brains work?'. By this time the aliens would be in full panic..... 'They want our brains....flee'By this time the secret will be out and we will be running around like panicked hens after a well endowed rooster had arrived in the pen.I think it would be wonderful if an alien race came here. Perhaps one day we will see that but if our reaction is along the lines of this nonsense then I would foresee ID2.There would be 3 reasons why they came. 1 to scout our planet. 2 to land and learn about our civilisation or 3 to fix a breakdown. Obviously they did not want to mention 4 to conquer us and use us for food.Whatever happens 4 will always be our default setting and the scientists will not get a look in after the military have surrounded the craft and targeted it with anything that makes an explosion.We even shot Klaatu and he only wanted to give the US President some kind of weird anal probe.Throughout our short History we have never done well with alien visitors. According to many they are already here slipping implants into our necks and probing us anally.So the only sensible action would be for us all to head for the hills. As no matter whether they come in peace or war 5 minutes listening to our elite team would cause them to say (in their alien language that the elite team do not know) Klaatu Barada Nickto which as we all know means 'break out the destructor rays these people are idiots'.

Aliens visiting our Earth: it can happen, you know? This is without a doubt a very intriguing premise, but the end result leaves something to be desired. Blame it on the approach, stemming from the lack of archive material to cover, since The Visit: An Alien Encounter revolves around an event that hasn't happened yet and might not ever happen at all. Of course, some dramatization is required when there's little else to show but talking heads. Director Michael Madsen (not the American actor of the same name) opts for an enactment of a possible visit by extraterrestrials, but one that does not show said visitors so as to keep it a complete mystery what they look might like, since we are not likely to find out any time soon. The result is only one side of the visit in question is shown, and it's our own. Which fits the conclusion that whatever else, aliens arriving on our planet will first and foremost be a human affair.First contact will change the way we look at ourselves. Whatever the visitors may look like - similar to humans or something far from it, something so devoid of human characteristics or even traits of other life forms that share our planet - they will place a mirror in front of us as to the questions of our expectations of the unknown, our control or lack thereof over the unknown, and the resulting dealing with the unknown in ways that are all too human. Fear, a very likely scenario, is a prime human condition Madsen addresses, which is why the governments that prepare for 'The Visit' would hope to keep it a quite affair, rather than a public one, considering the ways the public responds are more than likely to be far from calm and orderly. But however controlled those governments plan to keep things, there's so many possibilities provided by our complete lack of knowing what's coming (or what is not coming at all) that control itself is ever an illusion.What's left out of the equation is wonder. Most of the scientists interviewed for this film are so busy delving into the ramifications of the visitors' arrival for humankind that they don't tend to pause and wonder over the eventual happening itself. The very fact that this may actually come to pass, in the distant or even close future. You can't really blame them, as they're sitting opposite a camera, addressing the audience as if they were the visitor and are asked to state the first questions regarding their field expertise that enter their minds considering the subject. And then they turn out the dutiful experts indeed. Though it makes for a scientifically intriguing and philosophically appropriate film, it's not the most inspiring one. Madsen hopes to hold off any stale science talk and lack of pace by adding a bit of action in a recreation of The Visit, complete with frightened mobs and charging soldiers, but his stylistic choices of extreme slow motion give it all an overly sensational and exaggerated feeling. Once again, blame it on the absence of actual extraterrestrials to point the camera at.The Visit: An Alien Encounter is an ambitious and fascinating documentary on paper, but in actuality can't hold off moments of feeling tedious. Nevertheless, the point is well made: if there's aliens coming, be prepared for everything. Some of our governments and scientists certainly are.

I wasn't exactly expecting a Carl Sagan or Bill Nye experience here. But a well done documentary about our views , expectations and fear about possible first contact with an alien civilization on a scientific and philosophical level seemed like a great idea.I'm a long time fan of science fiction and scientific documentaries in connection with such controversial themes can be incredibly interesting What I got was over an hour of bureaucrats, scientists and officials spouting very generic one-line sentences about a possible meeting with aliens and having fake monologue with the viewers like they were aliens. A monologue can be a very efficient way to transmit a message to the audience , I understand what the director was trying to do, but you must have some skills in acting and none of the persons in the movie were actors. So as a result it seemed increasingly forced and fake, actually it was downright embarrassing.Most of the people in the interviews seem to be bored, uninterested or unsurprisingly somewhat embarrassed. Worse nothing they said was interesting and you have heard it all before in more entertaining and educational settings. Yes the director managed to make an noneducational and boring documentary focusing mainly on confused officials discussing the fine points of diplomatic protocols when encountering aliens, double whammy.The whole thing lasted one hour and a half but felt like four, people around us were sighing loudly (And rightly so), some even smarter left as I should have.Stay away from this travesty , and if you're interested in the subject I would recommend the excellent "Through the wormhole, How aliens think" (s4ep5) with Morgan Freeman.Even a descent episode of X-file will leave you feel more enlightened than "the Visit" with the added advantage of providing a bit of entertainment

The concept behind Michael Madsen's documentary is its greatest asset. Rather than interviewing scholars on events that occurred in the past, Madsen gathers a slew of interviewees to discuss a scenario that has never happened. How would mankind react with our first encounter with an alien life form? While it may sound absurd, Madsen introduces audiences to college professors, scientists, government officials and military personnel who have all had these types of conversations before an event like this has manifested. The majority of the project consist of questions being delivered such as, "Why are you here?" "Do you know good vs. evil?" and "Are we mentally prepared?" As a fan of science-fiction cinema, the thought of alien life on Earth has crossed my mind countless times, but to actually witness plans being formulated for such an event is like nothing I have ever witnessed. Would we reveal our own violent nature to our visitors or keep it a secret for as long as possible? Madsen takes a simple idea and makes us all want to believe something could be out there and, if it ever decides to pay a visit, makes us question our preparation skills. -Jimmy Martin