Nick Cook Documentary

The Prime TV network here in New Zealand recently aired a two part documentary made by Nick Cook, aerospace journalist and author of "The Hunt Zero Point". It's good to see the subject appear on TV and especially in two parts. Titled "An Alien History of the Earth" it featured many strands of the UFO topic, including Nazi flying saucers, US black budget operations, abductions, cattle mutilations, Roswell and other stuff. On the whole, it was an enjoyable watch and a decent overview of some of the many topics that make up the UFO enigma. Given his background, it is understandable that he tried to answer many of the puzzling questions in the context of the Cold War,but he made it clear that not everything could be explained away by this.

One segment in particular struck me as being poorly researched considering the amount of information available. This concerned the story of Lonnie Zamora.

Every account I have ever read on this story refers to the UFO sighted by Zamora as "egg shaped" and nothing like the saucer type craft that Cook's CGI friends mocked up for the show. This seemed a lot like Cook making the evidence fit his hypothesis, that of a super secret prototype craft that the US had designed and that he had found plans for.

I emailed Nick Cook with my query about the Zamora incident and other details in the programme, and he was good enough to get back to me. Here is the email in full for those interested.

Matt Deacon Wrote:

Hi Nick,
Firstly, I'd like to say that I enjoyed your book "The Hunt for Zero Point". Read it a couple years ago, fascinating.
I live in New Zealand and the Prime TV network has just shown your "Alien History of the earth" documentary in two parts over the last couple sundays.
On the most part, it was a good watch. However (and I'm sure I'm not the only person to point this out) the Lonnie Zamora section didn't sit right with me. The CGI craft depicted was nothing like the "egg shaped" one he described and the one mentioned in every report I have read on the incident, which made your hypothesis involving the disc shape prototype seem very flimsy.
Also, your hypothesis concerning cattle mutilation seemed even more far fetched to me than an alien involvement.
And what about the UFO sightings around nuclear bases? Nothing on that .
I realise that not everything can be covered in a short space of time, but that Zamora thing left me questioning your credibility somewhat, which was unfortunate as it was a well put together show on the whole.
Please do not be offended by this constructive criticism, and feel fre to carry on aking further docos about the subject.
Regards
Matt Deacon

Nick's Reply:

Dear Matt,

Many thanks for your email. You're right, you're not the only person to have pointed out the Lonnie Zamora discrepancy and the more I've learned about it since making the show, the more I've realised the Zamora sighting needs to be revisited. Hopefully, I'll be returning to it sometime in the near future to set the record straight. As an aerospace guy, I tend to gravitate where possible towards explicable reasons for UFO sightings. However, I fully recognise - and always have done - that our own technology cannot, and never will explain, the whole phenomenon. Those arguments, especially on mainstream TV, need to be advanced very carefully and cautiously, but having got my feet wet I am keen to return to the pond for another dip! And with any luck, in the not-too-distant future ...

Thanks again for the email - and your comments didn't offend me in the least. They merely strengthened my resolve to be more diligent next time.

Best wishes,

Nick Cook