Editing Alternative 3

{{Short description|1977 hoax television mockumentary}}
{{about|the British television programme|the Brian Eno composition|Music for Films}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2016}}
{{Infobox television
| image                = Poster - Alternative 3 - 1977.jpg
| caption              =
| alt_name             = ''Science Report: Alternative 3''
| genre                = [[Mockumentary]]<br>[[Science fiction]]
| creator              = 
| developer            = [[David Ambrose]]<br>[[Christopher Miles]]
| writer               = [[David Ambrose]]
| director             = [[Christopher Miles]]
| creative_director    = 
| presenter            = 
| starring             = [[Tim Brinton]]<br />Gregory Munroe<br />Carol Hazell<br />[[Shane Rimmer]]<br />[[Richard Marner]]
| judges               = 
| voices               = 
| narrated             = 
| theme_music_composer = 
| opentheme            = 
| endtheme             = 
| composer             = [[Brian Eno]]
| country              = United Kingdom
| language             = English
| num_seasons          = 
| num_episodes         = 
| list_episodes        = 
| executive_producer   = 
| producer             = 
| editor               = 
| location             = 
| cinematography       = 
| camera               = 
| runtime              = 52 minutes
| company              = [[Anglia Television]]
| channel              = 
| released             = {{Start date|1977|06|20|df=y}}
| related              =  
}}

'''''Alternative 3''''' is a 1977 British [[Television documentary|television]] [[mockumentary]] concerning government conspiracies. It inspired much speculation and interest by proponents of fringe ideas.

==Premise==
Purporting to be an investigation into the UK's contemporary "[[brain drain]]", ''Alternative 3'' describes a plan to make the [[Moon]] and [[Mars]] habitable in the event of [[climate change]] and [[Environmental disaster|environmental catastrophe]] on Earth.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.paranoiamagazine.com/2013/01/alternative-3-end-game-of-the-new-world-order/|title=Alternative 3: END GAME of the New World Order – Paranoia Magazine|date=26 January 2013|newspaper=Paranoia Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=18 November 2016}}</ref>

==Production==
The script was written by David Ambrose. Music was supplied by [[Brian Eno]], a portion of his score being released on his album ''[[Music for Films]]'' (1978). Apart from the presenter [[Tim Brinton]], all characters were played by actors who were explicitly credited at the end. It was made with film stock used at the time to make it appear like a conventional documentary programme. In a 1989 interview, actor [[Richard Marner]] (who plays Dr. Carl Gerstein) said he did not rehearse his lines to make the delivery appear as natural as possible.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

==Broadcast==
The programme was presented as an edition of an [[ITV Anglia|Anglia]] series ''Science Report''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://theunredacted.com/alternative-3-secret-space-program/|title=Alternative 3 – Secret Space Program|date=9 March 2016|newspaper=theunredacted.com|language=en-UK|access-date=18 November 2016}}</ref><ref>[https://www.uea.ac.uk/about/-/director-returns-to-norwich-to-relive-tv-hoax-that-shocked-the-world Director returns to relive TV hoax that shocked the world – Press Release – UEA]</ref> The intended transmission date was 1 April, but it seems that Anglia was unable to obtain an ITV network slot for the programme on that date due to strike action or labour disputes.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}

Having aired once in the [[United Kingdom]], ''Alternative 3'' was later aired in [[Australia]], [[Canada]], and [[New Zealand]]. The programme was originally meant to be aired on [[April Fools' Day]] 1977, but its broadcast was delayed to 20 June.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/exopolitica/esp_exopolitics_ZJ01.htm|title=Alternative 3 – The Saga Lives On|website=www.bibliotecapleyades.net|access-date=18 November 2016}}</ref> ''Alternative 3'' ended with credits for the actors involved in the production and featured interviews with a fictitious American astronaut.

The interviews with supposed [[scientist]]s, [[astronaut]]s, and others were far too dramatically polished to have been spontaneous, and in any case, the episode's closing credits named the actors who took the roles of interviewees and correspondents.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}} Though artfully produced, the show's counterfeit [[documentary film|documentary]] style could scarcely have been expected to fool many.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}} As an Anglia TV spokesman put it, 'We felt viewers would be fairly sophisticated about it.'"{{citation needed|date=June 2024}}

==Plot==
The program begins by detailing the so-called "[[human capital flight|brain drain]]": a number of mysterious disappearances and deaths of [[physicist]]s, engineers, astronomers, and others in related fields.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/alternative3|title=Alternative 3|newspaper=Museum of Hoaxes|language=en-us|access-date=18 November 2016}}</ref> Among the strange deaths reported was that of "Professor Ballantine" of [[Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics|Jodrell Bank]]. Before his death, Ballantine had delivered a videotape to a friend in the press, but upon playback the tape appears to contain only static.

The missing scientists are revealed to have been involved in a secret American-Soviet plan. Interplanetary space travel had been possible for much longer than was commonly accepted, with Bob Grodin, a fictional [[Project Apollo|Apollo]] astronaut ([[Shane Rimmer]]) claiming to have stumbled onto a mysterious lunar base during his [[moon landing|moonwalk]]. It is then revealed that, during the 1950s, scientists had secretly determined that the Earth's surface would be unable to support life for much longer, due to [[pollution]] leading to catastrophic [[climate change]]. In 1957, physicist Dr Carl Gerstein ([[Richard Marner]]) proposed three solutions. The first was the drastic reduction of the human population on Earth. The second was the construction of vast underground shelters to house government officials and a cross section of the population until the climate had stabilized, a solution reminiscent of the one proposed at the finale of ''[[Dr Strangelove]]''. The so-called Alternative 3, revealed to have been secretly undertaken, was colonization of [[Mars]] via a [[Wiktionary:way station|way station]] on the Moon.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://binnallofamerica.com/rr6.20.8.html|title=Richard's Room 101|website=binnallofamerica.com|access-date=18 November 2016}}</ref>

The program ends with some detective work; acting on information from Grodin, the reporters learn that Ballantine's videotape requires a special decoding device. After locating the decoder, the video documents a joint American and Soviet landing of an unmanned probe on the [[Mars|Martian]] surface in 1962. After landing, the camera focuses on an unknown organism moving under the surface of the ground. According to a mission controller, "22nd May, 1962, we're on the planet Mars and we have life!"

== Reception ==
Austin writes that he was both delighted and disturbed by the ''Alternative 3'' controversy, and adds that the reasons "a clever hoax, openly admitted to be such by its creators, should continue to exercise the fascination it so obviously does the best part of a generation after its first appearance is beyond my feeble powers of analysis and explanation."<ref>[http://www.forteantimes.com/articles/121_a3.shtml Fortean Times Magazine | Articles |<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041010123513/http://www.forteantimes.com/articles/121_a3.shtml |date=10 October 2004 }}</ref>

==Related texts==
===Authorized===
In 1978, a tie-in "nonfiction" book written by Leslie Watkins with David Ambrose and Christopher Miles, appeared from [[Sphere Books]] Ltd, of [[Gray's Inn Road]], [[London]]. An American edition, also marketed as nonfiction, appeared from [[Avon Books]], with the title stylized as ''Alternative 003''. The novelization added further detail to many of the claims presented in the show, with some changes. Rather than fictional astronauts like Bob Grodin, it now includes bogus quotes from real ones such as [[Buzz Aldrin]] and [[Edgar Mitchell]]. Instead of the astronauts discovering primitive life on Mars, they discover a breathable atmosphere. The book further claims that the conspirators have been engaged in shipping staff to a secret base on Mars, abducting potential workers to use as slaves.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}}

===Unauthorized===
[[Jim Keith]]'s ''Casebook on Alternative 3: Ufo's, Secret Societies and World Control'' argues that some elements of the 1977 broadcast were in fact true.<ref>Jim Keith, ''Casebook on Alternative 3: Ufo's, Secret Societies and World Control'' (Illuminet Pr) {{ISBN|0-9626534-9-7}}</ref>

Ken Mitchell's novel ''Alternative 3'' uses the Alternative 3 scenario as a background to a [[techno thriller]].<ref>Ken Mitchell, ''Alternative 3'' ([[HarperCollins]]) {{ISBN|0-7322-7703-5}}</ref>

On 20 June 2010, the 33rd anniversary of the original Anglia Television broadcast, an unofficial, allegedly "unexpurgated" eBook version of Watkins' book "edited by Anonymous" and published by "Archimedes Press" appeared online. It contained a new foreword and other material.[https://archive.org/details/Alternative3-33rdAnniversaryEdition]

== DVD release ==
The film was released on DVD in October 2007, together with a 30-minute featurette with presenter Tim Brinton and writers David Ambrose and [[Christopher Miles]] the production's director, a production stills gallery; and contemporary press cuttings. The film is taken from a 16&nbsp;mm print with optical sound. According to Miles in the featurette, this is his personal copy, and the only one to have survived.

== Possible influences on the mockumentary==
"The Man in the Moon", a 14 July 1950 episode of the American radio science fiction anthology ''[[Dimension X (radio program)|Dimension X]]'' featured a similar story. Here, an employee of the fictional United States Bureau of Missing Persons overhears a radio broadcast from a man who claims to be held prisoner on the Moon. The employee investigates, and uncovers the kidnapping of many persons, including scientists and engineers, who are then forced to toil on the Moon by German overseers, who had colonized the Moon in the late 1930s, and are preparing an invasion and takeover of the Earth. 

==References in popular culture==
Canadian musician [[Ian Thomas (Canadian musician)|Ian Thomas]] has stated that the lyrics to his 1979 hit "Pilot" were inspired from watching Alternative 3.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF3dGYbOCHM&t=2s|title=Behind The Vinyl: "Pilot" with Ian Thomas|website=youtube.com|date=18 April 2017}}</ref>

The track "Vats of Goo" on the OST for the 1997 video game [[Fallout (video game)|''Fallout'']] is a cover of Alternative 3's theme.

British [[doom metal]] band [[Anathema (band)|Anathema]]'s 1998 album ''[[Alternative 4 (album)|Alternative 4]]'' was also named after the programme.

Rock band [[Monster Magnet]] have a song about the conspiracy, titled "Third Alternative" on their ''[[Dopes to Infinity]]'' album.

The song "Alternative Three" on the album ''Karma Had It Coming'' by Canadian punk rock band The Broomhandles, takes inspiration from the program.

An alternative soundtrack for the film by members of [[Add N to (X)]], [[Stereolab]] and Hairy Butter was released on [[Lo Recordings]] in 2001.

[[Costa Botes]] cited ''Alternative 3'' as one of the influences that inspired him to produce the New Zealand [[mockumentary]] ''[[Forgotten Silver]]'' with [[Peter Jackson]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.waikato.ac.nz/film/mock-doc/documents/paper2.shtml |title = Screen and Media Studies – Arts and Social Sciences: University of Waikato}}</ref>

A character in [[Richard Linklater]]'s 1991 film ''[[Slacker (film)|Slacker]]'', portrayed by Jerry Delony, claims that ''Alternative 3'' is "absolutely true" and that humans have been on Mars since 1962.

UK punk rock band [[UFX]] released a video using allegedly hoax footage from ''Alternative 3'', the [[Roswell UFO incident|Roswell]] [[Alien Autopsy (1995 film)|alien autopsy]] and footage of Nazi flying saucers to accompany the title track of their 2013 album ''Reverse Engineering''.

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book | first=Michael | last=Barkun | title=Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America | isbn=0-520-23805-2| date=7 November 2003 | publisher=University of California Press }}<!-- how does this fit it in? -->

== External links ==
*{{IMDb title|0075664}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100623011739/http://www.anomalies.net/object/alternative_3_endgame.html Alternative 3 – The Most Dangerous TV Show Ever Made] Anomalies Network article about ''Alternative 3''
*[http://www.christophermiles.info/ Christopher Miles] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130306091848/http://www.christophermiles.info/ |date=6 March 2013 }}
*[http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2017-06-20/forty-years-on-the-elaborate-television-hoax-that-shocked-the-world/ Forty years on the elaborate television hoax that shocked the world | Anglia – ITV News]
*[https://www.thecompanion.app/alternative-3-the-forgotten-story-of-one-of-britains-coolest-sci-fi-films/ The Forgotten Story of one of Britain's Coolest Sci-Fi Films] Article on The Companion

[[Category:April Fools' Day jokes]]
[[Category:British science fiction television shows]]
[[Category:Films directed by Christopher Miles]]
[[Category:Films scored by Brian Eno]]
[[Category:Hoaxes in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Journalistic hoaxes]]
[[Category:1977 hoaxes]]
[[Category:1977 television films]]
[[Category:British mockumentary films]]
[[Category:Television shows produced by Anglia Television]]