The mid season finale of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (TSCC) threw me something to chew on Monday night that I was surprised to see. Was TSCC yet one more project that was bitten by the writers strike? When the heck are we gonna stop seeing ramifications from that event? Cripes!
Confused? Good… Keep reading my Tarantino-ish outline of this event.
In Monday night’s episode, Sarah is chasing her “three dots” clue and ends up going to a UFO convention. There, she meets a “woman” who has pictures plastered all over “her” home’s walls. The interesting thing about that is that I recognized those pictures and said, “Hey! I know those pictures! Those are the California Drones that Raji posted in 2007!” Yes, I’m a bit of a UFO non-disbeliever with a freaky memory!
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Flashback – Mid 2007:
An internet user by the name of raji (Other surmised aliases: raji1977, Rajinder Satyanarayana) has laid claim to not only observing a UFO, but taking high quality pictures of the thing as it went over himself and some power lines. The pictures were taken in a town called Capitola, CA. which isn’t that far from where I live, and about 3 miles South of Santa Cruz, CA.. The pictures were incredibly detailed, well focused and if this wasn’t proof… well then, what is?
Curious item #1: The photographs were put out on Craigslist of all places. Not a UFO forum, but a public, generic website. After posting the images, “Raji” disappeared. After that, a few other folks posted images of their own of similar craft that have been spotted around CA. These craft have been dubbed the California Drones.
Background event to keep in mind: The writers strike started on November 5, 2007 and ended on February 12, 2008.
January, 2008:
A woman from London contacted a couple of private investigators to try and locate this Raji person. As their quest proceeded, they started working from the presumption that if they found the telephone poles, they might find the area where this “Raji” lives. I don’t buy that. Why? If I took the pics in Capitola, I would have been passing through. I live in Menlo Park, on the other side of the mountain in the Bay Area. I’ll call this Curious item #2.
The two investigators either found or were contacted by a man named Isaac who claimed that he was part of a top-secret government program in Palo Alto, CA – which devised commercial technology from extraterrestrial artifacts confiscated by U.S. scientists. (I guess Isaac has seen Men In Black.) More importantly, he knew about the craft. (Cue the X-Files music please!)
It’s a great story on the LA Times website, but it sure did not say much. There’s even YouTube footage of a Fox news program called America’s Newsroom, which interviewed the two PI’s. Yep, it’s a real program. The PI’s put together a web page on their site for their investigation: TK Davis Investigations.
MORE RECENT DAYS:
Despite the fact that I do believe, (just not sure in what), a lot of folk on the internet make a hell of a lot of conjecture about things. They pull facts and conjecture from every direction, pile them in a blender that’s set to stun and turn it on without the lid! I say that because stunned is what I got.
There are so many ideas out there about these “California Drones” that it gets very confusing. I filtered through literally hundreds of images, sites and conjectures to the point of stumbling through the day cross-eyed and even ending up at one of my own sites where I wrote an article about how UFO’s capture our imaginations. From sites debunking the UFO, to sites supporting it, I toiled. Some sites had well presented and lengthy documentation. Other sites had forums with over 100+ pages of premises, conjectures and interpersonal angst.
The Drone Research Team put together some of the original images that raji posted on Craigslist and has a collection of other images from other “witnesses.” That “Isaac” fella put together a pretty comprehensive collection of information about this classified work and has some incredibly detailed images, scans, etc… which I will call Curious item #3! The sites are Isaaccaret.com and a second supporting site. The interesting (should I say Curious Item #4?) is that the Isaaccaret site has a page with the title/name of “Replicant.” Hmm.
I’ve done all this for you, the Screen Rant readers, at the risk of being abducted by government conspirators and the greys. Not to mention I was tremendously curious!
TODAY:
Today I’m exhausted from chasing my own tail!!
The end of Sarah Connor Chronicles‘ episode had Sarah laying on the ground stunned, looking up at what looked like a UFO coming down to say hi to our dazed heroine. That’s when I said, HAH! Scared the crap out of my wife. But the craft in the end scene was a combined derivative of the California Drones with identical details.
After some I.P. forensic sleuthing, I can’t add any info about who may own the websites. I’ve left messages with FOX Networks but they’re busy and I haven’t heard back from them. But here’s what I believe to be the conjoined answer to both entities, the CA Drones, Sarah’s three dots and her hovering drone in the final scenes of the mid-season finale:
FOX Networks is run by aliens!
OR
They were getting completely behind their product, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, by ramping up a viral advertising campaign that would draw the public into their show. With the right public momentum, the gimmick would have netted them some serious press coverage and ratings. But the project got snuffed when the writers’ strike hit. That pushed back the airing date of this mid-season finale episode, and Fox moved on. In their wake, they forgot to let on about it and left the hundreds of UFO-ologists spinning up hundreds of thousands of hours combing over the Drones evidence and tossing out their conjectures.
Below, I present the pictures for your review… To all the folks who dropped many an hour into this phenom, I do apologize, but I think you were taken by a pretty cool marketing scheme.
One of the many images posted by Raji in 2007
Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles Screen Shot: Notice the Drone poster.
Notice the Drone image over a telephone pole.
Oh dear, here they come Sarah!
Notice the appendages changed. Moving.
Does the CA Drone bear any similarities?
Font screen shot from image from isaaccaret.com
A: Notice the tail section similarities
B: The tri-segmented extended arms
C: The spikey things.
My question to you:
Did Fox perpetrate the viral ad gone south, or did they take advantage of something that is out in the public domain and made it their own, risking possible legal issues?
I say the former.
The prosecution rests!
UPDATE 12/24/08: The prosecution would appear to have been wrong! I’ve been in communication with Josh Friedman, the Executive Producer and creator of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and it would seem that the mysteries of the California Drones will continue to be a mystery for the time being. Josh wrote the following to me:
Bruce–
The drone/CARET materials are not viral marketing for our show. Fox knows nothing about them. I’ve been interested in the drone images for some time and, as I am wont to do, found a way to work areas of interest into the show. Our drone image at the end is a kissing cousin of the others but is of our own design. I don’t want anyone out there who chooses to believe in the drone sightings to feel in any way that their inclusion in TSCC invalidates their point of view. Likewise, any one who believes they are a hoax should not use their inclusion in the show as confirmation of that theory. Simply something in the zeitgeist that I was (and still am) fascinated by. Whether this settles the issue or only serves to incite others who want to use it for their own ends is beyond my control.Josh Friedman
Executive Producer, Creator, TSCC
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115 Comments
Bruce, you are tennacious as a Junkyard Dog, and I mean that as a compliment..and also producers changed the name from originally scripted already in place name Isaac to Abraham too
We know at least also the completed that episode on Oct 24..and boy did you pick up the fear of cancellation in that post? Desperate times do indeed call for desperate measures..
I think somebody out there was “Joshin” us Bruce..:)
By the way I go by EnlightenedSeeker at OMF and Sys_Config at Abovetopsecret, enclave for renegade unbelievers and home of the shameless ArmChair Researchers Council ARC..should you ever care to drop by there.
This can be fun unravelling.
Sys_Config,
Abovetopsecret is a great site to check into but its too heavily moderated.
I’ve never seen a website that seems dedicated to free speech, have so many draconian restrictions on commenting and comments…
I personally don’t believe any of the lights in the night are UFO’s simply because doesn’t it make you wonder how aliens can have the technology to travel millions of light years but not the technology to keep themselves stealth?? I mean seriously. Regular aircraft needs lights for various reasons. So we don’t fly into each other, landing lights, etc. But why would an alien craft that can out fly and out maneuver any earth-made aircraft need lights for??
I give more credibility to daytime sightings, although even then you wonder why they don’t simply wait until nighttime to spy on us if that is their objective. I personally think we would not see a real UFO unless they WANT to be seen…
Lord have mercy ..You should visit some of the ones I and some “disbelievers’ have been banned at..I feel your pain for sure.
Those curiously require an application almost like Unknown Country, or Drontream, probably anticipating trolls, or only desiring like minded people..
ATS can be a jungle..but imo..balances at in the end..
I ran across this delightful display of moonwalking by Josh when asked about the writers strike back in November of 2007 and had that first episode been locked in.
http://tv.ign.com/articles/835/835266p1.html josh well…hehehe
But editing is writing and it’s another way to make your vision known. It’s very frustrating for me not to be there. I have the choice. I can be there per my contract, but to me everything comes from writing and I just can’t imagine walking past writers who aren’t getting paid in order to pick up my producing paycheck. That just seems immoral.
it’s very painful. This is my first show and I usually have my hands in every little thing and that’s how I like it. It’s a difficult decision for any showrunner, because they’re very protective of their material. They want to keep the work going for their crews. Those are our second families. It’s challenging, but I just made a conscious choice that I’m a writer first and always and I wouldn’t have my executive producer job if I wasn’t a writer. ”
I am sure Isaac feels the same way with his material.
Then we go back to June 20, 2007, 6 days before the famous ET gate release of material on the net by Isaac..where Isaac..I mean Josh discusses what to expect on that Chronicle trailer..
http://tv.ign.com/articles/798/798086p1.html here he is on June 2007 stating thee will be a skynet component, which we know was that drone on steroids and plummage at the end.
“There will be Terminators. There will sometimes be pursuit. There will be Terminators in a lot of it, and there’s also a Skynet component to the show.”
Hmmm did he already have a revelation before Isaac came on?
Now to re emphasize Brucsimms point, as well as mine, and several other sites, but which most devotees here know very well is you just don’t take someone elses script posted at dedicated website, and it does read like a script, ….change a name, barely modify the craft..and incorporate it into your show without even a credit acknowledgement..unless its possibly your to begin with by pen in hand or by purchase.
Lets go back farther shall we? So for those unfamiliar..get a feel how iseas and stories not ones own..are dealt with in most ethical movie businesses..
.. an episode of Star Trek..shot Ironically , in that same Dulce AirPark.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arena_(TOS_episode)
“when using a similar story star trek
Scroll down to Production
According to an account by Herbert Solow in the book “Inside Star Trek, The Real Story”[1], the relation to Brown’s story may have been an unconscious inspiration. After Coon had written what he thought was an original script, Desilu’s research department noted the similarity. It was therefore agreed that Desilu’s Business Affarirs office would call Brown and offer a fair price for the story, before it was shot and broadcast. Brown agreed without knowing that the story had already been written.” unquote
So we know that a writer of Joshs caliber, the Showrunner, The man in charge, with a fundamentalist persective, on writers rights.. would never violate a writers code, the episodes up to four had already been done and in post production by the time of writers strike..Thanks to that interviewers question and Joshs almost convoluted answer.. at IGN..
And we know that the at least one of skynet craft he alluded to on June 20, 2007 is imo, that craft we saw recently on the end scene..of chronicles..
Very interesting, Zorro. I keep thinking of the following quote, for some reason. It’s from Colin Bennett’s July, 2007 essay, “Meme Wars: We Have an Agenda” found at this address:
http://www.realityuncovered.net/ufology/articles/memewars.php
“The only trouble with the commentary is that it is far too well sculpted for someone who claims he is not a writer. “Isaac” takes his time, unfolds the story in skilled fictional terms, frequently hesitating in relaxed professional narrative style. He uses rhetoric, self-questioning, and complex irony. The voice is warm, assured, and very human as if he is used to narrating with a well-modulated voice at just the right distance before a studio microphone. Despite the protestations of innocence, this is well-rehearsed piece has a detectable (and betraying) polish. It could be done as straight Radio talks-feature without any changes.”
Oh the Irony indeed..Isaac..he will laugh, then chamged to Abraham..The father of all nations..(and probably the story).and who succeeds Abrahamin biblical Literature? why Abrahams chosen one..Joshua..Fearless conqueror of Jericho..
what we have here metaphorically is a divine trinity..
its delicious. just like Father Son and the holy ghost..a neat way of saying to us ..We are one!
Indeed they are
oops, I’m surprised biblical scholars did not pounce on me immediately.., Josh was successor to Moses, Isaac was the son of Sarah and Abraham, Mother Father of many episodes, I mean Nations….( at least that makes it politically correct)..but my original..Trinity musings..must be retracted.
Well Josh, was this ‘ Guy Isaac” paid for his story as is the normal duty to do or if borrowing why was it not credited, or even a little dedication, squeezed in somewhere.. You see, unlike borrowing themes like black holes and time warps, and using them willy nilly generically ..this was a put together script Josh. Not even an independent inspiration like in the star trek episode, who even then , they still paid the piper.
What is the difference I would like to know.
And the June 20 interview, pretty much tells me that you knew beforehand about the drone craft, which Isaac, explained six days later. So all these completions before the 26, tells us fore knowledge. It was easy to reach him Josh, that nice Lady at Earthfiles had all the contact numbers, and that Attorney, looking after the interests as he said.. at the site put up within 7 hours would have been glad to help.
Did Josh even try?
My My,
Isn’t it obvious its his?
Or is our Josh really playing the role of Jacob, who by trickery, stole his starving twin brother Esaus’s birthright.
I hope not.
I am inclined that its Josh’s all along ..you can’t steal whats aleady yours.
I posted this on Above Top Secret and then found this discussion. You don’t appear to know that Starfire Tor solved this mystery in 2007. It’s a great report and investigation. Cudos need to go to her for this fine work.
You can read Starfire Tor’s aerial drone report here
http://www.starfiretor.com/AerialDrones.htm
Below is the ATS post where Starfire Tor’s report is being discussed in late 2008 and questions are being asked about Whitley Strieber’s strange behavior.
Here’s the link to my post so you can get the whole view of what was being said.
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=289007&page=420#pid6007515
ATS post:
I’m on Starfire Tor’s list and joined after hearing her interviews on unknowncountry.
Starfire Tor absolutely published her aerial drone mystery report on her web site in 2007. Starfire Tor published the report in 2 parts. The first part was in mid or early 2007 and the second was in October or November 2007. Don’t know how anyone here missed it but it’s been on her website since she published it in 2007.
I’ve read her published aerial drone investigation and IMO it’s the best out there. The report shows you how she did the research and all the things she followed until getting to the Alienware viral marketing of their Area 51 laptops. If everybody did investigations of the calibur of Starfire Tor’s then wewould have much less hoaxes on the net.
Starfire Tor never posted her thoughts on her list about why Strieber went so wrong with his pushing a hoax. Like was written here her report says that Strieber asked her opinion. I don’t know whether Starfire Tor’s superior investigation caused Strieber to outlaw her from unknowncountry. Maybe you don’t know that Starfire Tor’s been away on some investigation for more than a year and she only came back on her list explaining this. Her being off on an important investigaion might be why she hasn’t been on Striber’s show.
Now that she’s back I’m waiting to see if she goes on Strieber’s show again and if the topic will be her breaking the news about the aerial drones being a viral marketing promotion for Alienware. Starfire Tor has the proof on her web site. The best thing Strieber can do is respect Starfire Tor’s superior report and let himself change his tune and stop promoting the hoax as being real. Maybe Starfire Tor will be back on his show but it won’t be about the aerial drones.
Starfire Tor has proven to be a great researcher on the side of truth. I liked the way she started the report by explaining that she’s a believer in UFO and like things being real, and that hoaxes heap a big hurt on UFO researchers that promote real cases and not hoaxes. It shows she’s got brains and integrity and is someone to be listened to.
I think Strieber is a very smart man who’s had real encounters. It can’t be disproved. I don’t see how he could have missed that the aerial drone photos were faked. He does research and in the film business and could ask experts to look at the photos like Starfire Tor did. Starfire Tor doesn’t say that Strieber had anything to do with making up the hoax but I think that’s because the evidence led to Alienware and their contest.
Linda M Howe acts like someone who promotes whatever she thinks will get her attention and then money. I think that’s what she did with the aerial drone hoax. Maybe she was honest when she started with animal mutilations but after that she became something like a snake oil salesman IMO. Strieber has fame and money and deals. He doesn’t need to promote a hoax to earn a living. so why did he do it? He’s smarter than that. Did he think his fans would follow him blindly? Why? His aerial drone promotions make no sense to me. I hope Starfire Tor gets a radio show.
Re: Starfire Tor web page. Nobody solved anything yet. Where did you get that idea? The website on Starfire Tor is aftermath is all. Nothing new there since everyone posted about the drones here, there and everywhere. The only two places that were thick with the drones from their inception (May 3, 2007) were the UFO Casebook & Open Minds Forum. Since then, an off-shoot from the Open Minds forum created the Drone Research Team who are still currently working on the drone issue. They’re the ones that hired the private investigators. More recently they found the Capitola telephone pole and know where Raj’s in-laws home is. You should check out the DRT because there is absolutely nobody on the Internet that knows more than they do, not ATS certainly since they’re more apt to do away with a dronie somehow.
Case in point, the drone issue is still an issue and there has been no closure. Your answer to that Starfire site was on page two where it’s stated, “Whitley Striber gave me”. He didn’t come into the drone picture until well after it began and only knows what Linda Moulton-Howe from Earthfiles fed him. That’s a bad dinner. Here’s the DRT’s address.
http://droneteam.com/drt/index.php
‘and only knows what x fed him. That’s a bad dinner.’
That is a great phrase!
Atrueoriginall said,
March 18th, 2009
Re: Starfire Tor web page. Nobody solved anything yet. Where did you get that idea? The website on Starfire Tor is aftermath is all. Nothing new there since everyone posted about the drones here, there and everywhere. The only two places that were thick with the drones from their inception (May 3, 2007) were the UFO Casebook & Open Minds Forum. Since then, an off-shoot from the Open Minds forum created the Drone Research Team who are still currently working on the drone issue. They’re the ones that hired the private investigators. More recently they found the Capitola telephone pole and know where Raj’s in-laws home is. You should check out the DRT because there is absolutely nobody on the Internet that knows more than they do, not ATS certainly since they’re more apt to do away with a dronie somehow.
Case in point, the drone issue is still an issue and there has been no closure. Your answer to that Starfire site was on page two where it’s stated, “Whitley Striber gave me”. He didn’t come into the drone picture until well after it began and only knows what Linda Moulton-Howe from Earthfiles fed him. That’s a bad dinner. Here’s the DRT’s address.
http://droneteam.com/drt/index.php
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Your response has no logic at all. You seem only wanting to dismiss actual research history as if the 2007 Starfire Tor report means nothing with value. The points you make don’t accurately describe anything except maybe some discussion groups did their best to investigate the aerial drone claims. If you are interested in the truth about the aerial drone hoax instead of the spin you’re trying to put on Starfire Tor’s excellent and timely report then I’d think you’d be pleased to discover an important report that seems to have passed you by. There’s no shame in that and there shouldn’t be feelings of competition or trying to put it down with a spin that doesn’t work with facts. Instead why not use the results Starfire Tor provided and go from there. Of course if your agenda has darker corners then my straight forward reply will have no effect on you. The aerial drone hoax has fed many people’s agendas and there are some who don’t want the hoax outed.
Thoughtful: You’re on the wrong page. Everything that Starfire Tor wrote came from places who wrote it long before they did. In other words, there isn’t anything in that site that I didn’t already read previously elsewhere or wrote myself for that matter.
I was the moderator at the UFO Casebook forum at the time so every new board started was started by me. Every post posted was read by me no matter who wrote it as well as pros and cons. Also, I was a member of OMF too and every single drone post in there was also read by me. This took place before (not after) the Starfire Tor words were laid down.
Right off the bat the site says, “PART I: June and July 2007″ when the drones started in early May (technically late April). Just like XBox, Bungi and other gamers were working it, Starfire Tor was working it too.
If you really don’t believe that, then go to these next two locations. This is where the conversations all began and where everyone got their ideas from – both believers and debunkers alike. My screen name was oljack666 at the time.
http://ufocasebook.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=drone
http://lucianarchy.proboards21.com/index.cgi?board=cali1
Like I said previously, you wouldn’t be able to get a word in edgewise in ATS if it were on the drones so you shouldn’t expect to see anything but debunker material in there, which is all you’re accustomed to in there anyway.
crickets
The fact tthat the drone was in the t.v show doesnt mean it was created by the team that made the show. They probably took the design from off the internet and wont answer any questions about it now because they would be worried ab out somebody claiming a copyright infringement on the images. The fact that there was a writers strike would have made it more awkward to conceptualize the drones for the show, so taking the design from images which seemed to be non copyright protected at the time would have been fair game. I dont believe in the reality of the said drones, but I dont think they were an invension of Fox television either. Has anyone even seen the stargates in the MMORPG “EVE”?? Thats were the design came from if you ask me. Go check out the Amarr races stargates in that game and then tell me that theres no similarities there. I have so far never heard anyone make this comparison before and to be honest Im pretty sure the design was copied from there.
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