Talk:Alternative 3

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	This article is part of WikiProject Television, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to television programs and related subjects on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the quality scale.

Contents 1 More info 2 Early Comments 3 Martian moles 4 I was there - NPOV ? 5 Memories of the show 6 Alternative 3 - Original Soundtrack (CD) 7 What exactly were the three alternatives?

[edit] More info

There is an excellent article on alternative 3 here: http://www.forteantimes.com/articles/121_a3.shtml. Perhaps worth investigating. I have also read an article in FT where the original author goes to an A3 conference but doesn't really have the heart to say it was all a hoax, it ends with a tongue in cheek comment that he was beginning to beleive it all himself having heard the 'evidence' and been subjected to the zeal of the participants!—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.29.102.57 (talk) 14:53, 18 January 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Early Comments

This article takes three paragraphs to get to the point. It is not clear what "Alternative 3" is until that point. There's nothing really wrong with the text, it just needs to be improved structurally to explain what Alternative 3 is in the first paragraph, then get on to the explaination of it. --Sam

This article presents one point of view. It should be neutral. 128.250.6.243 04:56, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)

---

I think the author should go here [1], and look at the copyright date [2], and then think about rewriting. Marnanel 01:46, Apr 25, 2004 (UTC)

Also, if there is a "documented disappearance of literally hundreds of scientists", then a list might start to convince us that the sky is really falling. It would also be helpful to answer the referenced website's claim that " its producers announced that the entire thing had been a joke." Is it true? If so, do you believe the government is pressuring them, or the aliens are mind-controlling them or something? Art LaPella 14:30, Sep 1, 2004 (UTC)

I keep thinking about how to improve this article and keep stalling because there's just so much wrong with it. There's lots and lots of POV stuff and inaccuracies (for example, a copyright date of April 1 is significant because copyrights on TV programmes never usually show the day and month-- in over twenty years of watching Anglia this is the only example I know of). Marnanel 14:52, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Martian moles

I think I saw this in the 70s. What I remember was images of red rocks of Mars similar to those by the Viking probe and suddenly something moves under the ground, as if a mole were digging under the surface. Was this the program?

(Yes Rich Farmbrough)

[edit] I was there - NPOV ?

I saw this, and even kept the Radio Times for some years (I hesitate to suggest I may still have it!). It was not transmitted in April (too obvious), and stretched the credulity of a 15 year old. The copyright date was a clear admission of a hoax. It is amusing that people still believe this, they are probably the same ones who believe that the apollo missions didn'y go to the moon, an that the Earth is flat. Does anyone mind if we remove the NPOV tag now? Rich Farmbrough 17:14, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I've just downloaded and watched the programme. Although it's dead creepy, it's not particularly convincing (the actor playing 'Bob Grodin' has a very unconvincing American accent). I believe the article makes it sufficiently clear that the programme was not real, although I think a lot of people would like to believe that there might be salvation in the planets. Eno's 'Music for Films' is well worth purchasing, and his theme music also popped up on a 1981 film called 'Schiele: Excess and Punishment' about Egon Schiele, the artist.

In fact, 'Bob Grodin' is played by Shane Rimmer, the British film industry's favourite cheap American. Ashley Pomeroy 23:20, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Memories of the show

I also remember seeing this programme, but an interesting sidelight is that it was already known to be a hoax before it was broadcast. At least one newspaper (a local one for East Sussex) mentioned it in their TV listings. This must be a strike against the suggestion that only subsequent government pressure forced the programme makers to call it an April Fool.

Incidentally, I think the previous contributer must be in error in saying that the programme was in Radio Times. As it was broadcast on ITV, it would have had to be in TV Times. (Many people have forgotten, or never knew, that up till the 1980's you had to buy two listings magazines for television in the UK!)

[edit] Alternative 3 - Original Soundtrack (CD)

Didn't know where to put this and I can't seem to find it here on wikipedia.

In 2001 Lo Recordings released an album named Alternative 3: Original Soundtrack. The music is written and performed by Anne Shenton (Add N to (X)), Barry 7 (Add N to (X)), Steve Claydon (Add N to (X)), Richard Thomas and Jon Tye except tracks 02 (Alternative 1), 09 (Alternative 2), 16 (Alternative 3) & 18 (Brain Drain) written and performed by Tim Gane (Stereolab), Andy Ramsay (Stereolab) and Jon Tye. Produced by Jon Tye.

All music taken from the forthcoming motion picture "Alternative 3" - Is written on the back, I don't recall seeing any Alternative 3 movie ever advertised or any information about it on the internet so I was wondering: What movie?

The booklet contains an introduction to the story and the names of the songs clearly indicate a referance to the original Alternative 3 story so there is no other Alterntive 3 at hand.

[edit] What exactly were the three alternatives?

I only vaguely remember seeing the program (I was only 12 or 13 at the time), but I read the book quite recently. There the global crisis was not overpopulation (as it ways says in the article) but a runaway greenhouse effect. The three alternatives were: (i) The use of nuclear weapons to "puncture" holes in the earth's outer atmosphere and release the surplus heat (followed by a program of strict control on future CO2 emissions), (ii) moving human civilisation underground to escape rising surface temperatures and (iii) moving the human race elsewhere in the Solar System. Was the book different from the TV version, or are the three alternatives listed in the article incorrect? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 141.241.199.27 (talk • contribs).