I have assumed, that since so many commenters here (and on the IMDb) have insisted that they remember that title, that the "Blue Book" alternate title was used in syndication or some markets, and yes, I have even stated that here in previous posts. But, the more I look into it, the truth is I haven't actually seen any definitive evidence that it was ever called anything other than Project U.F.O. on television.
I'm beginning to suspect that, at least here in the U.S., the "Blue Book" title was never used. However, the phrase, "Project Blue Book" was used extensively on the program, and I think that it may have had a powerful influence on youthful memories, so much so that people misremember the title of the show. These kinds of "false memories" are common, especially when erroneous information is repeated and repeated without verification.
Can anyone out there provide me with anything other than anecdotal evidence that the Project Blue Book title was ever used? A scan of a TV listing or advertisement? The most convincing evidence, of course, would be a video of the opening titles incorporating the "Blue Book" name.
I would really like to clear this up and would really appreciate any help in doing so. To borrow an expression from another, much later (and more popular) show about the U.F.O. phenomenon, "The truth is out there..."
UPDATE 10/23: Well, a popular theory in the comments here and at the IMDb is that perhaps the pilot episode of the series was called Project Blue Book and that it was changed when the show went to series. No evidence seems to exist to support that theory, but even if it was true, why would people remember the show by the name of the pilot - which aired only once - rather than by the title shown at the beginning of the twenty-five subsequent episodes? Doesn't seem very likely, does it? More like grasping at straws.
Unless someone comes up with concrete evidence to the contrary - I think I'm going to continue to run with the "false memory" theory.
I was big fan of Project U.F.O. during its initial run on network TV. Like you, I only remember it being called Project U.F.O. Maybe it was called Project Blue Book in overseas markets.
ReplyDeleteI no longer like your blog.(j/K)
ReplyDeleteI am now obsessed with finding proof to validate my memory of this showing under the title of "Project Blue Book"!
Wow. I totally remember it being Project Blue Book. And I was paying attention. My Dad had been in the US Air Force (OSI) and one day came home with just about every book readily available on UFOs. Overnight, he had become certain there was something to it. I read them after he died and of course watched this show religiously.
ReplyDeleteIf you had just told me the name of this show, I would have told you it was a 60s sci-fi/spy-fi show ala Thunderbirds, Time Tunnel etc.
I have to say I agree with you. I watched every episode as they originally aired, and NO national TV Guide or regional TV Guide I ever had (and I still have most from those days)ever had it listed as anything but Project U.F.O. No magazines that I still own that covered the series as anything but Project U.F.O. I've seen several original press photos with the press sheets still attached that all say Project U.F.O. However, I will say I've met only a couple of people that even remember the show and they did indeed call it Project Blue Book. I say your faulty memory scenario is quite possible. Both of them grew up in my area, and watched it on the same local station as I did and it was never called anything but the original title when airing on that local station. Anything airing outside the U.S. of course I cannot be as certain, but one would think at least one old grainy recording from years ago would turn up from somewhere indicating this alternate title if it existed.
ReplyDeleteGeez, I loved this show -- thanks so much for bringing back some cool memories! I just found this thru Wiki, but you probably already have seen it:
ReplyDeleteIn some countries, to avoid confusion over a similarly titled show UFO, the show was known as Project Blue Book and had a different title sequence, one much more similar to The X-Files TV show that it inspired.
Of course, it also notes: "citation needed."
DeleteHardly definitive.
Here in Canada I'm pretty damn sure it was called Project Blue Book. Until fairly recently I hadn't even heard the title Project UFO. Do I have evidence? No. But I saw it I swear I did! It was right there in front of me. Are you callin' me a liar? Cause I know what my own eyes saw...wait I digress...
ReplyDeleteI had a similar experience recently with Baa Baa Black Sheep (as it was called here in Canada). I found out that most everywhere else it was called Black Sheep Squadron. Never heard that title before in my life. The only difference in the case of Baa Baa Black Sheep is that there is evidence on the You Tube to back me up. Not so with Project Blue Book... a conspiracy perhaps?
If you had asked me 10 minutes ago I would have said it was called Baa Baa Black Sheep too, until you pointed out that it was called Black Sheep Squadron here in the states; that does sound right. But then I did live near enough to the Canadian border that half the change in my pocket had the Queen on it and on clear nights we could watch Hockey Night in Canada.
DeleteThe Robert Conrad show began in the States as "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and was retitled "Black Sheep Squadron" during its initial network run.
DeleteAfter the first season, the show was put on hiatus, returning to a second season in December 1977. I can't remember definitively if the latter episodes of Season One went out under the "Black Sheep Squadron" title or if the title change went into effect with the shortened second season.
My memory is that "Baa Baa Black Sheep" suffered in the ratings during the first season, and that the title was changed in the middle of the first season in an attempt to rebrand the show.
As the show aired under both titles in its country of origin, this is not a case of a show being retitled for export.
Ahhh I see. Interesting. Thanks for the info.
DeleteI'm in the Project UFO camp. Is it possible the pilot was called Project Blue Book, and the series called Project UFO? Maybe the network suits though having UFO in the title would bring in more viewers?
ReplyDeleteI don't remember it being called Project Blue Book. Wasn't there an upclose picture of a "Blue Book" folder in the opening credits? What struck me years later, was that this very serious Air Force guy was also the actor who played Col Flagg on MASH.
ReplyDeleteI have all of the episodes. No "Blue Book" folder in credits or elsewhere.
DeleteI was on the fence... Project UFO, or Project Blue Book (since I had subsequently read about that factual project, and know what tricks memory can play, it was probably Project UFO, right?)... until you mention the book / folder appearing in the credits!
DeleteThat seems to be what exactly what I remember seeing in the UK in the 70s, the credits focusing on a blue book.
But memory does play strange retroactive tricks...
All during its network run, I'm certain it was always titled Project U.F.O. and nothing else. CTVA (Classic TV Archive), despite using IMDb as a reference, also calls it Project U.F.O. Stories were adapted from Project Blue Book cases, so it's easy to figure why some believe it was also called PBB.
ReplyDeleteI also don't recall the show ever being syndicated. (There were only 26 episodes.)
Funny, when I first came across the mention of the show on your blog, under the title 'Project UFO', I assumed that in your particular neck of the woods that was the title it went by.
ReplyDeleteYou see, I had not, until that point, ever heard of a show called Project UFO. I only remember Project Blue Book.
Weird indeed.
Yes, agreed. I don't recall ever hearing of a show called Project UFO. But I loved Project Blue Book as a kid also.
DeleteTotally Weird. Crazy, that my memory would be that way.
One of the discussion threads on IMDB claims that the pilot went out under the Blue Book name, but it was changed to UFO, but that some stations continued to use the Blue Book title sequence in order to not confuse viewers.
ReplyDeleteI have to think this is a possibility based on the number of people who remember it as Project Blue Book.
Still anecdotal. A plausible theory, but nothing definitive.
DeleteNot a single article I've found from the time - in Starlog and elsewhere - has any mention whatsoever of the "Blue Book" title.
If it did air as Project Blue Book, don't you think there would be something concrete to verify it? I haven't seen a single printed TV listing under that name... and I've looked!
They are just continuing the cover-up...And I beginning to think you are a part of it.
DeleteWhy would everyone remember it by the name of a pilot film that aired once (assuming that it did air under that name, despite no evidence that it did) rather than by the name of the twenty-five episodes that followed?
DeleteThat seems really unlikely, doesn't it?
As no one can provide anything but unverified anecdotal evidence so far, I'm running with the "false memory" theory.
I'm not an expert on the show (in fact, I've never seen it) or US networking arrangements in the late seventies (I'm in the UK) but it seems improbable to me that any network would arrange TWO feeds to affiliate stations, just so that a few "renegades" could run the show with an amended title sequence with a different title. An unnecessary expense for both the studio and the broadcaster.
ReplyDeleteIt would make sense if a physical film print was despatched to each local station (although someone at the studio would still need to create two separate versions unless the station, on receipt of the episode, made its own substitution) but - surely - programmes were just fed from the network down the lines to local stations at the designated TX time.
BUT. The existence of Gerry Anderson's U.F.O in syndication does make the substitution sound more credible. Perhaps a few local stations were worried about confusion and - therefore - some sort of special arrangement was made.
A change of title for overseas sales or syndication sounds more probable although I don't think PROJECT BLUEBOOK is any more marketable (if anything: less so), especially overseas, because it relies on the casual viewer, scanning their TV listings, to make the connection to UFOs.
Ok, I'm spending too much time on this. Christopher, you may indeed be right. I am a believer in "false memories" to be sure, and I don't discount myself as being subject to this phenomenon.
ReplyDeleteI have found two slightly different intros for season one, neither of which include the words "Project Blue Book" in the titles - spoken or written. Now, in my (possibly faulty) memory I recall that during the titles there was actually an official looking binder or folder shown being placed down on a table that said "Project Blue Book - Top Secret" or something like that. I also recall that either during the intro or outro there were scenes of the various UFO models that appeared in different episodes, much like the montages at the end of Star Trek (so it was, if not my imagination, probably the end titles). I remember liking the opportunity they gave me to see all the cool looking spaceships that have been or will be featured on the show.
Believe me, I don't underestimate the mind's ability to create false memories or to confuse and confabulate the hazy past but these (again, possibly false) memories extend beyond just getting the title of the show confused.
Of course there was so much UFO stuff flying around in the late '70s that any amalgamation of images is possible.
On a related note: I remember being convinced that a scene from the "Amityville Horror" had mysteriously disappeared from the movie. I thought it may have been cut from the broadcast version but no, not on the DVD either. It was a particularly creepy scene in which a child's doll sitting on a chair opens it's eyes to reveal blackness and then glowing red dots roll up in the eyes and the doll rises and does a herky-jerky dance at the foot of the girl's bed. Creeped me right out. I knew the scene existed it and that the "red eyes" at least were a feature in the movie. Years later, in fact only fairly recently, lo and behold it shows up in the "In Search Of" episode featuring the Amityville House. It was a particularly well done "re-enactment". It's not surprising that my young mind had amalgamated these sources on the same subject matter. Could I be doing the same with subject matter involving UFOs? There certainly was enough of it.
My mother - and countless other people - "remember" seeing the cloven-footed, devil-horned infant at the end of Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby, despite the fact that no such shot ever appeared in the film.
DeleteCrazy how memory - and the power of suggestion - works.
I do recall an opening with an associated (Top Secret) Blue Book, or some kind of binder in the beginning. With the words Project Blue Book. Written across like Project UFO was written in opening. Flowing across the tv screen. On a Vancouver Canadian tv channel. There may be something misplaced, but not completely a false memory. Because I remembered two differences in the mid 70's.
DeleteIs that a reworked Robby the robot on that Bananas cover?,it sure looks like him,in the same vein I remember seeing the reworked Lost in Space robot on hana-baberas live action Mystery Island serial,its kind of funny because Robby showed up on an eisode of lost in space.Old tv robots never die they just get endlessly recycled
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's Robby. He was a popular "guest star" on 70s genre shows, making appearances on Project U.F.O., Ark II, Space Academy, Mork & Mindy and even Columbo!
DeleteI've planned to write a post about Robby's 70s appearances for a long time... it's on my list for this winter.
About the above comment having to do with some stations using the Blue Book title to avoid confusion. That's not going to happen. I've worked in television at the local level for over 20 years. Networks provide 2 feeds, a East Coast feed and West Coast feed. East Coast also provides the central time zone broadcasts, while West also provides the mountain time zone broadcasts. Stations pull from those only. So no station has (or had) two feeds to pull from.
ReplyDeleteIn the late 70's, stations either were broadcasting network programing which was beamed across the country, or using syndicated programming which was shipped in on film.(although 3/4 inch video was soon to become the normal for syndicated series) Project U.F.O., a network series would have been beamed in on a "live" feed with ALL stations getting the same version of a episode. No physical film for any network primetime series ever went to local stations for broadcast, it just wasn't done that way, and still isn't for that matter.
I'm not trying to throw stones at the guy above, just trying to explain a bit how stations air their programming since it's been my career for so long. Even now many changes have happened in the last 5 years to change the way stations are provided syndicated programming, but we still get the network feeds from satellite.
Wow, I am so glad to see the level of conspiracy-theory furor regarding this show's title. So appropriate that "false memories" are part of the discussion, given the subject matter. Just like Betty and Barney Hill.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I made a comment on this topic in favor of the PBB theory JUST YESTERDAY (which I suspect inspired this whole post), I do think that maybe the PBB title is not actually true, just a result of mentally untangling the source's project name from the show's title. Over-correction, if you will.
I totally recall a great line from the film "It Happened One Night" where the Clark Gable character responds to one of the guys on the bus who apologetically, yet incorrectly thinks Claudette Colbert is his wife (which of course she ends up as) and says, "It just goes to show you how wrong a guy can be." It ain't in the movie. I guess I thought it should be. Or it came from some other movie. I dunno. False memory strikes again.
Yeah, Kyle. This is all your fault. :)
DeleteMade for a great discussion, though!
I only remember this show as PROJECT BLUE BOOK. I had never heard of PROJECT U.F.O. until I started reading this blog. I can even remember the intro, complete with the PBB binders, and the voice-over of "In the Bible, Ezekiel saw a wheel. This... is the wheel... he claims he saw" as it shows a picture of a UFO. I can also remember looking for it in the local Winnipeg TV guide printed in the newspaper (even though I was all of about 8 when the show came out), and *I* can remember it being listed in the guide as "Project Blue Book". I have no physical proof of this, but perhaps.... I wonder if the Winnipeg Free Press has copies of the old television guides as part of their archives.
ReplyDeleteIf you can dig anything up to support the "Blue Book" title, I'd love to see it. I'm not trying to tell people they're wrong, I'm just trying to find out for sure.
DeleteNo videos of the show's opening titles that I've found have the "Blue Book" name, nor show the "binders" that you (and at least one other commenter above) seem to remember.
Searhing the archives of the Winnipeg Free Press I turned up dozens of hits on Project U.F.O. Some appear to be short articles relating to television, while others are the tv schedule listings. The TV schedule calls the series Project U.F.O., not Project Blue Book. I also search the Blue Book title and did not come up with any tv listings for the series under that name. Blue Book DID turn up in some articles about the show, for example: "Webb sticks close to documents from the U.S. Air Force's Project Blue Book" After seeing the dozens, and dozens of pages of the newspapers tv schedule all saying Project U.F.O. I'm placing my bet on the side of the series never had that title, and is the result of faulty memory and internet legend.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the couple of Canadian commenters above who remember it being broadcast as Project Blue Book: I watched all the episodes in the late '70s from Nanaimo, BC and have no memory of the show as being anything other than Project U.F.O. In addition to my memories I also happen to have copies of the West Coast BC edition (Lower Mainland / Vancouver Island / etc) TV Guides and it lists the show ONLY as Project U.F.O.
ReplyDeleteTo add an additional thought: The Feb 2nd, 1979 (right in the middle of the Project U.F.O. run) episode of Wonder Woman TV show named "The Starships are Coming" revolved around a "Project Blue Book" Air Force Colonel (played by Buck Rogers' Tim O'Connor) and mentions the name "Project Blue Book" a couple times. That might have helped reinforce the PBB name. Just a thought.
That particular Wonder Woman episode came to my mind as well...
DeleteWas there a Project Blue Book binder in that episode?
In the Charleston, South Carolina market the show was called Project Blue Book. I understand you're looking for concrete evidence and I definitely can't provide any. This was one of my favorite shows as a kid and to this day I can recite the opening monologue word for word. The first time I read a story on your site I remember thinking, Wow, I didn't know Project Blue Book was called something else.
ReplyDeleteThe NBC affiliate in Charleston, South Carolina in 1978 would've been WCIV channel 4, correct? Did it air the program on the proper day and time, Thursdays at 8:00 pm Eastern?
DeleteIf it aired the program when scheduled, it should've gotten the same broadcast fed from New York that my own NBC affiliate a mere two states to your north, Norfolk's WAVY-TV 10 got, and on WAVY, it was "Project UFO", not "Project Blue Book".
Charleston's not a television backwater like Alaska was up through the seventies, where film cans were actually shipped in and programs broadcast on a week or more delay. It's inconceivable that Charleston got a significantly different broadcast of a network program than other major East Coast media markets did.
I'm becoming increasingly of the opinion that printed references to the program being aired as "Project Blue Book" are based on faulty memories and/or inaccurate research.
If it exists, there has to be first hand documentary evidence somewhere at Universal, or whatever entity controls Mark VII Productions' records and assets. And in this day in which we can find footage from a test preview reel of "The Wrath of Khan" with scenes establishing Saavik's half-Romulan heritage and an ending with dialogue that largely matches that of Vonda McIntyre's novelization uploaded to Youtube by a private collector, why hasn't tangible evidence of this alternate "Project Blue Book" title sequence materialized?
So, anyone in Charleston, SC want to take a trip to the main branch of the public library, or visit the morgue of the major daily newspaper to try to find their TV listings from a Thursday evening in 1978 armed with an IMDB printout of "Project UFO" episodes and their airdates and confirm what the local media called the program in their listings?
I only remember it being called Project U.F.O, but maybe the aliens have blocked the true memories from my mind. I just wish it would get a DVD release whatever the title may be.
ReplyDeleteEntire episodes are available on YouTube. (And they all have the Project U.F.O. title...)
DeleteAs I have previously stated, I can confirm that in Australia when it had its original screenings in the early 80s as well as when it was rerun on Pay TV/ Cable in the 90s that Project UFO has not screened as anything else but Project UFO. My only hypothesis for if it was called Project Blue Book would be to avoid confusion with the Gerry Anderson series UFO. But considering that it was produced 1970/1971 and Project UFO was produced in 1978 and the latest it screened in Australia was 1981, I highly doubt this is the fact.
ReplyDeleteJust to deepen the mystery a little more: Jack Webb's official biography (Just the Facts by Moyer and Alvarez) flatly states that "the show was also known as Project Blue Book."
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand, the book doesn't show anything to back that up; on the other, it was written with the cooperation of Webb's daughter Stacy, who gave the authors full access to Webb's archives. It's certainly possible this was a working title for the show, and may have made it onto scripts and into the odd early press.
Unfortunately, I can't come up with a satisfactory explanation for those who say they saw it as PBB. My original thought (similar to some of what Chris and others mention above) was that the UK broadcasts were re-titled to avoid confusion with Anderson's UFO, and that some of those prints had found their way into syndication packages in the US...but then I did an online search and found a scan of TV Times (the British TV guide for the independent ITV networks) from the original broadcast period.
Guess what? It aired in Britain as Project UFO. So bang goes that theory.
The only other possible explanation I can come up with is that it was re-titled for syndication in the US. This was a fairly common practice well into the 80s; however, it was normally only required when a series was sold into syndication while new episodes were still airing on the network (and I don't think that's very likely in this case.)
Well, Don - you at least uncovered something actually in print, even if I wouldn't quite call it definitive without some sort of supporting documentation.
DeleteStill... maybe there's something to the "Blue Book" title after all. We'll have to keep looking.
No, I don't think it's definitive by any stretch. Just odd.
DeleteWell, technically, the statement that the show is also known as "Project Blue Book" is true, as a lot of people know the show by that title. But, whether the show accurately and officially titled "Project Blue Book" is another matter entirely.
DeleteMy mind keeps turning to the issue of syndication. At 26 episodes, "Project UFO" would've had too short a run for typical stripping 5 days a week, but the very late seventies/early eighties was the heyday of the independent turned would-be cable superstation, say Atlanta's WTBS, DC's WDCA, New York's WOR, Chicago's WGN, and stripping isn't the only option for syndication. Weekend hours had to be filled as well, and 26 Saturdays or Sundays would fill a slot for six months. So, now I'm wondering: Did "Project UFO" have a life (however short it may have been) in syndication?
I'd really like it if the people in the States who remember the "Project Blue Book" title could tell us what day/time they remember watching the program, because that could help us narrow down whether they were watching it first-run on network or later in syndication.
Also,Universal wasn't a studio known for not exploiting a property if it didn't have enough of it for syndication. In syndication, "BJ and the Bear" and "The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo/Lobo" - neither of which had enough episodes for syndication - were combined into "The BJ/Lobo Show", apparently in both hour-long and half-hour edited form. "Night Gallery" was butchered, re-edited, then combined with edited down episodes of "The Sixth Sense" for a syndication package.
While I still lean to the false memory/fan myth that has taken on a life of its own hypothesis. I am still open to the re-titled for syndication possibility... especially if someone could provide proof that the series was syndicated after its network run.
I'm from Canada as well and I distinctly remember the Project Blue Book Titles. The titles were the standard blue animated opening (Season 1) and at the end there was "Project Blue Book" in a type writer style font over top of some screened back blueprints.
ReplyDeleteWhat might have happened though in our aging memories and young untrained eyes is that these "Project Blue Book" tiles were made by the Canadian TV station distributing it and not really "Official". They could have been "We'll be back to" station break markers that were common at the time.
All I know is that I remember the show as Project Blue Book - not Project UFO. Yet the evidence seems to show differently. Somewhat ironic considering what the show was about... No definitive proof.
Yes, it is that serif typewriter font that said "Project Blue Book" that I remember on the binder.
DeleteSyscrusher is ringing a small bell here, although I never saw the series as anything but Project U.F.O.. The image that pops into my head is a binder or binders labeled "Project Blue Book".
DeleteI'm wondering if this wasn't the background for the Season 2 end titles? Might explain at least part of this.
(You'll note that the opening titles and theme changed almost entirely for Season 2; I wouldn't be surprised if the closing did as well. Unfortunately there don't seem to be any S2 episodes on YouTube at present, so I can't test the theory.)
Years ago (early 90's) I THOUGHT I ran across a ad or a list of syndicated programming which DID include Project U.F.O. However that means nothing as stations would actually have to buy the show for broadcast, so it's possible it was available but not ever purchased. One other thing, Universal had no involvement with project U.F.O., by that time Webb did not have a deal with the studio as he did for Dragnet, Adam-12, Emergency, etc so they had nothing to do with it's syndication. The idea to "package" series together for syndication was used in the early 80s by more than one company. Worldvision that had the rights to Project U.F.O. did so themselves in 1983 with Man From Atlantis and The Invaders under the Evergreen Programs Inc. banner, I have a ad that shows the promotion trying to interest stations in buying both shows. It's fantastic that this topic has inspired so much discussion!
ReplyDeleteLiving in the states on the Canadian border. There were little difference in format between the two countries. Commercials aside, the formats for most shows were the same, and still are. A lot of intersting theories to this. Anyone of them possible. I remember a friend back in the mid 70's bought a novelty Project Bluebook at a bookstore. That's must be that false memory working again.
ReplyDeleteThe problem I'm having with this? Why so many people are interest driven. Like many.. I remember Jack Webb from Dragnet. His narration on the front, of the reveal blue binder, was a compelling moment. Many remember and I have a tendancy to agree. It's strange.
Just for the record, I hadn't even thought about this show in years, but when I saw a "Project UFO" post on this blog, I immediately thought, "Oh yes, the show that used to be called 'Project Blue Book'." So my false memories (if indeed that's what they are) were in my brain, intact, Manchurian-Candidate-style, and not reinforced by Internet yammering on the topic. Oh, for a time machine to settle this once and for all.
ReplyDeleteI realize this doesn't help solve the mystery at all, but I have that same false memory of the show starting out under the title PROJECT BLUE BOOK, and becoming PROJECT UFO later on. Actually, now that I'm writing this down, I'm not sure I remember the PROJECT BLUE BOOK title as such, but I'd swear the show had a different title in the beginning.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I'd also swear I remember seeing that dang Thunderbird photo in a book or magazine during the 70s, so don't pay any attention to me.
"I'd also swear I remember seeing that dang Thunderbird photo in a book or magazine during the 70s, so don't pay any attention to me."
DeleteYeah... me too.
Hi Chris I have both seasons of pufo and season two is called pbluebook in England, but the show itself is pufo. There is no AD for or commercial in either of the seasons so the only evidence I have is sending you copies of the DVDs if you would like it would be no problem
ReplyDeleteYou don't need to send me discs. Can you get a screen grab?
DeleteYes not a problem give me a day or two and I will do a collage of both seasons
ReplyDeleteThanks, but all I need is a screen grab of actual "Blue Book" titles just so we can have some proof that such a version exists. No need to put in any extra work. Thanks.
DeleteAnd of course...nothing was sent. :(
DeleteNothing to add but another anecdotal memory. I watched it as a child in Juneau, AK and I fall in the Project Blue Book Camp. I don't remember Project UFO at all.
ReplyDeleteI remember the blue binders in the titles. I also remember talking about it by the "Blue Book" title with my friends at the time.
Given the rather idiosyncratic TV station in Juneau at the time I can imagine it might have received some odd versions of things but, I can also see that the false memory theory might have merit.
I lived in Sunnyvale, Ca. in the USA & I remember seeing the same as you. I never saw the Title "Project UFO"... either.... Government Cover up
DeleteUsed to watch this in southern Ontario (probably on a Buffalo station). I remember only "Project U.F.O." being used, never "Project Blue Book".
ReplyDeleteI do remember the Show being Called "Project Blue Book"..! Can't get into how I know this, but there's more to this..! I Love the way the Government Covered up the Sightings..
ReplyDeleteI remember that we kids of the 1970's definitely called the show "Project Blue Book" when we talked about it at school. I'm not claiming that was the official title - just what we called it.
ReplyDeleteI'm from Massachusetts and I only remember it as project blue book. Never heard project UFO until I starting looking for it on you tube.
ReplyDeleteSame for me. Never heard of Project UFO until I was looking for it online. When I first heard PUFO I was like "ha, someone is thinking of Project Blue Book but screwed it up."
DeleteI watched it as "Project Blue Book" in Central Florida. Just sayin'. No, I don't have any proof.
ReplyDeleteLOL ! Did a search for this and it's really funny how many other site's where this subject is so hotly debated about over and over. No one wants to give ground on how they remember the show being titled. Two popular theory's are (1) Foreign version's were called project Blue book. So if you were near the Canadian border its possible you tune in to one of there stations. I'm in Massachusetts and remember it as Project Blue Book, but we are too far from Canada to get their broadcasts. (2) The pilot episode was broadcast as Project Blue Book and that's what stuck in memories of the show.
ReplyDeleteWhat a Jedi mind trick what ever the reason.
I'll chime in on this convo. So as a child growing up in New Jersey, I watched it as Project Blue Book. When I started to look for the show as an adult online I kept running across "Project UFO" and in my mind I thought "ha, someone tried making a PBB copycat show...." only to find out that it also goes by PUFO. I never even heard of PUFO. In my memory banks it was always aired as PBB. Only heard of PUFO since looking for the show online.
ReplyDeleteOhhh this again! I've posted elsewhere on this so here goes again.
ReplyDeleteI lived in a "test zone" for media. Not sure what they call them mow. There are apparently a couple around the US. We'd get movies with slightly different editing or TV pilots a little different. Example. We got Battlestar Galactica as a theater movie.
I recall the pilot as Project Blue Book. But everafter only knew it as Project UFO. But the Blue Book title stuck for some reason. But where I got the Blue Book from I do not recall. Id never heard of Blue Book before the series.
I have searched for years to try and find any evidence of the Blue Book version and have gotten nothing so far other than a-lot of people who remember that Blue Book title and/or a book in the opening.
Theories
1: There was a book in the opening of the pilot. But was cut to make time for more commercials. It was not the title but people remember it so.
2: An alternate title by either the network or a broadcaster. Could have been on request, or as a test title or regional. Not sure how common that is. But there is mention of series editing and a few lists on the net.
3: Early commercials for the show. Those could have had the Blue Book title, or anyone announcing it might have called it differently. The show itself was allways Project UFO when aired.
4: Mass Hallucination! Ducks Migrating! Swamp Gas! Venus reflecting off clouds!
Like local edits its likely we will never solve this.
I remember it as Project Blue Book as well. Maybe it's one of those Berenstain/Berenstein Bear things...
ReplyDeleteI remember it as Project Blue Book as well. Maybe it's one of those Berenstain/Berenstein Bear things...
ReplyDeleteI in no way want to argue against your research, but in fact, can't help but add a bit to the mystery, because this post is blowing my mind. Let me preface by saying that this is literally the first 'conversation' I've had about this program since it went off the air. I've never looked it up on wiki or on imdb and I've never engaged in any conversation about it either online or in person. I have never heard of or thought of this show as being called anything other than "Project Blue Book". Again, this is not about your research being wrong or faulty, but I just have to add my memory because in this case my memory stretches back to the days when the show was on the air and has virtually no connection to anything since then (if that makes sense).
ReplyDeleteI live in Australia and watched every episode, only ever project UFO. I also remember a binder somewhere (possibly end credits if no one can find it in the opening credits. Has anyone considered the blue book (false) memories may come from the USAF disclaimer at the end of each episode, which mentions PBB?
ReplyDeleteHi I am from the UK .and remember avidly watching the show you are discussing in the seventies /early eighties on re runs on The UKs Independant television network , Southern Television region , of Kent and East Sussex , It was Definitely titled over here as Project Blue Book . The titles to the show had voice over lead in leading to a visual image on screen of an A 4 sized book format that was not particularily thick in appearance , something like those books that contain clear file wallets bound in to the , one assumes blue cover and the phrase Project Blue Book on the cover embossed or superimposed as the title in the opening titled sequence,as I was watching in black and white television at that time . the voice over intimated something along the lines of investigation by an american military department which at the time I thought may have been air force as the uniforms were dark and I concluded Blue as their colour (color) , My thoughts thinking along the lines that UK RAF was a shade of blue , so USA air force was also blue of a darker shade , though it could have been a US navy division as I believe in that time frame in which the show was set US Naval Uniform was either a very dark blue or possibly black , our Royal navy being Royal Blue which in some light looks almost black .I may be totally wrong on those colours (colors) though as by assocciation of our own military as a reference . in the voice over it said about reported incidents of UFO sightings round the country , US, being looked at to determine the validity of these various events filed, or words similar to that effect , and that a section / department was set up to do the investigations and was known as Project Blue Book and in the titles showed the two man officer and his subordinate team and a dark Car with military markings on the doors that they travelled to various states and towns to ask those that had reported UFOs seen and to carry out Interviews of same people , to debunk or confirm as a fact.in the voice over this was very quickly established as opposed to my description of the title scenario.I do not remember what the designation was written on the Car's doors , but recollect there being words and number , military type reference / serial number . on those doors after the wording . we had the Gerry Anderson TV series . UFO on a few years before that over here . at a similar time as Project Blue Book was aired over here The Invaders Starring Roy Thinnes as David Vincent who fell asleep in his car after parking up as he was on a long drive and needed to sleep ,is woken up by a flying saucer Landing/taking off and he sees its occupants in his semi awake disturbed sleep and now knows they are here ,with there signature little finger give away . this show aired as a re run over here as the same time frame , before the run of Project Blue Book and both were on a Sunday eleven Am to Midday/One O'Clock time slot .I remember being disappointed that The Invaders had finished and was no more ,then Project Blue Book was shown instead . I Had hoped to see more of The Invaders but never did , only the occasional late night incomplete series ,some episodes around twenty years ago . Hope this solves the two title question .From Leonard Sorrell , who happend upon your page by accident when looking up the name of actor and singer Peter Gordeno who Had a starring role in The Gerry Anderson UFO T.V. Series That aired first in the very late sixties / early seventies here , but which I first saw on UK television on Saturday afternoons around Three to Five Pm in 1972 and then only a few episodes before that disappeared , eventually caught it on late night telly most of the episodes not all and out of sequence in my late twenties /early thirties .
ReplyDeleteUntil someone provides me with an actual scan of a printed TV schedule listing the title as "Project Blue Book," I remain skeptical.
DeleteThe title reads 'Project U.F.O.' but the words are not spoken. It's a weak visual cue because your mind is still processing Webb's intro narration and the drawings. During the show, the sign on the office door reads "Project Blue Book" and the actors often say the words "Blue Book". The reinforcement of these words throughout the show is probably why many of us remember it as 'Project Blue Book'.
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