Pathfinder Whips Up Mars Hysteria In America Crosses The Final

Its easy to meet an alien in the US this summer. Walk to the movies, and the extra-terrestrial comedy Men in Black (MIB) is keeping the registers ringing. Switch on the television and the cult sci-fi shows The X-Files and Star Trek are still going strong. Go to a toy store and you can get your very own range of extra-terrestrial toys. Travel to Rosewell, New Mexico, and you can see what is purported to be the spot of an alien landing.

Nasa could hardly have hoped for a better time to land on Mars. The Pathfinder mission, sending live photographs of the Martian surface, is eagerly being watched by a nation that is ready to devour all things extra-terrestrial.

 

The Pathfinder mission scientists are getting used to regular press conferences, live telecasts, and network interviews. On July 4, the day the Pathfinder landed, the red Martian landscape was as ubiquitous on television screens as the usual red, white and blue parades.No wonder Men in Black is turning out to be the summers top grosser. The movie brought in a whopping $84.1 million in its first five days, outclassing other offerings like Batman and Robin, and Disneys animated Hercules.

Whats MIB got to offer? The story is paper-thin, but there are plenty of shape-changing aliens, wacky lines about extra-terrestrials masking their identities (Not much of a disguise, sniffs a character, referring to the Chicago Bulls tantrum-prone star, Dennis Rodman) and the vision of a universe teeming with life.

Competition is on the way. Later this week, Hollywood is set to release Contact, a Jodie Foster starrer based on a Carl Sagan book. Rather appropriately, since Nasa has renamed the pathfinder the Carl Sagan Memorial Station..

Sneak preview audiences have been applauding the movie. Move over ET.

Meanwhile, dedicated UFO believers are scoffing at a US Air Force report that tries to destroy the enduring tale of an alien landing in New Mexico 50 years ago. The report says the alien landing was actually a test balloon, complete with a crash-test dummy. But Roswell, New Mexico, which set up an international UFO museum to cash in on the tourist traffic, is disputing the military account.

Whom does the average American believe? A Time/Yankelovich poll shows 65 per cent of the people believe a UFO did land in Rosewell. Little green Martians? America is ready for them.