I’ve already written about how the new series PROJECT BLUE BOOK on the History Channel is largely fiction. As such it isn’t constrained in the way that a straight “based on a true story” dramatic production would be. In the same way that AMERICAN HORROR STORY: APOCALYPSE pissed off some Satanists by depicting Anton LaVey as a villain, though, PROJECT BLUE BOOK is bound to piss off some of the folks around Huntsville, Alabama by casting rocket scientist Werner Von Braun as a shady Nazi experimenting on aliens and in league with the greasy government spooks.
I work in Huntsville, Alabama and have lived in the area my entire life (Sand Mountain proud!) so I know the esteem in which Von Braun is held by the citizens of the “Rocket City.” Now it is an established fact that Von Braun, before he was brought to the US to work on our space program, did the same work for the Germans during World War Two. Some folks around here have even in the past advocated for taking Von Braun’s name off things like Huntsville’s Von Braun Civic Center. Others have stated that he worked for the Germans only because he was German and lived in Germany, not because he *wanted* to support the Nazis. Where does the truth lie? Depends on whom you ask, but the man’s contribution to the American space program cannot be underemphasized. Seeing him portrayed as a “bad guy” in PROJECT BLUE BOOK is bound to not sit well with some Huntsvillians.
I also know about a hundred people who work on Redstone Arsenal, the Army base in Huntsville, and they’re gonna find it quite amusing to learn that dead aliens were once kept on the base—or maybe they still ARE…