Alien spaceships are likely to be so advanced they would be beyond our comprehension (Photo: Rex)

When most people imagine alien technology, they probably think of UFOs and flying saucers.

But extraterrestrial creations are likely to be so advanced that we puny humans would be totally unable to understand them.

Nick Pope, a British investigator who headed up the Ministry of Defence’s UFO investigation desk, has just released a film called Indistinguishable From Magic which explores what might happen if we encountered beings from outer space.

The film has been released amid growing interest in ‘unidentified aerial phenomena’ – the official name for UFOs.


Over the past two years, details of a secret US research project called Advanced Aerospace Threat and Identification Program (AATIP) have slowly leaked into the public domain, suggesting there really is something strange happening in our skies.



‘Indistinguishable from Magic is a deeply personal look at the question of how first contact with extraterrestrials might unfold,’ Pope told Metro.

‘The revelations about the Pentagon’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (the subject of my previous documentary, Aliens at the Pentagon), recent US Navy encounters with UFOs, and the fact that several US Congress members have received classified briefings on this make Indistinguishable from Magic a timely film.

‘The possibility of open first contact no longer seems like science fiction, and while a few cynics may still think the subject is a joke, those of us who’ve looked at this from within government aren’t laughing.

‘What’s happened in the past few months is that the US Congress and the mainstream media have learned what many of us on the inside already knew, namely that whatever the true nature of the UFO phenomenon, it raises critical defence and national security issues.’

The film sets aside arguments about whether UFOs are real and looks at the implications of alien contact, with particular focus on three aspects of extraterrestrial technology: weaponry, interstellar travel and energy generation.

Nick added: ‘I avoided getting bogged down in an attempt to prove UFOs were extraterrestrial and simply said: “Let’s assume humanity is imminently going to make first contact.”

‘From there, all sorts of questions arise, and my film explores the answers to some of these questions.’

The film’s title comes from a quote from legendary science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, who stated that ‘any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic’.

‘Hollywood sci-fi movies have convinced people that when we make open contact with extraterrestrials, their technology will be around a hundred or two hundred years ahead of ours,’ Nick continued.

‘I want to impress on people how statistically unlikely it is that in a 14billion-year-oldd universe, the first alien civilization we meet will happen to be at around about our level of technological sophistication.

‘Given the age of the universe, there could be civilizations out there with millions or even billions of years head-start on us. Their power would be indistinguishable from the power of the gods that religious people worship, and their technology would truly be indistinguishable from magic.



‘This mistaken idea that aliens would be only slightly more advanced than us leads to a related misperception about UFOs. People imagine them as being like our own aircraft, but just a little bit faster and more manoeuvrable.

‘In reality, if UFOs are extraterrestrial vehicles, as many believe, they’d probably be beyond our conception.’

To get a sense of just how advanced alien technology would be if it was even seen on Earth, just think about the distances involved in space travel.

If our fastest space probe was aimed at the nearest star outside our solar system, it would take around 70,000 years to get there.

Any alien craft that reached earth would have to be designed using incomprehensibly advanced technology humans would have great difficulty understanding, let alone ‘reverse engineering’ to produce our own starships.

‘When it comes to space travel, we’ve taken a few baby steps – nothing more,’ Nick said.

‘We aren’t going to be able to figure out alien technology millions of years ahead of our own.

‘We’ve gone from the horse and cart to the rocket in a couple of hundred years, so what might a million more years of progress look like?

‘The UFO community often speculates about the government reverse engineering a crashed alien spacecraft, but if we’re dealing with civilizations millions of years ahead of us in terms of development, it won’t happen.

‘It’s as unlikely as a stealth fighter crashing by an anthill, and the ants figuring out what it is, and then building and flying their own version.’


Nick has been at the centre of a number of conspiracy theories, with this film already sparking claims he’s still secretly working for the government.

Nick Pope greets fans and supporters at an AlienCon event

‘There have already been some conspiracy theories about Indistinguishable from Magic and I’ve been accused of talking up the threat angle,’ he said.

‘The same accusation has been levelled at some of the people involved in AATIP – the T in AATIP stands for Threat, after all.

‘Some internet pundits have labelled my film ‘propaganda’ and ‘fear-mongering’.

‘The accusation is that I’m still secretly working for the government and that my new film is part of a deep state plot to talk up the possibility of an alien invasion, to help the Military Industrial Complex= get more funding, while also building support for President Trump’s Space Force.

‘The accusations are nonsense, of course, though I do support the creation of a Space Force, on the basis that space will be a key battlespace in any future war.

‘And no, before the conspiracy theories reach fever pitch, I’m not talking about a war with aliens!’

The film is available on Amazon, iTunes and other video-on-demand platforms.