Supporters of the videotape's authenticity point out that the military issue Bell and Howell movie cameras of that era were fixed focus. Hence any walking around on the part of the camera man would quickly cause the image to go out of focus. Other criticisms have been aimed at the camera man for misjudging where he should step during the autopsy to get a better picture of the Alien. One of the biggest arguments on TV and the Internet against the tape's authenticity is centered on the clock. Those myths are put to rest as soon as the viewer watches the actual tape where time moves ahead as it should on this videotape.
Segments shown on TV appear to go backwards because they are shown out of sequence.
This argument presumes that every surgical procedure starts at the beginning of a work shift, without time for preliminary preparations. There are two valuable gems at the end of the video. First is a complete showing of all segments spliced together chronologically. A man's arm is glimpsed on occasion as he walks around various tables, lifting and pointing to different artifacts for the camera. Items are laid out and sorted for benefit of the camera.