Declassified Archives New Zealand files released in December 2010 revealed that DSIR scientists formally classified the Kaikoura objects as UFOs in a January 1979 UN report and acknowledged they could not replicate the anomalies seen in the TV1 footage through any conventional optical or atmospheric explanation.

The file (RNZAF AIR-1080-6-897, Vol. 1, 1978–1981) contains RNZAF interview transcripts and DSIR working papers. Analysts were able to debunk Crockett's Channel 0 footage by replicating the effect of a torch shone through aircraft glass, but the TV1 footage, shot as a clean exterior shot, resisted the same explanation. The DSIR briefing stated: 'aberrations are apparent in the film which is making it difficult to analyse.' Officials also noted that the prospect of extraterrestrial intervention was 'regarded as extremely remote,' placing the classification as provisional.