Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1 Viewer)

[Patrick H.]

From the press release:

Available only with the Close Encounters of the Third Kind: 30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition high definition Blu-ray Disc, are additional bonus features including all-new “Storyboard-to-Scene Comparisons,” the original 1977 “Watch The Skies” featurette and an original theatrical preview.

While it's exciting to finally be getting all three versions of the film, it's a bit disheartening that seemingly most of the features from the old two-disc edition are now "Blu-Ray exclusives"...even the trailer! And what's happening to the deleted scenes from the prior release?

 

[WillG]

that seemingly most of the features from the old two-disc edition are now "Blu-Ray exclusives"...

Yeah, I can agree that it's not ideal, but the "Watch the Skies" featurette was pretty brief IIRC. The storyboard to film thing does not seem too substantial to me either.

 

[Patrick H.]

While the old release did have a number of scenes from the first two versions compiled as deleted scenes, there were also a number of trims and alternates that never appeared in any version. Hopefully they'll show up somewhere on this release.

I agree that a featurette on all the changes would be great. Hopefully there are more specs that haven't been announced yet.

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

I read once that it was different -- but it was on the internet, so take that with however many grains of salt you like. I remember that the description said that the original effect was lower because it was a smaller object and that it grazed the person's hands.

Could be just like the "I swear I saw the Biggs scene in the theatre".

 

[Rhett_Y]

This just might push me to the blu-ray side... Like others, I love this movie for some reason.......

Now if we can get the other movies from spielberg I would be a happy camper!

 

[Paul McElligott]

I think the only deleted scene not included in any cut was the alternate Lacombe introduction at the airport. The rest were cuts from the 77 version plus the inside the mothership scene from the Special Edition.

Personally, I'd rather just have the '77 cut and the Collector's Edition cut on separate discs.

 

[Paul McElligott]

Swallow the Blu pill?

 

[Lord Dalek]

The scene at the gas station isn't in any cut either.

 

[Dale MA]

Can't wait for the three disc DVD, glad we're getting the various cuts now.

 

[MielR]

No, no, the Biggs scenes were in the first network television broadcast.

The press release does say "the set incorporates all three versions of the film, including the first-ever home video release of the 1977 Original Theatrical edition", so I'm optimistic.

 

[Bryan Tuck]

I saw a print of the original 1977 version a few months ago at a theater in Seal Beach (don't know how they got hold of it); it included the extra bit of Days of Our Lives, the shot of Roy, Jillian, and Larry actually breaking out of the chopper, and there was no giant shadow over Roy's truck (just the tiny-dot-in-the-sky shot. Sorry to contradict you, Mike, but it just wasn't there.

Also, if I remember correctly, Lacombe never touched the ship; it was the same distance from him as in the other versions.

I'm really glad they're finally releasing all 3 versions, though.

 

[Brian W.]

Bryan is right, Mike... the shadow of the UFO passing over Neary's truck was done for the 1980 Special Edition. It didn't exist in 1977.

Bryan, tell me, was this shot in the version you saw in Seal Beach: It's in the scene where the men in the warehouse enter an office and pop the globe off its axis. In the 1977 version, I remember that the camera tracked behind them as they rolled the globe down the hallway. In every home video edition, the shot cuts to the warehouse as they begin to roll the globe up the hall.

Maybe I'm crazy. But I remember it getting a laugh in the theater. Was this in the Seal Beach showing?

 

[Jack Johnson]

Did the '77 cut also feature Roy seeing the Devil's Tower shape in...a schlumpy pillow on his bed, possibly after he was fired? I think it was a daytime scene, but took place in the bedroom. I've been seeing that pillow everywhere since my original seventies' screening (but never again in any available cut on home video). And you know, I think that pillow means something.

And I have a question that's been bugging me all these years, which a fellow Close Encounters fan might help me with: What exactly was Spielberg suggesting occurred with the refrigerator in the Guiler home that had little Barry so amused? Oh, I understand that the food sloppage is what we were meant to understand gave him the giggles (I guess), but in terms of what hoovered all those goodies onto the floor and out the door, err...was it an Alien Dyson--which didn't lose suction--like the model that later abducted Barry, or an indication that an E.T. friendly had actually rummaged in the crisper for some baby carrots?

Thanks for your help.



--Jack

 

[Mike_G]

Yes, the '77 print had the pillow.

From what I understood of the film after all these years is that the aliens were "mischievous". They were just rummaging around the kitchen.

What I want to know after all these years, is what the hell happened to the tall alien? He's there, he's gone. That made NO sense, even after all this time.

 

[Felix Martinez]

Man, when I heard the news, I knew...time for Blu...

 

[Jack Johnson]

Cool. I've had a deep yearning to see that pillow again. With the Special Edition supplanting the original cut in theaters so quickly--and then again on home video (where the theatrical was never released)--if you missed it in the initial theatrical run you were out of luck. Alas, this new release will deliver the cushion.

So, aliens in the kitchen, it seems. Yes, incredible. The only time Spielberg suggests they left their craft, apart from the Mother Ship finale.

As for the tall Alien, teleporting him into thin air was probably easier than shooting a dude in a suit or trying to walk him back to the ship by way of stop motion animation. So there's an abrupt cut in there. Maybe the feeling was he was too mystical/ethereal to lens in any way that would seem "in-elegant".



--Jack

 

[Bryan Tuck]

Bryan, tell me, was this shot in the version you saw in Seal Beach: It's in the scene where the men in the warehouse enter an office and pop the globe off its axis. In the 1977 version, I remember that the camera tracked behind them as they rolled the globe down the hallway. In every home video edition, the shot cuts to the warehouse as they begin to roll the globe up the hall.

Mike, I actually don't remember for sure. It was back in February, and I wasn't specifically looking for that one. I know that the version that I know has them popping the globe off its mount. Then it cuts to the hallway, where the globe hits the railing and the guys come out behind it and start to roll it down the hall, but then it cuts after about 2 seconds to them passing it overhead. I think that's the version that I saw in Seal Beach, but again, I can't be 100% sure.

But the pillow was there.

I actually do think that the '98 cut is the best version (I would've liked for the power station scene to be in there, but I can understand the reason for cutting it), but as I said earlier, it really will be great to finally have all three versions on one disc, if nothing else, for historical reasons.

 

[Brian W.]

Actually, it was Brian (me) who asked that. But if they acutally showed them rolling it DOWN the hall for a couple seconds, then I'm remembering correctly. In all home video versions, they cut away just as they start to roll it down the hall.

 

[Bryan Tuck]

In all home video versions, they cut away just as they start to roll it down the hall.

That was the version I was trying to describe. Like I said, I can't quite remember if it was different in the version I saw in February. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Steven_M Grimes]

Has it been confirmed that this is a new transfer? I don't see it listed as such in the press release.