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Few decisions in Steven Spielberg’s UFO career reveal his artistic priorities more clearly than the changing versions of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The film exists in three major forms: the 1977 theatrical release, the 1980 Special Edition, and the 1998 Collector’s Edition/Director’s Cut. What changed was not merely running time.
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Introduction
Few decisions in Steven Spielberg’s UFO career reveal his artistic priorities more clearly than the changing versions of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The film exists in three major forms: the 1977 theatrical release, the 1980 Special Edition, and the 1998 Collector’s Edition/Director’s Cut. What changed was not merely running time. The revisions exposed a fundamental dilemma: should a filmmaker show audiences the ultimate UFO revelation, or preserve the mystery that makes it powerful in the first place?
For Spielberg, the answer changed over time. The 1980 version attempted to reveal more, including a glimpse inside the alien mothership. By the late 1990s, he had concluded that this disclosure weakened the film’s sense of wonder. The evolution of the film’s cuts became a practical experiment in how much of the unknown should remain unseen. [Wikipedia]WikipediaClose Encounters of the Third KindClose Encounters of the Third Kind
Should the mothership stay unknowable?
The original 1977 film ends with Roy Neary boarding the enormous alien craft after humanity’s first peaceful contact. The audience witnesses the spectacle from outside. The mothership remains a mystery. Viewers know Roy is entering another world, but they are not invited inside with him.
That ending matched the film’s broader approach to UFOs. Throughout Close Encounters, Spielberg repeatedly suggests more than he explains. Strange lights appear before their source is visible. Communication arrives through music and pattern rather than exposition. The climax offers contact without a detailed explanation of alien civilisation. The unknown remains intact.
Yet Spielberg was dissatisfied with aspects of the rushed 1977 release. Columbia Pictures had pressed for a Christmas launch, and the director later said he wanted more time to finish the film. After its success, the studio agreed to fund additional work, but with a condition: a new version needed a major selling point. The result was the 1980 Special Edition. [Wikipedia]WikipediaClose (2022 filmClose (2022 film)It follows two teenage boys whose close friendship is thrown into disarray when their schoolmates notice their intima…
What the Special Edition added
The 1980 Special Edition incorporated new scenes, revised character moments and additional visual material. Its most famous addition came at the very end.
After Roy enters the mothership, the audience briefly sees the interior of the alien craft. Bright corridors, glowing structures and otherworldly spaces replace the blank mystery left by the theatrical version. The sequence gave viewers exactly what science-fiction audiences are often denied: a look behind the curtain. [Wikipedia]WikipediaClose Encounters of the Third KindClose Encounters of the Third Kind
From a commercial perspective, the addition made sense. Columbia could market the reissue around a promise that audiences would finally see what had previously been hidden. Contemporary advertising emphasised this new access, turning the interior of the mothership into the Special Edition’s central attraction. [TheHDRoom]thehdroom.comClose Encounters of the Third Kind (30th Anniversary…24 Apr 2008 — The 1980 Special Edition trailer runs about two minutes, f…
The change also reflected a common temptation in visual storytelling. Once a filmmaker has imagined an extraordinary object, there is a natural desire to reveal it. The audience has invested two hours waiting for answers. Showing more can feel like delivering on that promise.
For a time, Spielberg accepted that logic.
Why later cuts restored mystery
By the 1990s, Spielberg had reconsidered.
When preparing what became the 1998 Collector’s Edition, he removed the interior mothership footage. Although the new cut retained selected material from the Special Edition, the sequence showing the inside of the alien craft disappeared. Spielberg stated that the interior should have remained a mystery. [Wikipedia]WikipediaClose (2022 filmClose (2022 film)It follows two teenage boys whose close friendship is thrown into disarray when their schoolmates notice their intima…
His explanation has become one of the most revealing comments he has made about cinematic wonder. Reflecting on the compromise that led to the 1980 version, Spielberg said, “I never should have shown the inside of the mothership.” He later argued that the unseen interior was more powerful than any visualisation he could create. [Wikipedia]WikipediaClose (2022 filmClose (2022 film)It follows two teenage boys whose close friendship is thrown into disarray when their schoolmates notice their intima…
The 1998 cut therefore became a correction rather than simply another revision. It preserved many improvements Spielberg liked from the Special Edition while restoring the uncertainty of the original ending. Roy still enters the craft, but audiences once again stop at the threshold. The unknown survives. [Wikipedia]WikipediaClose (2022 filmClose (2022 film)It follows two teenage boys whose close friendship is thrown into disarray when their schoolmates notice their intima…
This decision is especially significant within Spielberg’s UFO work. Close Encounters is fundamentally about contact with something beyond ordinary human understanding. Revealing too much risks transforming transcendence into production design.
How showing too much changes awe
The debate over the three versions highlights a larger principle that extends beyond one film.
Awe often depends on incompleteness. The imagination can construct possibilities larger than any visual effect. Once the audience sees a concrete answer, the mystery narrows. What was limitless becomes specific.
The mothership interior demonstrates this effect. In the theatrical version, viewers project their own ideas onto the unseen space. It could be magnificent, terrifying, spiritual or incomprehensible. The Special Edition replaces those possibilities with a particular design. Whether impressive or not, it becomes finite. [Wikipedia]WikipediaClose (2022 filmClose (2022 film)It follows two teenage boys whose close friendship is thrown into disarray when their schoolmates notice their intima…
Many critics and later commentators have argued that the restored ambiguity strengthens the ending because the film’s emotional climax is Roy’s decision to leave Earth, not a guided tour of alien architecture. The mystery becomes part of the payoff rather than an obstacle to it. [Movie Censorship]movie-censorship.comThere is more upbeat music in the Special Edition, the Director's Cut features dark, serious music.Read more…
This is why the different cuts matter within Spielberg’s UFO timeline. They reveal a filmmaker testing two competing instincts:
- The urge to reveal: giving audiences access to the extraordinary.
- The urge to withhold: preserving the power of the unknown.
The 1980 Special Edition leaned toward revelation. The 1998 version moved back toward restraint. Together, they show Spielberg arriving at a conclusion that would influence much of his later work: some mysteries are more meaningful when they remain partially unseen. [Wikipedia]WikipediaClose (2022 filmClose (2022 film)It follows two teenage boys whose close friendship is thrown into disarray when their schoolmates notice their intima…
A small edit with a lasting lesson
Viewed across the decades, the various editions of Close Encounters of the Third Kind function almost like a public record of Spielberg’s thinking about UFOs. The question was never merely whether audiences could see inside a spacecraft. It was whether a film about encountering the unimaginable should fully explain itself.
His final answer appears in the version he ultimately endorsed. The mothership remains closed. Roy enters. The audience does not.
For Spielberg, that boundary preserved the very quality that made UFO stories compelling in the first place: the sense that some experiences are bigger than what any camera can show. [Wikipedia]WikipediaClose (2022 filmClose (2022 film)It follows two teenage boys whose close friendship is thrown into disarray when their schoolmates notice their intima…
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Further Reading
Books and field guides related to Close Encounters Cut 8 D9509. Use these as the next step if you want deeper reading beyond the article.
The UFO Experience
Hynek created the close-encounter framework that inspired Spielberg's film title and served as an adviser on the movie.
Passport to Magonia
One of the most influential books on UFO culture and the mystery-oriented approach echoed in Spielberg's work.
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Endnotes
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Source: Wikipedia
Title: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_Encounters_of_the_Third_Kind -
Source: thehdroom.com
Link: https://thehdroom.com/reviews/close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-30th-anniversary-ultimate-edition-blu-ray-review-30611/Source snippet
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (30th Anniversary...24 Apr 2008 — The 1980 Special Edition trailer runs about two minutes, f...
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Source: movie-censorship.com
Link: https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=101920Source snippet
There is more upbeat music in the Special Edition, the Director's Cut features dark, serious music.Read more...
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Source: Wikipedia
Title: Close (2022 film)
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_%282022_film%29Source snippet
Close (2022 film)It follows two teenage boys whose close friendship is thrown into disarray when their schoolmates notice their intima...
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Source: youtube.com
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwO5aPc0V54Source snippet
Close Encounters of the Third Kind - ending (inside the mothership).mp4...
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Source: youtube.com
Title: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HKlFHUlnrMSource snippet
Steven Spielberg - 30 Years of Close Encounters (part 1)...
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Source: youtube.com
Title: Steven Spielberg
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1JoYLdZ_II -
Source: princesspictures.fandom.com
Title: Steven Spielberg
Link: https://princesspictures.fandom.com/wiki/Steven_SpielbergSource snippet
Spielberg | Princess Pictures Wiki | FandomSpielberg then revisited his Close Encounters project and, with financial backing from Columbi...
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Source: reddit.com
Title: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/9i96q3/close_encounters_of_the_third_kind_deleted_scene/Source snippet
Deleted scene - Inside...Spielberg has always said he regretted creating this scene since it never lived up to anyone's expectations and...
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Source: dictionary.cambridge.org
Link: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/closeSource snippet
English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary6 days ago — to change from being open to not being open, or to cause something to do this: close...
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Source: youtube.com
Title: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmD-e3QSQ1kSource snippet
Inside the Mothership...Spielberg has always said that he regretted creating this scene since it never lived up to anyone's expectations...
Additional References
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Source: bifa.film
Link: https://www.bifa.film/film/close/Source snippet
Close · BIFA · British Independent Film AwardsThe intense friendship between two thirteen-year old boys, Leo and Remi, suddenly gets disr...
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Source: musingsofamiddleagedgeek.blog
Link: https://musingsofamiddleagedgeek.blog/2024/06/19/close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-introducing-steven-spielbergs-1977-ufopus-to-fresh-eyes/Source snippet
introducing Steven Spielberg's 1977 UFOpus to fresh eyes…Jun 19, 2024 — Scenes from the 1980 “Special Edition” of CE3K, with additional s...
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Source: hometheaterforum.com
Link: https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/its-family-movie-night-close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-but-which-version-help-me-decide.386498/Source snippet
It's family movie night, Close Encounters of the Third Kind...Jul 11, 2025 — The decision to add an extra scene to the "Special Edition...
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Source: dvdjournal.com
Title: DVD Journal Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Collector’s Edition
Link: https://www.dvdjournal.com/reviews/c/closeencounters.shtmlSource snippet
Close Encounters are we watching here, precisely? This disc contains the final "Collector's Edition" cut, released to home video and Lase...
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Source: dokumen.pub
Link: https://dokumen.pub/darkness-in-the-bliss-out-a-reconsideration-of-the-films-of-steven-spielberg-9781441188953-9781441146045-9781501300080-9781441193070.htmlSource snippet
From the thrashing terror of “Jaws” to the awesome spectacle of “Close Encounters of...Read more...
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Source: hollywoodintoto.com
Title: close encounters of the third kind special edition review
Link: https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-special-edition-review/Source snippet
How 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind's' Special Edition...14 Feb 2026 — That's a lot for some deleted scenes, added spectacle and the...
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Source: facebook.com
Link: https://www.facebook.com/slashfilm/posts/when-he-decided-to-tackle-his-initial-directors-cut-of-close-encounters-of-the-t/1450061563447334/Source snippet
oes from Roy going into the ship to Truffaut communicating with the...Read more...
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Source: tumblr.com
Title: Aliens At 30: These Rare Behind-The-Scenes Pictures
Link: https://www.tumblr.com/benfalkyahoomovies/147446032344/aliens-at-30-these-rare-behind-the-scenesSource snippet
Close Encounters of the Third Kind'. image. You've seen it in lots of other movies, but 'Close Encounters' is perhaps the best example of...
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Source: youtube.com
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIlUlBayN8QSource snippet
The Weirdest Change Made to the Special Edition of Close...Close Encounters of The Third Kind (1977): 20 Hidden Details You Completely M...
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Source: facebook.com
Link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/12117541695/posts/10160540398211696/Source snippet
ose interior scenes of the mother ship in his recut version with...Read more...
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