Adam Savage Examines the Mother Ship Model from Close Encounters of the Third Kind!

[@tested]

We had SUCH a great time at the Smithsonian in DC. In case you missed them, here's where you can find our other videos from that trip: kzbin.info/aero/PLJtitKU0CAeiJ7tjkIqcrRPfIYZHPW643

[@BLM11014]

If you look at the pattern of the ends of the fibre optic cables - are the patterns in braille? Could those be the names of the builders?

[@ericunderwing]

you should rebuild this so it can be lit up again. do your friends proud dont let the darkness claim it!!!!!!

[@El-Hombre-Random]

i want to see the original model of galactica

[@H_wx]

@@BLM11014 my thought exactly

[@SC-mq1eh]

wasnt this model also used in blade runner?

[@timtraver7152]

Only those of us of a certain age can truly appreciate this model, those of us who sat thru this amazing movie when it first came out. I cam out of the theater into a cold winters night and never stopped looking up the whole way home....

[@nocturnalrecluse1216]

I've had a similar experience after I watched the Matrix, but the Matrix still pales in comparison with this masterpiece. Movie's just seem cheap nowadays. Not worth watching.

[@RonD84]

Love this comment, I wish I could have experienced this it would have been amazing 👍🏻

[@rajeshkaran7800]

Amen to that brother 👍

[@pdworld3421]

@@timtraver7152 movies have lost their magic

[@paulallas7665]

I was only 14 when I saw this movie. Best Sci Fi movie of the 70's for me. Still my favourite all time movie today, That Mothership is just 'Insane' and the way it was lit up and filmed has yet to be beaten even today. Forget CGI altogether. ILM had it down pat with practical FX and modelling.

[@Mrstealth93]

I swear i spotted two super tiny airplane models on the model. Can be seen at the 1:08 mark.

[@arrrgee]

Yeah, me too, and there were barrels and all sorts of other stuff kitbashed from model kits on there!

[@Deadeye313]

They look like fighters off maybe some kind of WW2 carrier model kit or something. Good eye.

[@Mr_Fancypants]

Indeed! My gues is that these are from those 1:100 scale models. But it is difficult to see how big it really is

[@iscogblackscale5777]

Me too. Took a screen shot to get a better look.

[@anthemm6652]

mikkelhaxer yeah i got to see it one time and there’s a little r2d2 on it too

[@garyblade2332]

Pity it couldn't be lit. I just watched the movie Close Encounters again and was still enchanted, in spite of the rapid advancement in visual effects since then. That movie is truly a masterpiece, and the fact that it was released way back in 1977 is even more impressive.

[@AcroRay]

It was such a joy to see that in person a few years ago, when we went to the exhibit of the STTOS Enterprise restoration open house exhibit. I was really sad to hear that it couldn't be lit, because it had been left on overnight at one point and actually caught on fire inside, and much of the internal lighting elements have been damaged and are inoperable. But after having read about all the little in-jokes and greebles on the model from an article I read in CINEFANTASTIQUE when I was a child, I knew to look for Artoo, the mailbox, Tie Fighter, airplanes, and look for all the pieces of model railroad ironwork that my dad & I had in our own train sets that were also used by the folks who built the model. Probably more awesome to see the Mothership than to see the shuttle parked beyond it!

[@hamm6035]

Here here, it should be repaired!

[@EasternTriad]

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is my all time favorite film. I loved the movie, but since I was just a child in those days, I misunderstood what the "Third Kind" meant. Thinking it was a trilogy, for the longest time I was looking for Close Encounters of the First Kind and Close Encounters of the Second Kind thinking, "I must see the rest of these!". 😂

[@jgrab1]

There were but they were porn films. ;-)

[@hchattaway]

What a masterpiece of model making! Still holds up today when watched in high-def!

[@CarnorJast1138]

Great ship from a fantastic movie! Still the greatest "Alien Contact" movie of all-time!

[@paulytheking7365]

This movie and e.t.

[@m.o.r.p.h.e.u.s]

@@paulytheking7365 Paul is better than all of them

[@jacksonconley5117]

I recently saw it at the Chantilly Air and Space Museum and it was beautiful. - June 23, 2023

[@nicdennis]

Its gorgeous in the film and just as much in real life. So much to love about Close Encounters.

[@namewithay]

If Adam Savage asks you to light a ship, you light the damn ship.

[@AcroRay]

It's damaged. It caught on fire inside one night when it was accidentally left on. So it doesn't light up anymore, unfortunately, and is a bit beyond restoration in that regard, according to the folks working on the STTOS Enterprise when I visited.

[@antraxxslingshots]

@@AcroRay acutally NOTHING is ever beyond restauration...its just a case of how far do we want to go aka how much money do we want to spend aka is it worth it ... sucks to live in such days :(

[@SlartiMarvinbartfast]

@@AcroRay That's a real shame, I was wondering if it could be somehow restored so that it could be lit up with no danger to the model.

[@SlartiMarvinbartfast]

Maybe they could nicely ask Adam to restore it properly so it could be fully and safely illuminated as designed. :-)

[@brokenacoustic]

@@AcroRay Sounds like a perfect job for Adam...one day repair!

[@Bassquake76]

1:08 Couple of Spitfire planes there at top right 😂

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

I remember seeing Close Encounters of the Third Kind when I was a kid and being blown away by this mothership, ESPECIALLY when it does that 180 rotation near the end to provide an "on ramp" for Roy to enter the ship. On a side note, although it was fun to see the inside of the ship in the Special Edition, I think it had more power when they let us imagine what happened to Roy after he went inside. Great movie. One of the greatest in the history of Sci-Fi. John Williams' incredible musical score lifts this movie even higher, too.

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

"Closet Cases of the Nerd Kind" is also worth watching, an early spoof short (like "Hardware Wars" for Star Wars): - Closet Cases of the Nerd Kind: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXbOiGebqJ6iobc - Hardware Wars: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZTJk6poh69mpdk

[@A1BASE]

My mum worked in old school model animated kids TV. I grew up playing among the set designers from Cosgrove Hall films. Some of the models they built were unbelievable to a kid. Right now I'm looking at armatures above my desk for a bunch of Wind in the Willows characters, among other things. I remember them letting me sculpt a tiny sheep that was used in the background to one of their films. One sheep among hundreds. I'm sure it amused them but it was a thrill for me as a 6 year old. Most of them have gone on to do amazing stuff.

[@sshep7119]

I saw this model when it was stored at the support/storage facility for the Air and Space Museum, the Paul E. Garber Facility . This was in the late 90's. The gentleman there giving the tour said he had been doing tours years and he would still manage to find small hidden or discrete pieces that he had missed in the past. True model artistry.

[@Tom-kw6km]

I have multiple friends who built the miniature. Pete Gerard mentions in the documentary "Sense of Scale" that one of the all-nighters one of the crew members went out to Tito's Tacos in Culver city, CA to bring back dinner for the crew. While the crew continued to work they were eating the tortilla chips over the model. He said that some of the chips fell in and couldn't be recovered so... there they stayed. Probably to this day. A funny note was that during one of the motion control moves to turn the ship over the operator said that he could hear the chips falling an bouncing around inside! A friend of mine always had to put a Coke can in every miniature that we worked on. I loved putting in those little gags to break up the monotony when I worked in miniature effects.

[@vaikkajoku]

i could watch adam geeking out on stuff like this all day

[@douglascampbell9809]

I spotted so many model parts that I recognize. I love how some of the supports are sea plane recovery crane parts from battleship models.

[@paulparsons2085]

At 1:35 that looks like a tow bar attachment from a WWII German Tank.

[@albertocabezas282]

What a wonderful movie. The sfx were astounding. Hoping our first contact may be so nice and peaceful as the movie showed. The whole last minutes of this movie were so beautifully crafted and full of hope that it brings tears to my eyes every time I watched it.

[@BradGryphonn]

Possibly my favourite movie and Mothership. That is a stunning piece of craftsmanship.

[@JohnBare747]

I remember dragging my late wife to see Close Encounters back in the day, she thought she was not a SciFi fan but the movie and this Mother Ship in particular blew her away, suddenly an instant convert to SciFi fandom and then it hit her again a couple of years later with Alien, that one had her glued to the edge of her seat, nearly had to do CPR to get her breathing again...them were the days!

[@LivingRoomTrader]

Sorry for your loss

[@JohnBare747]

@@LivingRoomTrader Thanks, Trader. That was a couple of decades ago now that the cancer or more it seemed to be the chemo and radiation that did her in. One doctor said she was the victim of modern medical care. Aside from that where in the heck did the time go since then? Under the proverbial bridge I guess.

[@thedr00]

Adam, could you and the Tested crew do a tour of ILM? Similar maybe to the WETA stuff, or maybe even just the ILM archives.

[@deepblueday]

Yes!!

[@465maltbie]

I saw this decades ago, it was at one of the side facilities where they actually do the work on the exhibits. It wasnt covered, except by a ton of dust and sitting on a table surrounded by other aircraft parts. Nice to see they cleaned it up for display. Was my favorite museum trip of all time, around 1987 and I dont think they let you go there anymore. Charles

[@michaelashman]

An amazing model! Took my breath away when it first appeared in the 70s and still cool today!

[@SuperMadpom]

I was just nine when the movie came out. I can remember my parents coming home from it it really animated and exited about it for a couple of days. I watched it with them again Sunday night it's still a fabulous film that's stood the test of time thanks to great models. actors and director.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

I was there around 2007-2008 and got to look at that thing. It REALLY IS IMPRESSIVE.

[@teddyteargas622]

Mankind need more of these videos Adam! And we demand it!

[@aaronjones1752]

Thank you Adam Savage. I will probably never get the opportunity to see or do some of the amazing things you do. So through you and Tested I get to vicariously move through you. So thank again and hopefully this will inspire me to see these things in person.

[@Mike_west]

I like how he always carries a small flashlight everywhere

[@Zelmel]

I have one in my pocket at all times. It's useful more often than you might guess.

[@TrashHeapCustodian]

I carry a little maglite solitaire on my keychain, now that they're LED powered they aren't hot garbage in terms of illumination, lol. Eats batteries kinda fast though.

[@Zelmel]

@@TrashHeapCustodian I have a little "tactical-style" one I got as a gift that is brighter than my 12-in non-LED maglite

[@tested]

ALWAYS.

[@Mike_west]

I'll have a try carrying one. Any suggestions?

[@jkljkl6]

The model maker's visual jokes are completely real, around 30 years ago I worked for a architectural model making company that built a model of a major UK train terminus which took around 12 of us about 6-8 weeks to complete. Placing people on a model in a way that looks random is hard to do (because our brains naturally want to create patterns) so to avoid this we used to invent scenarios where people interact with each other. Sadly a keen eyed reporter spotted the man in a trench coat luring children away from a school party, the man squashed underneath the train, a drunk being sick on a bench, police chases and plenty of other things that changed what could have been a positive article to something along the lines of "dystopian future predicted for new rail link" and made the architect just a little annoyed.

[@SarahC-by4cs]

There's something very fulfilling about watching one expert unabashedly admiring and praising the work of another. Free of ego, free of pride, just a person who appreciates the hard work of the people in their field.

[@albertvermeule5844]

Great model, it's appearance from behind Devils tower is one of the top icon film scenes from 70's cinema. Shame it doesn't light up anymore, but no doudt a number of people have allready photographed every inch of the model to make a studioscale replica.

[@fordsgirl8096]

It always amazes me how much detail they can include in such a small model- AWESOME!!

[@natemccord1860]

I am so happy this finally happened. I've been saying for a couple of years now that Tested and Adam needed to see this.

[@JMImperial54]

I saw Close Encounters when I was 7 years old. I always wondered where the actual ufo models went to. Thanks, Adam!

[@nachomecnieto9070]

Craftmanship ,Creativity,patient,skills and imagination rigth there..amazing just amazing work

[@bzqp2]

After a movie is shot each of the props should get separate video documentation showing how they work on and off, highliting all the details and stuff. That would be super cool.

[@JoeyBPhotography]

I love the model railroad track rail joiners glued on there!

[@jaymckean3274]

That is a beautiful model. The attention to detail is stunning. Thanks for the tour. 😎

[@TheRavenCoder]

Close Encounters was one of the first sci-fi movies I remember seeing along with Flight of the Navigator. I wish I could take a trip to the Smithsonian just to see this.

[@Celsian]

A model I've had the pleasure of seeing in real life! Thank you for pointing out the little Easter eggs I didn't know about.

[@scottfirman]

I never saw it at the movies, saw it on TV and was blown away by the graphics and cinamaphotography involved

[@АлексейТолкунов-т6ш]

I think those guys who build It deserve a medal. I mean, look at this model-its gigantic!

[@Lynn-bg5vw]

One of my favourite films of all time I cry every time x

[@Mads-hl8xj]

At 1:22 Those windows seems like 'Braille'... could that be the creators names ? :)

[@andreasvogler1875]

Exactly what I thought when I saw them.

[@outsider238]

I had the honor of seeing that model in person when it was here where I live for a props and costume exhibit. It is a masterpiece!

[@Goingpostal1000]

I was there a couple years ago and I love this model. SO COOL!

[@tommyd2235]

A wonderful example of what got me into models.

[@bmack94536]

It would be incredible to see the model lit just one more time. But I imagine it would take a lot of work to get it ready for that.

[@jimprice9703]

I have never had the great opportunity to see this in person, but I have looked as numerous pictures of it... this is the first time I have seen the phillips head screws holding parts together. In scale, those screw heads would be MASSIVE, like on the scale of a railroad engine turntable.

[@Brad772006]

Even seeing here in the display case. Just reminds me of that huge sense of wonder and amazement as a child. Seeing that ascend to the stars while John Williams conducts his version of When You Wish Upon a Star.

[@DarrenCarnallCustoms]

"Can they light it up?" - oh my heart leapt for a second there. I thought I was going to see it lit.

[@greyareaRK1]

I just rewatched that film a month ago: such a brilliantly made film.

[@brom00]

Sad that we'll never see the likes of that model building again. Damn you CGI!

[@acledfloyd]

Weta still does a lot of models. And a surprising amount of Blade Runner 2049 was models. But I know what you mean. It’s an anomaly, not the norm now.

[@Lucien86]

A surprising number of movies still use models.. The best quality CG actually costs more than models, and .. cheap CG looks awful.

[@TheSaiderRiscam]

It's actually a little more common than people think. You just have to find the right directors and movies. You'll be surprised to find what is actually a model when it looks completely CG or in some instances real. Some examples: EVERYTHING by Christopher Nolan, everything by Peter Jackson, and everything by Wes Anderson. A lot of directors use practical effects for their movies as well, all though they are not models they still look amazing. They include: Everything by Sam Raimi, most things by Steven Spielberg, most things by Guillermo Del Toro, most things by George Miller, and probably a lot of other directors too. James Cameron and Michael Bay should be noted as two directors who blend CGI with practical effects incredibly well. You can tell what's CG, but you can't tell what real. I highly recommend "The Dark Knight" and "Interstellar" (both by Nolan), "Blade Runner: 2049" (by Denis Villeneuve), "The Lord Of The Rings" (by Peter Jackson), and "Mortal Engines" (Produced by Jackson and directed by Christian Rivers) if you want some modern movies with amazing models work.

[@ZeroB4NG]

The problem today is that you often just don't know when you see it if its a model or CG, you just default to thinking its all CG even when its not. I'm more often amazed when they actually build a physical thing for a movie that i thought was totally CG and then it turns out it wasn't.

[@acledfloyd]

@@ZeroB4NG I've been guilty of thinking something looked really fake and CG and it turned out it was a real prop or model. Turns out my mind has just been trained to not believe things are real. Haha

[@mrfrosty3]

I saw the movie when it first came out, that scene still amazes me.

[@RealMakerOfStuff]

I was so hoping Adam would do this while he was there!

[@jakethepitador2558]

I thought it would be so much bigger. The magic of movie making!

[@dudepersonvids]

It's been weird seeing Adam in places that I have been - Udvar-Hazy is one of the closest museums to where I live, so I've been there probably 10 times. If I remember, the close encounters model is in the same hangar area with the Discovery space shuttle. When I was younger, I was a little more distracted by the gigantic, actual space shuttle than the tiny model! Now I want to go back to look at the beautiful model making craftsmanship.

[@raymondgerlach3148]

Loved it. Makes me want to see the movie again to see if I can spot all the details I missed.😊👍

[@darklordofsword]

Sad I missed it when you were out there. I love the Smithsonians. Any chance of you doing a similar look at the Enterprise model in DC?

[@creech54]

ILM didn't work on CE3K. Doug Trumbull headed up the visual effects dept. for the Spielberg film.

[@agfagaevart]

Most of the effects camera work on the Mothership miniature was done by ILM staff; Dennis Muren in particular. He worked on that show, while also shooting X Wings for Star Wars. They even used the same motion control equipment for both movies!

[@creech54]

@@agfagaevart A few ILM staff members moonlighting on CE3K didn't add the credit "Special Visual Effects by Industrial Light and Magic" to the end credits of Close Encounters.

[@agfagaevart]

@@creech54 Hardly "a few" ; Jim Dow, Don Dow, Hoyt Yeatman, teenager Scott Squires, Rocco Gioffre, Jerry Jeffress, Paul Huston, Bruce Nicholson, Ken Swenson. If you knew any history regarding ILM, you would know these are some very important people from that company who worked on CE3K building / shooting miniatures and doing other crucial work. Many other crew members were not even credited - like on most movies. Was Trumbull "moonlighting" before he left work on Star Wars to join Spielberg's crew??

[@richardconnold8060]

Some ILM staff may have been moonlighting, but, as a company, ILM was not involved. The Mothership was designed by Ralph Macquarie, and built by Greg Jein. The motion control system was built to be used on both films.

[@tonyk421]

Close Encounters of the Third Kind, best first 15 min of film ever!!!

[@agfagaevart]

The scenes in the desert are fantastic. Spielberg had to pay for those shots himself.

[@tonyk421]

@@agfagaevart funny anuff I'm watching the movie atm. Barry going By by.

[@3rdaxis649]

Wow! I would LOVE to see that model.

[@jaydee5156]

I've seen it. Incredible imagination went into it's creation.

[@barrygreen7728]

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is one of my all time great films to watch I have seen al the versions of the movie over 30 times in my life. I saw it in the cinema 15 times and saw the 1980 version when Neary go's inside the mothership. I am so glad that the model of it is in the Smithsonian.

[@RichardAugust]

Incredible ship. I wish that simply for the absolute fun of it--not for money, not for stardom, but rather for the coming full circle, Spielberg should do a sequel for this movie. Let's see what Roy Neary has been up to all these years...

[@The56Bird]

Correction for Clarity, it was NOT built at Industrial Light and Magic as ILM didn't exist yet. Built at Trumbull - Future General in Marina Del Rey - I was the lead on the project.

[@msh6865]

Beautiful work and the Mother ship was absolutely stunning in the theater. Congrats on creating such a iconic piece of motion picture history.

[@alang7250]

I think Adam mentioned something about the builders names possibly being on the model. Take a look at those raised bumps he mentioned near the end of the video when talking about how detailed it was. It could be braille, maybe not, but could be worth checking.

[@AtomicAgePictures]

It should be noted that while many of the model makers who worked on this also work at Industrial Light and Magic, this was not an ILM model. In fact it was built at Douglas Trumbull's EEG company.

[@jasonkaufman88]

The model was not built by ILM, it was built by Greg Jein. Though some of the Modeler’s went on to work for ILM.

[@roryotoole3279]

Yeah, I was going to say the same thing but he did say built by many of his friends from ILM, he didn't actually say built by ILM. So he's right, from a certain point of view. R.I.P. Greg Jein

[@RDPproject]

01:08 two WWII fighter planes. They look like the Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bombers that disappeared over the Bermuda Triangle on December 5, 1945. (the pilots of those planes were some of the characters who were returned in the film) 01:27 there's a 40 gallon drum

[@KEVMAN7987]

I loved seeing this miniature last time I went to the Smithsonian. That was when they had just gotten the space shuttle Enterprise.

[@martinjrgensen8234]

Please get Adam access to all the Star Wars models some day. Would love to see him geek out over them

[@leeburks4540]

I remember reading that Spielberg wanted the look of 'an oil refinery at night' for this model!

[@dnakatomiuk]

I watched this movie about a month ago for the first time in 25 years and I loved it still

[@blizatrex]

New one day build idea: Adam and crew make the close encounters ship.

[@dennisw64]

Still a beautiful model after all these years. Close Encounters is still one of the finest science fiction movies of all time.

[@watsonlr]

The plaque that's with it (took a photo years ago) indicates there is a VW Bus, submarine, mailbox, r2d2, an airplane and a cemetery plot. Very cool up close.

[@CallardAndBowser]

I'll tell you a secret that only a few know. All those little dots that are lit with fiberoptics are actually laid out in Braille and they spell the names of all the people that built the model.

[@Nightdare]

I had a hunch that it at least was braille

[@carstenkoloc5226]

Great scale-ship !!!🎥🎞️🎬✌️😎🚀🥁🥁

[@mr.l6615]

It would have been cool to see some footage of them adjusting it on set to film it. Showing the scene where it comes over the mountain would be cool to see at the end of this video.

[@paulfogarty7724]

The ship was slowly rotating too so they could'nt just detail one side like they do in some movies where the model is only being filmed from one side ( Sulaco in Aliens for example ). Amazing model.

[@therealknapster]

Bottom very round and smooth , perhaps stolen death star spare/old model ?

[@heavenseagle3600]

I saw this back in March of this year. Was doing a FAST walk through of the museum as I didn't get there till after 4. Saw the space shuttle and it was closing time. Just noticed it as I was leaving and did a quick walk around. Knew what it was instantly but almost missed it as it is a little out of the way.

[@daviddpg]

Close Encounters might be my favorite movie.

[@llla_german_ewoklll6413]

Thats cool, can i bring it to show and tell tomorrow? I will be careful and put it in my bag and everything.

[@larrytate5605]

i was fascinated and scared in 1977 of UFOs,...i was 7,...........the special effects in this film blow CGI away to me.

[@boriskarloff598]

There's R2D2, a mailbox a shark, Darth Vader's tie fighter sticking out on one of the lances. All kinds of cool stuff.

[@cruiserdog9913]

You mentioned that the model makers names are on the model but you couldn't find them. At 1:23, just throwing it out there, could they have put their names in braille using the lights?

[@hawkeyestegosaurus5680]

Oh my god that thing is massive! That is so cool!

[@dereksmith2759]

Was any photo survey of this ever done?! Either back at construction time or more (ok relatively) recently? This is def a holy grail replica and even half scale build! I had always hoped to do one after meeting and spending time with Ralph McQuarrie at his place (to sit off to the side with his Oscar from Cocoon ;-) ), but only got into a basic plan based off of the photos I could find and some hunches...

[@glyph2011]

One of my favourite ever movies. That is a thing of beauty. Awe inspiring. If only they could light it up on special request. EDIT someone mentioned in a comment it caught fire when it was left on...so they can’t light it up as it’s too damaged. So sad :-(

[@jerryatricks1]

I wonder if the names of the model builders are inscribed in the windows using braille?

[@Slax15]

Looked like braille to me also.

[@dejavuwilson8479]

I truly thought of that my self but i scrolled down to read the comments and you wrote what i was thinking 🤔✌

[@tt-qh3kj]

I wonder if the model makers involved in the 1960's apollo missions did the same There names are still classified to this day

[@seanmckenna8807]

Also, on the movie, you can see R2D2 when the ship first shows up and is moving over the top of Devils Tower. He is upside down and backlit with 3 lights.

[@paulcan58]

On my way home to catch a flight back to the UK, I ran in to see the Discovery and my eye caught the aluminium quarantine trailer …so off I went and was taken aback by the mothership hidden on the left! Should be in a more prominent position. Oh how I would have kicked myself missing that one!

[@newlam7958]

If you have seen "Alien" when Ripley is in the space shuttle pressing buttons to release gas or something to scare the alien, you can see when she presses these buttons, the parts look like sections from model kits like "Revel" where you break the model part off from the plastic stems in the kits.

[@roquefortfiles]

Doug Trumbull's smoke room photography was landmark for FX

[@soberossack6610]

1:30 I am pretty sure, that you can see a jack from panzer-tank there)

[@johnpope515]

Yes you can did spot that

[@matthewwade920]

Despite several references to Industrial Light & Magic, this model was not made by ILM; it was the work of model maker Greg Jein, under the supervision of Douglas Trumbull, from designs by Ralph McQuarrie