Close Encounters of the Third Kind - Special Edition (1980) Novelization

Written by Steven Spielberg. Based on the film written and directed by Steven Spielberg. It starred Richard Dreyfuss, Francois Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr and Bob Balaban. The film is a classic IMHO and one of my all times favorites.

This novelization was ghost-written by Leslie Waller, but credited to Spielberg who apparently did some revisions to the text.

This is something I've wanted to do for a long time. I had the original paperbacks of both the 1977 and 1980 "Special Edition" back in the day, and dimly recalled that for the most part the only differences were that the 1980 edition had scenes from the Special Edition added in. Not all of the 1980 scenes were new, however. The 1977 edition already had some of the Special Edition scenes in it, such as the bathroom scene where Neary breaks down. The 1977 edition also included various scenes filmed but deleted from the initial theatrical release, such as:

• A scene with Aireast 31 on the ground where Lacombe interviews them. (Chapter 7)
• Much material was deleted with Neary on the job before he goes off in search of the strange lights. In the theatrical release it appears that he gets lost before doing any work. Material was filmed that showed him on the job, leaving the job site and THEN getting lost. This is why he got fired--he left the job site. (Chapter 6)
• A scene at the police station after the UFO chase. (Chapter 9)
• A reference to Neary having built a platform on the roof of his house for looking for UFO's at night. This is viewed briefly in the finished film when Ronnie packs up the kids and leaves. (Chapters 16 & 18)
• More action around the trip by Roy and Jillian to Devil's Tower. (Chapter 22)
• Much action around the final scene is also added, including cuboids that fly around and more business with the small aliens. (Chapter 26)

The only substantive changes to the Special Edition of the novelization are:

• The UFO chase is extended with action of a UFO causing havoc with a gas station. (Chapter 9)
• Scene added where Lacombe's team find a freighter in the middle of the Gobi desert. In the final film Lacombe would not be part of the scene as Truffaut was unavailable. The freighter is described as having damage from being picked up, also not in the final film. (Chapter 9)
• Neary goes insides the Mother Ship. (Chapter 26)

There are multiple little wording changes throughout the 1980 edition too numerous to note.  

I don't expect anyone else to be interested in this, but I wanted to do it.

Excerpt:

Now Land-Rovers began to arrive, churning up long trails of dusty sand. The third vehicle swerved to a halt, all four tires milling sand. Lacombe stepped out, followed by Laughlin, his interpreter.

Tribesmen, photographers, pilots, and drivers turned in their tracks to stare at the gray-haired Frenchman. He stood beside his vehicle, the sun silhouetting him in a fiery outline. He stared where the rest of them had looked. Slowly, he removed his dark glasses.

He took a step in the direction all of them had been watching. Another step. A third. Then he stalked through the sand, pace quickening.

Brilliantly silhouetted by the sun, Lacombe's body suddenly moved into shadow. A huge shadow in the middle of the trackless Gobi desert spread its blackness over+- him.

He looked up, no longer squinting. High above him hung the gigantic bronze three-bladed screw of an oceangoing ship's propeller. Lacombe shaded his eyes as he stared upward.

"Another gift," he said. Suddenly, a drop of water oozed off the blade tip and dropped on his nose.

He recoiled, touched his nose, felt the wetness. Slowly, he touched his wet finger to his lips and tasted the water.

"Salt," he reported.

Chaos broke loose. Photographers scrambled over each other, aiming their lenses. Before them sat an immense oceangoing freighter fully five hundred thirty feet long. It lay on one side, steel plates dripping water.

Technicians began crowding forward. Scientists ran clicking Geiger counters over the dripping hull. Zoologists began prying barnacles from the plates. A crew with photographs and a thick book of engineering specs marched the length of the freighter from stem to stern.

"Danish," one of them remarked.

"Reported missing, with all hands aboard," another chimed in.

"Last seen near the island of Eleuthera," the first remembered.

"And no sign of flotsam or debris."