Setting a new standard for science fiction speculation about UFOs, Spielberg’s joyous and magical film skillfully balances terror and wonder as Everyman Richard Dreyfuss obsessively pursues his date with extraterrestrial destiny. Spielberg felt the film released in 1977 was unfinished and introduced additional material, most notably the discovery of a freighter ship in the Gobi desert and Richard Dreyfuss inside the extraterrestrial mothership.