The little Reese’s Pieces addict known as E.T. is pretty cute, in a turtle without a shell kinda way, but the version presented on the silver screen is a far cry from the original concepts which were being kicked around by special effects mastermind Rick Baker.
As it turns out E.T.'s signature look sprang from concept art being created for another alien themed Spielberg project called Night Skies, which would have featured 11 distinctly different aliens, and with a little softening around the edges and some smoothing to the overall texture our little friend E.T. was born.
Rick’s early concept art/sculptures consisted of alien designs ranged from far more sinister looking to creepy cute enough to give Mac from Mac & Me nightmares, and something tells me these aliens would have phoned home to order up a whole lot more than just a ride!
-Via io9