During his work on the Battlestar Galactica pilot, professional movie makeup EFX artist David Ayres saved this rare mask on the Universal backlot. The mask was an original alien mask from The UFO Incident TV movie, starring James Earl Jones and Estelle Parsons. Nice detail is that Battlestar Galactica "Saga of a Star World" pilot director Richard Colla also directed The UFO Incident. Also see David Ayres Battlestar Galactica Alien Designs for David's own work.

The UFO Incident

The UFO Inicident tells the real life story of Betty and Barney Hill and their abduction by aliens from the 1960's. One of the first cases to go public (even covered by LIFE magazine). The book The Interrupted Journey is an account of their abduction, by the doctor who hypnotized them separately and didn't play back the tapes of their hypnosis until he was finished, which astounded them to hear their own voices telling what happened, and releasing more buried memories, and relieved them of the source of unknown stress they were dealing with. Quite a remarkable event in human history, and a good film. Jones portraying Barney telling about his abduction is profound and scary at the same time.

The UFO Incident alien

Image below shows the original mask from The UFO Incident (sadly with painted eyes) that David Ayres found on the Universal backlot. It was used in the Casino scene on the Battlestar Galactica pilot "Saga of a Star World".

The UFO Incident alien (left) on Battlestar Galactica's pilot "Saga of a Star World"

Like many aliens on Battlestar Galactica's pilot "Saga of a Star World" also The UFO Incident alien was again reused on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. The image below shows two screenshots of the same mask on Buck Rogers.

The UFO Incident alien on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

Special thanks goes out to David Ayres for sharing this story and Joerg Zimmermann for also spotting the alien on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and making screenshots.