EarthBound: 2 Possible Insperations for the Starmen

[Boyobmas]

I believe I have found 2 possible things that could have inspired the design of the Starmen from the Mother/Earthbound series.

1. The most obvious, the space men from the 1950's film "The Day the Earth Stood Still"


2. A bit more obscure, this mysterious photo has been around since the 50's too and features a spaceman similar to the Starman. 

I personally think number 1 is more likley, any thoughts?

[Psychospacecow]

Any developer commentary over that?

[G-Haven]

I do get a sort of Gort vibe from the Starmen. The intro before the title is also reminiscent of that sort of movie, as well.

[Kakariko Kid]

Interestingly enough, it turns out the "starman" in the second picture is actually the boy's mother in the background. I think I saw something about it on YouTube, maybe Danger Dolan's channel.

[Boyobmas]

Interestingly enough, it turns out the "starman" in the second picture is actually the boy's mother in the background. I think I saw something about it on YouTube, maybe Danger Dolan's channel.

That's actually really interesting.

Another small trivia thing I heard somewhere on the web is that the UFOs seen in the opening above never actually appear anywhere in the game itself.

I don't know if this is true or not, anyone can confirm or deconfirm this?

[G-Haven]

Those specific UFOs, not really.
You can find similar stuff like tiny UFO enemies and using Andonuts Sky Runner.
The larger ones don't really show up aside from seeing oval-shaped lights hovering around where the Meteorite impacted at Onett, much later into the game.
http://starmen.net/mother2/maps/onettnight2.png