E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, Dee Wallace and Peter Coyote. It tells the story of Elliott (played by Thomas), a lonely boy who befriends a friendly alien, dubbed E.T., who is stranded on Earth. Elliott and his siblings help the alien return home while attempting to keep it hidden from their mother and the government.
The concept for E.T. came from an imaginary friend Spielberg created after his parents' divorce. When work on Night Skies stalled, Spielberg met screenwriter Melissa Mathison, whom he hired to pen the script for E.T.. The film was shot from September to December 1981 in California on a budget of US$10.5 million. Unlike most motion pictures, to facilitate convincing emotional performances from the young cast, the film was shot in roughly chronological order.
E.T. was a box office hit, surpassing Star Wars to become the most financially successful film released to that point. Critics acclaimed it as a timeless story of friendship, ranking it as best science fiction film ever made in a Rotten Tomatoes poll. The alien became the subject of analogies for Jesus. The film was rereleased in 1985, and in 2002 with altered special effects and additional scenes. Spielberg believes E.T. epitomizes his work.
Henry Thomas as Elliott, a lonely ten year old boy who is picked on
by his older brother. Elliott adopts the stranded alien and forms a mental, physical,
and emotional bond with it.
Robert MacNaughton as Michael, Elliott's sixteen
year old brother who often picks on him.
Drew Barrymore as Gertie, Elliott's
mischievous seven year old sister.
Dee Wallace as Mary, the children's mother,
coming off a recent separation from her husband. She is mostly oblivious to the
alien's presence in her household.
Peter Coyote as "Keys", a government
agent dubbed as such due to jangling his keys at times. He has waited to see an
alien since the age of 10.
K.C. Martel as Greg, one of Michael's friends who
mostly picks on Elliott. He later helps Elliott and E.T. evade the authorities.
Sean Frye as Steve, a quiet and shy friend of Michael. He later helps Elliott
and E.T. evade the authorities.
Tom Howell as Tyler, a friend of Michael.
He later helps Elliott and E.T. evade the authorities.
Erika Eleniak as the
girl Elliott kisses in class.
An extended version of the film released on
March 22, 2002, included altered special effects. Certain shots of E.T. had bothered
Spielberg since 1982, as he did not have enough time to make the animatronics
fully work. Computer-generated imagery (CGI) was used to modify several shots,
including ones of E.T. running in the opening sequence. Spielberg also used CGI
to add elements to the spaceship. Scenes shot for but not part of the original
version played.[58] The following shots were included for the first time: E.T.
taking a bath, and Gertie telling Mary that Elliott went to the forest. Spielberg
did not add Harrison Ford's scene, feeling that would reshape the film too drastically.
Having become a father, Spielberg was more sensitive about the scene where gun-wielding
policemen threaten Elliott and his escaping friends; he digitally replaced the
guns with walkie-talkies.
At the premiere, John Williams conducted a live
performance of the score while the film release grossed $35 million domestically,
and brought the film's total worldwide gross to $792 million since 1982. The 20th
anniversary edition was released on a two-disc DVD on December 9, 2002, and was
also packaged in a collector's edition with the original version. The changes
to the film, in particular the switch from guns to walkie-talkies, were criticized
as politically correct. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wondered, "Remember
those guns the feds carried? Thanks to the miracle of digital, they're now brandishing
walkie-talkies.... Is this what two decades have done to free speech?" Chris
Hewitt of Empire wrote, "[T]he changes are surprisingly low-key...while ILM's
CGI E.T. is used sparingly as a complement to Carlo Rambaldi's extraordinary puppet."
South Park parodied many of the changes in the 2002 episode "Free Hat".
Plot
The film opens in a California
forest as a group of alien botanists collect vegetation samples. US government
agents appear and the aliens flee in their spaceship, leaving one of their own
behind in their haste. The scene shifts to a suburban California home, where a
boy named Elliott plays servant to his older brother, Michael, and his friends.
As he fetches pizza, Elliott discovers the stranded alien, who promptly flees.
Despite his family's disbelief, Elliott leaves Reese's Pieces candy in the forest
to lure it into his bedroom. Before he goes to bed, Elliott notices the alien
imitating his movements.
Elliott feigns illness the next morning to avoid school so he can play with the alien. That afternoon, Michael and their younger sister, Gertie, meet the alien. Their mother, Mary, hears the noise and comes upstairs. Michael, Gertie, and the alien hide in the closet while Elliott reassures her everything is all right. Deciding to keep the alien, the children begin to ask it about its origin. It answers by levitating balls to represent its solar system, and further demonstrates its powers by healing a dead plant. At school, Elliott begins to experience a psychic connection with the alien. Elliott becomes irrational due partly to the alien's intoxication from drinking Coors beer and he begins freeing all the frogs from a dissection class. As the alien watches John Wayne kiss Maureen O'Hara in The Quiet Man, Elliott's psychic link causes him to kiss a girl he likes in the same manner.
E.T. makes Elliott's
bike fly to the forestThe alien learns to speak English by watching Sesame Street
and dubs itself E.T. It enlists Elliott's help in building a device to "phone
home". Michael starts to notice that E.T.'s health is declining and that
Elliot is referring to himself as "we". On Halloween, Michael and Elliott
dress E.T. as a ghost so they can sneak it out of the house. Elliott and E.T.
ride a bicycle to the forest, where E.T. makes a successful call home. The next
morning, Elliott wakes up to find E.T. gone, and returns home to his distressed
family. Michael finds E.T. dying and takes him to Elliott, who is also dying.
Mary becomes frightened when she discovers her son's illness and the dying alien,
before government agents invade the house.
Scientists set up a medical facility in the house, quarantining Elliott and E.T. The link between E.T. and Elliott disappears as E.T. suddenly dies. Elliott is left alone with the motionless alien when he notices a flower coming back to life. E.T. revives and reveals that its people are returning. Elliott and Michael steal a van that E.T. had been loaded into and a chase ensues, with Michael's friends joining Elliott and E.T.'s bicycled evasion of the authorities. Suddenly facing a dead-end, they escape as E.T.'s telekinesis lifts them into the air and toward the forest. E.T. stands near the spaceship, his heart glowing as he readies to return home. Mary, Gertie and Keys, a government agent, show up. E.T. says goodbye to Michael and Gertie, and before entering the spaceship, tells Elliott "I'll be right here"; pointing its glowing finger to Elliott's heart.
In July 1982, during the film's first theatrical run, Spielberg and Mathison wrote a treatment for a sequel to be titled "E.T. II: Nocturnal Fears". It would have seen Elliott and his friends kidnapped by evil aliens and follow their attempts to contact E.T. for help. Spielberg decided against pursuing the sequel, feeling it "would do nothing but rob the original of its virginity."
A traffic sign depicting E.T.In 1998, E.T. was licensed to appear in television
public service announcements produced by Progressive Insurance. The announcements
featured E.T.'s voice reminding drivers to "buckle up" their safety
belts. Traffic signs depicting a stylized E.T. wearing a safety belt were installed
on selected roads around the United States. The following year, British Telecommunications
launched the "Stay in Touch" campaign, with E.T. as the star of various
advertisements.
A theme park ride was also created based on the E.T. story.
The $40 million attraction features the title character saying goodbye to visitors
by name. Atari made a 2600 game that was based on the film. Despite the popularity
of the film, the game was widely considered to be one of the worst games ever.
Along with the Atari 2600 port of Pac-Man, the movie game is often blamed for
the videogame crash of 1983.
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