Monday, June 20, 2022

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial - Supplement

While we try to cover as much as we can in our episodes, there's always more to see, hear, and read about a movie that can enhance your viewing experience. If you enjoyed our episode on E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, here's a few extra bits you might find interesting...

Here's the mysterious teaser trailer, using a different font for the title:


Here's the full trailer, which still keeps the appearance of E.T. relatively mysterious:


Director Steven Spielberg had considerable difficulty in casting the role of Elliott for the film. Here's the amazing audition by young actor Henry Thomas that won him the role:


As E.T.-mania hit America and the world, it opened up the eyes of many kids to aliens from other classic science fiction movies. This primetime documentary hosted by Robin Williams, E.T. and Friends, profiles E.T.'s place in the history of cinematic space visitors:


Spielberg was careful about the licensing of E.T. for other products. One of the few he approved was this television ad for the Special Olympics:


The original rough cut of the film ran approximately 40 minutes longer. Among the scenes removed was this moment of Elliott in a meeting with his school principal (played by an unseen Harrison Ford) after his drunken rebellion in the classroom:


While the ending of the movie is famous and reduced audiences to sobbing for generations, there was an additional epilogue but not used, showing Elliott's change in status with his brother and friends. Here's that lost scene:


Several musicians were inspired to record songs related to the film. One of the best known is Heartlight, recorded by the great Neil Diamond:


As we discussed, the Atari 2600 videogame adaptation of E.T. is notorious, often blamed for the video game crash of 1983 and declared the worst video game of all time by many. In this video, Lord Kayoss dissects the controversy over the game and presents a full playthrough of it:


37 years after his first visit, E.T. finally returned and reunited with Elliott (again played by Henry Thomas) for this charming Comcast / Sky television ad produced with the approval of Steven Spielberg and filled with references to the original film:


Thanks for listening!

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