# Can someone explain E.T. to me please?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 25, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173 "2014-12-25T20:23:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@blueslipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blueslipper)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/1 "2014-12-25T20:23:49Z")
Does E.T. have an intellectual disability or is he representative of his species?
Is his intelligence just so different to us, that he seems to have an intellectual disability?
Second question- why are those guys at the start seeming to be chasing E.T. when there is a spaceship they could be investigating?
They started chasing him well before the spaceship took off leaving him behind. They seemed to know that E.T. was there but seemed to not notice the spaceship!
Is this the only movie where a person’s keys jangle when they run, or are there others?
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/2 "2014-12-25T20:43:32Z")
Why do you think he has an intellectual disability?
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/3 "2014-12-25T20:51:29Z")
Well, he can’t get onto the ship because it’s flying away, and at the end of the movie, we find out that he can fly…
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/4 "2014-12-25T21:02:36Z")
E.T. falls into perspective when you realize that it’s not a warm-hearted story about a boy and his alien friend, but a rather nasty, dark, mean-spirited conspiracy movie that starts with a bunch of hateful siblings and ends with EEEvil gummint sine-tists and stormtroopers whose first actions are to (1) shoot at the kids and (2) vivisect the alien, just cuz all gummint intentions are EEEvil.
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### Author:  [@blueslipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blueslipper)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/5 "2014-12-25T21:03:44Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#):
>
> Why do you think he has an intellectual disability?
Perhaps watch the movie before deciding to make a comment in a thread about said movie.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2014, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/6 "2014-12-25T21:07:28Z")
> [@blueslipper](#):
>
> Perhaps watch the movie before deciding to make a comment in a thread about said movie.
I took her post to be a simple question, not a comment. I’ve seen the movie, and I have the same question for you.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2014, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/7 "2014-12-25T21:09:16Z")
> [@blueslipper](#):
>
> Perhaps watch the movie before deciding to make a comment in a thread about said movie.
I have watched the movie. I never saw ET as being anything less than intelligent, so I was wondering what _you_ thought.
Since you posted the question after all.
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### Author:  [@blueslipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blueslipper)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2014, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/8 "2014-12-25T21:37:08Z")
I did not think I would have to explain this…
since E.T. can make the bicycle fly at the end, why doesn’t he use it to fly in the beginning of the film to avoid pursuit?
Why in the worlds did E.T.'s companions abandon him in the beginning?
He is insanely scared of things…
Why didn’t he contact his shipmates to stop them leaving without him?
When Elliot is teaching him, he seems like an idiot
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2014, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/9 "2014-12-25T21:41:25Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#):
>
> EEEvil gummint… stormtroopers whose first actions are to (1) shoot at the kids
_Stop!_ Or I’ll key the push-to-talk switch! :mad:
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### Author:  [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2014, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/10 "2014-12-25T21:42:54Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> I took her post to be a simple question, not a comment. I’ve seen the movie, and I have the same question for you.
I had the same question, and after the OPs 'tude-ridden clarification, I’m still a little unclear.
The complaints seem to be along the lines of “He can’t even speak English!”
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2014, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/11 "2014-12-25T21:48:23Z")
In the novelization, it’s revealed that he’s a very young member of his species. He was a bit of a flake and daydreamer…kind of like Elliott. He wasn’t intellectually disabled, just a kid. (Best I can recall. It’s been probably 30 years since I read it.)
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### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2014, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/12 "2014-12-26T00:14:00Z")
> [@blueslipper](#):
>
> Does E.T. have an intellectual disability or is he representative of his species?
> Is his intelligence just so different to us, that he seems to have an intellectual disability?
[Yes.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLhxUinBnxo)
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### Author:  [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2014, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/13 "2014-12-26T00:50:26Z")
> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> In the novelization, it’s revealed that he’s a very young member of his species. He was a bit of a flake and daydreamer…kind of like Elliott. He wasn’t intellectually disabled, just a kid. (Best I can recall. It’s been probably 30 years since I read it.)
Yes, that is my memory of the novelization also. And why they left him in the first place? That’s easy. It was a mixture of 1) E.T. wandered a bit further from the LZ than he was supposed to and B) the Gumment alien chasers were getting too close to the craft. The landing crew’s choice was to wait around until E.T. showed up and risk everyone AND the craft getting caught or sacrificing one member of the crew and everyone else making their exit. Sometimes you need to pick the best of bad choices.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2014, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/14 "2014-12-26T01:12:29Z")
For a botanist to construct an interstellar communication device from a circular saw blade and a Speak-and-Spell, it would take quite an intellect.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2014, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/15 "2014-12-26T01:31:28Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#):
>
> For a botanist to construct an interstellar communication device from a circular saw blade and a Speak-and-Spell, it would take quite an intellect.
Exactly. He learned rudiments of language, improvised using basic technology and was able to communicate complex ideas using simple set of words. Seemed pretty bright to me. I never read the books, so all I know is the movie, but I always assumed wisdom, not intellectual limits.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2014, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/16 "2014-12-26T01:57:37Z")
He’s Jesus. He comes to us from Heaven, becomes one with us (represented by the Everyman Eliott), does miracles, gets caught and killed by the government, dies, comes back from the dead to save us, and then ascends back into Heaven.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2014, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/17 "2014-12-26T02:29:55Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#):
>
> Well, he can’t get onto the ship because it’s flying away, and at the end of the movie, we find out that he can fly…
When the ship flew away, the doors were closed. It’s not stupid to want to avoid hanging onto the hull the entire trip back.
He also flew at a rate that was far slower than the ship and wouldn’t have caught up.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2014, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/18 "2014-12-26T05:16:02Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> He’s Jesus. He comes to us from Heaven, becomes one with us (represented by the Everyman Eliott), does miracles, gets caught and killed by the government, dies, comes back from the dead to save us, and then ascends back into Heaven.
I think that’s the plot to _Starman_.
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2014, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/19 "2014-12-26T05:46:53Z")
E.T. IS Starman, without the sex.
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [December 26, 2014, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/20 "2014-12-26T06:21:03Z")
> [@blueslipper](#):
>
> I did not think I would have to explain this…
> since E.T. can make the bicycle fly at the end, why doesn’t he use it to fly in the beginning of the film to avoid pursuit?
>
> Why in the worlds did E.T.'s companions abandon him in the beginning?
>
> He is insanely scared of things…
>
> Why didn’t he contact his shipmates to stop them leaving without him?
>
> When Elliot is teaching him, he seems like an idiot
He is trying to avoid being seen at all. Plus, it’s easy to start flying in a clearing and land in another clearing. Not easy to start flying in the middle of a forest.
Let’s drop you on an alien world and see how brave you are. (This is why you don’t see E.T’s in starfleet)
They were calling him (the glowing hearts), They were telling him to hide, and contact them when it’s clear. He may have told them to split and leave him so they wouldn’t all be caught.
When you learn anything, you are an idiot at it at the start. He picked up a language from a different planet pretty well for someone who comes from a planet that doesn’t use spoken language.
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