# Can someone explain E.T. to me please? **URL:** \ **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:** 2
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/21 "2014-12-26T06:24:37Z")
I have read the novelization, but not the sequel. I don’t think E.T. was meant to be remotely stupid. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/22 "2014-12-26T06:29:14Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > They were calling him (the glowing hearts), They were telling him to hide, and contact them when it’s clear. I never understood this. What kind of evolutionary advantage do you have when you instincively freeze in the face of danger and then light up like a beacon to predators? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/23 "2014-12-26T06:31:37Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > 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) Lt Arex came close. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/24 "2014-12-26T09:28:43Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > What kind of evolutionary advantage do you have when you instincively freeze in the face of danger and then light up like a beacon to predators? It’s a happy glow for all the world to see. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/25 "2014-12-26T13:39:48Z")
Reese’s Pieces. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/26 "2014-12-26T14:49:41Z")
> [@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. And not only that, but ET taught himself to communicate with the kids in English, not the kids teaching themselves to communicate with ET in ET-language. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/27 "2014-12-26T15:39:00Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > It’s a happy glow for all the world to see. 😃 o/` ---
**Author:** ![Tuxie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee59a6/32.png) [@Tuxie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuxie)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/28 "2014-12-26T18:56:51Z")
I assume he has some kind of telepathy, allowing him to pick up our language. Probably how the ETs communicate normally. Of course since we aren’t the same species, the connection is probably limited. Also, maybe some of his alien powers only work on Earth, and he is gradually discovering them. Like Superman. You know, I’m surprised Spielberg didn’t make a sequel from ETs perspective- it would have answered a lot of these questions: ET is a precocious and curious member of his species, only gets on the voyage because his dad is captain. His abandonment is engineered by the captain’s traitorous underling, who tipped off the alien hunters so they would have to abort their mission. Underling uses this disaster to try and stage a mutiny, all happening off the dark side of the moon. When ET phones home, the signal is eventually picked up by the ship, but the real delay in rescuing ET was due to suppressing the mutiny. During ET’s stay on earth, he has these sappy internal monologues about how he misses his dad and feels empathy for Elliot whose father is also absent. There is a tearful reunion, suddenly underling breaks free and threatens ET. With his newfound telekinetic powers developed from being in Earth’s atmosphere, ET easily overpowers him and throws him in an escape pod. The pod lands in Roswell. The End. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/29 "2014-12-26T19:18:30Z")
E.T.s people have a highly advanced knowledge of nanotech. Those glowing things in their chests aren’t their hearts, they’re nanomite hives. ET uses a few later on to heal Elliot, and invests a large portion of them in creating the interstellar speak’n’spell. So many, in fact, that he leaves himself open to opportunistic Earth infections that the nanomites had been protecting him from. Once he receives the confirmation signal from the mothership, the nanites get a recall signal and return to his body, hence his miraculous resurrection. The nanites can also be configured to serve as internal anti grav engines, but it takes a few minutes to set it up, and he didn’t have time to activate it before the ship left. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/30 "2014-12-26T19:36:18Z")
> [@Tuxie](#): > > I assume he has some kind of telepathy, allowing him to pick up our language. Probably how the ETs communicate normally. Of course since we aren’t the same species, the connection is probably limited. But it helps explain why he gets along with the dog (although the dog seems pretty laid back), and why he might have chosen Elliott’s house in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/31 "2014-12-26T20:21:28Z")
It never makes sense to me that an alien being would land on another planet completely naked, even if its a habitable one. You never see Kirk and Spock strip down when they visit an M class planet. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/32 "2014-12-26T21:13:16Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > It never makes sense to me that an alien being would land on another planet completely naked, even if its a habitable one. You never see Kirk and Spock strip down when they visit an M class planet. I’m sure it happens in fanfiction all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/33 "2014-12-26T21:49:28Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I never understood this. What kind of evolutionary advantage do you have when you instincively freeze in the face of danger and then light up like a beacon to predators? 😕 Perhaps they have no predators. Perhaps their predators can not see light in that range so it is safe. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/34 "2014-12-26T22:02:09Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > It never makes sense to me that an alien being would land on another planet completely naked, even if its a habitable one. You never see Kirk and Spock strip down when they visit an M class planet. It never makes sense to me that an alien being would share our bizarre and unnatural\* fetish for festooning our bodies with the corpses of dead animals and plants (and oil). \*defined for the moment as “something only human animals and hermit crabs do on a regular basis”. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/35 "2014-12-26T22:25:55Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > It never makes sense to me that an alien being would share our bizarre and unnatural\* fetish for festooning our bodies with the corpses of dead animals and plants (and oil). > > \*defined for the moment as “something only human animals and hermit crabs do on a regular basis”. Humans wear clothing to keep warm and protect themselves from the elements. Nothing unnatural about that. They’d have died out long ago if they didn’t. They wear cosmetics to mimic the visual sexual signals characteristic of other primate species. Some purely decorative articles of clothing (like red neckties) do the same thing. Anybody who says Kirk and Spock don’t get naked has never read any K&S stories. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/36 "2014-12-26T22:30:18Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Perhaps they have no predators. Perhaps their predators can not see light in that range so it is safe. A planet populated solely by nonaggressive herbivores?!? Pull the other one! Predators would evolve to detect whatever frequencies of light they need to in order to hunt. Otherwise they’d die out in a hurry. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/37 "2014-12-26T22:31:22Z")
Response to post 35: What do you think he ment by stone knives and bearskins? . ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/38 "2014-12-26T23:07:04Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Humans wear clothing to keep warm and protect themselves from the elements. Nothing unnatural about that. They’d have died out long ago if they didn’t. > > They wear cosmetics to mimic the visual sexual signals characteristic of other primate species. Some purely decorative articles of clothing (like red neckties) do the same thing. > > Anybody who says Kirk and Spock don’t get naked has never read any K&S stories. :rolleyes: Right…so why would aliens? Why wouldn’t they have evolved with fur, or four inch thick skin, or better alien hypothalamuses (hypothalami?) that can keep them warm without clothing? Why would temperature even matter to them? We’re talking about aliens here. Anything goes. Clothing is so…boring. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/39 "2014-12-26T23:09:36Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > Response to post 35: > > What do you think he ment by stone knives and bearskins? Kink-y! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173/40 "2014-12-26T23:10:51Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Why wouldn’t they have evolved with fur, or four inch thick skin, or better alien hypothalamuses (hypothalami?) that can keep them warm without clothing? A better question is: Why didn’t they? :dubious: 😕 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-e-t-to-me-please/708173.md?page=3)