# I Hate E.T.!!!!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-e-t/99398
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 21, 2002, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-e-t/99398 "2002-03-21T20:40:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2002, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-e-t/99398/21 "2002-03-22T13:51:46Z")
I don’t remember the movie that much. Don’t think I went either way on it, then agian I was only 9 or so. I do remember it played for a good long time though. I will NOT be going to see it again though.
And now I have to admit something, at least I didn’t f’ing ask for it, I have I guess I souldn’t be saying this, a, no really I shouldn’t, story of ET read by Michael Jackson. :eek: I wonder if it’s worth anything.
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### Author:  [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2002, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-e-t/99398/22 "2002-03-22T14:00:09Z")
Put me up as one of the scared ones. Lessee, in '82 I was what, 6? Scared the hell out of me. I had nightmares for weeks. First off, E.T.'s pretty freaky for a six-year-old (although apparently I got over the shock after the first half hour and got used to him), but the Hazmats and house in a bubble and reviving and sick, greyish alien put me over the top. Scared me to death.
Told my mom years later that E.T. gave me nightmares - she was sincerely sorry. Parents - please think before you take any of your young ones to this. If you’ve got 9 - 10 year olds, they’ll probably be fine, but do think for the younger ones. They’ll thank you later.
Snicks
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2002, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-e-t/99398/23 "2002-03-22T14:28:36Z")
I have never seen ET and I have no desire to see ET. I get strange looks from people when they find out that I have not seen it.
Them: “Well, now is your chance. ET is back in theaters.”
Me: “No thanks, I’m not interested.”
Them: “Why not? It is one of the best movies EVER!”
Me: “So what? Titanic was also supposed to be one of the best movies ever and I have no desire to see that either.”
Them: (mouth agape)"You haven’t seen Titanic either? (starts backing away slowly)
On the other hand I can see the advantages of letting other people decide what movies I should (we all should) see. I guess that I should want to be a clockwork orange…
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### Author:  [@Sealemon88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sealemon88)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2002, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-e-t/99398/24 "2002-03-22T15:05:28Z")
I loved it when it first came out, but haven’t seen it since. My stepdaughter wants to see it sorta-kinda, so if we have the chance I might go take her to see the re-release.
_“But this whole changing-guns-into-walkie-talkies thing has made the re-release very unappealing to me, to put it lightly.”_
I heard that the word “terrorist” had been taken out of one scene, but I hadn’t heard about this. Maybe we’ll wait for ti to come out as a rental.
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### Author:  [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2002, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-e-t/99398/25 "2002-03-22T15:20:13Z")
You’re just mad he has an Extra Testicle
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### Author:  [@Leifsmama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leifsmama)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2002, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-e-t/99398/26 "2002-03-22T16:47:46Z")
I was either 9 or 10 when I saw it the first and only time. I barely remember it. When I was 20, for Christmas, my mother gave me a copy of it and I remember thinking, “Was I supposed to have liked it enough to own it?”
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### Author:  [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2002, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-e-t/99398/27 "2002-03-22T20:02:01Z")
My mother loaded the 8-year-old me, my sister, and my brother into the station wagon to take us to see E.T. at the drive-in. My sister loved it. I got bored about 5 minutes in and climbed into the back seat to attempt to watch “Annie” through the back window (it was playing on one of the other screens, due to the weird angle I was watching it at, everyone was stretched out.
I could very well do without ever seeing it again.
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### Author:  [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2002, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-e-t/99398/28 "2002-03-22T20:25:30Z")
What always bothered the hell out of me about this movie, and no one has ever been able to rationally explain away this plot hole for me, is this:
The whole movie starts with E.T. being cornered by the evil faceless government jerks. He eludes them, but they prevent him from getting back to his starship on time. Poor E.T. is left to watch as the UFO flies about 20 feet off the ground(?) and out of his reach.
Later on in the movie, E.T. telekinetically flies not just himself, but Elliott, Elliot’s bike, and even later about half the kids in the neighborhood and their bikes several miles through the air.
WHY THE HELL DIDNT HE JUST FLY UP TO THE UFO AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MOVIE???
And I’m also surprised no one has commented on the fact that this film unleashed on the world the “cutest, most adorable” (i.e. totally annoying) drunken boozehound 10 year old Drew Barrymore
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### Author:  [@trishdish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trishdish)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2002, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-e-t/99398/29 "2002-03-22T20:42:30Z")
I saw it when I was 12, cried my eyes out when I thought ET was dead and went through the whole sturm und drang of the storyline with glee, sadness, remourse and ultimately renewed faith.
But, I don’t have any desire to see it again in it’s re-release format since they have changed things which means it will not be the same movie I saw two decades (yipes!) ago.
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### Author:  [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2002, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-e-t/99398/30 "2002-03-22T21:07:20Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by adam yax \*
> \*\*I have never seen ET and I have no desire to see ET. I get strange looks from people when they find out that I have not seen it.
>
> Them: “Well, now is your chance. ET is back in theaters.”
> Me: “No thanks, I’m not interested.”
> Them: “Why not? It is one of the best movies EVER!”
> Me: “So what? Titanic was also supposed to be one of the best movies ever and I have no desire to see that either.”
> Them: (mouth agape)"You haven’t seen Titanic either? (starts backing away slowly)
>
> On the other hand I can see the advantages of letting other people decide what movies I should (we all should) see. I guess that I should want to be a clockwork orange… \*\*
I am in awe of your ability to boldly and, dare I say it, heroically, resist the all-consuming hive mind that is trying desparately to make you compromise your principles and watch Titanic. Your display of rebellious and bold intellectual individuality in the face of governmental oppression is second only to that of Galilleo. All the hundreds of millions of people who wasted so many hours drooling at that masterpiece of repression did so not out of their own free will, since clearly they are mindless slug people, but solely as a conditioned response to Pavlovian stimulation. Thank God for the future of humanity that there is at least one spark of free will, namely yours, left on this planet. In the days to come, when the chronicles of these dark hours are written by the hand of some free thinking historian who is a part of the glorious society of the mind that you will help create, this place, this moment, where you stood your ground, where you spat in the face of The Corporation, will surely be revered above all others.
(Of course, I must be telling you something that you’ve heard countless times already, since I _have_ seen _Titanic_. And _ET_. And _Star Wars: Episode I_. And I watch _Friends_ sometimes. Which means that I am merely a dumb-terminal through which the media conglomerates speak. So I’m sure I’m not actually having a (gasp) _original_ response.)
You are a Superman of Nietzchian proportions. I worship you, and yet I want to destroy you because your continued freedom reminds me of that which my ancestors had, but which I myself have lost. Weep for me. Rule me. Kill me.
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2002, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-e-t/99398/31 "2002-03-22T22:36:44Z")
I loved _E.T._ when I was 11 or 12, however old I was when it first came out, and I saw it at least three times that I remember in the cinema.
I haven’t seen it since: not on video, on TV, nothing.
I am very, very curious to see how I react to it now that I’m an adult and have forgotten most of the details, not to mention being much more resistant to blatant emotional string-pulling.
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### Author:  [@Tretiak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tretiak)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2002, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-e-t/99398/32 "2002-03-22T23:09:37Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by CalMeacham \*
> \*\*I was willing to forgive **Close Encounters of the Third Kind**. After all, he’d given us Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark. \*\*
Look I also have never understood the “greatness” of E.T. (I wouldn’t say I hate it, I am fairly agnostic toward it), but why must you besmirch CEOTTK? It is an excellent film, it might be Spielberg’s best after **Schindler’s List**
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2002, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-e-t/99398/33 "2002-03-23T00:17:12Z")
I saw it when I was six and I did enjoy it then.
Now, however, I’m older, and the sachriny-plot does nothing for me. Hell, I’d rather watch both Gremlin movies.
They’re stupid, but strangely amusing.
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### Author:  [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2002, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-e-t/99398/34 "2002-03-23T00:56:41Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Laughing Lagomorph \*
> \*\*Reading this thread makes me realize how young some of you young’uns are. 6-8 when E.T. came out? \*\*
I can beat that: I was two when _E.T._ first came out. The first time I saw it was when they showed it on tv every single year around Thanksgiving. I don’t remember ever liking it. Even then I thought that it dragged on too long at the end, and while I was never really afraid of E.T., I thought he was way too creepy.
I’m not going to see the re-release. Diabetes runs in my family enough as it is.
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### Author:  [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2002, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-e-t/99398/35 "2002-03-23T01:04:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by SpazCat \*
> \*\*
>
> I can beat that: I was two when _E.T._ first came out. \*\*
I was four months old when the movie came out. My mom loved the movie, so I sort of watched the movie off and on as I was growing up.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2002, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-e-t/99398/36 "2002-03-23T04:23:53Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Look I also have never understood the “greatness” of E.T. (I wouldn’t say I hate it, I am fairly agnostic toward it), but why must you besmirch CEOTTK? It is an excellent film, it might be Spielberg’s best after Schindler’s List
I’ve never understood the way people love CE3K. You spen the whol damned movie waiting for the Great Thing to happen, an when it does the movie’s over! CE3K ends exactly where **The Day the Earth Stood Still** _begins!_ What happens _fter_ the saucer lands?Spielberg’s movi is like a big buildup to nothing. Along the way, the actions o the aliens are pretty damned senseless, and things only hapen to give suspense 'n’thrills along th ay. uspense ‘n’ thrills in the purpose of furthering plot is one thing, but in CE3K it’s a vast emptiness.
And, damni, Sielberg can do better. Before this, besides the films I’d noted above, he did **Duel** for TV, along with 1/3 of the original **Night Gallery** pilot and th only sf episode of **The Name of the Game**. (He’d also done **The Sugarland Express** , which I haven’t seen, and **1941** , which I haven’t seen and is purportedly awful.) He still had **Empire of the Sun** nd **Schindler’s List** in him, and a lot of other films.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Bird)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2002, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-e-t/99398/37 "2002-03-23T06:13:34Z")
ET frightens me
Even now, as a 21 year old women–out on her own, just me and the world…ET scares the poopie out of me. I suppose I’d see it if there were someone big and strong to protect me from the scary aliens at night, but I don’t get too many offers. Oh well, I think I can live without it. After what they did to Star Wars I really don’t wanna know how they messed up ET.
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### Author:  [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2002, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-e-t/99398/38 "2002-03-23T07:08:32Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Little Bird \*
> \*\*Oh well, I think I can live without it. After what they did to Star Wars I really don’t wanna know how they messed up ET. \*\*
I saw the movie today at the theater, and one of the things I was dreading was whether or not the alterations were excessive.
Actually, for the most part, the “enhancements” to the special effects were fairly subtle and understated. Most of the CGI improvements were limited in scope and were never on screen for an extended period of time. Perhaps the biggest alteration is the only one that I take issue with: the complete removal of guns from the movie, and the digital insertion of walkie-talkies in their place. This was an absurd change, in my opinion.
The other major change was the addition of an early scene that takes place primarily in the bathroom. I liked this scene, and it adds a bit of foreshadowing and some explanation for what really may have happened with E.T. later in the movie.
Overall, though, Spielberg was quite restrained in his tinkering with this movie…unlike George Lucas, whose fiddling with the original Star Wars trilogy was excessive, in my opinion.
The [DVD details](http://www.dreamworksfansite.com/amblin/et20/dvd_details.php) for “E.T.” are currently sketchy, but the plans do call for both the original version and the “tweaked” version to be available in the same package as a 2-disc set. I’m pleased that Spielberg opted to make the original version available. I strongly doubt, on the other hand, that Lucas will ever put out a DVD set of the original Star Wars trilogy in their original form.
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### Author:  [@Avumede](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avumede)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2002, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-e-t/99398/39 "2002-03-23T07:16:24Z")
I’ve never been able to look at E.T. after I saw the movie Eraserhead. _shudder_
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### Author:  [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2002, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-e-t/99398/40 "2002-03-23T14:45:28Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Laughing Lagomorph \*
> \*\*I also thought this movie was sappy and manipulative the one and only time I saw it, when it first came out. I thought that with all the hype, it must at least be pretty good, right? Wrong.
>
> It was the first Steven Speilberg movie I didn’t like, and the one that made me notice how much he repeats himself, not so much plot-wise, but with elements like lighting, swellin John Williams music to telegraph emotional moments, etc.
>
> Reading this thread makes me realize how young some of you young’uns are. 6-8 when E.T. came out? \*\*
I was one years old.
ET scared me, when I was young…
When he was all white and sickly in the woods… and the extra testicle…
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