Once upon a time in the early 80’s, my friend and I were on the phone looking at the movie listings in our local paper, (The Standard Speaker in Hazleton,PA). We both remember seeing an ad for E.T. Part 2 playing at a theater called “The Hershker” (the spelling is probably wrong). We wanted to go but when we checked back a couple days later it wasn’t playing anymore. I asked this question on a
Steven Spielberg message board but they told me that it is impossible. He is quoted as saying that he refused to make a sequel. I don’t believe them though, the response to the question was somewhat rude as if the mere question was an insult to his vast knowledge of Spielberg and all his doings. One thing that comes to mind is the Star Wars X-mas special which is an embarrassment to Lucas and everyone involved and is hardly mentioned when anyone is discussing Star Wars. I know we saw something, but could it be posible that we were we sharing a hallucination?
Hallucination. No sequel was ever made.
Is this an appropriate place to mention that I originally thought (from the ads) that E.T. was a sequel to Close Encounters? Then I actually saw the movie, and was cured of that misapprehension right away.
E.T.: ugh. Worst piece of melodramatic sentimental claptrap I’ve ever seen.
There’s actually a nugget of truth to it. The story for E.T. come from a subplot/portion of the original Close Encounters screenplay by Paul Schrader, which was very different from the movie that eventually was made. Other ideas from Schrader’s treatment showed up in Poltergeist, with the aliens becoming ghosts.
And FWIW, I like E.T.
I agree with Da Ace. I’ve seen ET once, and hated it thoroughly. It bothers me when I can see the strings they’re pulling so blatantly. And I’m not talking about the special effects.
My understanding is that John Sayles worked on early incarnations of ET, but his ideas were all tossed out. Sayles then went on to make the wonderful “Brother from Another Planet”. This sort of makes it an ET II. Worth checking out.
POD PEOPLE!!??
Noooooooooooo!
I mention this because (as MST3K fans would know), it was one of the absolute worst movies ever. Released in 1983, it was alternatively known as:
Nuevos extraterrestres, Los
Extra Terrestrial Visitors
Return of E.T., The
Tales of Trumpy
Unearthling, The
This was a Spanish flick, and I guess the marketers were trying to capitalize on the E.T. name.
However, I can’t imagine that any self-respecting US movie theater would have advertised for this movie, much less carried it.
Trumpy! He’s about as opposite from ET that you can get. “Pod People” is a terrible film but a great MST3K episode, and it’s readily available on tape so it’s a good introduction to MST3K. See it!
finally! I find someone else who hates E.T. Praise the lord! After years of being chastised for not liking that peice of cinamatic garbage I have been saved!!!
maybe they were trying to say that they were showing it on two screens. or maybe it was a double feature. That’s just my WAG though.
What – none of you remember ET 2: Fists of Fury?
You know, where an evil drug cartel kidnaps the family and ET has to bust into their heavily-armed compound and take out the bad guys, rescue the hostages, and fly them away in the helicopter gunship while the whole place explodes in a ball of fire?
Apparently, there was a sequel NOVEL to E.T.
A particularly geeky friend of mine once read it. He said it was terrific. He also said that E.T.'s home planet’s technology was all based on biology and the space-ship we saw in the first film (according to the sequel novel) was a giant turnip.
He got really mad when I couldn’t stop laughing.
All of the above are true.
Again, I have to apologize.
**
this could be the answer. The theater the ad was for was one of those (I’m not sure the exact name for them) Second run theaters so it wasn’t what you would technically call a self respecting theater (on an unrelated note, when me and the same friend went to see Goonies at this theater, we were the only people there). I have a vague recollection of the title being The return of. I could just be jumping on your reply in a vain attempt to prove I’m not crazy. but this is the answer I was looking for, not some Speildberg fan quoting interviews. Does anybody have an ad for the movie w/ this subtitle or a copy of the video.
I have a copy of the MySTified version. I don’t remember it mentioning being a return of E.T., but it’s clearly a take off of that movie, except that it’s not any good. Even the riffing of Joel? Mike? and the 'Bots can’t keep it from dragging.
Very typical; the same thing happened to me and a friend when we went to see Goonies. Huge theatre, could have seated about five hundred. When the lights went down, there were five other people there. When the movie was over, we were alone. Still, it wasn’t as bad as E.T.…
I really liked Goonies when it came out. When I rented it recently it was alright but it just wasn’t the same. It was kind of cheesy. I felt the same way about Stand by Me. Actually back to the original subject of ET I feel the same way about ET. I guess 12 year olds just don’t have very good taste.
Nobody remembers E.T. 2: Electric Boogaloo?
I LOVED Stand by Me The novella from Different Seasons is even better-only it’s original title is The Body.
Pod People-ew! I got the MSTied version for Xmas. Hilarious. But the original version-
“It STINKS!”
Wah wah waaaaaahhhh…
It was Called “ET2 : Fact or Fiction?”
In this long-awaited sequal, we rejoin Elliot after he is grown, and living his life after a divorce.
Having been taken to the cleaners by his ex-wife , Elliot is not living off the public coffers.
Shortly into the movie, ET shows up for a reunion, and Elliot promptly gets the brilliant idea of having him disected on crummy-grade videotape by unidentified scientists, which he then sells to the Fox Network for millions.