0:00:00the incomparable number 335 January 2070
0:00:11welcome back everybody to the
0:00:12uncomfortable i am your host Jason still
0:00:14we are here to talk about a classic film
0:00:17this time classic science fiction film
0:00:21from 1982 it's ET the extra-terrestrial
0:00:25as directed by steven spielberg joining
0:00:30us because they got lost while picking
0:00:33flowers are my following guests David
0:00:36jail or hello and the Elliots not here
0:00:41uh chips on earth
0:00:43hello I look forward to this discussion
0:00:45of at the extra-terrestrial mmm i will
0:00:48be talking about the Mary Hart John Tesh
0:00:51oh not that he does haha very and
0:00:55studying for this my whole life very
0:00:57confusing
0:00:58David Sparkes also joins us hi David hi
0:01:01Jason remember years ago I told you if
0:01:02you ever do eet you need to make me the
0:01:04most excellent promise you they were
0:01:06made that you would include me
0:01:07yeah and here we are you see I keep my
0:01:09promises like when I told the entity he
0:01:11would be on the alien episode it took
0:01:12years but it you know what happens
0:01:14eventually and Erica inside
0:01:16hi hello I was just excited to watch a
0:01:18movie about intergalactic gardeners yeah
0:01:21that's right about me finding one of the
0:01:24less appreciated parts of science
0:01:26fiction spit XO botany i suppose and you
0:01:30know i'm a fan any opening statements
0:01:32that happens a lot of people come
0:01:36prepared with opening statements and I
0:01:37want to you know I i want to hear them
0:01:40out
0:01:40I kind of have an opening statement i
0:01:42love this movie so much i was in the
0:01:44theater was a kid when I first came out
0:01:45and I'm definitely here as the the blind
0:01:49fan that's okay just put that out there
0:01:52alright alright it'sit's I I doubt we're
0:01:54going to savage this is not a rocket
0:01:56surgery I doubt we're going to safford
0:01:58savage etv extraterrestrial I could be
0:02:00surprised i will point out that
0:02:02something I'd forgotten but when et was
0:02:06released in june of 1982 Star Wars was
0:02:09the highest-grossing film of all time
0:02:11and ET surpassed it and became a fort
0:02:16for a decade the highest-grossing motion
0:02:19picture of all time until another Steven
0:02:22Spielberg movie Jurassic Park passed in
0:02:24the 90 so
0:02:24this was a success on essentially every
0:02:28level
0:02:29everybody saw it in the eighties
0:02:31everybody loved it they didn't put it
0:02:34out on home video for like six years
0:02:35because they just kept re-releasing into
0:02:37theaters and made people increasingly
0:02:39angry I and then for many years it it be
0:02:43still but I for many years I think NBC
0:02:45broadcast it on Thanksgiving night as
0:02:48sort of a good for the whole family
0:02:50holiday film so yeah I think the most
0:02:53impressive thing about et's species by
0:02:56the way is that they travel across the
0:02:58galaxy using only the power of rainbows
0:03:04oh don't make me make David Sparkes
0:03:08angry with me this early
0:03:10please go drive the rainbow drives and
0:03:13flowers it's a perfectly and there they
0:03:15we come with rainbows seeking your
0:03:17flowers
0:03:17it's great it's pretty awesome alright
0:03:20so et is a it's very interesting movie
0:03:24in that I was gonna up before I serve
0:03:27summarizing the plot i guess i have an
0:03:29opening statement after all I'm
0:03:30surprised but I say this about some
0:03:34miyazaki movies totoro and kiki's
0:03:37delivery service very specifically in
0:03:39that there's kind of no bad guy in ET
0:03:42there's Peter Coyote who is keys the
0:03:47government agent who is searching for et
0:03:51but even he in the end is kind of turns
0:03:57out is not a bad guy they're just trying
0:03:59to find this alien land that landed
0:04:02their threat more threats than a
0:04:05miyazaki movie because you do have the
0:04:06sort of sinister music as the government
0:04:09people look for ET but it's pretty
0:04:13gentle it is a pretty kind of
0:04:15delightfully gentle movie i have not
0:04:18seen it since 1982 and it's stuck with
0:04:22me pretty well but i did not remember it
0:04:25being so lyrical I didn't remember it
0:04:27being so
0:04:29sweet you know it felt like it felt like
0:04:33just a big blockbuster back then it's
0:04:35very different looking at with severely
0:04:39aged eyes
0:04:40yeah I had kind of the same experience I
0:04:42I don't remember when I saw it for the
0:04:44first time I know it wasn't on its
0:04:46original release in the theater because
0:04:47we couldn't afford to go to movies so i
0:04:49suspect i saw it like on VHS later or
0:04:51maybe one of the releases and maybe saw
0:04:55parts of it in between then and now but
0:04:57didn't have a whole lot of memory like
0:04:59the memories that I remembered where
0:05:00that the the threats as you put it Jason
0:05:03in the film were more heavy and real
0:05:06than they are watching it as an adult so
0:05:09I think it I think that you know that
0:05:11that worked their whole swaths a plot
0:05:13that i did not remember that you know
0:05:15this did so yeah I think it's a
0:05:17different experience watching it as an
0:05:18adult but i think that the reason that
0:05:20it worked so well and you know became
0:05:23the top-grossing film for so many years
0:05:25is because it did feel like it was a a a
0:05:28real threat and sort of a scary movie 2
0:05:31kids to some extent interesting to me is
0:05:33when I was a kid and I saw the first
0:05:35time of course identified with Elliot
0:05:37yeah and and that's part of the reason
0:05:39why i love this movie so much is it is a
0:05:41time capsule of my childhood I had a
0:05:43friend that were ski mask we played
0:05:45Dungeons and Dragons I mean the stuff
0:05:47the stuff in the movie that you look at
0:05:49it with 2016 eyes you say all that none
0:05:52of that happened no it all happened it's
0:05:53always in Elliot's room
0:05:54yeah yeah okay we get on our bikes and
0:05:57we had to be home when it was dark and
0:05:59other otherwise our parents had no idea
0:06:01where we were and it just was kind of it
0:06:03was a snapshot of my childhood so of
0:06:05course i love that now but as a kid I
0:06:07identify with Elliot then my daughter is
0:06:10now 20 when she was like for I hadn't
0:06:12seen the moving years and I said well I
0:06:14think she's ready for a tissot watch TT
0:06:16and i just i think i got very nostalgic
0:06:18seen that stuff but also the interesting
0:06:21thing to me was when I watched it when
0:06:23she was a child was identified with keys
0:06:25which I hadn't seen the movie from keys
0:06:28perspective in open you know when you
0:06:30think about it as an adult you're
0:06:31watching oh my goodness he's these
0:06:33people have this alien in their house
0:06:35and 30
0:06:37isn't so it was it was a good experience
0:06:39for me from both ends of the transaction
0:06:42i guess you would say now I feel alive
0:06:44again maybe as an adult looking at it
0:06:46but the threat here is not really a
0:06:49threat that anything to they're gonna do
0:06:51something terrible to ET the thread is
0:06:53more like they're going to ruin our fun
0:06:55we have an alien in our house
0:06:58I don't want anybody else to know about
0:07:00her or or find him
0:07:02I just want to keep them for myself as
0:07:04the hey Erica it's a one alien for
0:07:07Christmas right by one that's exactly it
0:07:09i want to i just did he's from his mind
0:07:12he's my pet alien and so that's the
0:07:15threat from the government is like you
0:07:17know they want to ruin everything by
0:07:18like learning about him and maybe you
0:07:22know because honestly could ET have
0:07:24communicated to his home and radioed
0:07:27home more effectively with the resources
0:07:29of the federal government probably this
0:07:32felt the little more sinister than that
0:07:34in that I thought that there was kind of
0:07:36a bad guy which is what the ignorance of
0:07:38adults throughout this movie except for
0:07:41Elliot's mom you never see it it's
0:07:44almost like peanuts come to life you'll
0:07:46never see adult heads you never see
0:07:48anything in anything like that and the
0:07:51first time that you actually see a
0:07:53full-on human silhouette is when you've
0:07:55got when you've got dudes an astronaut
0:07:59suits uh the walking dead in their way
0:08:02and yet in the front door that's super
0:08:04scary and we would need to talk more
0:08:06about that when we get there but you're
0:08:07right i mean yeah you're right there
0:08:08it's a threat and if you're a kid seems
0:08:10like there's just as an adult I look at
0:08:11it and I think yeah you know is that is
0:08:15it really that scary you know if the
0:08:17music is scary that's actually one of my
0:08:20first notes is that this is john
0:08:22williams a year after raiders of the
0:08:24lost ark doing a score that at moments
0:08:27is the uplifting ET kind of music that
0:08:30we think of but especially in the early
0:08:32scenes it's much more raiders of the
0:08:34lost ark where it's sort of slow and
0:08:37kind of dissonant and spooky and I think
0:08:42that does that I think that goes a long
0:08:43way that the the people in their cars
0:08:46going through the forest and the and the
0:08:47john williams music makes it seems
0:08:49scarier
0:08:50then you know at least as an adult I
0:08:52look at it and I think they're you know
0:08:54they're just looking for it that they
0:08:55think there's an alien spaceship that
0:08:57landed in the forest because one did and
0:08:59they want to find out about it you know
0:09:01that's not not unreasonable but maybe
0:09:03this means i'm terrible and I should get
0:09:05a set of keys needed my help we're also
0:09:07looking at it in a post x-files world so
0:09:10now we can empathize with FBI agents
0:09:12looking for aliens I kept expecting keys
0:09:16to sort of morph into the dude from the
0:09:19Starman TV show opening theme where he's
0:09:23always talking to camera i can get you
0:09:25the alien but he doesn't ask Peter
0:09:27Coyote he tells a nice story at the end
0:09:29about how he's been dreaming about alien
0:09:31since he was since he was Elliot's agent
0:09:33turns out he's you know he's just a
0:09:34regular guy and he feels really sad like
0:09:36all the doctors do but we'll get there
0:09:38maybe we should start at the beginning
0:09:39and mrs. very good interesting we see
0:09:42keys investigating it's all dialogue
0:09:45long stretch of of no dialogue here we
0:09:47don't really that we see the people
0:09:49investigating the alien landing you know
0:09:53I the there's a spaceship there they're
0:09:56going through the forest great gathering
0:09:58plants people are coming we see the keys
0:10:01there is this John Williams score that
0:10:03is great but its its its sinister and
0:10:06then in the end the alien spaceship
0:10:09sends out its called for its to recall
0:10:11all of its botanist or whatever and one
0:10:15of them gets left behind and that's
0:10:17that's our buddy that's ee that's the
0:10:20the title extraterrestrial i love the
0:10:24love the way they when they say they're
0:10:25scrambling to look because they think
0:10:27there's one left and they want to take
0:10:30off and then there's a shot at a fence
0:10:32where all the flashlights point up in
0:10:34the sky following the spaceship and then
0:10:37simultaneously they all go down and
0:10:39start their search
0:10:41it's very Spielberg to me oh yeah yes
0:10:44yeah they're there are a number of of
0:10:46times where things are you know
0:10:48realism is sacrificed for the sake of
0:10:50getting the shot or making something
0:10:52beautiful like keys for example who
0:10:54keeps moving his keys from one side of
0:10:56his hips to the other does that mean
0:10:59this thing he's got a lot of key to
0:11:00unlock a lot of doors that's the thing I
0:11:02kept thinking too is like why do you
0:11:04need any keys back in the days when the
0:11:06size of your keyring you know she'll
0:11:08never Andy work i love the world
0:11:10building of the you know the interior of
0:11:13the ship you know you pay attention and
0:11:14yet it it's a bottom the expedition the
0:11:16aliens are visiting us to check us out
0:11:19the way that we would be doing
0:11:21theoretically 200 years from now i love
0:11:25it that we're that we're weird the
0:11:26indigenous where the indigenous
0:11:28life-forms and there's a clever
0:11:30scientists except for the clever
0:11:31scientists you can't figure out that
0:11:33it's time to go
0:11:34yeah he's just caught up and in getting
0:11:36those plants that they have a prime
0:11:37directive of some sort / presumably but
0:11:40also i like the fact that these are
0:11:41aliens did you get back to the x-files
0:11:43point they just want to probe our plants
0:11:46not our bodies and that's fine that's
0:11:49they're nice they're just looking for
0:11:51salad
0:11:52yeah that's right hungry a technical
0:11:55issue here so that the all the suburban
0:11:57stuff is shot in the San Fernando Valley
0:11:59in Southern California but the forest
0:12:01stuff is shot like it in Mike Northern
0:12:04California redwood forest i believe so
0:12:06it's a it's a this is a this is sort of
0:12:08a suburb that doesn't quite exist where
0:12:10there's this kind of amazing forest
0:12:12right backing up on the suburb but still
0:12:14we see we see down into the suburb into
0:12:18essentially the san fernando valley it's
0:12:19never specified but that's where they
0:12:20shot it where the the alien perhaps is
0:12:24going and we see a house populated by a
0:12:27bunch of kids there are older boys who
0:12:30are playing Dungeons and Dragons and
0:12:32there's the younger boy
0:12:33Elliot who wants to get in on the action
0:12:35there's a lot that goes on in this scene
0:12:37there's a lot of dialogue there's the
0:12:39there's a whole dnd thing going on
0:12:42Elliot trying to get in with the older
0:12:43boys that are playing with his brother
0:12:45but I wanted to stop and just say it's
0:12:49funny in the highest grossing movie of
0:12:51all time the places where you find
0:12:53influence and like stranger things would
0:12:58not exist were it not for this scene
0:13:00like this scene is stranger things it's
0:13:02the people who made that that movie that
0:13:04or that that netflix series said you
0:13:06know that scene in ET we're playing
0:13:07Dungeons and Dragons what if we did a
0:13:09whole show of
0:13:10that because that's basically like it's
0:13:12all there
0:13:13Freaks and Geeks also seriously
0:13:16references this scene in ET this is like
0:13:19for me this is the the the ground zero
0:13:21of you know of a tease
0:13:25kids playing and and you know ordering a
0:13:29pizza and all that stuff it's all right
0:13:31in here which he is just i was struck me
0:13:33how how much quotes that that scene in
0:13:38the house angry and ended it really mean
0:13:41that's what we were doing you know i
0:13:43remember playing the very brief amount
0:13:45of time I play dnd was right around when
0:13:48he came out
0:13:48yeah the dnd people must have been very
0:13:50happy that there's role-playing
0:13:52happening even like the dialogue is a
0:13:54little edgier than you'd see in the kids
0:13:56movie these days
0:13:58oh yeah and they're douchebags thrown
0:14:00around a lot of kids movies these
0:14:01tickets for penis breath i remember how
0:14:04scandalized my mom was at the penis
0:14:07breath and in and then immediately
0:14:09ensued with a well they did that just
0:14:13just to keep it from being rated g and
0:14:16it up that that behind it yeah yeah
0:14:18those were the words we were using at
0:14:20the time I mean it's not it's it's it's
0:14:22a tactic
0:14:23yeah but my mom didn't like to think
0:14:25that that was which case those are our
0:14:2816 year old boys doing with 16 year old
0:14:30boys do and then there's you know or 15
0:14:33year-old boys whatever and then there's
0:14:34you know ten-year-old eleven-year-old
0:14:37whatever is somewhere around there
0:14:38Elliot who once you know who wants to
0:14:40play with the big boys but he's a little
0:14:43brother I do think they're trying to get
0:14:44across the point that deal Wallace is
0:14:46trying to hold it together the breakdown
0:14:48of the nuclear family was a big deal
0:14:51here as well yeah she'sshe's only she's
0:14:53recently separated she's not divorced
0:14:55yet yeah it'sit's been recent but that's
0:14:59a through line for her and the kids is
0:15:02throughout is you know the abandoned the
0:15:05abandonment my dad and the the that just
0:15:09that the trauma that there really that
0:15:12that seems to inform Elliot a little bit
0:15:16you know I've got to find somebody to
0:15:18take care of here
0:15:19it's very clear there's a very personal
0:15:20movie for Steven Spielberg his parents
0:15:22split up when he was young
0:15:24and that that's that's where this is
0:15:26coming from like this is this is his
0:15:29childhood issues kind of brought into
0:15:31this fantasy setting which is kind of a
0:15:33classic thing I think to do it is recent
0:15:37he's got he the father has run off to
0:15:38Mexico with his his new girlfriend he
0:15:42doesn't even like Mexico but he went to
0:15:44Mexico anyway it's that it's it stuff so
0:15:47so yeah she's dead she's trying to do
0:15:50well it's trying to hold it together
0:15:51they order a pizza which turns out i
0:15:54think they're not supposed to do and
0:15:55they have Elliot go get the pizza and
0:15:59from the delivery driver but on his way
0:16:02back with a pizza he thinks there's
0:16:03something in the garden shed
0:16:05don't-don't-don't there is an alien it's
0:16:07really an alien shit
0:16:09no it's a raccoon it's a raccoon surely
0:16:12there is a raccoon in this moment just
0:16:13later and don't call me shirley fit so
0:16:16so Elliot is a intrigued he also steps
0:16:19on the peets kills me everytime it's a
0:16:22god no good one job you had one job but
0:16:26it's a bit i think the scene is
0:16:28interesting it was so he goes throws the
0:16:30ball and then it all comes back flips
0:16:32flips out and then again just kind of
0:16:35another sign the deal Wallace's is
0:16:37barely hanging on the kids all grab
0:16:39knives and yes right and then Michael
0:16:45said he looks at these tracks that are
0:16:47clearly not a coyote
0:16:49yes mam the Coyotes are back at that's
0:16:52one for the movie i can never understand
0:16:53it's not like you'll be tracks it's dark
0:16:56and they don't they're not prepared for
0:16:58alias it's mostly just scuffs like you
0:17:01don't actually see any very clear
0:17:02footprints oh yeah yeah but i feel like
0:17:05she I think she even says like don't she
0:17:07tells them not to do the knives or what
0:17:09everything that that's that's the thing
0:17:11where I where as an adult I look at it
0:17:12and I just feel so bad for her because
0:17:14her life is kind of falling apart and
0:17:15she's trying to keep it together is that
0:17:17in this scene she tells that the boys
0:17:20not to do everything they do and they
0:17:23just blow right past drives yeah right
0:17:26i've seen families like that yes hello
0:17:29parent of a fourteen-year-old yeah so
0:17:32yeah so so reese's pieces are used as a
0:17:35as a guy I an attractor a lower yes yes
0:17:39that's my that's one of my favorite
0:17:41things just like that is that is perfect
0:17:43kid logic like you know what do i use to
0:17:45attract an alien
0:17:47well Lisa's resist pieces because you
0:17:49know candy sweet who wouldn't want candy
0:17:51i love it i want Reese's Pieces can
0:17:53lower this animal and aurélien back to
0:17:55my house with with with candy but he has
0:17:57a peanut allergy know that's the
0:18:00alternate ending when he's on the table
0:18:03at the end of the movie he says he
0:18:06dalenge haha I don't entirely understand
0:18:12why that works uh there is i don't
0:18:16exactly understand why in is awaiting
0:18:19manual ET thinks that the logical thing
0:18:23to do when the ball is thrown in is to
0:18:24throw it back out and when a UH an
0:18:28indigenous child leaves candies lying
0:18:31around that he follows around to pick
0:18:33them up at that point he might be hungry
0:18:37can you really blame him but he bring
0:18:38some back at least many of them back
0:18:40some of them some of my meeting about
0:18:42how many must have been left out there
0:18:44200 forest you leave all the way home so
0:18:47he saves like 644 Elliott says it's a
0:18:49small gesture in my headcanon he he
0:18:53recognizes elliot from the first meeting
0:18:55from the pizza meeting and says well
0:18:56maybe this is a place I can be safe
0:18:58this is the place where the fact that
0:19:01i've only basically seen it once and
0:19:04it's loom so large as a pop-culture
0:19:05piece of history and now I'm seeing it
0:19:08again after so much time this is where
0:19:10old brain really has me at a
0:19:13disadvantage because I keep expecting
0:19:15the movie at this point and keep
0:19:17expecting ET to behave more sensibly
0:19:21then he does i have complex headcanon
0:19:24about et's behavior to which is mostly
0:19:26the tt's kind of screw-up because I mean
0:19:29let's face it he got left behind on an
0:19:30alien planet
0:19:32he's kind of a screw-up yeah and I also
0:19:33think he's kind of whimsical here a
0:19:35little bit this is one of the many
0:19:36things that he hasn't come with Yoda
0:19:38maybe I think each I think he's kinda
0:19:40like having a good time and he's like.he
0:19:42it's a kid it's gonna be fine and the
0:19:45other the other thing I would throw in
0:19:46there is
0:19:47so they're aliens they they do weird
0:19:49stuff the way they think about in
0:19:51situations and this though this comes up
0:19:54later if they just do weird stuff you
0:19:55know what would who are we to say that
0:19:57this is not perfectly logical behavior
0:19:59for them in their culture we don't know
0:20:01maybe the prime directive is to not
0:20:03interfere with the ball so send the ball
0:20:05right then the ball back
0:20:06that's right but that's interfering with
0:20:08a ball Jase date whoever you superior
0:20:13you agree with me then go to screw up
0:20:15basically he's definitely not exactly
0:20:20Starfleet's finest no clear he got left
0:20:24behind on it away mission because he was
0:20:27too busy with his flower pot or weapons
0:20:29the Barclay of of this group that's what
0:20:32it is
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0:21:11very different from the mattress that i
0:21:13used to have which I like and many times
0:21:15to a trampoline it was really bouncy my
0:21:18cat would likely pause the bed if i sat
0:21:21down on the other side because he was
0:21:22disturbed
0:21:23he's finicky cat but it was kind of
0:21:25unpleasant now I sit down and I don't
0:21:27feel like I'm making waves i'm just
0:21:29sitting on a very comfortable sinky
0:21:32surface and i also don't feel like I'm
0:21:34getting sucked into it when I'm laying
0:21:35there it is supportive as well pretty
0:21:37remarkable
0:21:38I like it a lot time magazine named it
0:21:40one of the best inventions of 2015 and
0:21:43here's what I think is the best part
0:21:44about a mattress you order over the
0:21:46internet instead of seeing in the
0:21:47showroom
0:21:48first off you can't learn a lot from
0:21:49showrooms anyway because you're laying
0:21:51on there for a couple of minutes but the
0:21:53best thing about Casper is they will
0:21:54send it to you and you can try it out
0:21:56for a hundred Knights risk-free so
0:21:58there's really no risk here at all
0:22:00all get it try it if you like it then
0:22:02you know you paid for it and you've got
0:22:04a new mattress and if you don't like it
0:22:05you call casper and they'll take it back
0:22:07and you're out nothing so it's Casper
0:22:10understands what I'm saying they know
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0:22:14it literally sleep on it before you
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0:22:43to Casper for sponsoring the
0:22:44incomparable I so he brings the reese's
0:22:47pieces back he follows Elliot to his
0:22:49room there we get a lot of interesting
0:22:54interesting stuff in here they are they
0:22:59are mirroring each other's movements but
0:23:02you also get right before that you get a
0:23:04I guess whether you like a ten-year-old
0:23:06explanation of how the world works and
0:23:09that was just precious
0:23:11I thought also i would add that the the
0:23:14soundtrack the music of I think some
0:23:16meeting of friends on the soundtrack
0:23:18it's the music that he plays it's a harp
0:23:20and very soft me to get I think it's
0:23:22some of john williams like really nice
0:23:24work if they were if you're listening
0:23:26soundtrack i think this the music they
0:23:27play this is perfect for that scene
0:23:29yeah its your right there there is the
0:23:31he tries to Elliot explains how how the
0:23:35world works and what various objects are
0:23:37very advanced point and it's delightful
0:23:39because they are it is it is so
0:23:42wonderfully without any context that any
0:23:45alien could possibly understand it's
0:23:47great
0:23:48yeah the idea that he explains what a
0:23:49car is using a little like hot wheels
0:23:51matchbox car like even if alien could
0:23:54understand the words he was using that
0:23:56would make no sense knows these to get
0:23:57around how but Elliot so deadly serious
0:24:00that it just
0:24:01love it every time it's like so hard
0:24:03he's trying so hard
0:24:04yeah so precocious why does ete the car
0:24:07he's just an alien and aliens do weird
0:24:10stuff again
0:24:11well why not everything else Elliot has
0:24:12given him has been food and we can meet
0:24:14this to its little piece of metal to eat
0:24:17metal here
0:24:18sure maybe 10 as a matchbox car allergy
0:24:21know this this had a real impression on
0:24:23me as a kid his whole plan of faking
0:24:25being sick to stay home from school
0:24:28where he's got the stuff he's got the
0:24:30the the the thermometer and he's putting
0:24:33it on the lamp and he's got the the
0:24:36heating pad that he's putting on his
0:24:38face and then his mom comes in the room
0:24:40and he pulled you know pulls the beating
0:24:42pad off and put the thermometer in his
0:24:44mouth and I love that little bit where
0:24:46he puts it in backwards and then
0:24:47realizes and gets put into a nice little
0:24:50detail their wonder how many kids burn
0:24:52their tongues check the copy i take it
0:24:55you got it you got to be careful doing
0:24:57that because if you actually put the
0:24:58thermometer right to the lightbulb it
0:24:59will shoot up so high that your mom's
0:25:01going to know NBD leader 120 that's
0:25:04right
0:25:04not that I've ever tried that on there
0:25:07are subtle science there this is more
0:25:09getting to know each other
0:25:11the movie so when you watch this movie
0:25:12multiple times you realize that they are
0:25:14because what happens here is a Elliot an
0:25:18ET are connected there's sort of
0:25:19mentally connected and you can see it
0:25:24happens in early point not only are they
0:25:26kind of ETA is kind of imitating his
0:25:28movements but you have the whole the the
0:25:33startling with the umbrella that et is
0:25:36startled and Elliott gets scared so it's
0:25:39like they are good very clearly
0:25:40connected even if you missed that on
0:25:42first viewing very clearly connected
0:25:43yeah I don't know when that happened
0:25:45it's it's not really clear but very
0:25:47early
0:25:48they're connected yeah i thought it
0:25:49actually was in retrospect was meant to
0:25:52happen just after like just before
0:25:55Elliot falls asleep because they're like
0:25:57looking at each other and they're both
0:25:58like rocking and I was like can eat can
0:26:03eat hypnotized this kid what's what's
0:26:05happening and I didn't put it together
0:26:06until much later that that was probably
0:26:08the time that he was sort of like
0:26:09inserting himself and Elliot's mind
0:26:11oh my god that's pretty sinister
0:26:13actually
0:26:14a little sea see Dan was right there is
0:26:18also the scene though when when they
0:26:19when Elliot for when he first comes back
0:26:23and there in like I guess it's like a
0:26:24cornfield or something these tall weeds
0:26:27and they both flip out at the same
0:26:29moment and that seems to be very similar
0:26:31to but maybe it's just because they're
0:26:32both seeing each other
0:26:33this is where Elliot introduces ET to
0:26:37his big brother Michael and to his
0:26:39little sister Gertie the second one is
0:26:41more accidental yeah
0:26:43yes because he makes that this is david
0:26:45this is your you gotta make the most
0:26:46excellent promise
0:26:47yes and I have absolute power we got
0:26:49about your power business there's a
0:26:53there's a bunch of yoda references in
0:26:55this movie too and it's great because
0:26:57curtsies czt and screams and the scene
0:27:02that follows her scream I all I could
0:27:04write down in my notes was madness
0:27:06because it's just really chaotic like
0:27:09everybody running around with her hair
0:27:11on fire moment in the movie at that
0:27:13point it's great i hate movie scenes
0:27:15when you have the everybody screams
0:27:17moment it makes me just break out and
0:27:19home alone hives but this time it works
0:27:23it just really does work
0:27:24its glorious so we watch this with the
0:27:27whole family and I I turned to my
0:27:28daughter as gritty appeared on screen
0:27:30and I said hey drew barrymore and and
0:27:33Jamie just what
0:27:36yeah it is drew barrymore at her cutest
0:27:39little five-year-old self in this movie
0:27:42it is very funny to see her and realize
0:27:45that she went on to have like a whole
0:27:46career but here she is little little
0:27:49sister adorable so adorable haha so
0:27:52adorable mad this also i love the fact
0:27:56that that he introduces his brother to
0:27:59the alien so quickly like because I mean
0:28:03they could have stretch that out and had
0:28:04some more wacky hijinks with him trying
0:28:06to hide ET but I one of the real charms
0:28:09of this movie is is you know the kids
0:28:11sort of not even versus the adults but
0:28:14just the kids banding together and be
0:28:16kids and i love i love the idea that
0:28:19while he is the younger brother and he
0:28:21does get treated like a younger brother
0:28:23most of the time he still he still loves
0:28:25his older brother
0:28:26dance and wants to bring him in on this
0:28:28so he does and then of course the older
0:28:30brother that the treats him very
0:28:33differently after that because oh my god
0:28:35it's real it's real
0:28:36yeah it's just do the any of the rest of
0:28:39you get a fairytale vibe from this story
0:28:43oh yeah who are specifically
0:28:45specifically because of the fact that
0:28:47for most of this movie it's the kids
0:28:49versus the adult it's the it's the it's
0:28:52the the three children who are teaming
0:28:55up to protect and take care of their new
0:28:58buddy its yeah I I came into this
0:29:03expecting more science fiction than i
0:29:05had and i got fairytale and that threw
0:29:09me off a bit so it's also classic
0:29:10children's literature and just in a way
0:29:12that the parents are absent or at least
0:29:14its structured so the parents are not
0:29:15involved I mean Harry Potter is like
0:29:18that to this day is that same sort of
0:29:20idea that it's the you know the kids the
0:29:22kids are the ones who have the adventure
0:29:24not the parents and so the killing off
0:29:26the dad they send him to Mexico
0:29:27yeah he doesn't even like Mexico think
0:29:30yeah we skipped over that seemed that
0:29:32that was a very interesting that
0:29:33watching it again as an adult where you
0:29:36know they have kind of the the dinner
0:29:37confrontation and that was pretty heavy
0:29:40you know I don't remember as a kid that
0:29:41scene but looking back on it could you
0:29:43get away with that scene today I don't
0:29:46think so nice i think i think people are
0:29:48too jaded about that
0:29:49yeah i mean that the goal is to show
0:29:51that she shattered right they might show
0:29:54that today it might be a different way
0:29:55that you showed that she's she's feels
0:29:57like completely destroyed here and he's
0:30:00running off having a good time and she's
0:30:02left she's left holding the bag but it's
0:30:04a classic it's a classic move
0:30:06so you know it's still I think it still
0:30:08works but they might do handle it
0:30:10differently today because divorce you
0:30:12know
0:30:12yeah that did with this was at a point
0:30:14where we're culturally we were just you
0:30:17know accepting that divorce was a thing
0:30:19that happened all the time where it was
0:30:22it was still and still kind of shameful
0:30:24in a way that it probably isn't today
0:30:27well and also it's it's you know
0:30:29Spielberg's own experience I me he did
0:30:32have an imaginary friend as a child when
0:30:34his parents split up this that mean
0:30:36that's the germ of the idea that became
0:30:38the movie
0:30:39sure and so it's it's coming from his
0:30:42experience of its not just oh well
0:30:44here's how we're gonna show this story
0:30:46here's how we're gonna show this couple
0:30:47breaking up
0:30:48it's that it feels personal in a way
0:30:52sure sure the let's see what else
0:30:55happens over there is a great shot in
0:30:56here because we keep coming back to
0:30:57brief moments of the of the people and
0:31:00key is searching for the alien there's a
0:31:03great one of those shots where you know
0:31:04you zoom out and Ollie in so the
0:31:07backward the background kind of recedes
0:31:09which field are used to great effect in
0:31:10Jaws actually and you get you get a
0:31:13great shot of that here with a who as as
0:31:16keys is in looking down on the
0:31:18subdivision that that they live in
0:31:22Gert declares that she doesn't like eet
0:31:24EES feet
0:31:25I enjoyed that I thought that was I
0:31:28thought that was good
0:31:29they're weird they're weird feet shaped
0:31:31funny her non sequiturs are some of my
0:31:33favorite things that's nothing haha mr.
0:31:36Barrymore is awesome through this whole
0:31:38movie yeah
0:31:38alligators in the sewers didn't even
0:31:40mention that
0:31:41watching it now I i wonder how much of
0:31:44that how much room he left for
0:31:46improvisation and and just sort of
0:31:48random things because you know that some
0:31:51of those things you wouldn't necessarily
0:31:53script so you know maybe that's her
0:31:56saying yeah he's good we're treat ya
0:31:59right here they ask where he's from and
0:32:02he makes the play doh float to make like
0:32:04a little la solar system of your system
0:32:08yeah and he makes a he makes a flower
0:32:10come back to life
0:32:11I dead flower he's got powerful his
0:32:13pickup hours he could levitate stuff
0:32:15again nearly and he's got weird
0:32:17there's weird stuff we don't know about
0:32:19him but he's living in the house
0:32:21oh and the end there this leads into a a
0:32:25scene is is this where the scene happens
0:32:28where the mom looks for looks for what's
0:32:33going on in the closet and sees all the
0:32:35stuffed animals and et is just a stuffed
0:32:37animals that is a that is one of the
0:32:39most amazing scenes in any movie ever
0:32:41that he's just got his eyes wide open
0:32:43completely surrounded by all of all the
0:32:46stuffed animals its iconic that supports
0:32:48Jason's ETS Yoda theory as well I think
0:32:51haha that twitter account one perfect
0:32:53shot that would be that would be a yes
0:32:55that I think absolutely totally how do
0:32:59you like that and that's right around
0:33:00the scene i'm not sure exactly
0:33:01chronologically where do else's is
0:33:05telling the bedtime story and they have
0:33:07that shared closet and 80 and Elliot the
0:33:10world is right for them as they sit
0:33:12there and listen to the mother tell a
0:33:13bedtime story is very sweet kind of
0:33:15where things start to go wrong
0:33:17yeah of course yeah is that are they
0:33:20doing like that like Peter Pan
0:33:22yeah it's going to be your plan and it's
0:33:23the part where they're talking about you
0:33:25know clapping and believing in other
0:33:26ways to to bring them back to life which
0:33:28is you know automatically appropriate
0:33:30given the end of the movie and in a way
0:33:32it's the moment when the adults start
0:33:34sort of intruding and getting in the way
0:33:37alright so here we go it's time to
0:33:40detect some frogs at solo I guess I mean
0:33:44did anybody else dissect frogs at that
0:33:47young age
0:33:48he's like 10 I yeah Julian's 12 and they
0:33:51did frog dissection
0:33:52yeah that's we did it when it was in
0:33:54seventh grade and I i did pretend to be
0:33:56sick to get out of it is 7th grade how
0:33:58old you are when you're bringing your 10
0:34:00because i also did it in no 10 10 is
0:34:02fifth grade if you if he's truly 10
0:34:04years old I'm not sure it's at his age
0:34:06never specified to even the actor was 10
0:34:08e week we could we get that I think
0:34:11they're suggesting he's yeah i mean old
0:34:14enough to to to have a girl he likes and
0:34:17dissect a frog as it was handed down as
0:34:19a tradition from the olden times as my
0:34:21younger son loves to point out he always
0:34:25remembers when his older brother was in
0:34:27fifth grade and they got to dissect owl
0:34:29poop that was the most exciting thing
0:34:31for like three years
0:34:33haha yeah but this little when you
0:34:35dissected frogs little bit anybody have
0:34:36to kill frog no entiendo
0:34:40no they were already dead that mean I
0:34:42that's the by get over that was the
0:34:44creepiest part that within that was sort
0:34:46of the ok this sort of this the sort of
0:34:48priests ages what's going to happen when
0:34:50the agents come to investigate ET but
0:34:54it'sit's chicos dissection get it really
0:34:57is but yeah I would I would I had the
0:35:00already the pre dead formaldehyde and
0:35:02frogs not they kill them your self put
0:35:06the drop the cotton ball in there and
0:35:07they'll just go to sleep yeah it's
0:35:09pretty gruesome and I don't know if they
0:35:10ever did it that way or that's just a
0:35:12construction in order to have them be
0:35:13freed by Elliot but before we get to
0:35:15Elliot freeing them we have to talk
0:35:17about what he's doing it this time which
0:35:19motivates the memories hungry and
0:35:21thirsty so he's gonna he's gonna drink
0:35:23beer but he doesn't like potato salad
0:35:25that's no good and he just reads the
0:35:28fridge i love the way the dog has
0:35:31finally accepted et is just part of the
0:35:33family now because he's just doesn't
0:35:35follow submitted the kitchen full of
0:35:36hope that potato salad which he does
0:35:38because ET might drop some food
0:35:41yeah and he does it because he's
0:35:42emailing and he's calling his little
0:35:43clumsy but this is where we see that uh
0:35:46that a that et is connected with Elliot
0:35:51because I Elliot is feeling the effects
0:35:55of ET drinking the beer Elliot burps
0:35:58Elliot's acting wacky and then
0:36:00eventually Elliot decides to free all
0:36:03the frogs and and and have them be able
0:36:07to turn them loose in the classroom and
0:36:08out of the classroom and starts a more
0:36:11madness more more another wacky scene
0:36:14where kids are running around crazy and
0:36:17delightfully he he ends up mirroring the
0:36:21movie that's on the television back home
0:36:25kissing the girl in his class the blonde
0:36:27girl in a in a romantic gesture as the
0:36:31frogs all leap around behind them
0:36:35it's stepping on the kid crawling by so
0:36:37we can reach up to her lips
0:36:38yeah and his future playboy playmate
0:36:41Erica alenia and Baywatch co-star LOL
0:36:44Erica alright yeah you know I enjoyed
0:36:47that seen as a kid but I think I enjoy
0:36:48it more now as an adult
0:36:50that every time it just delights me
0:36:52what's charming and it's it and its
0:36:54total magic realism at this point
0:36:56because there weren't that many frogs in
0:36:58the room at first and all of a sudden
0:37:00it's biblical
0:37:01that's what made the William scores like
0:37:04classic Hollywood it swelling and then
0:37:07yeah it's great
0:37:09yeah so some other things that are
0:37:10happening here so so I i enjoy there's a
0:37:13there's a telephone add that BTW watches
0:37:16he looks at the buck rogers comic strip
0:37:18he's putting together a way of
0:37:19communicating what he wants to do in
0:37:23terms of giving you are using a phone
0:37:25and and reaching a spaceship and all of
0:37:29that so you see sort of like the the
0:37:30building of the of the lexicon hear the
0:37:36let's see uh the guy
0:37:41Gertie is watching Sesame Street so he
0:37:44learns from he learns from that while
0:37:46he's also reading the buck rogers comic
0:37:48strip and if somewhere around here is
0:37:52also where mom mom comes home while et
0:37:55is wandering around and that's this led
0:37:57some like for almost farce of you know
0:38:01him moving around and she's moving
0:38:02around she doesn't see him which is
0:38:04pretty amazing
0:38:04mhm she opened the refrigerator door and
0:38:06he just topples over has just glorious
0:38:09like fucking looking down that far that
0:38:11was another one of my favorite blueberry
0:38:12more moments the man in the moon but I
0:38:14think you might have already killed him
0:38:16she's just so blase about it well I
0:38:19guess maybe you'll get to meet him after
0:38:21all she get the phone call from the
0:38:23school and the line that I thought that
0:38:25I didn't ever notice before but I that I
0:38:27i caught this time is you hear her say
0:38:29at one point i am not paying for frogs
0:38:32yeah that's that's when I think we
0:38:34should take some home that's what she
0:38:35says I drivers where I draw the line
0:38:37yeah that's right and we get it we gotta
0:38:39be good in here to be good
0:38:42so the learning of how et is learning
0:38:46how to communicate with with the humans
0:38:50now thanks to his maybe not the drinking
0:38:53beer but the watching TV and and
0:38:55listening to Gert he's he's starting to
0:38:57put it together
0:38:58Nelly comes home oh I i have another
0:39:00great line that i wrote down because it
0:39:02was great
0:39:03I taught him how to talk now we can talk
0:39:04now in Italy it's just so offended i
0:39:08think because she makes so much more
0:39:09progress
0:39:10yeah and and she dressy dress them up
0:39:12and she dressed in my bow god yeah that
0:39:15alien he's gonna he's gonna be treated
0:39:17like a like a like a dress-up doll
0:39:19that's fine it's adorable and a spy van
0:39:22rolls through the neighborhood I just
0:39:23throw that into meanwhile the
0:39:26government's by vans are on the move
0:39:28they're getting closer every I again as
0:39:31a kid I don't think I noticed this but
0:39:32you notice it as an adult watching it
0:39:34like every time we see them there that
0:39:36much closer it's like incremental e
0:39:38closer to the house they're figuring it
0:39:41out and listening to everybody on the
0:39:44blogs into all the conversations that's
0:39:46right including the ones that are
0:39:48characters are are having but you know
0:39:50can you really tell if somebody was
0:39:51talking to an alien in one house on the
0:39:53block and you could listen in would you
0:39:55know they were talking to an alien or
0:39:56about an alien i don't know that i can
0:39:58tell my kids safe kids now the
0:40:01government doesn't need a van to listen
0:40:02to you and that's about the time that
0:40:05they're putting together the machine to
0:40:07yes it's time to build a phone to phone
0:40:10home we've got the Speak & Spell we got
0:40:12the we got the umbrella
0:40:15we gotta can aluminum foil ya again
0:40:19aliens a saw blade a whole bunch of
0:40:22wires
0:40:23yep its technical and it's wind-powered
0:40:25apparently right because it's the the
0:40:28the blowing tree doing that structure
0:40:30chunk with the saw blade right yellow
0:40:32rain right but the one they're
0:40:33collecting the tools is also when you
0:40:34get the big conversation between Elliot
0:40:36Michael about their father and that's
0:40:38the first time you really have any
0:40:39disguise have him in the movie yeah and
0:40:42it it doesn't really it it doesn't
0:40:44really inform the poor push the plot but
0:40:47it gets the it gets that mood across
0:40:49although with i'm not sure that if I'd
0:40:52been in that situation I would have
0:40:54talked about old spice or sea breeze or
0:40:58whatever you know the the scent of the
0:41:00shirt that might not have been where I
0:41:02would have gone
0:41:03yeah if you were too sentimental guy but
0:41:05again you know this is one of the
0:41:07reasons i love the movie is but yes it
0:41:10has a plot
0:41:11yes the plot moves but the whole movie
0:41:14is not about the plot it's a
0:41:15out getting getting to spend time with
0:41:18these characters and that is really a
0:41:21hallmark of seventies and eighties early
0:41:22eighties films that I kind of Miss these
0:41:25days I kind of Miss but you know we have
0:41:28to have continuous moving and plots and
0:41:30explosions and you know i'd like to get
0:41:33to know these characters because that's
0:41:36you know what the difference between all
0:41:38the different aliens with kids movies
0:41:40are the characters you know you could
0:41:42argue that the plot that there's another
0:41:45movie going on that they much more
0:41:46conventional movie which is government
0:41:49scientists try to find a runaway alien
0:41:51on earth
0:41:52yes haha and yes ET what we get is
0:41:55occasionally we will cut away and see
0:41:57that movie is continuing and that's like
0:41:59the plot and it's like the kids are are
0:42:01playing with their alien friend and
0:42:03there's two there's some plot here right
0:42:05because they're there they're learning
0:42:06but it feels like too much more
0:42:07conventional plot is happening somewhere
0:42:08else and occasionally we see that it's
0:42:11progressing and then eventually at the
0:42:13end of the movie it collides with this
0:42:15movie and they have to deal with it and
0:42:17it's ok for that to happen
0:42:18enter to be so oblique because we
0:42:21already know have that plot works
0:42:22exactly
0:42:23we don't we don't have to see it in
0:42:24detail and then say the third plot is
0:42:27you know a family is trying to get blown
0:42:29up families trying to deal with it yeah
0:42:31right which-- which you just don't get
0:42:33in the kids movie these days I don't
0:42:36think you know not really that would
0:42:37have been covered
0:42:38yeah this is where we learning he's got
0:42:40healing powers to write do we well he
0:42:41made that he made of the flower come
0:42:43back to life
0:42:44no no any he gets a cut on his finger
0:42:46right knee heals the cut is I think
0:42:48blows his fingertip gets all glowy
0:42:50salient have powers man powers weird
0:42:54things that's right
0:42:55halloween and somebody dressed up so
0:42:57what do you do when you've got an alien
0:42:59you take them out of all the days you
0:43:01could take about an alien and say look
0:43:03at my friend he looks like an alien but
0:43:04now they put a sheet on him cuz my holes
0:43:06and say yeah totally
0:43:09yeah it's really it's really ingenious I
0:43:11i love that I love the scene where uh
0:43:14mom is just a little too excited little
0:43:18to overall emotionally overwrought over
0:43:20how cute the kids look in their
0:43:22halloween costumes and snap the picture
0:43:24and stuns ET immediately
0:43:28but this this movie is really good for
0:43:30falling over gags seems like the moms a
0:43:32little it to me
0:43:33sure okay haha Jenna and I do love that
0:43:37drew barrymore just getting pissed off
0:43:39and pacing anything for them
0:43:42yeah and then ET I finally allowed to
0:43:45walk out in the world and he sees a
0:43:48world where people are dressed in these
0:43:50totally weird things and then at one
0:43:53point he sees it somebody in Yoda
0:43:54costume and thanks haha one of my people
0:43:56and it's gonna it's gonna chase after
0:43:59Yoda and then they have to kind of like
0:44:01steer him away because the golden music
0:44:03at that point turns to Yoda's theme from
0:44:05Star Wars and john williams world that
0:44:07right in its great and that was because
0:44:09i remember seeing it like either opening
0:44:12weekend or the weekend after and that
0:44:14was the hugest react yes i agree movie
0:44:18agreed the the room went bananas i
0:44:22remember that memories from 1982 it's
0:44:24funny yeah Elliot and ETR off on their
0:44:29bike on on Elliot's bike they they're
0:44:32joined at this point it's their bike in
0:44:35order to deploy the the phoning home and
0:44:39we see our first instance of flying
0:44:42bikes i had forgotten that the flying
0:44:44bike happened so early in the film I was
0:44:46just remembering the later instance but
0:44:48then I just realize it's checkout slide
0:44:50like that's right and Elliot is coughing
0:44:53this is the this is our first sign that
0:44:54eet is getting sick he wakes up and et
0:44:57is gone they have to search for him
0:45:00Elliot's getting sick Michael finds ET
0:45:02this is grim stuff Michael finds eat and
0:45:05all kind of gray and and laying in a
0:45:08land in the water
0:45:09yeah being like snuffled by a raccoon
0:45:12what gets with reason there's a raccoon
0:45:14yeah the last thing you can't defend
0:45:15yourself from raccoons bad man out of it
0:45:18i heard the helicopter coming in and I
0:45:20was not remembering the movie pretty
0:45:22well i was thinking that this would be
0:45:23the moment when uh you know the
0:45:26the government agents swooped in and
0:45:29grab him but it's not quite that grim
0:45:31but throughout this movie all the way up
0:45:35to this point you know I I feel like
0:45:37Elliott and Michael and even greater you
0:45:41know they know the kind of movie that
0:45:43they're in possibly before they're
0:45:45supposed to they they figure I think
0:45:48they they they surmise that et is an
0:45:52alien they surmise that the government
0:45:54agents are going to come in and swoop in
0:45:56and pick them up and and all the stores
0:45:59the sort of thing they've got to keep
0:46:01them away from the adults they don't
0:46:03ever consider that no getting an adult
0:46:05to help out would be a good idea which
0:46:08is very prescient considering what
0:46:10happens but that's that's one of the
0:46:12things that I have trouble with about
0:46:14the movie is that they know which movie
0:46:17there in just immediately
0:46:19yeah it's so this is a so now the link
0:46:22obviously that things start to move
0:46:23really fast at this point this is where
0:46:26we get weird with were sick I think
0:46:28we're dying where Elliot is now
0:46:31referring to them as a as a unit and the
0:46:34mothers holding the coffee and she just
0:46:37lets go and you just she slowly pours it
0:46:39out onto the floor
0:46:41that's great because my actions smart
0:46:43thing and it's so believable that when
0:46:45they're getting really sick okay it's
0:46:46time to bring mom in on this
0:46:48yeah yeah and it and it and of course it
0:46:51doesn't work out that well because mom
0:46:53is justifiably freaked out about this
0:46:55and she wants to protect her kids from
0:46:58the scary space alien and then she
0:47:01almost immediately discovers that she's
0:47:04just as much as at threat and that the
0:47:07that's a dangerous situation for
0:47:09everybody as well because it's you know
0:47:12knock knock astronaut calling yeah okay
0:47:14so something alright i love i love it i
0:47:19love this movie but here it is
0:47:22yeah but this is this is weird and I
0:47:24feel almost died not knowing the story
0:47:27behind this
0:47:28I feel like almost that this was
0:47:30somebody's an image somebody had in a
0:47:34dream or in a sketch that they made or
0:47:37something like that which is like you
0:47:39know you open the door
0:47:40and there are astronauts standing
0:47:42outside because it feels very dreamlike
0:47:44and one of the reasons that feels
0:47:46dreamlike is it doesn't make any sense
0:47:48that people that people would be wearing
0:47:50like Apollo astronaut suits and they're
0:47:53going through the mini blinds to that
0:47:55one got me as a kid I'm like wow yeah
0:47:57and not only that but just parked
0:47:59walking with arms outstretched I mean
0:48:01like a scooby-doo villain
0:48:03yeah I mean I i get that they're
0:48:05supposed to be like hazmat suit but they
0:48:07have has been suits in this movie and
0:48:09these are not separate thing
0:48:11yeah exactly and it is it's bizarre
0:48:13again I I feel like what this is is it's
0:48:15it's scary and a weird creepy indelible
0:48:18image and all of those things are true
0:48:20all of those things are true and yet
0:48:22it's sort of weird the evil space aliens
0:48:25you know I think that's that that's part
0:48:27of the that that's part of the message
0:48:29you
0:48:30they come in with their NASA patches and
0:48:31their big gold advisors but they're the
0:48:34scary ones you know they're the aliens
0:48:37and the folks inside the house including
0:48:39ET or not
0:48:41yeah and you get the desired effect but
0:48:43the interesting thing is that's it
0:48:45I mean that's the only scary because the
0:48:47next thing you see there there's got him
0:48:49in a hospital bed and they've got a
0:48:50bunch of doctors taking care of them and
0:48:52it's like they didn't go anywhere with
0:48:54that I think for grades just another
0:48:56example of sacrificing realism to make
0:48:59something that looks cool
0:49:00yeah and amp up the drama i wrote down
0:49:02fun image but why it's like that it's
0:49:06like it is a fun image and that's what
0:49:08and you know what
0:49:09it's a great image and I remember it i
0:49:12will say this I'll give him the movie
0:49:13credit the movie never tries to do like
0:49:16a lot of work to explain that image it
0:49:18just moves on which is good because i
0:49:21would say a lesser movie would build all
0:49:23sorts of dialogue about why it was the
0:49:26way it was and things like that it's
0:49:28like now just do not know forget it you
0:49:30saw it we we moved on and now we're in a
0:49:33hospital setup and the people have some
0:49:35some like hospital gowns and hazmat
0:49:37suits and no nobody is an Apollo
0:49:40astronaut anymore I mean if you want to
0:49:42go for the magic realism
0:49:43and the dreamlike logic I mean for the
0:49:47characters in the house yet it it just
0:49:49something totally scary is happening and
0:49:51they don't understand what's going on
0:49:53okay sure but as as a movie that we are
0:49:57watching it's like oh right yeah you
0:49:59could definitely argue that it's like
0:50:01from their perspective it is this then
0:50:02their people then people showed up at
0:50:04the door wearing these crazy suits and
0:50:06they were everywhere and we were
0:50:08freaking out right and this is a this is
0:50:10an illustration of that even though they
0:50:12were really hazmat suits and make they
0:50:14were coming through the blinds but it
0:50:16felt like that and that's and the movies
0:50:18trying to get across that feeling
0:50:19it's just that it's just stopped me cold
0:50:21every time when it's like mad bass been
0:50:25it then it goes even further and the
0:50:27house gets a gets given the breaking bad
0:50:30treatment interest rate gets tented
0:50:33everybody's got everybody's bringing
0:50:35their oxygen with them for a longer time
0:50:38yeah and and you know the point is this
0:50:41is not your house anymore you this is
0:50:43not your home anymore it we we are
0:50:46taking it over because this thing that
0:50:48you have is so scary and unknown keys
0:50:53sees this as an opportunity to learn
0:50:57yes but everybody else is following it
0:51:00everybody still follow following the the
0:51:02government bureaucracy military model
0:51:04here of take it take control of the
0:51:07situation take charge and fear and fear
0:51:10right if your children are open and
0:51:12curious and enthusiastic and the
0:51:14grown-ups are afraid
0:51:16yeah i was actually perfectly fine with
0:51:18them tending the house and stuff I mean
0:51:20that seems like a logical thing to do
0:51:22do you have you know if possible really
0:51:24make sense from another planet that the
0:51:26thing that got me was how quick they
0:51:29were to just discard that like inside
0:51:32yeah you know after after et's dead
0:51:34suddenly everybody's taking off all
0:51:36their masks he could be worse after he's
0:51:38dead you don't know anything about him
0:51:39to explode and release boards that turn
0:51:43you into an ETA for all you know you
0:51:45have no ec2 even then he would be the
0:51:48real monster there you go
0:51:49that won't happen if they fed him after
0:51:51midnight yeah Peter Coyote gets to talk
0:51:52now he we've been seeing him do a lot of
0:51:54him acting basically
0:51:57haha really but frankly acting but uh
0:52:00but we get to hear Peter Coyote who is
0:52:03it's fun
0:52:04he's a fun actor and he he says Elliot
0:52:06I've been to the forest which I really
0:52:08love that I love that moment what's he
0:52:10doing there any it is like he's he's
0:52:13still threatening I as an outsider but
0:52:16at the same time you get the sense that
0:52:17he's you know I don't know he's starting
0:52:20to make a connection and we and we and
0:52:21we begin to appreciate a little bit more
0:52:24about about what's going on here ways
0:52:26he's able to say I get it I kinda know
0:52:29what what's going on
0:52:30yeah it's okay to talk to me exact he's
0:52:32one of us just to a certain extent right
0:52:35yeah yeah he still grown-up who has a
0:52:37job to do but he at least empathize and
0:52:39lots of doors unlock and I thought that
0:52:41was just a really good bit of acting by
0:52:44henry thomas that the kid playing Elliot
0:52:46at that part of that he was that really
0:52:49stands up forget every time it has to
0:52:51have to carry a whole lot of this movie
0:52:53and I doesn't doesn't print you know he
0:52:56does a pretty darn good job
0:52:57he's one of the reasons this movie is a
0:52:59success he was he was 11 when this movie
0:53:03came out so presumably 10-11 when they
0:53:05shot it and he does a pretty amazing job
0:53:08I gotta say yeah mhm I'm usually not i'm
0:53:12kinda like Lisa and then i'm not a fan
0:53:14of child actors in general but i do
0:53:17think that Henry Thomas is spent I mean
0:53:19they really just to shop for the moon
0:53:21here Ben and hid it because you get
0:53:23Henry Thomas and drew barrymore up in
0:53:25the same film
0:53:26no wonder it was a blockbuster yeah yeah
0:53:28yeahs alligators in the sewers
0:53:31this is the moment where ET dies then
0:53:33and everybody leaves the theater sad
0:53:36right well so I a moment that I really
0:53:38love is a science-fiction fan in this
0:53:40movie is there's that moment where they
0:53:42keep showing their charts and they're
0:53:43both getting more and more sick and then
0:53:46and then their their vitals begin to
0:53:49diverge from one another and he said you
0:53:52know he and and so suddenly Elliot any t
0:53:55have set have separated and Elliot is
0:53:58sort of shouting and at you can as a as
0:54:01a non you know science fiction literate
0:54:04filmgoer you don't even need to really
0:54:06get that but I i love that because this
0:54:10is
0:54:10they have all of the signs are there
0:54:12from when they first attached to this
0:54:14moment which is this is ET detaching
0:54:16from Elliot so that he doesn't take him
0:54:18down with him
0:54:19yeah but when i when i saw this this was
0:54:22the one moment in when i was young that
0:54:26I sobbed like a baby
0:54:28it is gut-wrenching when Elliot screams
0:54:33you're killing him you're killin ya and
0:54:35they aren't listening to him that was
0:54:38utterly painful for me back then now I
0:54:41was pretty sensitive back then Mike when
0:54:43I wept buckets over Snoopy go home soon
0:54:45become home but uh but in this case you
0:54:49know his helplessness and his inability
0:54:53to stop the adults from doing something
0:54:58all fall they're doing all the wrong
0:55:01things in their in their Palace effort
0:55:05to save the alien except i don't i don't
0:55:07think they are
0:55:08I really don't i think they're trying
0:55:10their best to save him and at that point
0:55:12he's adapted he's detached so he has no
0:55:14idea that that what they're doing so I I
0:55:18honestly don't think that they are what
0:55:19skilled killing ET at all i think he was
0:55:22just dying anyway and that's why he
0:55:23detached and there's nothing that we do
0:55:25for it
0:55:26yeah exactly so they're doing their best
0:55:27and you know they had that which is
0:55:29another reason i think that Jason was
0:55:31his observation right at the beginning
0:55:32with was so real and so right on is that
0:55:35there's there's really no bad guy even
0:55:36even in this scene where these are sort
0:55:39of the scary people and it's in this you
0:55:41know this is a whole section of the
0:55:42movie I did not remember out of the
0:55:45hospital type stuff and even even these
0:55:47people are actually they have a tease
0:55:49best interests at heart we are trying to
0:55:51save desperately right yeah a little kid
0:55:53who is just so scared that and he just
0:55:56doesn't understand what's happening that
0:55:58he assumes that that they're hurting him
0:56:00even though it's not really the case i
0:56:02think i agree i don't i don't even
0:56:03necessarily think that Elliot believes
0:56:06that they are intentionally trying to
0:56:08kill him I just think he believes that
0:56:10they're screwing it up and he's lost
0:56:11that agents and he's been et's protector
0:56:14yeah and now he is not and i think
0:56:16that's a big red of ye that was the
0:56:17thing that really destroyed me and he
0:56:19feels powerless about it I soju 1982 was
0:56:23a real bumper
0:56:24a bumper time for me crying and movie
0:56:27theaters because you know starter to
0:56:28came out the week before my way and that
0:56:32is the most i've ever cried in a movie
0:56:33theater when Spock dies spoilers for
0:56:35start-ups black eyes and and uh yeah I
0:56:39know and then ET 80 dies in in ET and
0:56:41it's very sad and I and and that was
0:56:43like came out a week later I don't know
0:56:45if I saw the week they came out pretty
0:56:46soon thereafter right i saw both those
0:56:48movies in quick succession and remember
0:56:51just bawling at both following my
0:56:53eleven-year-old eyes right out
0:56:55so yeah so chip yep that's it so you
0:56:58basically went to ET died you just
0:57:00couldn't take anymore you left the
0:57:01theater and and and and that was the end
0:57:04of movie night
0:57:05yeah goodnight everybody so then it
0:57:08turns out ET the the the flower comes
0:57:10back to life and it turns out the dt is
0:57:11not dead after all
0:57:13all he needed to do was be stuck in the
0:57:15fridge for years i have thought that
0:57:18this is nonsensical and a ripoff and
0:57:21shameless and manipulative but it's not
0:57:24i have come all the way back around on
0:57:26this which is our i will cite my
0:57:29previous statements about aliens which
0:57:31is he's an alien
0:57:33I don't know what he's doing here we
0:57:34assume he's dying he's probably putting
0:57:36himself in some sort of hibernation or
0:57:39stasis until his people come to get him
0:57:41at which point he wakes up
0:57:43which he does because they do right so I
0:57:45I'm willing even though it's never
0:57:47explained I i originally felt kind of
0:57:51negative about it but now I feel like
0:57:53he's an alien
0:57:54we know we shouldn't put our labels on
0:57:56him is that is that how you feel about
0:57:58this error occurred you have some other
0:57:59reason why this is I've been pretty
0:58:01pretty close to that because I like i
0:58:03said not remembering this I I was
0:58:05starting to feel the same way that you
0:58:06originally did I was like oh my god is
0:58:08this the end of the matrix again we love
0:58:09conquers all and that's what is it like
0:58:11it's a crying boy and suddenly he's
0:58:13better and i was i was getting ready to
0:58:15be very grumpy with this film but then
0:58:18know when his his little heart thing
0:58:20starts glowing one of the very first
0:58:22questions that that he had that kid asks
0:58:25is are your people coming back and he
0:58:28says yes so I think it's very clearly
0:58:30laid out that the reason that he is is
0:58:32getting better is because his people are
0:58:34close enough that he's able to have this
0:58:35connection
0:58:36I mean they show at the very big
0:58:37getting of the film that like when when
0:58:39one person's heart lights up all of
0:58:41their hearts light up and that's how do
0:58:42you know they are connected in some way
0:58:44and I i assume that that's y et started
0:58:47dying in the first place because he had
0:58:48been disconnected from his people for so
0:58:50long and and they were so far away
0:58:53yeah they got close enough that he was
0:58:55he was able to revive I mean that I do
0:58:57believe that the alien know he's an
0:58:59alien so we don't necessarily know what
0:59:01being dead means for an alien I mean
0:59:03maybe if he would have stayed like that
0:59:05longer he would have actually died in
0:59:06this was just nick of time they don't
0:59:08explain that but but yeah he's an alien
0:59:11he needs people close to get to Alpha
0:59:13Centauri and they're like a is where
0:59:14sparkly so now yeah that's right we
0:59:16gotta turn around and go back and we're
0:59:19getting a signal that's really weird
0:59:20it's like somebody put this together
0:59:21with a tin can and and sustained foil
0:59:24and a and and some string a circular saw
0:59:28so then we get wacky breakout action
0:59:32seem that happens which is funny and
0:59:36this is the part that I had forgotten
0:59:37all the details of but it all came back
0:59:40to me as I'm watching we get the they
0:59:43figured they figure they have to break
0:59:44out they steal a van that's got the
0:59:46plastic tube on the end and there's a
0:59:49guy in it for a while and then and then
0:59:51he finally they finally disconnected and
0:59:53and and reject him that there's a great
0:59:56line in here where Mike is Michael is
0:59:58driving the van and
0:59:58driving the van and
1:00:00and they equally questions is driving
1:00:02and he says look I've never driven
1:00:04forward before because we only see them
1:00:06backing the earlier and backing a car
1:00:08down the driveway for for his mom and
1:00:10then I said al I've always liked this
1:00:12post to the park and he was not to get
1:00:14there because mom always try yeah yeah
1:00:16that's right they get there on the bikes
1:00:18and the bikes can go all sorts of places
1:00:19the car seat so you think you get this
1:00:21the cars are chasing them and they get
1:00:22they get on they get on their bikes
1:00:25there's a another great line is katie
1:00:29just beam up this is reality Greg week
1:00:33after Star Trek that's amazing
1:00:35so then there's a bike chase the cars
1:00:36are going around the bikes are chasing
1:00:38around it so it's really a pretty great
1:00:40little bit of scenery where the bikes
1:00:42are trying to go like they go down like
1:00:44down the side of one house and then come
1:00:46out but the cars are right there like
1:00:48that wasn't they couldn't lose them
1:00:49there and it's it's really good but
1:00:51eventually they are cropped they're
1:00:54caught and they can't escape the cars
1:00:57their cars in front of them and cars
1:00:59behind them and they will never be able
1:01:01to get ET to safety so so they're more
1:01:04flying bikes and answer your question
1:01:06from earlier this is where i lost my and
1:01:08I felt like most of the theater did too
1:01:10i mean it was because there was so much
1:01:12tension the music the way they're doing
1:01:14the camera zooms and suddenly they start
1:01:16flying in the music swells and madden it
1:01:19just was awesome
1:01:20I i moved out loud I don't know if I've
1:01:22ever done that in a movie when it
1:01:24happened I just couldn't control my room
1:01:26my friend was sitting next to me look at
1:01:27me like what the hell's wrong with you
1:01:29oh I didn't even mention the fake out
1:01:31right before then what happens is they
1:01:33break into the clear and they're like we
1:01:34made it and then immediately there are
1:01:35people all around them in the cars
1:01:37coming that's when they fly so it's
1:01:38super ratcheting up tensions like it's
1:01:40almost like a jump-scare and then they
1:01:43and then they fly is terrible it's
1:01:45hysterically funny you know he dudes
1:01:48like in dudes cocky yeah we did it and
1:01:51then there's all the people because you
1:01:54know you just trying to escape your kids
1:01:55trying to bike away from a major
1:01:58international global incident that your
1:02:00government is on top of I think it might
1:02:02be hard to bike away from that kids but
1:02:04they think they make sure i can fly but
1:02:06if your bike and fly it helps a little
1:02:08bit so they fly their bikes in front of
1:02:11the moon
1:02:12because you gotta have that you know a
1:02:15bad man fly since the everybody flies
1:02:16there things in front of the moon is
1:02:18what I'm saying Batman flies a little
1:02:19bat playing in front of the Moon ET
1:02:22flies his bike in front of the Moon you
1:02:24gotta get that good shot in your movie
1:02:25if you're going to fly and the moon is
1:02:27really have that opportunity you you
1:02:29don't pass that is it a full moon got
1:02:31what we gotta do it then right i mean
1:02:32we're lucky this moon this movie
1:02:34happened during a full moon and not like
1:02:36a like a crescent moon or something with
1:02:37nearly as good
1:02:38why don't these things ever happened
1:02:40during like the waning quarter mood
1:02:42crazy stuff happens during the full moon
1:02:43David that's the ladies they do those
1:02:45movies those movies just never get made
1:02:47because we want to see those yeah
1:02:49exactly right you just see the edge of
1:02:51the bicycle wheel and that's it so they
1:02:52reach the forest and the spaceship comes
1:02:56down and is there you the ket your ride
1:03:00is here
1:03:01his heart glow it's a hell of an uber
1:03:03for all of the this is another sort of
1:03:05sweet adorable thing about that for all
1:03:07of the tension of the chase scene once
1:03:09they get there and it's clear that he's
1:03:11going to get back on the spaceship
1:03:12everybody comes and stands there and
1:03:15watches and they take their time saying
1:03:17goodbye it's fine it's all and that's an
1:03:20another example of sacrificing reality
1:03:23to make it the the feel what you want it
1:03:26to be because the timing just does does
1:03:28not quite work
1:03:29I just had like people are showing up at
1:03:31at times that you know that work well
1:03:34for the narrative not so much when they
1:03:35would have actually gotten there
1:03:37yeah how is it that Mary and keys get
1:03:39there and none of the other pursuing law
1:03:42enforcement officers do things like that
1:03:44has been to the forest and Gertie gets
1:03:46there first but she was with her mom so
1:03:49she runs in way before her mom and keys
1:03:51do so what did what are they doing
1:03:52apartment car time there parking Carly
1:03:54dropped kandi off to get there
1:03:56oh but it's and it's very much of a
1:03:58piece with the end of Close Encounters
1:03:59yeah it's again it isn't it it's a it's
1:04:02a nice emotional finish even even if
1:04:05it's not your logical it's almost like
1:04:07yeah I i hate to say this but you know
1:04:09it's kind of like the end of a play
1:04:11where everybody comes out the stage and
1:04:14vows this is like everybody gets their
1:04:15chance to have a moment with ET before
1:04:18ET leaves we all wanted we want to have
1:04:20the emotional emotional fulfilling and
1:04:23we don't want to have dirty as last time
1:04:25she sees ET
1:04:26he be when he's dead or anything like
1:04:29that and they said no no no he came back
1:04:31to life and flew back to his planet is
1:04:32like I don't know if I believe you see
1:04:35he's like my puppy is on a farm he went
1:04:37to reform upstate
1:04:39he's fine a planet upstate but it is
1:04:42satisfied that was totally emotional
1:04:43don't miss this movie makes i mean i
1:04:46think what we've been saying is there
1:04:47are times in this movie we're in it i
1:04:50think consciously makes the decision to
1:04:51go for the emotionally satisfying or or
1:04:55resident image instead of it being like
1:04:59supremely logical and that gives you the
1:05:03fairytale aspect yeah i mean if everyone
1:05:06talks about it as a science fiction
1:05:07movie and you know it one what saturn
1:05:09awards and all these things and you know
1:05:11it's like oh it's the greatest science
1:05:14fiction film ever made and no it's a
1:05:16very tip yeah it's a fairy tale with the
1:05:18science-fiction elements
1:05:19yeah it's an alien fairy tail fairy tale
1:05:23about namely growing up with a Catholic
1:05:26theologian in the house this movie I
1:05:29mean without even having the
1:05:30conversation I'm already going wow
1:05:32that's a lot of Judeo Christian imagery
1:05:35holy cats because you know it's the
1:05:38dying and the sacrificing to save the
1:05:40human and then rising up surprising it
1:05:43again and then going up into the heavens
1:05:44and but it's never showing up in a
1:05:47shroud when they open up the back of the
1:05:49van
1:05:50the Shroud of ET its kind available but
1:05:55you know it's never heavy-handed about
1:05:57it's never like hey we're going to use
1:05:58this imagery whom you know it is very
1:06:01light and I feel more like it's it's
1:06:03it's steven spielberg rifling through
1:06:07the imagery drawer and knowing you know
1:06:11it is yes is ET meant to be Jesus no
1:06:14buts ET s ET storyline is meant to eat
1:06:18evoke things that can be revoked using
1:06:23imagery that lots of people are familiar
1:06:25with right it's sort of the reverse it's
1:06:27like we it's in our cultural programming
1:06:29now and those are those are things that
1:06:32can be played and Exploited and used by
1:06:36the stream movies telling and and just
1:06:38like that
1:06:39parallel science fiction movie about
1:06:41hunting the alien we don't need all of
1:06:44those details because we get it yeah and
1:06:46we can focus on the characters like Andy
1:06:48takes the the flower that came back to
1:06:50life and that's the one that he takes on
1:06:51the spaceship is like I got my flour
1:06:53because he is a botanist right I feel
1:06:55like they were collecting samples at the
1:06:57yeah this rapture one that's pretty
1:06:59potted yeah that was that was the one he
1:07:01was he was left behind because he was
1:07:02trying to collect yeah i got my flour
1:07:04I got it I got a new kind of flower pot
1:07:07that's perfect
1:07:08I my I mean that's the kid that's
1:07:10another cute aspect of it goes back to
1:07:11me saying ET may not be a very good
1:07:13officer on this spaceship is like I
1:07:16these aliens are kind of adorable like
1:07:18they really care about plants and that's
1:07:20their thing and hand each other
1:07:22yeah I'll at all of all the way back at
1:07:24the beginning of the movie there's the
1:07:26one still waiting there at the door on
1:07:29the word me to come back
1:07:31yeah and then and then he when he's had
1:07:33a great adventure and he says goodbye to
1:07:34all of his friends and he says you know
1:07:36I'll be right here we get that it so the
1:07:38the tears come to my comeback right then
1:07:40has a little glowing finger and all that
1:07:43but then he takes his plant and goes
1:07:45away
1:07:46ok come on plant I'm good and that's
1:07:48just I i love i love that aspect of it
1:07:51to that it's just like in the end
1:07:52why did he come and visit us he wanted
1:07:55some plants become what he does he does
1:07:59invite Elliot to go along with that's
1:08:01true yeah that's a really really
1:08:03touching moment and I think like you can
1:08:06cut it i think e.t knew that he wasn't
1:08:08going to be able to go along with him
1:08:09for the same reason that et is not able
1:08:11to stay right on it would hurt his heart
1:08:13if he was away from those people
1:08:15exactly yeah and so the spaceship takes
1:08:19off and departs by rainbow for other
1:08:21planets using the rainbow they engage
1:08:24the rainbow dr ya gotta install one of
1:08:26those in my car show
1:08:27rainbow drive and they're gone get to
1:08:29get back to the fairytale aspects like
1:08:31why would it not leave on a rainbow
1:08:33come on that's right yeah that's it and
1:08:36the music swells and that's the end of
1:08:37ET NE gets home and everybody's happy
1:08:40except maybe the mom but I think maybe
1:08:43her faith in humanity is restored or
1:08:46something like that let's hope let's
1:08:47hope it gets better for diwali and you
1:08:49know you gotta think that an experience
1:08:51like this is going to bring
1:08:52therefore their family together so you
1:08:54know maybe they'll have a stronger bond
1:08:56because they have gone through all of
1:08:57this and things will change for them
1:08:59plus you know the government smashing
1:09:01through their windows and tended their
1:09:03house they're probably going to get some
1:09:04sort of you know phenotype settlement i
1:09:06would think maybe yeah well yeah they're
1:09:08gonna they're gonna be famous and and
1:09:10and the dad is not is just out of the
1:09:12picture so he's going to talk show
1:09:15circuit yeah
1:09:16mhm I'm I'm telling you she's gonna
1:09:18marry Peter Coyote mm well they were
1:09:20parking the car over here so you never
1:09:22know they were they were doing something
1:09:24in the car for a while i do think that
1:09:25they'll get compensation of some form
1:09:28from the government for the the program
1:09:31probably by the house right it's like
1:09:32the sight of of the famous alien
1:09:35encounter and they'll turn into like a
1:09:37museum or something it's probably still
1:09:39more research to be done
1:09:40Elliot to I i would imagine that Elliott
1:09:42said not to totally ruin this movie by
1:09:45speculating what reality what happened
1:09:47yeah but but to do that I Elliott has
1:09:51Elliot is a human who has been mentally
1:09:54attached to an alien being bonded for
1:09:59days with an alien and sort of got out
1:10:02glimpse into the thought process of an
1:10:04alien i would imagine that they will be
1:10:06talking to elliot and using him as a
1:10:08research subject for a long time which
1:10:11probably be you know that probably pay
1:10:13for his college tuition and all those
1:10:14things because of that so yeah it'll be
1:10:17okay eventually he becomes an FBI agent
1:10:19and he's teamed with this beautiful
1:10:21brilliant red head and they I did
1:10:23actually want again in a lesser movie
1:10:26that is not that is not this movie the
1:10:28last scene is they go back home and as
1:10:32they're walking into the front door
1:10:34Elliot passes a planter box and all the
1:10:37plants and he touches it and all the
1:10:39plants bloom back to life
1:10:41oh he's been left with ed powers and
1:10:45then guitar solo tu tu ET le will return
1:10:48in ET to the quickening yeah i mean that
1:10:51there was a spate of movies after this
1:10:54of you know aliens befriending children
1:10:56and doing really making me and number
1:10:59two the frozen every one of the
1:11:01sucked was because they were all about
1:11:04trying to be cute and doing things just
1:11:06like that you know it's ago when that'd
1:11:08be cool yeah and and they don't they
1:11:11don't pay any attention to how children
1:11:13really behaved they don't really pay
1:11:14attention to the characters the way this
1:11:17one does i mean this is a really well
1:11:19realised group of of characters
1:11:22yeah i agree it's such a just a great
1:11:24movie I yeah I started out saying how
1:11:26much i love it I since you know once i
1:11:29started watching it with my kids and I
1:11:31realized again how much I love it we had
1:11:33a thing for my kids are growing up every
1:11:35year on dad's birthday we would watch ET
1:11:37together and to the sub was kind of like
1:11:41a thing you know and let's say well what
1:11:44do you want for your birthday that I
1:11:45really want you to watch ET with me and
1:11:46they loved it and we had a great time
1:11:48now my kids are like you know high
1:11:49school and college and I find myself
1:11:52still watching it on my birthday
1:11:53sometimes alone
1:11:55it's just such a great i don't know i
1:11:58like it relates a snapshot of my
1:12:00childhood so there's a part of it that I
1:12:01love for that but also i just feel like
1:12:03it's a very well-conceived project and
1:12:06everything in it works even the stuff
1:12:08that doesn't work work for me right
1:12:10yeah yeah yeah well then I mean that's
1:12:12magic that's the magic realism III I
1:12:15wonder if I'd kept in touch with the
1:12:17movie / 0 over the years it it did not
1:12:22hit me very strongly this time and I i
1:12:27do remember how strongly it hit me when
1:12:28I was a kid but I've been separated from
1:12:31it for so long that as i watched it i
1:12:34found myself feeling you know I'm not
1:12:37really looking for magic realism I'm not
1:12:40really i am having trouble turning my
1:12:43brain off and I'm trying to turn this
1:12:46movie into something it's not
1:12:47and i'm not sure where I'm not sure
1:12:49where that comes from you we recently
1:12:51reviewed a significantly lesser movie
1:12:54called Batman Returns that was very very
1:12:58bright in my memory for something I
1:13:00thought it was fascinating and weird and
1:13:02edgy and all the stuff that was it i'm
1:13:04having a similar moment of let down with
1:13:07ET for some reason I can't really put my
1:13:09finger on it other than
1:13:11all of the other big movies in the big
1:13:14franchises of the late seventies and
1:13:16early eighties for some reason I feel
1:13:20like they stuck around a little bit
1:13:21longer and I felt compelled to keep
1:13:24checking in with him
1:13:25ET was a one-off and it left me behind
1:13:28and on and and i'm just not sure do you
1:13:32how how big does it still hold all flat
1:13:36how big a place doesn't still hold in
1:13:38current pop culture is it a period piece
1:13:40is it nostalgia or is it still ET the
1:13:44big blockbuster that we all still
1:13:46remember fondly well let my kids both
1:13:49saw in school the first time I didn't
1:13:53even know I was like wait wait you saw
1:13:56it in school because my wife and I said
1:13:59we should we should see if they want to
1:14:00see et they've never seen ET well they
1:14:02both seen it and and over the course of
1:14:06several days it was one of those time
1:14:07killer things in school and that's
1:14:11really not the best way to an experience
1:14:13in the movie and you know and and so
1:14:16they like it they liked it when we
1:14:18watched it again and you know I I can't
1:14:22help but think like the first time I
1:14:24showed them star trek the wrath of khan
1:14:26i even knowing that there were more
1:14:29films with Spock later my son my older
1:14:34son really had no idea what was coming
1:14:36and so when Spock dies at the end it's
1:14:39like oh my god and he had been
1:14:42shattering all through the movie and he
1:14:43just went dead silent for the rest of
1:14:45the movie i really want to kind of you
1:14:48know now that it's been a little time
1:14:49since they saw it I kind of want to sit
1:14:53down and turn out all the lights and
1:14:55turn off all the devices and just say
1:14:56let's just watch this and experience it
1:14:59and see what happens but i know that the
1:15:02whole generation of kids at least in
1:15:05their school for them it's a movie that
1:15:07kills time at school and that's kind of
1:15:09depressing at the might get my kids are
1:15:12older now and they've died already told
1:15:14the story about them seen many years ago
1:15:15but my my sister-in-law has two kids a
1:15:18five and seven and we watched it
1:15:22together and they had never seen it
1:15:23before and I will
1:15:24super curious to see how they liked it
1:15:27the seven-year-old girl was completely
1:15:29in I mean from the very beginning feet
1:15:31she really enjoyed it she wasn't talking
1:15:33she was watching during the part where
1:15:37he's dying she like scooted in next to
1:15:40me you know she wanted to be close but
1:15:43the but the five-year-old he did you
1:15:46just didn't care at all and I feel like
1:15:48maybe this is the grumpy old man but you
1:15:50know a lot of like you know kids
1:15:51animation style movies today are a lot
1:15:54of like an old fart jokes and like gags
1:15:56and it just didn't feel like this movie
1:15:58resonated with him at all but i think he
1:16:00might have been too young to for to
1:16:02resonate with him
1:16:03yeah I have no idea how it how it lands
1:16:05with kids at all these days but I know
1:16:07for me kind of like it was with you chip
1:16:09it i didn't check in with it at all and
1:16:11I found it I found it enjoyable film to
1:16:13watch I think maybe I'm still you know
1:16:15Snoopy enough and an emotional enough to
1:16:17to have all of those those cute sweet
1:16:19scenes resonate with me enough to enjoy
1:16:21I don't see myself going back to watch
1:16:23it again it was just it was it was a
1:16:26fine movie I i think it was very
1:16:28well-crafted and I can see how it if if
1:16:31i had seen it at the right time or the
1:16:33right age and watch the beginning again
1:16:34that this this would totally have been a
1:16:36movie that I would have returned to
1:16:38again and again is that didn't happen
1:16:40that way and I don't think that it's i
1:16:43don't i don't know that it's as well
1:16:45known in you know the cultural zeitgeist
1:16:47is it used to be i mean that's that's
1:16:50going to happen but it's i feel like i
1:16:53used to see a lot more references to it
1:16:55in pop culture and that is is fading out
1:16:58a little bit so I mean unless some sort
1:17:01of big ET revival happens i would not be
1:17:04surprised if as the years pass he
1:17:07teaches sort of fades away
1:17:09I feel like it's a club it's a classical
1:17:11movie and will always be considered that
1:17:13it is right i think it has reached
1:17:15classic status i think what it is nice
1:17:17is a science-fiction franchise right and
1:17:22I yeah and it's never gonna be that and
1:17:24that's good
1:17:24I i read i think the wikipedia page says
1:17:28that that's feel burger at one point was
1:17:30throwing around a sequel and where
1:17:33they're like no no it would be it would
1:17:36do nothing but Robbie original of it
1:17:38virginity is what steven spielberg said
1:17:40about ET to nocturnal fears and so that
1:17:45was made and so it is
1:17:46I you know I think it's gonna be one of
1:17:48those things where people like oh you
1:17:49haven't seen ETO that's a classic like
1:17:51it's it's on you know the national film
1:17:53registry
1:17:54it's a lie i feel like it's that kind of
1:17:56movie and so in the end I do think it
1:17:59will be remembered but it's not going to
1:18:01be remembered in the context of
1:18:02something like Star Wars which for
1:18:05raiders of the lost ark where they
1:18:07became the blockbuster movie franchises
1:18:09because in the end
1:18:10yeah it's a largely quiet fairytale kind
1:18:15of movie I also would say i do think it
1:18:19looms large on Steven Spielberg's
1:18:22filmography and Steven Spielberg yeah
1:18:24who is who is still making movies 69 he
1:18:28still making movies but he is it safe to
1:18:31say going to be recognized as one of the
1:18:33towering directors of all-time and this
1:18:36is one of his very best films and will
1:18:40remain so so i think on that level it
1:18:42will also be remembered but it's not in
1:18:44the same category as movies that you
1:18:46might categorize it with because it's
1:18:47not it's just this you know it's kind of
1:18:49personal and it's sweet and it's fairy
1:18:52tale ish and it's not any of the things
1:18:54and it has kind of no villain any of the
1:18:58things that that would require it to be
1:19:00more I don't feel like revisiting it
1:19:02more than once every decade and myself
1:19:04and and that that's fine because I don't
1:19:08you know I can't remember the last time
1:19:09i watched watch casablanca it's probably
1:19:11time to watch it again but it you know
1:19:14it but it's been a little while because
1:19:15I don't feel the need to revisit all of
1:19:17those movies all the time so classic
1:19:20though I think also chip I think
1:19:21somebody needs their heart touched by a
1:19:24glowing alien fingernail haha one thing
1:19:29that I do value about this movie and
1:19:31it's not it was never intended to be but
1:19:34it totally has turned we started at the
1:19:36beginning calling a time capsule
1:19:38it is so thoroughly obvious time it's so
1:19:42thoroughly 1982 ya down to the you know
1:19:46down to him playing with his star wars
1:19:50figures in front of ET and
1:19:51calling them by name you know all of the
1:19:53all of the back pass between Steven
1:19:56Spielberg and George Lucas really coming
1:19:58out here but i was looking back into my
1:20:03childhood I was looking into 1982 and it
1:20:06looked authentic absolutely authentic
1:20:08and that that is a gift for this movie I
1:20:12think and just like it does not
1:20:14it's not like a Stepford portrayal of
1:20:17the suburbs rain right grown-up thing I
1:20:19mean
1:20:19Oh on Halloween when I grew up things
1:20:21were rough on halloween night me when
1:20:23you went out you had eggs and there was
1:20:26stuff going on
1:20:26I mean it's so much more milk toes now
1:20:28at least where i live compared to where
1:20:31I gave up and you know penis breath and
1:20:34all that's I mean that's just kind of
1:20:35the way of the world then and and you
1:20:38know you didn't have GPS on your kids
1:20:40and get all the stuff you know and and
1:20:43so that's one of the reasons why i know
1:20:44i'm nostalgic for now and i enjoy
1:20:46because it reminds me of a different
1:20:47phase of my life but but it is it is
1:20:50wonderful that that it is there the
1:20:53events go kind of magic realist but uh
1:20:56but he really he really strives for
1:21:00civility grounds it and and when it when
1:21:02it's grounded and windy other other
1:21:05movies off the time didn't pay as much
1:21:08attention to where they were there was
1:21:10set dressing but he's actually exploring
1:21:12this is the pop culture of the time
1:21:14these the Star Wars toys here's the
1:21:16dungeons and dragons here's that
1:21:18commercial and when you do a good job of
1:21:21grounding it in a time then you
1:21:25inevitably create a time capsule and
1:21:27there are other contemporary movies that
1:21:30just are not this one does it if you're
1:21:33of age that you grew up in this late
1:21:35seventies early eighties and you haven't
1:21:38seen this moving in while you owe it to
1:21:39yourself to just just watch it once
1:21:41because it is so fun especially for
1:21:43someone that lived through that area now
1:21:45even though it didn't strike me
1:21:46emotionally
1:21:48uh the way it does you David it it did
1:21:51it I am grateful that I got that I
1:21:54rewatched it just to sort of reconnect
1:21:56who i was back then huh
1:21:58back when ship had a heart mmhmm yeah it
1:22:01is then then for the next couple of
1:22:02years because i was a scrawny guy with a
1:22:04long
1:22:05like the kids on the bus would taunt me
1:22:06and call me ET so maybe that also has
1:22:08some knows we just got to the room
1:22:12sure yes ouch indeed therapy via podcast
1:22:16everybody hug shoots to everybody hug
1:22:19chip it's time for us all to grab our
1:22:23flower pots and return to our spaceship
1:22:25now so I'd like to thank my guess
1:22:27Erica and sign thanks for being here
1:22:29thank you for having me i'm going to
1:22:30switch my keys to the other side of my
1:22:32belts and head home
1:22:34smart move chipset earth thanks for
1:22:36being here I'll be right here
1:22:38oh look at you it'sit's all it's working
1:22:41now dear lord thank you thank you I i
1:22:44will engage the rainbow dr excellent and
1:22:47David Sparkes I told him to talk now he
1:22:49can talk now
1:22:50thank you Jason and thanks everybody out
1:22:52there for listening we are indeed
1:22:53engaging the rainbow drive and heading
1:22:55off to the other side of the rainbow
1:22:56which is in space or something
1:22:59we will see you next week bye everybody
1:23:07to done your heart late
1:23:10ok ok I'll stop I'll stop will you know
1:23:13let it shine wherever I just wish I
1:23:17remembered more of the lyrics to heart
1:23:19like yeah I'm grateful that you don't
1:23:20want to know your heart like God I
1:23:25wasn't gonna stop you did that day it's
1:23:27your fault Jason chip i only watch
1:23:31Baywatch for the articles and uh error
1:23:40error error reboot ship reboot chip
1:23:43summer Steve let's is smiling