E.T.: Spielberg, And The Magic Of Childhood Wonder

A theme park line turned into a friendship with cinema. We finally sit down with E.T. and discover why this quiet suburban tale still makes hearts race, even when the effects show their age. One of us grew up with Elliot and Gertie; the other just met them. That split gives the conversation real spark as we weigh nostalgia against first contact and ask what actually makes this film endure.

We dive into Elliot’s point of view and the fast, telling hints of divorce that frame his loneliness, then trace how Spielberg keeps the camera at kid height so the world feels huge and half-known. From Henry Thomas’ famed audition to Drew Barrymore’s instinctive reactions, the performances feel lived-in, not staged. We pull back the curtain on E.T. himself—mechanics, hand doubles, and a voice built from husky temp tracks—showing how practical effects and clever staging created a character you believe without a single line of exposition.

Music does the heavy lifting. John Williams maps feeling to motion, turning suspense into lift the instant those bikes leave the ground. We talk about how the score carries theme and memory, why the government agents land like a childhood fear until they don’t, and how a single moonlit silhouette became the face of Amblin. There are Easter eggs and cultural ripples too: the Yoda cameo, the Reese’s Pieces legend after M&M’s passed, and the notorious walkie‑talkie edit that fans rejected. Through all of it, we keep returning to the bond between a lonely kid and a stranded botanist, the kind of connection that makes burps, courage, and tears travel the same wire.

If you love film craft, childhood wonder, or just want to know whether E.T. still plays for modern eyes, this one’s for you. Follow the show on your favorite podcast app, share it with a friend, and leave a quick five-star review to help more movie lovers find us. What’s your favorite E.T. moment—and when did it first land for you?

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Transcript

Origin Story At Universal

Dylan 0:00

Before we get started, we need to rewind for a second. This whole podcast, all of it, started at Universal Studios Orlando. Standing in line for the E.T. ride, Joe made a very nerdy comment about how the ride pairs with the movie and casually asked, Have you seen? And I hadn't. And somehow that one question turned into this show. So it feels only right that we finally sitting down to talk about the movie that accidentally started everything. E.T.

Joe 0:29

E.T. Phone Home.

Dylan 0:52

Welcome to Have You Seen the Movie Podcast, where every movie is a premiere.

First-Time Watch Vs Childhood Nostalgia

Joe 0:57

This week we're talking about one of the most beloved films of all time. And while I have grown up with E.T., Dylan is meeting this little alien for the very first time. Childhood wonder, big emotions, and a movie that shaped an entire generation.

Dylan 1:13

This week's movie, E.T. The Extraterrestrial, came out in 1982 and is rated PG for mild language and some emotional intensity. So another Spielberg on our hands. Yes. So what Spielberg have we covered so far?

Joe 1:31

What haven't we? Well, so some were some were directed, some were produced. Um directed was Jaws, Jurassic Park, and then produced uh Goonies Spec the Future. Um you look like you have a list. No, no, okay. Not this time. Oh me. But off the top of my head.

Dylan 2:03

Yeah. Because I was just like, I was trying to think of just what we had covered of Steven Spoberg's. This isn't kind of an interesting one because I it's one it's one of those movies that you you know even if you've never seen it.

Joe 2:23

Uh-huh.

Dylan 2:24

And so like I've I've seen like different uh clips from it, I guess. Yeah. Uh just scrolling on social media, whatever.

Joe 2:37

Yeah.

Dylan 2:38

Yeah, after seeing lots of different clips of it and finally getting to see it all put together. Yeah.

Joe 2:43

Commercials and whatnot.

Dylan 2:45

Um and it's one of those things that like I didn't go out of my way to watch clips of it or anything like that. Just whatever the the 20 second video was, you know. Right. Yeah. And so uh, but yeah, the the um radio, if that's what you want to call call it that ET makes, makes so much more sense now that I've seen from the from the ride. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joe 3:13

What is that contraption? Right. Yeah, it's definitely I I don't even know. I mean, I can't imagine how different it would be to go on the ride and then have not have seen the movie or yeah, and that one in particular, because like, yeah, men in black, you can get along and say that it's a shooting game, or right, uh, but this is very specific, and then it gets a little like um like you really have to pay attention to details in the movie to really pick up on the rest of the ride.

Dylan 3:52

Like, I mean, because the only thing that I knew from the movie was pretty much the flying bikes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which most that was made.

Joe 4:10

Yeah, I like when um, you know, he he's flying at night and you're like, that's the shot.

Family Dynamics And Elliot’s View

Dylan 4:16

That's the shot across the moon. Yeah. So at the beginning of the movie, they I feel like they didn't really do a good job setting up that the dad was divorced. Oh, yeah. Whatever. Okay. Uh, because what do they say? They bring up Mexico.

Joe 4:39

Yeah. Um, because so this is because I grew up in a home like this. Um basically Elliot knew where he was, where the dad was, and he was in Mexico with some girl, like his girlfriend, basically. Gotcha. And so that kind of established that's how they established it. And and like the older brother got mad because he shouldn't have told his mom that, and that broke her mom and their mom down, right? So she started crying, and so yeah, that whole thing was that's how they set it up. Gotcha, okay. Yeah, it's it's a quick conversation, but yeah.

Dylan 5:20

I felt like a lot of it too was interesting that it really only followed Elliot. Yeah, yeah. Um, I feel like a lot of times in movies you kind of get a perspective from all of the characters, yeah. Um, and this time it was pretty uh I was gonna say centered around, but obviously, yeah, but um you know, from the perspective of Elliot.

Joe 5:52

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I part of this is Spielberg's story as a kid. Oh really? And feeling because his parents went through divorce, um, and so he wanted to give a perspective of what it felt like as for him to feel alone in a family, yeah, but at the same time have somebody come and you know, be his friend. Yeah. And so that was a big part of why it was centered around him.

Dylan 6:25

Yeah. Um, so it came out in '82. So how old would you have been?

Joe 6:33

Either two or three.

Dylan 6:34

Yeah. Yeah. So when was the first time you watched it?

Joe 6:38

I went to the theater. That's one thing I do remember.

Dylan 6:42

You were two or three years old, and you remember that?

Joe 6:45

Yeah. I know.

Dylan 6:47

Man, and I can't remember what I had for breakfast.

Joe 6:49

The biggest thing was um my mom doesn't remember this, but I do. Um, her, so living in a single mom's, yeah. Uh, we went with her boyfriend.

Dylan 7:01

Yeah.

Joe 7:02

And my brother said he saw it with my grandma, so we weren't together.

Dylan 7:06

Oh, interesting.

Joe 7:07

And I remember him having to take me to the bathroom as a kid. Yeah. Oh funny. Yeah. And just, you know, I because I couldn't hold it. That's what I was young, you know. You gotta go, you gotta go. Yeah. So I know I missed parts you know when I first saw it, but I do remember that, like, you know, um, the three of us being there together, um, my mom, her boyfriend, and me. So I don't know if that was their date night and I went along.

Dylan 7:34

She could consider, yeah. Yeah. So funny.

Joe 7:38

Yeah.

Dylan 7:40

What like watching it back for you? Yeah. Do you feel like you pick up on different things then?

Joe 7:47

Yeah, because I've watched it different times over the years. And so then as you know, again as an adult, you pick up on like again that little joke between every everybody, and um even in that that conversation, nobody left, but or I don't know if it was just different for me, but when he yells, when he yells at uh his brother and calls him penis breath, and then and then the mom couldn't control herself.

Performances And Casting Surprises

Dylan 8:17

That was funny. Yeah. Was that was her laughing in the script? She just couldn't hold it in. Because like watching it, you're she's laughing and she's like trying to reel it back in so hard. Yeah, exactly. And I'm like, that's such a parent moment right there, right? Where your kid says some out-of-pocket something. Exactly. You're like, you're like, that was hilarious, but I cannot react. Oh yeah, yeah.

Joe 8:53

I yeah, it brings back memories from my mom. Yeah that we would say.

Dylan 9:00

Um yeah, I think for me, like just being able to watch it and kind of finally see the the uh hype around it, if you will. Uh-huh. Um, it was definitely uh it was definitely worth a watch. Uh-huh. Um the CGI in it is definitely its lowest points, but it's also early 80s, so yeah, there's not a whole lot you can do about that.

Joe 9:33

Yeah. Yeah, it's not even considered CGI. Yeah. Yeah. Because it's um two green screens. Yeah, green screen and yeah, yeah, all that stuff.

Dylan 9:44

Yeah. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I I was, I will say I was surprised at um how much emotion was packed into it. Yeah. Uh, you know, I it was a Spielberg, so I was like, I knew that it was gonna be in there somewhere. Yeah. But uh man, yeah, yeah. I was I was kind of surprised that um and seeing uh seeing ET for the first time, um, yeah, it kind of made me laugh because I at the beginning of it, when all you see is like the hands and being and you know, long fingers, right? I was going to like lurt turn to you and be like, so is this another jaw situation? You get two-thirds to the movie before seeing anything, yeah. But I mean they come right out with it, so yeah, yeah, they do. Um so at the beginning of it, they um what what happens to ET? He so he gets left behind, yeah, obviously. And then so like was it so supposed to be left behind?

Joe 10:57

Was it an accident or yeah, I think it was an accident because they were it seemed like they were searching for plants and life on Earth, yeah. And so they you know they were doing their thing, but then because of those guys, they got scared and left and ran off without E.T. Yeah.

Dylan 11:17

So how would you say that it compares now, like watching Back to It as an adult?

Joe 11:31

I love it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I do. Um and I can't even remember the last time I watched it. And I mean, yeah, it's been a year or so. Yeah. Um yeah, it's not one that comes out a lot, but yeah, I think I want to watch it more often because it's just like, ah, there's a lot of cool stuff in there.

Dylan 11:54

And you have Elliot, who is our main character. Yep. Henry Thomas. Why does that name sound familiar?

Joe 12:05

I guess he was NET. Um you know, he didn't you know, he didn't do a a lot right away, but okay um he popped up in like Legends of the Fall in '94, and then Gangs of New York in 2002. Um and it was kind of cool. It's like, is that Elliot? Really?

Dylan 12:37

It's like you're like, hey, wait a minute, wait a minute. Elliot. Elliot. Yeah, his performance in that though, even being so young, he did it was a good, definitely a good job though.

Joe 12:53

Yeah, yeah. Um when they were doing auditions, he um just couldn't get through the lines, and so Spielberg just said, Okay, just forget those lines. Um pretend that um your friend who's a creature um you're best friends with, you know, is dying or is doing this, or you know, gave him different scenarios. And I just want you to say what you would say or do what you would do. And um it's on YouTube, but his his audition, yeah, and he's in tears, and he's just uh and at the end of the uh is pretty famous, but at the end of the video he goes, You got the part, kid. Oh yeah. So so he was a natural for oh funny, yeah.

Dylan 13:48

Who who played the brother, Michael?

Joe 13:51

Oh, Robert McNaughton? Is that how you pronounce it? Okay, yeah.

How E.T. Was Built And Voiced

Dylan 13:55

Sounds good. Sounds good, sounds good. Um do we all agree in the room? Let's take a vote. Everybody? Yeah, um, is it bad that I kept noticing his teeth? Like, and I don't mean that in a negative way, yeah. It honestly it reminded me of my younger sister because growing up, like when her teeth came in, they were all like crooked like that. Yeah. And so uh, yeah.

Joe 14:22

Yeah, I you know, yeah, he is kind of um you know, a funny kid, but uh he's he's a really good brother. You know, like when Elliot goes to him, it's like um uh you know, what does he say?

Dylan 14:42

I have the power or have the oh yeah, yeah, you have all the power. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joe 14:47

And he and he totally he's totally cool with that. Yeah. And then the funny thing is that when like it comes down to him having to do something, he's like, hey, remember, you have all the power. I don't. Right. But yeah, it just with those actors, it just they were just naturals at being kids or right, you know.

Dylan 15:10

Yeah, they definitely had kind of good um chemistry together. Um and then who played the younger sister? Gertie Gertie.

Joe 15:23

Uh Hollywood royalty Drew Barrymore.

Dylan 15:27

Drew Barrymore. Now that is almost a household name.

Joe 15:34

Yeah. Kind of like with um Rosemary Clooney is the aunt of George Clooney. And so like there's a lot of Barrymores before her that were in Hollywood, and so she just kind of took the the royal Hollywood way, yeah. And she's amazing. Come on, like she could stand her own, even if she wasn't like first of all, in this movie, she's amazing, you know, just a little even so young, yeah. You know, I I'm not sure what she was playing seven, but I'm not sure how old she was. But yeah, um, you know, just a lot of the reactions and things that she did in there were just natural, and they just kind of set her up to to kind of do those things, yeah. You know, yeah. Um, there's a point at the end where they're trying to save his life, they're trying to save E.T.'s life, and um I mean I have to go off of memory. Uh she's she basically said her she thought um she she thought they were hurting him.

Dylan 16:50

Oh, you really?

Joe 16:51

Yeah, and so like she and and these kids, you know, really took to E.T. you know, and so she and she didn't really know the difference because she was so young. Yeah. And so she said, um, she thought they were hurting his heart and not helping him. And so like she when they when they do the um the paddles, yeah, defibrillator, and they that big thing, you know, that big spark, like she she cried in real life, and and they had to like like wait until she she finished, like that scene could have been longer because she just lost it.

Dylan 17:29

Yeah, yeah, I'm surprised they didn't show that more because um I mean that would have played right into it, right?

Joe 17:39

Yeah, I know, I know they they cut it pretty short. I was like, wow, you know. Um so yeah, I just it's one of those things where I mean, but she would go on to do her Batman movies and you know, Charlie's Angels and all that.

Dylan 18:00

Um and then who played the mother?

The Elliot–E.T. Bond Explained

Joe 18:04

Um D Wallace. And she was so let me see, I'm gonna check to see what year that was. She was okay. So I was confused as a kid. Um because I was take I was being taken all these movies, right? Yeah. So it's a Stephen Co Stephen King movie called Cujo about a killer dog. Okay, and she plays, you know, basically the mom in that movie, and like it gets scary. Oh yeah. So this is a year after, so it was in '83, Cujo was in eighty-three, E.T. was in eighty-two, so the next thing she does is Cujo, that comes out. Uh, you know, I go, I get taken to see it at three or three or four. Oh man. Yeah. And like, I mean, there's a scene where she's like literally trapped in the car with her son, and this dog is just going after them. Wow. Yeah. So it's kind of a confusing childhood for me.

Dylan 19:09

I've always wondered why you liked cats better. Yes. Um, and then uh you have E.T. Yes. As himself. No. Yeah.

Joe 19:23

And E.T. as himself. Hello. So yeah, there's uh so we talked about La Bamba. We talked about um the producer who produced La Bomba, and he had done an officer and a gentleman.

Dylan 19:43

Yeah.

Joe 19:44

So the lead actress in that was Deborah Winger, and Deborah Winger was friends with Steven Spielberg, and she was the original uh voice for E.T. Oh, really? Yeah, because she had like he said something about her smoking like packs of cigarettes, you know, like yeah, a twat back at day or whatever. Yeah, they yeah, and and so she has this like husky voice, yeah. And so he he had uh her do the temp voice for E.T. Uh and she also did she was one of the um I don't know, zombies in the street when E.T.'s walking around with his, you know, they're kind of showing his perspective, and and it pans over to the right, and you see this like nurse zombie that was her with a with makeup on and all that. But oh funny. Um so then they had another character actor named Pat Walsh do uh the voice as well. So they kind of went in between those two and uh did some audio things to yeah, yeah. And then, you know, ET's really um is it amalgamation of sure sounds good, sounds good. We're gonna use fancy words today, kids. You get to define them. I'll just use them. Um but uh so you were you were mentioning the at the beginning the show E.T.'s hands. Well, they picked uh uh like a hand model, uh a girl who had long fingers, like really long fingers, and so they made these gloves that made it even longer, but they were because her fingers were still long enough, they were able to use them, you know. So so it looked realistic, and so um they would have the puppet, um you know, the upper half, and then her arms around the sides, so that the you know it would be E.T.'s hands like moving and and kind of pointing and you know, oui or whatever. And so so then the you know, the obviously the inside of the the puppet was all mechanical and remote. Right. He got the eyes down. And Steven Spielberg said, and surprisingly, it worked the whole time.

Dylan 22:11

That's hilarious. His track record was not there for two electronics. Yeah, right. Um something throughout the whole movie was E.T.'s and Elliot's like bond. Yeah. And um just the kind of the the emotional connection they had. Uh, and I guess the physical connection. Yeah. So do they elaborate on that at all?

Adults, Keys, And Ominous Government

Joe 22:46

Um, not that I picked up on, other than when they show that CAT scanners, you know, whatever that scan was of showing them being bonded. In sync. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't really pick up on how necessarily he was doing that, but other than um when he's kind of like trying to talk to him, and Elliot's looking, and he starts he kind of waves his finger, and then all of a sudden he's tired and Elliot's tired, and they're both tired, and then it's like they're taking on each other's feelings, you know. So yeah, it wasn't I didn't feel like it was like clear cut. Right.

Dylan 23:29

Well, because that's what when uh I guess the first time that I really picked up on that was when E.T. was bringing the beer, yes, and Elliot starts you know burping and getting intoxicated from that. And I was I was I like I turned to your wife and I was like, what? Yeah, because it just doesn't like they don't really set it up, and I'm like, oh, so there's just a connection now, got it.

Joe 24:06

Yeah, yeah, there's some funny that whole scene is hilarious, yeah. Freeing frogs and kissing the pretty girl in school, right?

Dylan 24:20

It was funny how they set that part up, though, like just completely mirroring yeah, what he's watching, yeah. Yes, that was hilarious, yeah. Grabbing the kid and standing on his back, yeah, yeah.

Joe 24:35

Yeah, and it seemed like with one with all of that happening, it just seems so fast. Yeah. I think the one thing, the main thing was the um kind of the way they set up adults in the in the movie, kind of reminded me of Charlie Brown. Yeah, you never really see them. Um and and in this, because it was kind of filmed from Elliot's perspective, you kind of seen like you know, the waist down of adults, like especially the keys. You really yeah, keys, and but you really notice it like in school, uh, when the you know professors telling them or teachers telling them, right, you know, uh, you know, and so you get this perspective, but yeah, keys as a as a character, you know, is is kind of interesting because it's this comes off as this ominous character, right?

Dylan 25:29

And I was totally waiting for that the whole time. Yeah. And then he's like, he's like, hey, we're actually nice, yeah, yeah. Right, right.

Joe 25:38

Yeah. And I think like, um, yeah, it it's just one of those psyches because uh, you know, like I even remember, probably because later in the end, but I I I thought I remembered them being bad. Yeah, and so then I was like, oh yeah, they're good, you know, and then him saying, like, oh well, I met him when I was 10, and you know, uh, you know, and and I've been waiting for him to come back and yeah, and all that. So I was like, whoa.

Dylan 26:12

Yeah, I kind of wondered with that part. I was like, is he beering real or is he just like oh trying to be like, oh yeah, we're fine.

Joe 26:22

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, but it's kind of cool, like, you know, to think about that, like, you know, he was in Elliot's position at one one point and maybe met him and and then he can't he took off and um you know has been waiting for him the whole time. Right. Um you know, and so finally he he becomes this scientist and you know studies UFOs just to see him again.

Dylan 26:51

And you know, I mean there's so you know there's so much in there that that could be um another big part of this movie is the film score. Oh, yeah, um like the uh I don't know what you want to call it, but like I feel like I think so much of this film score from the ride. Yeah, yeah. Just hearing right, just hearing kind of the main score, like in the ride or in the gift shop. Yeah, you know, right? It's just funny.

John Williams And Musical Storytelling

Joe 27:26

Yeah, yeah, it is. I was uh when I was looking through extras, there's uh actual video of John Williams playing um the themes to like basically going, here's what I got, yeah. And he's playing it on the piano. And I I told my wife he's he's playing the main themes to Steven Spielberg, and I thought it's like listening to a sketch of a painting. Okay, it's like if you could listen to a sketch, yeah, and you listen to the piano and what he's playing, but then when the orchestra comes, that's the painting, it gets refined, yeah. Yeah, you have those layers and you have that yeah, refinement and the colors and and all that stuff, but you could just hear the vision from him just playing the piano the way he was playing it out. It was like amazing, yeah.

Dylan 28:24

Um but yeah, just the the music carries the movie so much, and in such a positive way, yeah, yeah.

Joe 28:34

It it's not like if it didn't have music, it'd be terrible.

Dylan 28:38

Right. Um but yeah, it's definitely a uh an iconic film score, kind of that main one.

Joe 28:48

Yeah. Um Steven Spielberg said uh, without John Williams, bikes don't fly, nor do brooms in Quiddage matches, nor do men in red capes. There is no force. Dinosaurs do not walk the earth, we do not wonder, we do not weep, we do not believe. Wow, yeah.

Dylan 29:13

Well, that's all we have for today.

Joe 29:18

Thank you for listening to right mic drop. Just said it all right there. Yeah. Yeah, it it's true though. I mean, I I think like again with these Spielberg movies and John Williams and stuff, it's just just this epic proportions of of you know, yeah, and the little subtle things that he does with um with them with Elliot and E.T. meeting, and and you know, he'll he'll make the music kind of ominous and then go into like a happier, you know, major round.

Dylan 30:02

Oh yeah, because I did I was not expecting E.T. to be as friendly as he was. Yeah. Um so yeah, that I mean it was a good uh it was a it was a good expectation to meet or whatever.

Joe 30:23

Right.

SPEAKER_03 30:28

It's late, the house is quiet, and someone isn't from around here. He's traveled millions of miles, crossed galaxies, hidden in closets, and now he's hungry. Some stay phone home, we stay phone for pizza. Hot, fresh, and extraterrestrial. Delivered anywhere, suburb, forest, and placed at the basket. No spaceship required. Phone home pizza. While you're light years away from home, but just one call away from extra cheese. We come in peace and with pepperoni.

Location, Yoda Easter Egg, And Lucas Ties

Dylan 31:06

So I was trying to figure out though, like where the movie takes place at, because I don't think they ever really covered that.

Joe 31:16

In America, wow.

Dylan 31:19

Oh no, they did. Yeah, didn't it like Nevada or something? I'm so bad with geography over by California though.

Joe 31:28

Yeah, Lake Tahoe. Yeah, where but I can tell that it was filmed all over the valley in Southern California.

Dylan 31:39

You're like, yep, I've been there.

Joe 31:40

Yep, I see that. Oh, I know that road.

Dylan 31:43

Yeah, yeah. Um, it definitely worked in the movie's favor though, kind of have having that suburban setting. Yeah. Um, and yeah, the the Halloween uh like Halloween night when they all go out, yeah. They're like actually walking like E.T. around. I was like, man, you could just take off the sheet and be fine, right?

Joe 32:11

Yeah, I know. They really didn't need it. I mean, other than like, you know, where did you get that costume for Gertie or something?

Dylan 32:20

But then when when E.T. like sees the Yoda, yeah. I wasn't sure if you were picking up on that. Yeah, that was hilarious, but like home.

Joe 32:34

Yeah, Yoda's like, ah, give me away from that. Yeah, it's kind of funny because the the brother does a Yoda impression right before uh I don't know if you noticed that. Yeah.

Dylan 32:49

Oh yeah. Yeah, right before he sees Ichi for the first time, yeah, doing Yoda. Um but yeah, that was just so funny.

Joe 33:00

Yeah, total connection.

Dylan 33:02

Yeah. Something else, too, I noticed is how much they kind of use shadow in this. Um, like a big one is when the mom is reading the daughter and E.T. Um, the Peter Pan story. Oh, yeah. Uh-huh. And you like you have the shot of the closet, uh-huh, and it's the mom's silhouette on the wall, and totally like out of sync with with what the you know, the silhouette is like reading versus the like the voiceover. What's on that? Yeah. It kind of made me laugh. Um you did you tried, you you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joe 33:43

You tried. Um uh the Yoda thing. Uh they actually I missed this. Uh I you know um forgot to listen for it, but I guess they play a little bit of Empire Strikes Back and behind that. Oh, wait, really?

Dylan 34:00

Yeah.

unknown 34:02

Yeah.

Dylan 34:03

Who produced this movie? Yes. That's hilarious.

Joe 34:16

They're not known for uh their subtleties. Well say they were doing fine with fans up to a point.

Dylan 34:35

Oh yeah, that's so funny.

Joe 34:38

Like did how did they get away with that? Um, well, so the producer was Kathleen Kennedy Kathleen Kennedy. Congratulations. And uh so she produced a lot of Star Wars movies. Oh, did she? Okay. And plus the fact that John Williams had composed those, you know, Empire and Star Wars and all that they were able to use it. But uh she's also produced the most recent um well, and speaking of sorry, I just cut you off.

Dylan 35:14

Isn't E.T. in the Star Wars movie? Like the species? Yeah, yeah. I was just thought about that. I was like, wait a minute.

Product Placement And Reese’s Pieces

Joe 35:22

Yeah. So so it a return inside joke that George Lucas did was in Phantom Menace when they have that like galactic senate, yeah, and there's a whole bunch of E.T.s in that Senate. That's so funny, yeah. Which is kind of cool and kind of like um canon kind of thing, because like E.T. seeing Yoda was like, hey, you're an alien too. Like, can you know you can you get a hold of my family? Like, can you take me home?

Dylan 35:54

Like, can I, you know, grab a that's so funny. Yeah, because um I've I've seen a clip of of that from the I don't I don't know if it was like uh Easter eggs in movies or what it was. Oh yeah, but um, you know, those YouTube rabbit holes that you go down at 2 a.m. when you're trying to fall asleep. Right, yeah, yeah. Um but like of like Easter eggs in movies, and that was that was one of them. One of them.

Joe 36:27

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and I remember um you know seeing when they released the newer, you know, episode one through three and seeing that in there, I'm like, hey!

Dylan 36:41

Wait a minute, yeah. I have no idea where we were at with any of this. Yeah. Uh something else in the movie that I was like picking up on was the how like the I don't know if it was government or police or FBI or yeah, the Space Force. Is that yeah, yeah. Um, but how like they really did not have a face to them. Really up until pretty much the end of it, it was all just ominous chase.

Joe 37:21

Yeah, yeah. Even when like right when uh they start coming to the house, it's sort of like this horror you have just the the spacemen, yeah, yeah, like in the full in the full suit. Yeah, literally. Like, yeah, and it kind of reminds me of like uh UFO lore and stuff like that. Because you know, people say they've seen you know men in little green suits and all that kind of stuff, right? And supposedly it was government people with spacesuits from early on or something like that, yeah, you know, but yeah, um like a big thing too is that it wasn't as sci-fi as I thought it was gonna be, yeah.

Dylan 38:15

Which kind of surprised me, uh just given the nature of the beast. Yeah, yeah. Um I was like, it just I get that he's you know stuck in suburbia, but yeah, but I yeah, I was expecting there to be more sci-fi elements, and there really wasn't.

Joe 38:37

Yeah. No, I I it it's funny because it just I think it plays off of things that have been established, you know, right in some ways, and it just kind of goes forward. Yeah, you know, yeah, there's no origin story.

Favorite Scenes And Kid POV

Dylan 38:54

Which came first, the alien or the chicken? Yeah, um we should have we should have pre-planned this and bought some Reese's pieces. Yeah, yeah.

Joe 39:11

We should have. That uh would have been really good right now. I I mean, in all honesty, I mean, I think the minute we started seeing those on film, like we were wanting some.

Dylan 39:26

Yeah, I I had no idea, or else that would have been so funny for me to just pull out a bag of it from my yeah. Like, look what I got. Joe, you had one job. Come on, man. Dealing. It was so funny. So you were saying though, like while we were watching it, that uh like the sale of candy like shot up after the movie.

Joe 39:55

Yeah, like it so here's the thing like you know, there's there's product placement in movies, you know, and for some reason, who knows why. Well, okay, so Steven Spielberg approached MMs to be used for ET. Oh, really? Yeah, and they said that because of ET being so ugly, they feared children would be frightened by it, by it, and they didn't want to be a part of it. So they're like they to so then they decided to use Reese's pieces, and um the sales skyrocketed after the movie. It was like and they didn't even ask, like you know, Reese's wasn't like, hey, you know, like we'll give you a sponsorship. Right, we'll throw this in there. Yeah, they just did it, and and that's hilarious. Yeah, it's crazy. Um, so don't miss out on product placement in movies, right?

Dylan 41:01

What do we have? Coke and coors and and uh Reese of Pizzas and what else was in there?

Joe 41:09

Um stepped on pizza. That's right. That's my favorite. It's a family recipe. It's really flat though, even more flat than a pizza normally. Flatter than flatbread pizza. You just gotta peel the topping off the top of the right.

Dylan 41:27

Scrape the scrape the cheese and the sauce off the lid, and you'll be fine. Yeah. Do you have a favorite scene in this movie?

Joe 41:38

Hmm. Man. I was thinking of one. I like the Yoda scene.

Dylan 41:49

Um I mean, because you of course you kind of have the the iconic flying across the moon. Right. Uh, and the I'll be right here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I think one of my favorites, though, is when E.T. is starts copying Elliot of his actions. I think that's just so funny. Yeah.

Joe 42:19

I like how Gertie teaches him how to talk. You know, yeah, because it's it's all like, well, one, I learn how to speak and spell from uh Sesame Street. So that was playing in the background. B B Basket. Yeah, bant it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And I'm sure she was still learning too, right? So they're learning together.

Dylan 42:45

Yeah, because she just was like repeating after the TV. Yeah. And the brother here at the back, he talks now, still drunk.

Joe 42:55

Yeah, yeah.

Dylan 42:57

Yeah, that was that made me laugh at that scene right there. Because he's like, he talks now, and all I could think about was like how you know you would feel being drunk, yeah, and you're like, wait a minute.

Filming In Order And Working With Kids

Joe 43:18

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love those little points of him walking around and and um, you know, kind of being himself, and you know, like exploring and watching different shows and all that. Uh one of the biggest things that most films don't do is shoot movies in chronological order. A lot of the times because of schedules and seasons, weather, all that kind of stuff, yeah. You pick your scenes and then you just shoot them and then you cut it together in from the first scene to the last.

Dylan 43:57

Yeah.

Joe 43:58

And that's kind of why you have to. Do you know lighting and color correction because you probably started in the summer and ended in the winter? Oh, okay. And so they actually with this movie shot everything in chronological order. Really? Because the kids were young, yeah, and he improved with them a lot. And so um, rather than like sticking straight to the script, yeah, the um like the script um assistant or director, um, I forget what you call it, but basically she would write out all these cards for the day and say, This is what we're shooting.

Dylan 44:37

And so she just gave him the bullet points and was like, fill up the blanks.

Joe 44:41

Yeah, yeah. And so um Spielberg said that that felt like it gave him freedom to like explore new things and try new things because he wasn't stuck to this huge book that he had to look through. Yeah. And so, you know, you get 10 cards a day or something, and it's sort of like, okay, I got 10 cards, and you know, we have this much time, and we're gonna, you know, get these 10 cards done. And if we try new things, will we still have more time here? And you know, so and the crazy thing about that too was between so they they had to go to school uh while they were on set. Yeah, yeah. And so what they would do is they said like they would film and then they thought, oh, I'm gonna go take a break, or I'm gonna go hit craft services or whatever, right to school. They had like a trailer with with a teacher and every everything, and so all the kids in the in the whole show all just went to school together. So like Gertie's over there studying, you know, her first grade or second grade stuff, and uh, you know, Elliot's over across going through his junior high or stuff or whatever, and um, and so they all kind of went to school together for that point, but it wow, it it was just kind of a a crazy mix of um you know shooting and then doing school and then having to go home and you know, because they still had like curfew and and all that kind of stuff.

Dylan 46:14

Um because at that time too, since they were kids, they could only perform act for a limited number of hours too, right?

Joe 46:26

Right, yeah. And so they could kind of have them go to school and shoot, and go to school and shoot, and and extend it a little bit, but yeah, but I think they were still like still had to be mindful. And I think like the one thing about Spielberg too was that he watched over the kids, like he really made sure that they were taken care of and parents were there and all that kind of stuff. He just really loved kids and yeah, you know, like cared for them a lot, so yeah.

Dylan 46:57

Um Spielberg definitely does really well, it seems, with the kid, you know, the child actors in his movies. Yeah. Actually working with them and not being big producer, yeah, yeah. There was a story.

The Walkie-Talkie Edit And Practical Effects

Joe 47:16

Yeah, yeah. Producer director, whatever he feels like he has all the hats, right? Uh, but there is a story that Corey Fellman was originally supposed to be one of the kids in the you know, bike gang or whatever you call it, and yeah, he was gonna be kind of a classmate that was kind of a bully, but kind of a skeptic and stuff, and okay, ends up being part of them, uh, kind of uh Elliot proving that E.T. was real, and yeah, and so the part just kept ketting getting cut down and he ended up getting cut out of the movie. And so later on, um he he put him in uh gremlins and then he put him in Goonies to kind of make up for oh yeah, yeah. So which is pretty cool, like hey, want to get on somebody's good side or right, but that to me again that just shows that he he cares, you know, about people he works with and and all that. So when they did the 20th anniversary uh reissue of E.T., um, I think it was like a hundred grand was spent on doing CG and new uh up updates to the movie. Oh, really? Yeah, and so you know, it was just little things, um uh, you know, uh special effects and all that kind of stuff. Kind of following what George Lucas did in in the reissue of the Star Wars movies. Yeah. And for some reason, uh, I don't know if it was I I think it was because it seemed too violent, um, which it kind of does if you think about it, but there's the point where they the kids are going towards the guy, the FBI guys or whatever they're just Americ like US government agency or something. Yeah, yeah, the suits, yeah. Um, so they're flying towards them and then are they uh riding towards them and then they start flying and then frantically pedaling towards them. Yes, yes, and then uh and so then they start flying and and they pan back, and in the CG reissue, the government agents are carrying uh walkie-talkies, and there's not a gun in sight, and um, and so it just seems weird, like that it just seems weird, yeah. And so I guess after that there was such a backlash that people didn't like it, and he regretted it. So when they did another reissue, they took all that out, and so now it's kind of uh kind of an Easter egg thing to find an old disc with the the you know digital stuff in it, yeah, because it's kind of funny to see, and then to see it the way we did with with none of that, it's like I I like it. And even though the CG or not even CG, the special effects are practical and the special effects are green screen, and you can tell I love it for that, you know, yeah.

Dylan 50:24

Yeah, um you just can't be practical effects, right? You know, that's what holds up to the test of time, really. Yeah. Um but yeah, the I feel like I don't know, like you're saying that it felt too um violent, uh-huh, but then I also feel like the guns kind of don't make sense uh because I'm like okay, why are you shooting at kids that are running away from first off? And then and then when they uh like crash into the park, uh-huh, you know, they uh rolling with style. I don't know. But yeah, when they're crashing into the park and the the the suits are running over holding the you know the snub nosed revolvers.

Joe 51:24

Yeah, yeah.

Dylan 51:24

I'm like I'm like, why do you have your guns drawn?

Joe 51:27

Yeah, yeah, and the mom is running with their kids, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, but I think that's the point. You know, just the perspective from kids too of government is running after you and and all that kind of stuff, and you know, and in this scenario, government bad, yeah, right. But but like, yeah, like uh I and I love that they put that in there. It's just like they're kids, like put your guts away, kind of seriously, yeah.

Ratings, Legacy, And Cultural Icon

Dylan 51:57

All right, Joe. So out of ten glowing fingers, what would you rate this movie? At least an eight. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was thinking an eight. Yeah, it's a good, it's a good movie. Um I'm very surprised that I have not seen that up until now.

Joe 52:20

Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I and that was the discussion when we were were in line. I was like, Why have you not seen E.T.? Yeah.

Dylan 52:31

Well see that rock over there, yeah. Yeah. Home. Dylan home. But yeah, um. Do you think that it's more of a movie for kids or adults or both?

Joe 52:54

I think both. Um I'm not a parent yet, so what do I know? I was taken to see Cujo at three, so yeah. Yeah. Uh, you know.

Dylan 53:06

Maybe when you do become a parent, clue me in, and I'll be like, hey, let's not do that. I'll be like, yeah, you probably shouldn't. Yeah.

Joe 53:18

Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure my wife will help me.

Dylan 53:22

She seems to do a good job of that.

Joe 53:24

What are you guys watching today? Uh Christine. Right. Killer Car, you know, Stephen King, the classic. Yeah. But ET, I don't know. I mean, it it's what was the rating on it? PG 13 or something? Just PG. Yeah, just PG. So parents' guidance, be there, be in the room. Right. Um yeah, that's kind of funny because there's that point where she goes to pick up Elliot and leaves Gertie home alone.

Dylan 53:59

Right. I was like, oh, that's Hades right there. Yeah, exactly. Can't do that now.

Joe 54:05

Yeah. I was like, yeah, that's back in the day when you can do that.

Dylan 54:09

I just liked how she was like, don't move.

Joe 54:13

CPS.

Dylan 54:17

Phone CPS. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, this movie just definitely has like just the cultural legacy behind it. Because all of the the merch and just everything that goes with it. And um that's the studio, I mean, that's their logo.

Joe 54:38

Right, exactly. Amblin and Entertainment's logo is that. Right. And that's I mean, the only other thing you can do that with is Joss. Right. Like you see that silhouette, you know, you know, even if it's like in The Simpsons or some other thing that's, you know. Oh yeah. Yeah. It's uh, I mean, I'm I'm pretty sure I've seen it in a lot of other movies, kind of in a mocking, or not mocking, but like kind of tribute way, but uh, and so you just know. And and I forgot that it it basically happens twice because yeah, it's him the first time and then the rest of the group, you know.

Dylan 55:21

So yeah, it's pretty funny. All right. Do you want to tease our next episode?

Joe 55:31

Uh you what's the next episode?

Dylan 55:34

The Matrix? Oh. Don't say uh you. Hey, so next episode, we're watching a movie that I've never seen. Two men.

Joe 55:51

Where is that at? Where's the T stuff? Oh, just okay. Got him. And in the next episode of Have You Seen the Movie Podcast, Joe Pentliano will sell out um the savior of the world for a piece of steak.

Dylan 56:14

Are you is does this mean that you're making steaks next week?

Joe 56:18

I yeah. Well, that's a good idea. All right, I'll get them out of the freezer now.

Dylan 56:29

All right. Whoa. That's all I gotta say. That dry aged steak. Okay.

Joe 56:44

We can still fire up the grill.

Dylan 56:47

You fire up the grill now, you're gonna be out of propane, but thanks for listening to Have You Seen the Movie Podcast. Make sure to follow the show on your favorite podcast app. And if you're enjoying it, leave us a five-star rating. It really helps the show grow.

Joe 57:04

And we want to hear from you. Text us your name and a movie suggestion using the link in the description. You can follow all our socials in the description as well. Everything you need is right there. We'll be back next week with another movie premiere.

Dylan 57:19

E.T. Podcast Home.