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Techtite's DVD Reviews! |
"...the guns the feds hold near the end of the film have been digitally replaced with walkie-talkies. Why? This scene makes no sense when revised, implying that all the feds wanted to do is to introduce E.T. to a good long distance cellular plan. However, the rest of the film looks good as ever...thank goodness." ---from the review ------------- Sidebar :: ------------- Better than...? While the Star Wars, Star Trek, and yes, even the Babylon 5 fanatics argue over which universe was best, here's a film that's in a league all its own. However, has that worked in its favor, or against it? Most of its power comes from the lack of any sequels to drag its reputation in the mud. It's also one of the few sci-fi formulae that hasn't been cloned, copied, or ripped off endlessly, which is more than you can say for Star Wars (Battlestar Galactica) or Star Trek (Babylon 5, to be honest). This is a unique film, that deserves a unique niche in the history of cinema. Close Encounters of the First Sequel? Yes, trivia buffs, this is the film that was originally intended as a sequel to the classic 1978 film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In fact, many people might see similarities between the alien leader in that film's finale, and the little hero in this film. ----------------- Feel free to contribute. As always, review submissions are accepted! ------------------
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E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial(20th Anniversary Special Edition)
Click pictures to order either version.
A Techtite Review
The Film: Who can believe it's been 20 years since E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial, took the sci-fi, fantasy, and children's movie genres by storm? 20 years later, the film is brought back to the big screen, with totally revamped audio, restored deleted scenes, and a few additional "tweaks." The whines about a "classic" film being "revised" are not as important as the ability for another generation of children to see this film in theaters. It may even lead modern children's entertainment companies to re-think the maudlin path they've taken lately (Disney's Atlantis, Titan A.E.), and push for a return to classic, harmless family fun again. That said, this is truly the best time for E.T. to have been re-released. The story is as fun as it ever was, about a cute alien whose friends are forced to leave without him, when an overzealous group of alien-hunting agents (National Enquirer, I imagine) spoils their visit to an Earth forest, where they were collecting plant life. Fortunately, it's a dark night, and E.T. is able to traverse the forest to safety close by. The forest happens to be near the house of Elliot, a young, lonely boy who needs a friend. Elliot winds up letting the little monkey with the extending neck hide out in his room...more specifically, his unrealistically large closet. From taking E.T. out on Halloween (as a ghost), to mind-linking with him when he watches TV (which leads to Elliot re-enacting movie scenes while he's in grade-school biology class), every scene of this film is a hit. So, what about the added, or alternate footage? The former amounts to little more than 2 and a half minutes (or so I'm told; it goes by quickly) and includes little more than a scene with E.T. investigating the nuances of the human bathroom, and a second scene, where Elliot's mom searches for him on Halloween. As for the latter (altered footage), FX like the spaceship have all been digitally enhanced to look less "fake," and most controversially, the guns the feds hold near the end of the film have been digitally replaced with walkie-talkies. Why? This scene makes no sense when revised, implying that all the feds wanted to do is to introduce E.T. to a good long distance cellular plan. However, the rest of the film looks good as ever...thank goodness. While the film --either version-- is practically flawless, hype in 1982 told a different tale. If your best memory of Hollywood over-hyping a film's popularity is when 1998 brought us hundreds of Titanic "heart necklaces," just imagine a movie whose hype was 1000 times worse. Yes, this includes the Star Wars trilogy...and Jaws...and any other top-film you can think of. Just about every commercial, sitcom, or department store slogan had some rendition of the "E.T., PHONE HOME!" mantra. E.T. hysteria became a phenomenon all its own. Mind you, these were the days when Rubik could make a mere "cube" into a must-have toy puzzle, and a little old lady could say merely "Where's the beef?" in a Wendy's commercial, and become a celebrity. Furthermore, 1982 was very close to the '70s, when the most popular fad was The Pet Rock, which was in truth --I kid you not-- just a simple rock in a box. In this society, any simple sales ploy could become popular...so you can imagine how the media blew a gasket over a film that truly deserved recognition. Such was the case with E.T. However, how far is too far? Kids who were born long after 1982 might ask how many kazillion Oscars this film received. The answer is a sad epilogue to the history of the film, because while it won a few technical achievement awards, that's it. It was indeed nominated for Best director, Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, best Film Editing, and Best Cinematography, yet lost to Gandhi in all those categories. I know I'm going to get letters to the editor up the wazoo for saying this, but all I can say is, 1982 was a different time than today, when the likes of Shakespeare in Love and Titanic can beat films like Saving Private Ryan and L.A. Confidential. Did it deserve more awards? Yes. Over Ghandi...? Don't go there. The best conclusion to this re-review is a frequent one, when asked twenty years later: what happened to the stars? The interesting thing is, they all have a tale to tell, and even some of the smallest players went to their own version of infamy. Gertie, Elliot's pesky little sister, was played by Drew Barrymore, who'd later star and produce Charlie's Angels, and was briefly married to her a similar bug-eyed alien named Tom Green (yes, as a matter of fact, I did have to say it!). If this doesn't show how much the young stars have grown in 20 years, try this one: if the adorable girl who gives Elliot his first kiss looks familiar, it's Erica Eleniak, who'd later be in Under Siege and Baywatch. How long 20 years can be! The DVD: Scuttlebutt is that this DVD won't last for long. However, is this because of "limited release" collectibles, or because the film, in theaters early 2002, did so poorly? Indeed, it is a shame this didn't do so good in re-release, though that's no excuse to not offer it as long as a Spielberg Farce like 1941, which is still among the worst films in Spielberg's career, yet still offered on DVD these many years (!). However, I digress. The first order of business is the main, two-disc set. This is of particular interest, since the discs are two separate versions, complete! Disc one is the 2002 "special edition" with the added scenes; disc two is as it was in its original, untouched (although finely digitally remastered) 1982 version. Disc One includes bonuses like a special intro by Spielberg, a soundtrack-only, classical orchestra audio option, a peek at the 2002 anniversary premiere, and oddly enough, a slide show (with narration) of our solar system! Disc Two includes a 23 minute "making of" featurette, a gaggle of photo galleries, trailers, cast and crew bios, production notes, and a special commercial, circa 1982, where McDonald's and E.T. helped promote the Special Olympics. My favorite extra would have to be the reunion video. Although just 17 minutes, all the main cast, plus Spielberg, are brought back after 20 years, to offer their most unforgettable anecdotes. It's enjoyable enough just to see how they all look "now," particularly the three kids; there is just as much fun commentary by the adult stars and crew, like Dee Wallace Stone, Spielberg, producer Kathleen Kennedy, and Peter Coyote (who played the alien-seeker Keys in the film). Among all the extras they could've offered after 20 years, this is the coolest. Why did the Grease DVD make us settle for some 5+ year old "reunion" footage, when it could've offered something like this?
The Gift Set's extras continue. Beneath the hardcover book is a certificate of authenticity, with the added extras kept in place via a soft foam insert below. There's the original 2-disc DVD set, plus an added DVD (more on that next) and the official soundrack CD, all in a special Mylar disc case. Topping off the physical extras is a senitype from the actual film, with commentary on the cardboard postcard that protects it. Of course, the third DVD is what you're most interested in. Is it, you ask, worthy of the money for the gift set, all by itself? Well, it does include an extended (50 minute) version of the featurette, "Evolution and Creation of E.T.," which is twice as long as the one offered on the 2-disc set. However, everything else is just the same bonus features on the 2-disc edition, thrown onto a separate DVD. The only eception was a 10 minute "Music of John WIlliams," which allows you a short peek of him actually conducting the classic score. That's about it...though in addition to the hardcover book, senitype, and cool collectible gift box, that's more than enough. On the other hand; if you missed it, you might only need bid on the 2-disc set on Ebay, if you need to play "catch up" on your DVD collection later on. However, limited editions notwithstanding, this is still a must-own video title, be it on VHS, DVD, or as a pricey gift set. It's one of the finest films I've ever seen, which after 34 years (half of it with cable TV) is saying an awful lot. Enough reading of 4+-page web site reviews; go get it!
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