A work of art is always a product of its time. Changing it later can not only offend many fans, it can also turn out to be a big mistake. Steven Spielberg only learned this lesson when he rather inconveniently censored his masterpiece ET – The Extra-Terrestrial (1982). You can now watch the result with an Amazon Prime Video subscription.
That’s what ET – The Extra-Terrestrial is all about
A group of aliens land in a forest to collect plant samples. When government officials show up, the aliens flee the planet. In doing so, they accidentally leave one of their companions behind hidden in the hut of a garden. There the boy Elliott (Henry Thomas) finds the unusual visitor.
After befriending the alien, Elliott decides to help him. Together with his siblings Gertie (Drew Barrymore), Mary (Dee Wallace) and Michael (Robert MacNaughton), he hatches a plan to bring his new friend to his own kind.
Steven Spielberg regrets this decision at ET to this day
Over time our perception changes. We reevaluate different things and sometimes we wish we had made different decisions at certain points in our lives. Even big Hollywood directors are not immune to this. But interfering with large works of art often doesn’t make things better – quite the opposite.
In the film, ET is sought and hunted by government agents while the children try to help the alien. Among other things, they drive past armed officers holding rifles in their hands. Even as they search for the children and the alien, they carry pistols in their hands.
In retrospect, the use of firearms against children seemed implausible to Steven Spielberg. That’s why he decided to change this detail in ET – The Extra-Terrestrial. In addition to other special effects that had since developed enormously, every firearm was digitally replaced by a radio for the 20th Anniversary version from 2002.
The picture comparison: This is how the weapons were removed in ET
Such changes are not isolated cases. As is well known, George Lucas also changed the original Star Wars trilogy several times – and not always for the better. It’s usually the fans who don’t approve of these changes. In the case of ET, Steven Spielberg now sees it the same way. That’s why it was For the 30th anniversary, the Blu-ray of the film in the original version released (via Slash Film). Regarding the change, he said afterwards:
I tried it once myself [einen Film zu ändern] and regretted it later. Not because of the fans’ outrage, but because I was disappointed in myself.
Many people associate ET – The Extra-Terrestrial with a lot of valuable childhood memories. And to this day, the sci-fi fairy tale is considered a timeless classic. Whether changes or not, you should see this film once.
Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi fairy tale can now be seen on Amazon Prime Video.
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