Tweet
Spielberg sheds some light on the darker side of E.T. and his pals.
It's been 30 years since the original E.T. was released in theaters. Pulling in $792 million worldwide at the box office and earning nine Oscar nominations in 1982, Steven Spielberg's science fiction classic was an immediate hit from day one. Naturally, there was sequel talk.
In fact, even before the film first debuted on the silver screen, Universal Pictures must have already known they had something special on their hands because a sequel treatment for E.T. was penned mere days before the movie's release. Of course, any die hard E.T. fan knows that this 9-page outline has been lurking around the Internet for years. Written by Spielberg and E.T. writer Melissa Mathison, E.T. II: Nocturnal Fears picked up where the first film left off, Elliot out of school for the summer and coping with the absence of his extra-terrestrial buddy.
The story didn't sound too far off from traditional Spielbergian fare -- that is until a group of carnivorous aliens shows up:
"The aliens onboard are EVIL. They have landed on Earth in response to distress signals designating its present coordinates. These aliens are searching for a stranded extraterrestrial named Zrek (E.T.), who is sending a call for 'Help.' The evil creatures are carnivorous. Their leader, Korel, commands his crew to disperse into the forest to acquire food. As the squat aliens leave the gangplank, each one emits a hypnotic hum which has a paralyzing effect on the surrounding wildlife. These creatures are an albino fraction (mutation) of the same civilization E.T. belongs to. The two separate groups have been at war for decades!"
Further along in the treatment, Elliot and his friends are kidnapped and subjected to violent interrogation by Korel, and that's around the time when E.T. comes back to Earth to save the day. No doubt, this was a much darker take on the E.T. franchise, but luckily Spielberg took note of this and quickly backtracked on the idea.
"Sequels can be very dangerous because they compromise your truth as an artist," Spielberg said in a recent dialogue at the American Film Institute. "I think a sequel to E.T. would do nothing but rob the original of its virginity. People only remember the latest episode, while the pilot tarnishes."
It's been 30 years since the original E.T. was released in theaters. Pulling in $792 million worldwide at the box office and earning nine Oscar nominations in 1982, Steven Spielberg's science fiction classic was an immediate hit from day one. Naturally, there was sequel talk.
In fact, even before the film first debuted on the silver screen, Universal Pictures must have already known they had something special on their hands because a sequel treatment for E.T. was penned mere days before the movie's release. Of course, any die hard E.T. fan knows that this 9-page outline has been lurking around the Internet for years. Written by Spielberg and E.T. writer Melissa Mathison, E.T. II: Nocturnal Fears picked up where the first film left off, Elliot out of school for the summer and coping with the absence of his extra-terrestrial buddy.
The story didn't sound too far off from traditional Spielbergian fare -- that is until a group of carnivorous aliens shows up:
"The aliens onboard are EVIL. They have landed on Earth in response to distress signals designating its present coordinates. These aliens are searching for a stranded extraterrestrial named Zrek (E.T.), who is sending a call for 'Help.' The evil creatures are carnivorous. Their leader, Korel, commands his crew to disperse into the forest to acquire food. As the squat aliens leave the gangplank, each one emits a hypnotic hum which has a paralyzing effect on the surrounding wildlife. These creatures are an albino fraction (mutation) of the same civilization E.T. belongs to. The two separate groups have been at war for decades!"
Further along in the treatment, Elliot and his friends are kidnapped and subjected to violent interrogation by Korel, and that's around the time when E.T. comes back to Earth to save the day. No doubt, this was a much darker take on the E.T. franchise, but luckily Spielberg took note of this and quickly backtracked on the idea.
"Sequels can be very dangerous because they compromise your truth as an artist," Spielberg said in a recent dialogue at the American Film Institute. "I think a sequel to E.T. would do nothing but rob the original of its virginity. People only remember the latest episode, while the pilot tarnishes."
