One of my favourite films of all time must be Steven Spielberg’s 1982 masterpiece E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial. The film is timeless, and amongst Spielberg’s best work, but in 2002, a new version of the movie was released on DVD to celebrate its 20th anniversary. I’m not too familiar with this version, which was full of replacement footage and new shots, along with a CGI version of the title character in some scenes.
E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial official synopsis: After a gentle alien becomes stranded on Earth, the being is discovered and befriended by a young boy named Elliott (Henry Thomas). Bringing the extraterrestrial into his suburban California house, Elliott introduces E.T., as the alien is dubbed, to his brother and his little sister, Gertie (Drew Barrymore), and the children decide to keep its existence a secret. Soon, however, E.T. falls ill, resulting in government intervention and a dire situation for both Elliott and the alien.
Well, a new, very interesting video has surfaced online comparing both versions, shot-for-shot, side-by-side.
This video split-screen-compares Steven Spielberg’s classic movie in its original version from 1982 with the 20th Anniversary version from 2002. In the new version a lot of the classic bluescreen and animatronic effects, which earned this movie an Academy Award, were replaced by newly created CGI effects.
Personally, I’m always going to go with the original version of any movie, but I’m not adverse to watching new versions and really want to seek this one out. Take a look at the video and see what was changed for the later version.
