ET: The Extraterrestrial BS2

ET
Blake Snyder Genre: Rite of Passage


OPENING IMAGE:
A starry sky…and below it in the woods the Mothership.

SETUP:
As Extraterrestrials wander around the woods, gathering samples, headlights cut through the woods, trucks rush to the scene. The ETs race back to the ship. But one is left behind.
Cut to a house where a bunch of teenagers are playing Dungeons & Dragons. We meet Elliot, the younger brother of Michael. He gets no respect. They ignore his pleas to play. And ultimately send him out to meet the Pizza Wagon.

CATALYST:
Outside, he encounters something in the shed. He tosses a ball in, and it’s thrown back. He races inside, dropping his pizza. The other boys and Elliot’s mother race out to investigate. They see some tracks inside the shed – “Coyotes are back.”
It’s an early setup, leaving surprisingly little room for setup of characters or theme…

THEME STATED:
The pacing is so fast and furious it takes a while to get to the theme. During the ‘penis breath’ conversation at the kitchen table…Michael says – “why don’t you grow up and think about how other people feel for a change.’

There is a lot of talk about ‘feelings’ as the movie goes on…at one point Michael says Elliot doesn’t think what ET feels – he ‘feels what ET feels’.

And I think that’s the Moral Premise in a nutshell – Selfish Thinking leads to isolation and lower social status; empathy…especially with a stranger from another planet!...leads to acceptance and true friendship.

Ignored by family, Elliott starts out trying to get people to think his ideas and feelings are important – it’s all about him. But by the end he puts others(ET's) feelings and needs in front of his own, and becomes a kid-of-action in order to save his friend.

Admittedly, I was trying to work Peter Pan into this. But I think it’s a bit of a head-fake. Just like how Spielberg tried to smash Pinocchio into Close Encounters. I think it’s a dead-end thematically, though it emotionally evokes nostalgic feelings of childhood.

DEBATE:
In bed, Elliot hears noises outside. There’s no way it was a coyote! So he does what every unsupervised latchkey 80’s kid would do, he goes out in the backyard and sleeps with a flashlight. There he sees ET for the first time in the corn. They both scream and run away.

The next day he lays his Reese’s Pieces trailer, and spots KEYS the government ET-Hunter looking around.
That night, we get – if you’re watching the original – the Penis Breath conversation. It’s here that we see Elliot is a bit of a whiny prick. Ticked off nobody will listen to him he hurts his Mom’s feelings by telling her about
Dad being away in Mexico with his girlfriend.

BREAK INTO ACT 2:
ET shows up in the backyard munching candy. Elliot leads him upstairs.

B-STORY:
Keys finds Reese’s Pieces in the woods. The hunt for ET is constantly present.

Neither ET nor Elliot has a ‘measurable goal’ at the end of Act 1(he’ll get one at the midpoint). It’s just keep ET a secret or be friends with ET. What I’ve noticed is these kind of ‘goalless’ protag-movies need a constant threat to keep a sense of inevitability in the audience’s mind.
The film comes back to Keys every couple of beats and every time he’s a little closer. It’s a ticking clock of sorts.

FUN & GAMES:
Elliot fakes sickness. Hangs at home with ET. Shows him toys and starts their friendship. Ultimately, he introduces his brother Michael and sister Gertie to ET as well.

One of my only logic hiccups is why Michael – a somewhat reasonable 15 or 16 year old – is so willing just to keep ET in the closet. Not a huge speed bump, but something that would have been worth some explaining.

The group learns about ET. Witness his telekinetic abilities.

All the while Keys closes the noose, taking pictures of Elliot’s neighborhood, ultimately roaming around the woods in Elliot’s backyard.

Elliot goes to school and we see the telepathic empathy ET and Elliot share as ET drinks beer from the fridge.

Elliot frees the dissected frogs – evidence that he’s starting to feel what others feel.

This is about as close as I can get to a Moment of Grace. Somehow feeling what ET feels directly opens Elliot up to this new way of thinking. I’d even point to ‘the kiss’ he lays on the girl as feeling especially like a thematic turning point

During this drunken interlude, ET learns to speak. He even starts gathering materials.

MIDPOINT:
ET Phone Home! ET wants to phone home and he’s building a communicator out of toys and household items.

BAD GUYS:
It’s a false victory of sorts, since as Michael and Elliot are gathering equipment – surveillance crews are listening to them. They know exactly where ET is at this point. A new ticking clock of sorts is introduced – via a tell not show moment - when Michael says “he’s not looking good” Elliot tells Michael he’ll be fine once he’s near his home planet.

The next day is Halloween; they sneak ET out dressed as a ghost and go to the woods to setup the ‘phone’.  ET takes Elliot’s bike on a ‘flying trip’.
Once everyone is out of the house, the bad-guys/scientists swoop in and explore Elliot’s house with instruments.

The next morning, Elliot is missing; the cops are taking a report. When Elliot shows up, he’s looking very ill.
He tells Michael to go find ET.

Michael finds a sick looking ET by the river by the communicator. Helicopters are circling the woods.
Once home, Mom freaks as she sees ET for the first time (in an embarrassing coffee spilling cliché that I’d cut in the next Special Edition).

Just then – guys in Astronaut suits crash the party! Take everyone hostage! And wrap the house in a big condom.

ET and Elliot are side by side on medical beds. Keys interview the family.

ALL IS LOST:
ET dies on the operating table.  The telepathic link to Elliot is broken.

DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL:
Gertie cries.  Keys consoles Elliot. Elliot gets some time to be with ET.

As he says a tearful goodbye, ET’s heartlight shines! He’s alive! And the heartlight means his ship has returned.

BREAK INTO ACT 3:
Elliot and Michael hatch a plan to get ET back to the ship.

FINALE:
Enlisting the help of Michael’s friends, the guys hijack the van ETs to be transported in. Then end up on bikes. They finally escape doing the bike-flying trick and end up in the woods where the spaceship awaits.

They say their goodbyes. ET says “I’ll be right here.” Suggesting that friends remain in our hearts/feelings forever.

CLOSING IMAGE:
As the ship flies off into the same sky we opened with, we hang on Elliot’s face. And we can tell he’s a changed man…err...kid…happy for his friend’s triumphant return home.