1982 is calling...

In 1982, director Steven Spielberg was hot off the successful action/adventure Raiders of the Lost Ark. However, in the last few weeks of production, he was having some interesting dreams. He was back on set of his sci-fi epic Close Encounters of the Third Kind and remembering that final sequence of Roy Neary and the little aliens going up into the mothership. The alien that makes contact with Lacombe was nicknamed on set, "Puck". While he was filming the scene, Spielberg had a thought. What if the aliens performed a foreign exchange student situation: Neary goes off into space and Puck goes back with the scientists at Wright-Patterson Air Force base? He immediately considered changing the ending of the movie, before shortly deciding that he'd save it for another movie. That movie became...


Song: "The Flying Theme" by John Williams

This film, which Spielberg considers his masterpiece, made nearly $800 million at the box office that summer in 1982. However, this did not come without some negativity seeping through. Some parents were very concerned with the level of hostility that the government agents showed towards the escaping kids in the famous bike chase scene. Spielberg himself admitted to being bothered that guns were used in the presence of the youngsters. Other things like Elliot's cursing ("It was nothing like that, penis-breath!") and the distressed Mary's pre-9/11 complaints about Michael's Halloween costume ("I mean it! You are not going out as a terrorist!") was given close scrutiny. Over the years as Spielberg helped pioneer the CGI revolution in films like Young Sherlock Holmes and his own Jurassic Park, looking back to E.T. became particularly painful. He was convinced that the puppet used to bring the titular hero of the film was not entirely convincing. So he took a page out of his friend George Lucas' playbook (which most people today -- myself not included -- hate to the very core) and did the unthinkable: go back into E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and fix what he saw as imperfections. In 2002, this project was unveiled as E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: The 20th Anniversary Edition.


As with Lucas' Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition, this version of the film had several opponents. The most vocal of them were Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of "South Park" who had worked with Spielberg before on an in-house Universal short film (where they got him to actually make fun of Jaws). In the episode "Free Hat", the creators took aim at both Lucas and Spielberg for changing their beloved films. Lucas was portrayed as the conflicted underling of the sinister mastermind Spielberg.


For years, Spielberg took a lot of heat for several reasons: directing dour, dramatic films that few enjoyed like Munich, War of the Worlds and A.I.: Artificial Intelligence; and he also created a new Indiana Jones film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, that "alienated" the Indy fan base in more ways than one and inspired another anti-Spielberg/Lucas episode of "South Park".


A few nights ago, the "Free Hat" episode appeared to have come true. Steven Spielberg was in attendance of the premiere of a brand new master print of Raiders of the Lost Ark. However, Spielberg announced he was no longer in the business of changing films from the way he originally made them, which more cynical people would point a finger at the man Spielberg calls his best friend. Spielberg said, "I was disappointed in myself. I got overly sensitive to E.T. and I thought that if technology evolved, I might go in and change some things. It was OK for a while, but I realized what I had done was I had robbed people who loved E.T. of their memories of E.T." In the middle of the Q&A session, Spielberg took an informal vote: would the audience mind if he only put out the 1982 version of the film on Blu-Ray? The audience's combined response of "NO!" had Spielberg triumphantly saying, "Then, so be it!"

In the back of my mind, where I like to keep my paranoid conspiracy theories, I can't help but think this is just so conveniently timed. I'm sure Spielberg knew that Lucas was going to alter the Star Wars Blu-Rays. He knew that people were furious over Crystal Skull (which he playfully referred to). Was this his perceived second chance to get in good with the fanboys by catching them at their angriest and giving them hope (right before The Adventures of Tintin and War Horse are released)?


Of course, I truly have no malice against Spielberg. The man was and still is the modern-day master of entertainment. I have thoroughly enjoyed his films from both the past and the present. The good he's bestowed upon the world greatly outweighs the bad. I highly look forward to The Adventures of Tintin (December 23, 2011), War Horse (December 25, 2011), Lincoln (2012?), and Robopacalypse (July 3, 2013).