USHE Press Release: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1 Viewer)

[Jason_V]

Originally Posted by NY2LA /t/321107/ushe-press-release-e-t-the-extra-terrestrial/120#post_3935053
http://acertainpointofview.net/?p=1392
"A New Hope says:
06/05/2012 at 10:26 AM
No one whines about “Beauty and the Beast” and “Lion King” because hateboys don’t care about those movies those aren’t geek movies. They don’t feel ownership or a sense of entitlement about them. And bottom line, it’s all about their wants and demands. Consider “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.” Its ONLY release on DVD was the 2001 “Director’s Cut” and the original cut was ignored. There was no hateboy uproar because they LIKED the new version better (and because the clown posse of “treksperts” that routinely attend conventions had mobilized the hateboy media complex to support it). So, even though the original cut of ST: TMP was “lost” to history — and history MUST BE PRESERVED, DAMN IT — they uttered not a word. There’s far more demand now for the Directors Cut to be on Blu-Ray since only the theatrical cut is available in the format. In other words, they WANT the Star Trek Special Edition and who gives a fuck about the original. So that should answer your question: “Which kinda makes me wonder why the hateboys were still complaining even though they got the ORIGINAL theatrical version of E.T. (the one they have fond memories of).” It’s because their complaints had nothing to do with availability or history or memories. It’s all about getting their way. Period."

Use the search function on the HTF: http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/17188/star-trek-the-motion-picture-arrives Start with Post 15.

You do realize that the Star Trek: TOS Remastered sets all included both the original effects and the updates, right? And Blade Runner contains, what, four versions of the movie? And the Alien Anthology includes two versions of each film? Beauty and the Beast BD and DVD have multiple versions of the film. Lion King DVD has two versions of the movie.

Paramount refused to give Shatner extra money to finish ST V the way he wanted. Online petition here: http://www.petitiononline.com/TrekV/petition.html

Have you checked the TrekBBS for threads like the one you want to see? That forum is all Trek folk all the time and they can be very vicious.

 

[SilverWook]

The longer cut of TMP actually came out on VHS and LD in 1983. The theatrical was the harder version to find before the letterbox releases.
http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/23228/LV-8858-2A/Star-Trek-I:-The-Motion-Picture-%281979%29
I had heard stories over the years that Robert Wise nixed a planned widescreen version of the tv cut, or that the extra footage had been tossed out, making a widescreen version impossible. Then it all turned up in widescreen on the DVD extras.
Looking forward to your review and comparison with the E.T. LD boxset extras, Kevin.

 

[Kevin EK]

SW, I believe that you're right that Robert Wise was not about to let them do a deluxe release of the TV cut - this would have been a massive DGA violation, not to mention an insult to him. He didn't do that cut, and he didn't particularly like it. (It included a bunch of material he chose not to have in his Director's Edition, for reasons he discusses in his commentary there.)

For some reason, I remember a full frame VHS tape and a laserdisc being out of the theatrical cut at some point before the widescreen fun of the 90s, but I could be way, way off there.

I do believe you'll see a Blu-ray of the Wise cut, but it won't be for another year or more. Wouldn't take that much to do it and it's easy money for Paramount.

Re ET - I'm looking forward to that release and am holding back on looking at anything related to it other than the laserdisc at this point. I try in my reviews to trace things back to the Universal Signature Laserdiscs of the 1990s as many of the special features have their origins there. My reviews of Scarface, Psycho, The Blues Brothers, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Apollo 13, American Graffiti have all had me going back into the laserdisc editions. I really do think that Universal put some real care into these releases in the 1990s and the fact that many of the documentaries hold up so well is testament to that. Jaws will be the same thing for me. I have always really enjoyed the documentary from the Signature Laserdisc and I'm very happy that it will be included in its entirety on the Blu-ray. I waited for the 30th Anniversary DVD just because the earlier DVD did not have the whole thing on it.

 

[AlexCosmo]

No you're right.

Those universal laserdisc boxes were pretty great, I've basically given up hope that 1941 will be fully loaded like that.

 

[NY2LA]

No, there was no disapproval about anything in ET on its original release. Any disapproval, whatever that means, came much later when the world turned into an obnoxious, oversensitive PC place.

So you have personally spoken to everyone who saw the movie on its initial release, and can infallibly state that everyone was totally okay with it? Wow. And when Spielberg talks about the disapproval in 82 he is lying, And when the New Hope blogger reports remembering personally hearing a mother saying the guns "were going too far" in 82 he was lying. Go figure.

 

[NY2LA]

SW, I believe that you're right that Robert Wise was not about to let them do a deluxe release of the TV cut - this would have been a massive DGA violation, not to mention an insult to him.  He didn't do that cut, and he didn't particularly like it.  (It included a bunch of material he chose not to have in his Director's Edition, for reasons he discusses in his commentary there.) 

He didn't particularly like Star Trek in the first place. But you should have heard his reaction to The Haunting having been colorized!

I really do think that Universal put some real care into these releases in the 1990s and the fact that many of the documentaries hold up so well is testament to that.

Back in the laserdisc era studios didn't have departments to create the special edition versions, they tended to find the ultimate geek for that film and let them put together the new SE.  There is a lot to be said for putting someone with a voracious passion and sweeping knowledge of a movie in charge of assembling a package that will please casual fans as well as superfans.

Jaws will be the same thing for me.  I have always really enjoyed the documentary from the Signature Laserdisc and I'm very happy that it will be included in its entirety on the Blu-ray.  I waited for the 30th Anniversary DVD just because the earlier DVD did not have the whole thing on it.

Gee I wonder how many people rattled your cage for THAT decision... which of course I agree with.

 

[Kevin EK]

At the time I still had the Signature Laserdisc of Jaws, and I didn't have an HDTV yet, so it was a no-brainer then. I had picked up both Jaws and ET in the waning days of laserdisc and I still have the Pioneer DVL-909 which was my first DVD/laserdisc player. Once I picked up the Jaws 30 DVD, I let go of the Jaws laserdiscs, and sometime after that let go of the ET laser box, thinking that the inevitable Blu-ray would have everything on it. And by that time I had the 2-disc 2002 ET release. What can I say? I'm a pack rat with this stuff.

 

[Kevin EK]

BTW Robert Wise's unhappiness with Star Trek was mostly due to him being rushed into the completion of the movie without being able to actually really edit it. He had wanted to do more work on it after the release but Paramount said no. It wasn't until the DVD edition in 2001 that he finally got to finish the movie. Once he did that he was actually very happy to talk about the movie and go to events to promote it. He said in 2001 that the movie had been effectively given the longest preview screening period ever.

And now back to E.T., which I admit having not watched in its entirety in several years.

 

[NY2LA]

Gee--lots of posts in this here thread for that blu-ray you won't be buying!

Oooh, that hurt! Another pot(to kettle)shot!
Of course the threads about My Fair Lady and West Side Story have had literally hundreds of posts since I last checked in, many months after their Blu release, and it's unlikely people have stopped complaining about them. I notice you yourself have recently suggested that CBS face serious repercussions for their handling of MFL. Can't let that one go, huh? Did you buy it anyway?
This discussion about ET02 is not exclusive to me, or this board. But hey, if it bothers you all that much... see that ignore button by my name? Go for it!

 

[haineshisway]

So you have personally spoken to everyone who saw the movie on its initial release, and can infallibly state that everyone was totally okay with it? Wow. And when Spielberg talks about the disapproval in 82 he is lying, And when the New Hope blogger reports remembering personally hearing a mother saying the guns "were going too far" in 82 he was lying. Go figure.

I don't have to speak to anyone - I was there, I saw the film any number of times and no one had a problem with any of it THEN. All these problems were spoken of LATER. Sure, maybe one mother said something - so what? You so want to win every point and it borders on obsession and you've been quite rude to any number of people in this thread who've dared to espouse a different opinion than yours. Enough already, really. You have made the same points over and over and over again, despite the fact that you said you were trying to talk about other things. But you always come back to this. Sorry, ET was at the time the largest grossing film and a huge hit and there was no Internet and all these suppositions to bolster your position are silly. You think I'm making suppositions and I think you're making them. Spielberg didn't talk about disapproval in 1982 he talked about it in HINDSIGHT in 2002 because the world had changed into the lovely PC place it is today. And he bought into it. And he now thinks he made a mistake. And it is his film, not yours, so guess what - he gets to do what he wants and you get to buy what they release or not. That, my friend, is the end of the story.

 

[haineshisway]

Oooh, that hurt! Another pot(to kettle)shot!
Of course the threads about My Fair Lady and West Side Story have had literally hundreds of posts since I last checked in, many months after their Blu release, and it's unlikely people have stopped complaining about them. I notice you yourself have recently suggested that CBS face serious repercussions for their handling of MFL. Can't let that one go, huh? Did you buy it anyway?
This discussion about ET02 is not exclusive to me, or this board. But hey, if it bothers you all that much... see that ignore button by my name? Go for it!

Do you really not see what you are doing? Really. You can't compare this release to My Fair Lady, for heaven's sake. That is a miserable transfer, that's what people are complaining about. They're not complaining that they didn't get some rethought version of My Fair Lady, where they used CGI to add Eliza somewhere she wasn't before, or add guns instead of parasols to Ascot Gavotte. And have you actually READ the West Side Story thread? The complaints there are that we do not have what was originally released - they mucked up the overture sequence. You haven't seen ET's transfer and that's not what you've been talking about, is it, so just how does that correlate to the other threads you reference. This is just silly now.

 

[NY2LA]

And have you actually READ the West Side Story thread?

Yeah, I expressed pretty much the same opinion there, not wanting to reward a studio with my money, and got the same series of responses piling up on me, questioning or criticizing my judgment, over and over again, then I was criticized for answering them. If people don't want me to dispute something, they don't have to keep commenting on it, especially with ridiculous statements like your claim that absolutely no one had any complaints in 82. Considering the usual nature of your posts, I'd say you're hurling rocks from a glass house.

 

[NY2LA]

BTW Robert Wise's unhappiness with Star Trek was mostly due to him being rushed into the completion of the movie without being able to actually really edit it. 

What I meant was that he didn't really think much of the series. Less so after they sent him a few of what they considered the best episodes to view. It wasn't his idea to to the film and he had to be convinced.

 

[NY2LA]

I don't have to speak to anyone - I was there, I saw the film any number of times and no one had a problem with any of it THEN. All these problems were spoken of LATER. Sure, maybe one mother said something - so what? You so want to win every point and it borders on obsession and you've been quite rude to any number of people in this thread who've dared to espouse a different opinion than yours. Enough already, really. You have made the same points over and over and over again, despite the fact that you said you were trying to talk about other things. But you always come back to this. Sorry, ET was at the time the largest grossing film and a huge hit and there was no Internet and all these suppositions to bolster your position are silly. You think I'm making suppositions and I think you're making them. Spielberg didn't talk about disapproval in 1982 he talked about it in HINDSIGHT in 2002 because the world had changed into the lovely PC place it is today. And he bought into it. And he now thinks he made a mistake. And it is his film, not yours, so guess what - he gets to do what he wants and you get to buy what they release or not. That, my friend, is the end of the story.

So you were in every theatre at every showing in every city in the world and followed everyone home, so you know for a fact that no one had any problems with it? Now that's a neat trick.
And it's alright for the fanboys and hateboys to bitch and moan over and over for years, even though they already had the version they wanted, to the point where SS changed his mind about the new one, (most likely to shut them up) but it's not okay for me to disagree with it or poke holes in dodgy arguments...
And it's also perfectly fine for you to constantly bitch and moan about pretty much everything, because you, after all, are you...
Yes of course, you are always right and you know everything and everyone, and you've been everywhere, and everything today sucks because it's not like it was back then when you were everywhere and involved in everything. Right. And I'm silly. Got it.
And that "ignore" button... Please!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Alright...enough.

This has to stop. This thread is either going to return
to civility or I am going to have to block certain individuals
from accessing it.

Let's move on without making any further reference to the
arguments that have preceded this message.

 

[Bryan^H]

One more thing regarding the 2002 E.T:
[VIDEO]http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uV8Ffi-3Qg [/VIDEO]
Spielberg's first line in the video sums it up.
I'm of course buying the Blu-Ray, but I will also hold on to my dvd set from 2002(for the enhanced version). It looks good upconverted.
Edit: Sorry Ron, I didn't read the second part of your post until just now

 

[Kevin EK]

I need to correct one of my earlier posts.
I just watched the full E.T. documentary on the laserdisc last night,
Three deleted scenes are included within the documentary, but they are not presented on their own.
The three scenes are the principal's office scene with Harrison Ford, a Nurses' Office scene where Elliott has been drawing on the wall, and an alternate ending with Elliott as Dungeon Master.
The scenes are not presented in their entirety and the narration from the documentary runs over most of their time.
I was mistaken when I said that the scenes were included in their own section.

I have a feeling there were even more scenes cut for time and emphasis, but it's my recollection that Spielberg has rarely included a lot of deleted materials on the discs of his movies. Jaws did, and Close Encounters did. The E.T. laserdisc included some footage just by way of illustrating what needed to be cut out. 1941 has the longer version available. The second Jurassic Park included a couple of deleted moments. But the others? The first Jurassic Park, Empire of the Sun, The Color Purple, etc? I don't remember any. And I remember the loaded disc editions of his last few movies have had lots of on-set footage, but rarely anything about deleted material.

So I must acknowledge being wrong on this count.
I still wish these scenes could have been included in their entirety as their own section. (Or as Ridley Scott says, "within their own menu") But I must respect Spielberg's choice not to put them on.

 

[Paul_Warren]

ET sequel that never was story treatment has been leaked here
http://entertainment.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/15/12226391-is-an-et-sequel-in-the-stars?lite
Back on topic UK is getting a very nice Steelbook for this release
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Extra-Terrestrial-Limited-Edition-Steelbook-Blu-ray/dp/B0085SYW44/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1339937517&sr=8-2

 

[SilverWook]

There was an official sequel novel, IIRC.
This "trailer" made me bust a gut first time I saw it.

 

[Kevin EK]

The sequel novel about E.T.'s Green Planet can still be found at Amazon, I think.

That treatment is just horrifying though. It's easy to see why this was never attempted.