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E.T. charmed Elliott (Henry Thomas) and millions of moviegoers in the 1982 movie "E.T.: The Extraterrestrial."
Thirty years ago, a different kind of alien hit the screen: a vulnerable, cuddly, candy-munching creature that captured hearts as well as box-office records. Is "E.T." still relevant for the 21st century? If you're looking for the extraterrestrial that humanity is most likely to run into first, E.T. definitely doesn't fit the mold. But if you're looking for the cultural icon that's most likely to motivate the search for honest-to-goodness extraterrestrials, E.T. just might be your A-list alien.
"If you look at the number of films that involve extraterrestrials these days, it's something like five or 10 a year," Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the California-based SETI Institute, told me today. "And most of them are kinda nasty. What I liked about E.T. is that, after all, he was just a botanist who came to Earth and played with the kids.
"He was a good tonic against the xenophobia we have about aliens. He's no more realistic than those other aliens, but his appeal encouraged folks to think that searches such as SETI were maybe not a bad thing."
SETI — the search for extraterrestrial intelligence — is Shostak's specialty. In addition to conducting decades of research in the field, he's written books about aliens, advised moviemakers about them, and hosts a radio show that often touches upon the search for alien signals. If an unrealistically cute and cuddly alien gets more people interested in the quest, that's just fine by him.
"Look, none of these movie aliens are realistic," he said. "Certainly all of the good guys are relatively anthropomorphic. You could analyze it in terms of the science ... but to me, all of the alien films stimulate the idea that there could be something out there. I can see that only as a good."
In 1982, "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" hit theaters and went on to become the fourth-most successful movie of all time. In honor of the film's 30th anniversary, one of the its stars, Henry Thomas, shares a few of his memories about it.
So what would a realistic alien look like? Probably more like R2-D2 than E.T.: Intelligence that's encased in metallic hardware will travel much better than the kind of intelligence that's carried around in relatively fragile wetware. R2-D2 could be pretty cute at times, but it's more likely that the real-life robo-aliens would be indifferent to our fate. To some extent, Shostak agrees with physicist Stephen Hawking: Our relationship with alien visitors might be similar to the Native Americans' relationship to the Europeans in the 1500s. In short, not all sweetness and light.
"If any were to come, at least extrapolating from the history of visitations here on Earth, most likely they would be nasty," Shostak said. "It wasn't the nice guys who got on the ship to visit the Aztecs."
But then again, perhaps E.T. suggests a sunnier scenario. Why would the aliens visit? Probably not for resources, because any civilization capable of coming to Earth would already command prodigious reserves of power. Certainly not for mating. Even if E.T. was made of flesh and blood rather than metal, the genetic code (and reproductive system) would be different. Perhaps, like E.T., the aliens would come just to catalog the flora, the fauna, maybe even check out the rock and roll.
"That might make sense," Shostak said.
What do you think? Is anyone else out there, or are we alone? How have our perspectives on extraterrestrial life evolved over the past 30 years? Feel free to weigh in with your comments below.
More perspectives on E.T. and "E.T.":
- Aliens won't eat us, and we won't mate with them
- Expert doubts aliens would visit Earth to terrorize us
- Stephen Hawking: Aliens may pose risks to Earth
- Steven Spielberg considered creepy 'E.T. sequel
- Henry Thomas recalls leaving Spielberg in tears
- Cosmic Log archive on aliens
Correction for 10:20 a.m. Oct. 10: Shostak said there were five or 10 alien-themed movies per year, but I mistyped the quote to make it sound as if E.T. got far less screen time. Sorry about the miscue, which has been mended.
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
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I have to believe that there are many planets with some type of life form on them in the vast cosmos .
Well anyway .
This article reminds me that I should "phone home" .
Thanks .
I do not believe that we are alone. I feel that there are other forms of life out there in the cosmos, and that we are probably nowhere near the top of the cosmic food chain.
I agree with Shostak (I hope I got that right) that the first visitors from another world would be robotic, just like our various rovers on Mars. They would be here to conduct scientific experiments, catalog the resources and report back.
I actually doubt they would have any kind of weaponry. They would be science labs like Curiosity. But even so, they could be destructive and completely oblivious to us as sentient beings. Presumably someone back on the homeworld would be monitoring their progress and would stop any activity that could be harmful or destructive, but given the time delay of the distance (what is the delay, 20 minutes between here and Mars?) even a science robot could do a lot of harm before somebody at mission control could shut it down.
But I also agree with Shostak and Hawking, that actual "wetware to wetware" interaction with an advanced alien species would be EXACTLY like our own first encounters with primitive cultures here on Earth. Even if the overall interactions are peaceful they will introduce germs, viruses, illnesses for which we have no immunity and no cure and the human populations would most likely be devastated wherever they land.
Why did ET get sick? And why wasn't Elliot and his family affected? To me, that was probably the most "unrealistic" aspect of the film. Everybody else showed up in haz-mat protective gear for fear of alien organisms. But Elliot, Gurt and Mom just ran around without a care in the world and never had any adverse effects from their contact with an alien life-form. I did find that a bit of a stretch.
But it's fun to speculate about all the "what if's...."
We wouldn't even see them. If they have the tech to make it here they probably have the tech to stay invisible.
they do.
I was going to whine about E.T. not being available on iTunes. I checked before writing anything, and, sure enough, E.T. is on iTiunes. There are only 10 buyer reviews and all of them are dated today, Oct 9, 2012. So, maybe E.T. was just released today on iTunes. Unfortunately, War of the Worlds (2005) still isn't there, so I can whine about that instead. (I've already told Apple about the problem, but they haven't fixed the situation yet; I suppose it's because they can't cut a deal.)
Hard for me to imagine that we are alone in the cosmos.
As for the film E.T., I didn't like it. I thought that it embodied all the worst of Spielberg's directorial style - mawkish, manipulative, predictable. I must be a bad American.
My intuition says that any civilization that achieves the feats that any given alien visitor would achieve would likely have overcomes much of their aggressive tendencies. Possibly alternatively, any given civilization that can travel to another solar system has long since abandoned their frail organic bodies (this also satisfies the Fermi paradox, in that a biological race would have a multitude of differences, resulting in contact between our species (poachers vs. preservationists) while a non-biological civilization could potentially enforce non-interaction until such time as a civilization shifts to non-biological existence) and substituted them for mechanical bodies. So the likeliest form of contact would be peaceful, given those conditions. I'm also moderately drunk at the moment, so my intuition may be further off than it normally is.
But the question relates to our thoughts on E.T., not a speculation on what they may actually be. As to that, I think that the main thrust of our thought is basically the same (punch to the face, "Welcome to Earth") though we have grown a more nuanced approach (District 9). If we were to make contact (most likely through radio) I fear that our response would be fear and hatred. I hope that our response would be compassionate and peaceful. That being said, if an alien contacts us, it may well be sign that we have grown as a species.
"My intuition says that any civilization that achieves the feats that any given alien visitor would achieve would likely have overcomes much of their aggressive tendencies."
I've heard similar thoughts many times, but I have no reason to assume it. (Even the idea that a destructive species will destroy itself before achieving interstellar travel doesn't seem so certain to me. Plus, one can imagine intelligences that may be internally peaceful, but rabidly xenophobic.)
As much as some people seem to revel in believing that humankind is the scum of the Universe, I prefer to use the Principle of Mediocrity. We started out thinking we had a very special place in Creation, but have gradually come to find that simply on the third planet of a common type of star, in a common type of galaxy, etc. I suspect that life will prove to be a pretty common phenomena as well.
Whether life that's both intelligent and technological (dolphins and whales show us that life could be intelligent, but physically incapable of technology) is common remains to be seen, but if it is, behaviorally I suspect we're somewhere in the middle. Average. There are those morally and ethically 'better' than us...and there about as many that are worse. Even to assume we must be the aforesaid 'scum' requires a kind of undeserved 'hubris' of its own...
yes ,there are aliens or beings in outer space. We have written records going back 6000 yrs saying so. Adam,the first man wrote of them as noted in Genesis 5:1 As for their being evil that is also documented in that same book, the bible. Since that time man has had to deal with the interference of those aliens,
Are there other humanoid species out there? Again using the bible ,it is very doubtful, The book of JOB says at the creation of Earth it was so different the angels "celebrated" the occasion. I know this is not scientific but makes a lot more sense than the "scientific" speculation that abounds
There's far too much room for interpretation, to take that too seriously...
Oh shoot, someone brought religion to the table. Especially using the Bible, written by man for man, rewritten countless times by countless people and shaped to manipulate the hopelessly gullible.
“If you're looking for the extraterrestrial that humanity is most likely to run into first, E.T. definitely doesn't fit the mold”
Wrong. It is somewhat closer than you think.
"If you look at the number of films that involve extraterrestrials these days, it's something like five or 10 years," Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the California-based SETI Institute, told me today. "And most of them are kinda nasty.”
Yeah….there’s a reason for that. It is because Hollywood is in bed with the dark cabal members who hold this planet within financial tyranny. It is in their best interest to create fear mongering against a supposed ET invasion so the rich cabal can keep the war machine going and keep themselves in power.
We haven’t seen movies like Close Encounters and ET for years. Wonder why.
Yes…… Independence Day is fun to watch (I guess) but this is not what is going to happen.
Seth may be unaware, but the operation that he works for has found extra-terrestrial signals and that is being kept secret from you and me.
Of course the existence of intelligent life outside our planet continues to be The Greatest Story Never Told.
They are not out to eat us or take our gold. They are advanced enough to make their own gold – not that they need it. There is nothing here that they need.
When we started exploding atomic bombs in the 40s, it “kinda woke up the neighbors” so to speak. They can (and have) intervened in a non-violent way to stop the spread of this destructive technology.
Disclosure needs to happen, and quickly. Because once it is officially declared that ETs exist, and that they are visiting and observing this planet, the next question that will be asked is – Well how did they get there? What kind of technology are they using? Then when we find out that they are able to cross dimensions as well as create energy for free out of the fabric of space that is around us – we will be asking - Well how come we are not using this technology to get energy for free? How long has this been known and not released to the public?
The possibility of free energy – which has been known since the time of Tesla, could improve our standard of living immensely.
Imagine a planet without hunger, without cancer, without poverty.
Think about that while you are watching Independence Day next year in 3D.
"Yeah….there’s a reason for that. It is because Hollywood is in bed with the dark cabal members who hold this planet within financial tyranny. It is in their best interest to create fear mongering against a supposed ET invasion so the rich cabal can keep the war machine going and keep themselves in power."
(facepalm) You're joking, right? Humans have always been xenophobic enough with regard to other humans, that we hardly need to manufacture excuses like this.
You also ignore the fact that all fiction, all of it, not just SF, requires at least one character with one or more problems to try to overcome. And often a dramatic conflict of some kind. Now, you can certainly create a story with extraterrestrials that doesn't involve invasion or hostility from them ('Alien Nation' comes to mind...they came here as refugees, running from somebody else and now struggle to integrate themselves into our society as best they can.), but there had better be a problem of some kind...or there is no story.
And when was the last time someone really developed a new weapon system with the idea of 'Oh, we might need it against aliens!'
Come on.