Toshi saw “E.T.” when he was too young to process it.
I wasn’t the one who showed it to him. It was while he was away in Argentina with his mom for six months. There were only six movies at the house where they were staying, and “E.T.” dubbed into Spanish was one of them. And during that six months, while he was going nuts from lack of things to watch, “E.T.” became a mainstay. My wife says it must have been played at least 20 times, but this summer, when we were talking about the film, I realized that he remembers none of it.
Allen also felt like he had a handle on the film, and when I asked him what he knew about the movie, he told me, “That’s the movie about the guy who is from outer space and he poops candy.” I feel like that’s not entirely accurate.
The Blu-ray showed up here at the house between my trips to Toronto and Austin, and both of the boys were eager to see the movie again. We haven’t done that yet, but it’s on the agenda for October. In the meantime, while I was gone on my second trip, Universal invited us to participate in a special “E.T.” press day, and I talked to my wife about her taking the boys since I wouldn’t be back in time.
Today, we’ve got the videos from that press day. The first is embedded at the top of this story, and it features Toshi saying good-bye to E.T. Then below, you’ll see Allen in the same scene. Since they haven’t seen the film yet, I don’t think they fully understood what they were supposed to do, but the videos came out really well anyway. I love that after they’ve seen the film, we’re going to be able to look at these videos again and they’re going to mean something totally different to them.
There are a lot of Film Nerd articles coming this month. We’ve got a very special one on Friday, which is Global Bond Day, a celebration of James Bond worldwide, and I’ve got a special horror-themed Film Nerd on the way as well. We’ve also finally finished the “Back To The Future” series, and I can’t wait to share that experience with you. All that plus “E.T.” as well? What a great month there is ahead. Consider these videos just a tease of what we’ve got coming soon.
In the meantime, you can take a look at the earlier Film Nerd 2.0 pieces:
“The Last Starfighter” on Blu-ray (9.7.09)
“Popeye,” empathy, and David Bowie’s codpiece (9.21.09)
Talking Heads, ‘Astro Boy,’ and “Willy Wonka” on Blu-ray (10.26.09)
“The Dark Crystal,” featuring a guest appearance by Toshi’s little brother (12.2.09)
“Help!”, in which Toshi discovers the Beatles, especially Ringo (1.4.10)
‘Last Action Hero” introduces Toshi to Armer Shirtzganoma (1.18.10)
A Tale Of Two Zorros (2.23.10)
“Clash Of The Titans” on Blu-ray (4.2.10)
“Jason And The Argonauts” on Blu-ray and Harryhausen at AMPAS (8.9.10)
“Time Bandits,” “Mars Attacks,” and letting go (9.7.10)
“Toshi and Allen encounter high adventure with ‘The Goonies'” (3.6.11)
“‘Tron’ vs ‘Babe’ on Blu-ray” (4.19.11)
“Toshi and Allen head to Asgard for ‘Thor'” (5.4.11)
“Tim Burton exhibit at LACMA dazzles and disturbs” (6.6.11)
“We kick off a special series with a first viewing of ‘Star Wars’ on Blu-ray” (9.22.11)
“We finally reach The Moment with ‘Empire Strikes Back’ on Blu-ray” (10.3.11)
“We flashback to ‘The Phantom Menace’ as the ‘Star Wars’ series continues” (10.10.11)
“Yoda seals the deal for ‘Attack Of The Clones’ on Blu-ray” (10.18.11)
“‘Revenge Of The Sith’ devastates the kids as Anakin falls from grace (10.23.11)
“We scare the crap out of the kids with ‘Jurassic Park’ on Blu-ray” (10.26.2011)
“The hero’s journey ends with ‘Return Of The Jedi’ on Blu-ray” (11.6.2011)
“Toshi and Kermit and Miss Piggy in the first ever Film Nerd 2.0 interview” (11.16.2011)
“We wrap up 2011 with ‘The Muppet Movie’ and pick our slate for 2012” (1.10.2012)
“The boys hit the road for ‘Pee Wee’s Big Adventure'” (1.16.2012)
“Film Nerd 2.0 gets a sneak peek at ‘Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace’ in 3D” (2.8.2012)
“Film Nerd 2.0 heads to Skywalker Ranch for a weekend of ‘Star Wars'” (2.9.2012)
“Lightsaber battles, model making, and the return of Darth Maul” (2.9.2012)
“Sneaky stormtroopers and breakfast with R2 in the last Film Nerd ‘Star Wars’ diary” (2.10.2012)
“A screening of ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ uplifts, enlightens, and even terrifies” (2.15.2012)
“What happens when I realize I hate a film the boys love?” (3.20.2012)
“An evening of ‘20,000 Leagues’ and Mickey Mouse cartoons” (4.1.2012)
“‘Mary Poppins’ thrills the kids and destroys Dad” (4.28.2012)
“‘Close Encounters’ marks the boys deeply in unexpected ways” (7.23.2012)