E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) - 25 mistakes

Other: While the kids are huddled around the kitchen table, Elliott is saying his lines, while Gertie is actually moving her lips, saying those same lines on the right side of the screen.

Continuity: When the boys are trying to get away from the government agents on their bicycles, riding and maneuvering through their neighborhood, the stunt double for Elliot (extremely identifiable due to the red hooded sweatshirt) visibly wipes out. The next shot, meant to be continuous, shows Elliot upright and riding with the other boys.

Continuity: While Elliot and E.T. are saying goodbye to each other at the spaceship, you see Elliot's mom sink to her knees. Then, you see a close-up shot of Elliot and E.T. looking at each other and you can see her white shirt in the background as she gets back up, but in then there is a close up of her face as she gets up again.

Continuity: When Elliot and his brother are driving to the park to rescue E.T. there are two men riding along in a plastic tube connected to the van. There are two black ropes inside of this tube in which the men are trying to use to approach Elliot. When Elliot unhooks the tube from the van the ropes continue to hang from the back, and drag along the street. In the next scene the ropes have disappeared.

Revealing: When the boys are racing away on their bicycles from the Feds, the stunt doubles for Elliott and his friends are obviously way too tall to be children.

Visible crew/equipment: When Michael is about to reveal E.T. to Mary ("Remember the goblin?"), the camera dollies back through the hallway, past a large potted plant. The plant is moving because the camera (or the crewmember operating the camera) brushed against it.

Continuity: The street the boys turn onto during the chase, when the boy says "we made it," isn't the same street as they had turned into. There should have been houses, but instead there were just trees and cars.

Deliberate "mistake": At the end of the film when E.T. is leaving, there is a bright light from the ship, and wind and dust from the spaceship's liftoff. But when the spaceship has lifted off and has flown into space and made a rainbow, they show Elliot and the others and there is still the shining light, plus wind and dust blowing for no reason.

Other: This concerns the 2002-Version. For this version a lot of scenes have been changed/remastered digitally, e.g. E.T.'s mimic, the flapping of Elliot's coat during the bike flight, or some cloud movement during the night scenes. Even the guns were changed into walkie talkies. But every person who was holding a walkie talkie is still pointing out his trigger finger as if holding a gun.

Continuity: When Elliot's mother is retrieving a heavy blanket to put over him because he is faking an illness, she tears open the closet doors and the leading edges of both doors come free from their tracks. A moment later when the shot angle changes, and you see her from inside of the closet, both doors are open, but both are back on their tracks.

Continuity: The size of the eye holes on E.T.'s ghost outfit change shape and size several times (most noticeable when Michael finds the abandoned outfit when he is looking for E.T.).

Audio problem: When Mary is reading Peter Pan to Gertie, her shadow's lips don't match up with the words she is saying.

Continuity: Many of the night scenes take place in the back yard, or in the cornfield which is shown to be behind the back yard. Daytime shots show the house to be in the suburbs, on a hill, with no cornfield or possible space for a cornfield.

Other: When Elliot and ET finally meet in the backyard at night, ET returns some of the candy that Elliot had left for him. In the shot before ET places the candy before Elliot, we see him standing with all his fingers extended, so he is definitely not holding any candy in his hands. He is also not wearing clothes, so he has no pockets. Where was ET keeping the candy before giving it back to Elliot?

Continuity: When ET is walking with Elliot and his brother trick-or-treating, we see several shots from ET's point of view of people walking toward him. In all of the following shots however, none of the people that were walking toward him can now be seen behind him as they should be. It's not a montage either, these scenes are to be taken that they are occurring in real time.

Continuity: In the scene on Trick-or-Treat night, Elliot and E.T. go to the forest so that E.T. can set up his communication device to "phone home". While they are there, Elliot is appealing to E.T. for him to stay, saying he will get used to it. While he is talking to E.T. he is inches away from his face. But in the very next shot it shows E.T. looking around, staring into space, with Elliot nowhere to be seen. But the next shot shows Elliot is in E.T.'s face again just as he was two shots before.

Continuity: Elliot crashes his bike during the chase through the new housing development, but is back in the pack an impossibly short time later.

Revealing: The silhouette of the mime wearing the E.T. gloves can be seen through the railing when Elliot is luring E.T. with the Reese's Pieces.

Visible crew/equipment: When Elliot, Michael, and E.T. arrive at the park after escaping the scientists, a ramp can be seen where they drive over the curb.

Continuity: In the final scene of E.T., where E.T. is saying goodbye to Elliot, E.T. rubs Elliot's shoulders, then removes his hands from Elliot's shoulders. The shot then changes angles from behind Elliot to behind E.T. Upon changing the angle, E.T.'s hands can be seen back on Elliot's shoulder. When the shot alternates between the two angles (for about ten seconds) so does E.T.'s hands alternate being on or off of Elliot's shoulders.