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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.). See more...

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E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) - 14 corrections

Directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Dee Wallace-Stone, Drew Barrymore, Henry Thomas (add more)

Genres: Adventure, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Sci-fi

Comments made in brackets are corrections from other visitors. To submit your own corrections for mistakes, just click "edit" under an entry, then choose "correct entry". You can also submit corrections for corrections, if you think a mistake has been unfairly removed.

Mistakes
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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. [There are several better explanations for the slight movement of the plant including the characters brushing past it or a breeze.]
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Phases of the moon - when Elliot first goes to the backyard to find ET, the moon phase is either the first or last 1/8. The next night, there is no moon (okay, so maybe it was a different time of evening). But then the next day, when the kids are taking ET to the mountain, the moon is full. The moon never goes from 1/8 lit to full in 2 or 3 days. [Several days/nights pass between the night Elliot brings E.T. into his room and Halloween (when they take him to the forest), not one. There's the day Elliot fakes being sick and the night the kids show him the map of the solar system, followed by the day Elliot goes to school. The night the agents eavesdrop on Michael and Elliot in the garage suggests the passage of time (first, the agents needed time to bug the neghborhood; second, Michael's concerns about E.T.'s well-being indicates some time has elapsed).]
Edit Corrected by JC Fernandez
When Elliot and his brother are searching in the garage for items to help ET create his "phone", the garage door is obviously closed, and they are using flashlights to see what they are looking around for. However, right outside, the government agents are spying on an open garage that has all the lights on. They go back and forth to the kids (dark garage) and agents (open, lit up garage) a few times. [I may be mistaken here, but I believe the government agents were combing the neighborhood. The van was parking in front of a home with an open garage, not necessarily the home they were monitoring. The agent switches channels on the radio before discovering Elliot and Michael's conversation. They he realizes that he has found something and start to listen more closely. The van doesn't appear to move during that time. Besides, why park in front of a house that you are monitoring? That would only arouse suspicion.]
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The federal agents find ET's communicating device in the woods (as evidenced by the lead investigator's question of Elliot as to the purpose of the device). In a later scene, Elliot returns to the woods and the device is still there. It has not been taken by the federal agents, and it is not being monitored. It is of course inconceivable that the federal agents would not take the device or monitor and protect it. [Obviously, they were monitoring it, because Keys figured out that the device was "doing something". He just didn't know what it was doing, but he knew it had been doing something. Just because they didn't have someone around the device at all times doesn't mean they weren't monitoring it. Also, if the device was a communicator, then why disturb its function? More aliens may come in response to the device. For the government agents; the more aliens, the better.]
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When E.T. and Elliot are flying through the air on his bike, E.T. is wrapped up in his Halloween costume. From the time they get on the bike to the time they land, E.T.'s facial view goes from being completely covered to partially covered (wrapped all around his head and chin) to having the cover just hanging off the top of his head. It would have been impossible for E.T. (his arms wrapped in the costume) or Elliott (managing the bike/handlebars) to rearrange his sheet. [Impossible? I think not. Elliot and E.T. were flying through the night sky on Elliot's bike. It evident from the shots that a breeze is blowing at them. A breeze could have easily rearranged the sheet numerous times before they land. ]
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Elliot first encounters E.T. in the shed behind his house and in the cornfield by his house. Why is it that the next day, Elliot went to the exact place where E.T.'s spaceship had landed the night prior in the woods and laid down Reeces pieces? How could he have known that's where E.T. had landed when he saw E.T. by his house? [You imply that Elliot went there deliberately, a fact that is not stated or implied in the film. The next day Elliot was exploring the woods and placing candy out for the alien, the alien he had seen the night before. The fact that he ended up in the exact place where the ship landed was merely a coincidence.]
Edit Time
When the boys take off in the air on their bikes it is day time, but when they land, it's night time. It cannot be that far from Elliot's house and neighborhood to the woods because they walked or rode bikes there on Halloween night. There therefore is not enough time to go from day time to night time in the time it takes them to get to the wooded area. Also, Elliot's mother started her drive to the site in her car when it was still light, and she arrived when it was dark. [The distance from Elliot's home to the woods might not be as far a distance from his house to the "bald spot," which is where E.T.'s ship landed in the beginning of the movie. Even on Halloween, it takes Elliot from sundown to after the moon has risen to make it to that specific place in the forest.]
Edit
When Elliot goes to wash the dishes at the beginning, he turns on the water, and in only about two or three seconds, massive amounts of steam start rising up. Sink water never heats up that fast. [It can, if the hot water had been running shortly before and the water in the pipes is still hot.]
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During the dinner scene at the beginning of the film, Drew has half a hamburger on her fork. The next time you see her the hamburger is full. [She turned her fork between shots, so that the uneaten side is now facing the camera.]
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After several minutes of the boys evading the federal agents on ther bikes, ET uses his telekenetic powers to make the boys and bicycles fly into the air (when they are confronted with the roadblock, with agents with either guns or walkie-talkies, depending on the version). If he really had those powers, however, one would think he would have used that earlier, rather than having the boys jump dirt mountains and evade cars. [Two possible explanations: 1) E.T. only uses his powers when absolutely necessary (perhaps to avoid drawing unwanted attention to himself), as when the terrain in the woods becomes too rough for Elliot to ride or when the group runs into the roadblock, or 2) Dramatic license on Spielburg's part, meant to maximize the action on the ground and keep the audience in suspense.]
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E.T. is noticeably alot larger than Elliot's bicycle basket. How in the world did he fit? [The wire metal basket was replaced with a milk crate. By assuming a fetal position, E.T. could fit inside, albeit not very comfortably.]
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Because of September 11, Steven Spielberg made the decision to remove guns from the federal agents and replace them with walkie-talkies. He also removed any terrorist references in the film. These changes were done for the re-release of E.T. in 2002. [Not so. Spielberg gave the FBI agents walkie-talkies because he always thought it was ridiculous that they were chasing these kids on bikes with guns.] The "terrorist" reference was removed for the film's original home video release not the 2002 re-release.
Edit Corrected by DenizenZERO
If E.T. can fly, why doesn't he just fly to the ship in the beginning instead of running and missing the takeoff? [Apparently E.T. cannot fly. On the official website, this common mistake was cleared up by saying that E.T. has the ability to lift up other objects and make them fly, but does not posses the power to make himself fly.]
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When E.T. is dressed up for Halloween and walking with Elliot and Michael, we see his view of the other neighborhood children through his ghost costume. The eyeholes on the costume are at least 4 inches apart and yet E.T.'s view (thru the camera) shows only a sliver of material between the eyes. [That's what it would look like from his point of view - our eyeballs are a few inches apart, but we don't have a "gap" of vision]
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