Line #65 Characters/ETTheExtraTerrestrial


1	Character page for Creator/StevenSpielberg's ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial''.
2	----
3	[[foldercontrol]]
4
5	[[folder:Elliott]]
6	[[quoteright:233:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/elliot_7.jpg]]
7	[[caption-width-right:233: ''"He came to me!"'']]
8	!!!'''Played by:''' Creator/HenryThomas
9
10	----
11	* BigBrotherBully: In order to make sure Gertie doesn't tell their mom about E.T, Elliott and Michael invoke this by threatening to torture her toy doll.
12	* CoyGirlishFlirtPose: Elliott is a deceptively good ladies' man.
13	* KidHero: At the end, he pulls off the entire escape plan to get E.T. back to his ship.
14	* MiddleChildSyndrome: Invoked because he's the middle child between Michael and Gertie.
15	* PsychicLink: E.T. forms an empathetic one with him, which grows increasingly stronger over the film.
16	* RedIsHeroic: Wears a red hoodie as he, Michael and their friends attempt to get E.T. to his home ship.
17	[[/folder]]
18
19	[[folder: E.T.]]
20	[[quoteright:233:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/et.jpg]]
21	[[caption-width-right:233:''"I'll...be...right...here."'']]
22	!!!'''Voiced by:''' Pat Welsh (English; film), Creator/AudreyWasilewski (English; current)
23	!!!'''Dubbed by:''' Creator/PerrettePradier (French, 20th anniversary edition)
24
25	----
26	* AllThereInTheManual: The novelization and other tie in books expand on E.T.'s origins and his homeplanet.
27	* BadassAdorable: He's cute in an unconventional way, and he has formidable PsychicPowers.
28	* BizarreAlienBiology: Background dialogue from the doctors indicates that E.T.'s DNA uses six nucleotides instead of four (this may help explain why he got sick: Earth's food doesn't provide him sufficient nourishment).
29	* CuriousAsAMonkey: Goes to explores the house when left alone.
30	* ADogNamedDog: An extra-terrestrial named [[FunWithAcronyms E.T.]] (''[[TitleDrop The Extra-terrestrial]]'')
31	* FarOutForeignersFavoriteFood: Loves Reese's Pieces (M&Ms in the novelization).
32	* FourFingeredHands: Has four fingers on each hand.
33	* GadgeteerGenius: Surprisingly, considering he's a ''botanist'': He builds a wind-operated emergency beacon, transmitting in his own language, out of common household items (and a Speak and Spell). [[spoiler:What's more, his ship ''hears'' his transmission and comes back for him!]]
34	* HealingHands: His famous finger.
35	* HeartLight: Probably the TropeCodifier. His species feature a huge heart that glows red under certain condition.
36	%%* InnocentAliens:
37	* InnocentBlueEyes: Has a huge pair of them.
38	* InsufficientlyAdvancedAlien: Elliot's brother thinks E.T. may just be a worker, and isn't necessarily a great scientist or anything. E.T. is actually a botanist, but has more than enough engineering know-how to make a communication device. Then again, he ran away screaming when a can of pencils fell over and the kids did initially think he was a hairless monkey.
39	* InternalReveal: The kids obviously have to explain things to their mother when Elliot falls ill from E.T.'s PsychicLink. And this is moments before the government stepped in and placed their entire house under quarantine.
40	* LearntEnglishFromWatchingTelevision: Learns some basic words (y'know:"phone" and "home") from ''Series/SesameStreet'' in a fairly [[JustifiedTrope well justified way]]: the show had basic words sounded out next to a picture of what it was talking about. It is a show directed at preschoolers, after all.
41	* LongNeck: He is able to make his neck longer. Usually does this when he is frightened, but near the end when he has to say goodbye to Elliott's older brother he does this too.
42	* MessianicArchetype: Right down to the resurrection and the Michelangelo touching of fingers between man and the Divine. So blatant was the parable it was spoofed on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
43	-->'''Rev. Lovejoy:''' I remember another gentle visitor from the heavens, he came in peace and then died, only to come back to life, and his name was... E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial. ''(cries)'' I loved that little guy.
44	** Spielberg himself has said he never intended the film to be interpreted as a religious fable, and has himself joked about it.
45	* NoBiologicalSex: Gertie's not so sure whether E.T. is a boy or a girl, while Elliot insists he's a boy. While they all end up going along with Elliot on this, the obvious complete lack of any kind of genitals in all of E.T.'s people makes that a purely arbitrary designation. The books, of course, pretty much confirm this. While behind the scenes, E.T. was referred to, and conceived by his creator Creator/CarloRambaldi, as male.
46	* NoNameGiven: E.T. is the nickname Elliott gave him. Justified in the fact E.T. knows limited English and we never see him interact with any of his species. (In the sequel novel, ''Literature/ETTheBookOfTheGreenPlanet,'' even after E.T. returns to his home planet the narration always calls him "E.T." His own people are only ever described referring to him as [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep "The Doctor of Botany"]].)
47	* PlantAliens: The creators state that E.T.'s species is plantlike in their anatomy and are asexual. His heart in particular is gourdlike in appearance.
48	* PsychicPowers: Telepathy and telekinesis.
49	* StarringSpecialEffects: He's an animatronic puppet, doubled by a little person in a suit in long shots, who is the most prominent feature of this movie.
50	* SweetTooth: Quickly develops a fondness for [[MarsWantsChocolate Reese's Pieces candy]].
51	* TaughtByTelevision: He learned English mostly by watching TV.
52	* VagueAge: According to the novelization of the film he's over 10 million years old. Other sources put him at about 800 years old, and he's shown to be a child in the ExpandedUniverse book ''Literature/ETTheBookOfTheGreenPlanet''.
53	* VerbalTic: In the film's novelization, E.T. is able to speak much more coherently (rather than only knowing a handful of words), but due to learning English from a Speak-'n-Spell, he usually starts sentences with the command to "Spell..."
54	* YouNoTakeCandle: "E.T. Phone Home".
55	[[/folder]]
56
57	[[folder:Michael]]
58	[[quoteright:233:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/michael_03.jpg]]
59	%%[[caption-width-right:233:some caption text]]
60	!!!'''Played by:''' Robert [=MacNaughton=]
61
62	----
63	* BigBrotherBully: At first Michael teases Elliot mercilessly, until he shows Michael E.T for the first time.
64	* BigBrotherInstinct: In the beginning of the film, he bullies both Elliot, and Gertie (the latter to a lesser extent), but becomes far more protective of them as the film progresses.
65	* CharacterDevelopment: He goes from a basic {{Jerkass}} to caring about E.T. and wanting to help him just as much as his younger siblings--he's very upset upon finding him near death, and even more so when he does die, then just as thrilled as Elliot when he revives.
66	* DrivesLikeCrazy: During the film's climax. Justified; he is only learning at this point and is in an extremely stressful situation.
67	* SkewedPriorities: "We're all gonna die and ''they're never gonna give me my license!"''
68	[[/folder]]
69
70	[[folder:Gertie]]
71	[[quoteright:233:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gertie.jpg]]
72	%%[[caption-width-right:233:some caption text]]
73	!!!'''Played by:''' Creator/DrewBarrymore
74
75	----
76	* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Elliott tends to think she is this more so than Michael.
77	* TheBabyOfTheBunch: Justified as she's the youngest out of her siblings.
78	* ChildrenAreInnocent: While she's not so gullible to believe everything her brothers tell her, she doesn't quite understand their reasoning for keeping E.T.'s existence from their mother and so blithely chatters about him to Mary whilst letting him wander about in the open. She also is distraught when seeing doctors use a defibrillator on E.T., not realising they're trying to revive him, and excitedly tells Keys about E.T.'s family coming to collect him.
79	* GirlishPigtails: She has her hair in pigtails throughout the film.
80	* LittleMissSnarker: She's very snarky for a five year old.
81	* SayingTooMuch: Tells Keys about E.T.'s family coming for him. In a deleted scene she's the one who tells Mary Elliott's in the woods.
82	* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Justified as she's a 5 year old girl who's just seen an alien for the first time.
83	* {{Tomboy}}: Given that she's 5 years old, with two brothers who are 10 and 16, it's not surprising that she is one. She wears a baseball cap and for Halloween she sports a cowgirl costume.
84	[[/folder]]
85
86	[[folder:Mary]]
87	[[quoteright:233:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marie_07.jpg]]
88	!!!'''Played by:''' Creator/DeeWallace
89
90	----
91	* AnimalEaredHeadband: On Halloween, she dresses up in a leopard costume complete with an Animal-Eared Headband.
92	* BoyishShortHair: Zig-zagged, she does indeed have this haircut but is always seem wearing a dress.
93	* {{Corpsing}}: InUniverse she's visibly trying not to laugh when chastising Elliot for calling Michael "Penis-breath".
94	* FailedASpotCheck: The first time she sees E.T., she doesn't think he's anything but a stuffed doll.
95	* LongHairIsFeminine: Averted and defied. Is generally feminine despite her pixie cut.
96	* MamaBear:
97	** Once shown E.T. for the first time, while she is unaware of the alien's relationship to her child, her first impulse is to grab her obviously ill son and get him away from the strange creature.
98	** She later tries to protect the kids when the government agents finally make their way into her house.
99	* ParentalObliviousness: Often fails to spot E.T. when he's mere feet away from her.
100	[[/folder]]
101
102	[[folder:Greg, Steve and Tyler]]
103	!!!'''Played by:''' K.C. Martel (Greg), Sean Frye (Steve), Creator/CThomasHowell (Tyler)
104	!!!'''Dubbed by:''' Creator/KelyanBlanc (Greg, French, 20th anniversary edition)
105
106	----
107	* CharacterDevelopment: Despite the flat characterization cited below, they, like Michael, go from being a bunch of jerks to enthusiastically pitching in to help Michael and Elliot escape with ET and being just as moved and awestruck as everyone else at seeing his spaceship take off.
108	* FlatCharacter: They don't get much characterization other than Michael's close teenage friends and are mainly in the background for the majority of the film.
109	[[/folder]]
110
111	[[folder:"Keys"]]
112	[[quoteright:233:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/keys.jpg]]
113	%%[[caption-width-right:233:some caption text]]
114	!!!'''Played by:''' Creator/PeterCoyote
115
116	----
117	* BigBad: Sort of. He is the lead scientist who wants to capture E.T., but even still he doesn't come across as a bad guy.
118	* HeroOfAnotherStory: Something must have happened to Keys to get him interested in aliens, since he claims he's been waiting for something like E.T. to appear since he was 10 (while his claim that "[E.T.] came to me too" seems unlikely, he might be rationalizing this as being the truth FromACertainPointOfView). He and the rest of the government investigation team are just given very quick (and sinister-looking) scenes where they investigate the remains of E.T.'s and Eliot's shenanigans up until they converge on the house.
119	* NoNameGiven: He begins the film as a nameless, faceless figure distinguished by the bunch of keys hanging from his belt; later in the film, when he becomes a more sympathetic figure, his face is shown, but his name is never revealed. He's even listed just as "Keys" in the ending credits.
120	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The police and government agents are the villains of the film, but even then they are very reasonable, never actively trying to harm the children when they find out and even giving Elliott time to [[spoiler:grieve after E.T. ''dies'']]. This is particularly true of Keys, who gently talks to Elliott to try and figure out what's wrong with E.T., while declaring to Elliott that E.T.'s presence on Earth is nothing short of a miracle.
121	* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: He has a job to do that conflicts with the protagonists and is part of a group that comes across as very scary, but he is a good man at heart who has been wanting to meet an alien since he was 10, wants to save E.T., sympathizes with Elliott ("I'm glad he met you first."), and when he sees E.T. is going home, he just watches alongside Mary, and doesn't do anything to prevent it.
122	[[/folder]]

Context Characters / ETTheExtraTerrestrial