In 2002, E.T. was re-released in theaters and droves of people went back to relive a part of their childhood. Many left the film confused.

Wait, they probably thought, why were all the cops holding walkie talkies instead of guns? I remember guns. WHAT’S GOING ON!?

It messes with your head and it takes you out of the film, which is something George Lucas does frequently with his Star Wars films. He sees them as organic beings that evolve over time. Spielberg doesn’t, and he’s expressed regret:

For myself, I tried [changing a film] once and lived to regret it. Not because of fan outrage, but because I was disappointed in myself. I got overly sensitive to [some of the reaction] to E.T., and I thought if technology evolved, [I might go in and change some things]…it was OK for a while, but I realized what I had done was I had robbed people who loved E.T. of their memories of E.T.

He said that last year, and it looks like he’s going to take action. In the new Blu Ray version of E.T. the guns will be back, and fans who were hurt by the change will be happy.

Now, let’s just hope Spielberg doesn’t have a change of heart and let’s Lucas add a CG shark to Jaws. [Vulture]

e.t.