E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is the score for the Steven Spielberg directed film with the same name released in 1982. It was composed by John Williams.

The composing process
E.T. marks the sixth collaboration between John Williams and Steven Spielberg. John Williams spent about three months composing the score. When he started working on it he was just a year into another new and challenging job. Although serving as music director for the famed Boston Pops Orchestra he managed to continue to compose for films. "I was working very hard at that point," he recalled.

Reflecting about it three decades later he calls the score a difficult task and recalls how hard he worked on it and its goals. "At the time I was working on it," Williams told the Film Music Society, "I don't think I really realized how truly great that film is. It sets the most magical story in the most mundane of circumstances: the suburbs, a broken marriage, a couple of interesting kids. This little creature hidden in the bedroom, falling in love with these young Earthlings and vice versa – an unbelievable story told so skillfully, so expertly, that you buy it completely."

"I remember Steven mentioning E.T. quite a few times when we would have dinner," Williams mentioned. "He had this idea about a child and an extraterrestrial; he was working on the script with Melissa Mathison, which sounded wonderful." Williams screened a rough cut of the film and started working on musical ideas. "The process was then, and still is, Steven will come over and I will play him sketches on the piano, sometimes just a few bars. I remember working very hard on that flying theme," Williams recalls. "I was concerned about getting just the right, soaring melody, which for me as a musician was a serious challenge. Here were kids flying on bicycles over the moon — completely believably – and what would the orchestra say? What would the leaps of melody be? What could possibly be good enough to accompany a film like this?"

According to Williams there exists "an intimate connection between picture and music that I don't think the greatest expert in film synchronization could quite achieve. There is an ebb and flow, where the music speeds up for a few bars, then relents, the way you would conduct for a singer in an opera house. There is something visceral, organic, about the phrasing. That last 10 minutes delivers something, emotionally, that is the result of the film fitting the music, and not the other way around, I am delighted to say." Scoring the climactic bike chase of the movie proved a particular challenge. While recording the sequence Willams tried to sync the score to the over 10 minutes long sequence. He experienced some problems fine-tuning his phrasing to the split-second demands of the film up on the screen. Spielberg was quick to offer an solution which showed his respect and admiration for his composer. "Let's take the film off the screen, John, and play it as you wrote it - as expressive and expansive as you like. I'll recut the sequence to the music."

In an interview conducted for the E.T. laserdisc release John Williams further talks about his goals for the music in the flying scene.

"The first time i saw the film the bicycle over the moon wasn't there because it was a special effect shot that comes in later. What do we have to do musically to accompany a thing like that? I look for a melody with all these intervals that reach up, up, up all the time to stretch the musical grammar to give this kind of feeling. You have got a 100 piece symphony orchestra. How do you make it feel like its gonna come right off the floor and not be always happy people playing violins but to convey a sort of lift. That's a kind of immediate balletic or even athletic goal of the music in a scene like that. And when you get that feeling you fill your heart with it because it is like taking a deep breath full of wonderful air and you feel free. This fantastic story idea needs great sweep in the music and great feeling of freedom. Freedom being in this case the loss of gravity. We speed up beyond escape velocity and we lose gravity and are now in space and finally free. That is what the orchestra, the composer must give us."

Recording sessions
Originally the Boston Pops Orchestra was supposed to record the soundtrack. "We wanted to do the soundtrack album in Boston, with the Pops, but once again there was no way to fit it into the orchestra's schedule." Williams said in a Boston Globe interview.

The score was conducted by John Williams in LA at the MGM Music Scoring Stage (Culver City, CA). Bruce Botnick and Lyle Burbridge were the recording engineers.

Awards
1982 marks a very succesful year for John Williams. He was awarded a fourth Academy Award for his score for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. E.T also won him the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, the BAFTA Award for Best Film Music and the SATURN Award for Best Music.

Further awards for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial include the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media, the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition (Flying Theme) and the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement (Flying Theme).

In AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores list, which was unveiled in 2005, E.T ranks 14th place.

Primary themes

 * Flying Theme: This may be the scores most famous theme and can be considered the heart of ET. It's a soaring melody often played by strings. The first major appearance of the theme occurs in "The Magic of Halloween". It dominates the final section of the film with several powerful and romantic statements.
 * (Listen to the 20th anniversary track "The Magic of Halloween" from 1:49 - 2:25)


 * Over the Moon Theme : Most listeners will remember the theme from the captivating piano performance at the outset of the "End Credits" track. It mainly appears in various chase scenes within the movie and is first heard in the track "Bait for E.T.". Williams also wrote a special concert arrangement for the melody titled "Over the Moon".
 * (Listen to the 20th anniversary track "End Credits" from 0:00 - 0:23)


 * Friendship Theme: This touching melody characterizes the special relationship between E.T. and Elliot. In the track called "The Beginning of a Friendship" the idea is tenderly introduced by solo harp and slight orchestral backing. Other appearances on glockenspiel, harp or flute in tracks like "Toys", "At Home" or "E.T. is Alive!" stay subtle and restrained. Only when E.T. says goodbye to Elliot at the end of the movie a more prominent brass appearance of the friendship material can be heard.
 * (Listen to the 20th anniversary track "E.T. is Alive!" from 0:44 - 1:18)


 * Government Theme : Williams created this dark and menacing melody as the primary thematic identity for the sinister government agents and their search for the alien. The woodwind and brass sections are the driving force behind this typical Williams "bad-guys" theme. The repeated use of the same note in the beginning of the thematic idea is an often used Williams technique.
 * (Listen to the 20th anniversary track "Far from Home - E.T. Alone" from 3:51 - 4:08)

Secondary themes and supporting motifs

 * Outer Space Motif : The film opens with a starlit sky, a glimpse of outer space. Williams uses this motif to depict the wonders and the vastness of space and its inhabitants. It has a heavenly almost supernatural quality. At the outset of the film it is performed on flute in a quiet and ethereal way. A triumphant full orchestra statement closes the film as the spaceship of the extra terrestrials departs earth.
 * (Listen to the 20th anniversary track "Far from Home - E.T. Alone" from 0:00 - 0:29)


 * Alien Theme: This ominous religious sounding pipe organ theme is first heard in "Far from Home - E.T. Alone" when the Aliens abandon their kin. It reappears during the track "Searching for E.T.". When the Aliens return for E.T. at the end of the movie the positive outcome obviates the need for another appearance of this darker melody.
 * (Listen to the 20th anniversary track "Far from Home - E.T. Alone" from 2:37 - 3:02)


 * Mystery Motif: This is another one of the scores darker melodies. It's introduced in "Far from Home - E.T. Alone" played by strings and pipe organ. It later reappears during scenes of government agents investigating and stalking Elliot's home in search for the extra terrestrial. An upbeat variation of the piece can be found in "Sending the Signal".
 * (Listen to the 20th anniversary track "At Home" from 0:17 - 0:37)

Soundtrack releases
The soundtrack for the film has actually been issued numerous times. The original issue was a recording of concert arrangements based on the film's music. Later issues contain the actual soundtrack cues as heard in the film, although most cues are alternates originally recorded for the film, but replaced by new cues.

Original Soundtrack
In 1982 MCA records released the Original soundtrack on Vinyl, LP and Cassette in over 20 countries. Only about 40 minutes of score were included.



Expanded Soundtrack Reissue
In 1996 MCA records decided to expand and remaster the original album. The reissue presented more than 30 minutes of previously unreleased music.



E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: The 20th Anniversary Edition
The 20th anniversary of the movie lead to another remastered and remixed expanded release in 2002. A new interview with the composer appears in its liner notes. With a total length of 1 hour and 15 minutes it offers about 4 minutes of previously unreleased music (*).