Thanks, Carl. I dread seeing what other things he’s done to this movie. This sort of revisionist thinking is a freakin’ disease at this point, ruining film after film. I wish these filmmakers would come to their senses and stop second guessing themselves after all these years. Inevitably, it becomes a redundant story of nervous rich old men erasing the work of passionate and brave young men. Sad, sad, sad. One of our readers summed it up quite well with this heated e-mail the other day:

Knowles, McWeeny,

Just a quick note to let you know that according to http://www.dvdfile.com there will be a trailer for E.T. Special Edition theatrical re-release on the upcoming (11/20) DVD release of Ron Howard's Grinch. And, UNFORTUNATELY, it only confirms that the rumored digital changes ("improvements") have indeed taken place, including the removal of guns ("Oh no E.T., they're coming after us with WALKIE-TALKIES!!!!") & the CGI E.T. (If kids can suspend disbelief while watching Barney, don't you think they could watching one of the greatest children's films ever?) We need to bombard Universal or Amblin or Spielberg himself with email to get them to at least give us both versions on DVD. I know we have about the same chance of seeing that happen as ever seeing the original (& much better IMHO) cut of Blade Runner, but it's worth a try. I do believe in the rights of film directors to modify their works of art, but what about the rights of audiences? We have childhood memories at stake here! You know how when they mow down a hill or a field & they build houses or a strip mall in it's place? Not more than two years later, it's real hard to remember what that land looked like before the new development. There's not really any way around that type of memory rape, but here the directors & studios have an easy way out. All they have to do is keep the original versions available to us, along with their new versions. What's so wrong with that? Huh, George? Tell me why I can't see both Han & Greedo shot first on DVD? I'd pay more to see both. So would all these bitching talkbackers who say they won't buy TPM on DVD because Lucas "deceived" them when he didn't release it Day & Date with VHS. 90% of them bought that mother on 10/16 at 10 am when Best Buy opened their doors! Freakin' hypocrites! Whoa, sorry about that. I just went on a rant there. Add 50 IQ points and a dollop of smugness & I could have been Dennis Miller.

Gotta go,

Brent Tonick

Let’s see how people react when they see the degree to which Spielberg has altered this beloved classic. I’ll bet some fans are going to flip out, and it seems like a mistake that doesn’t have to be made.

"Moriarty" out.