planetdan

Saturday, March 25, 2006 :::

ETPJs

When I was seven I had a minor E.T. fetish. While all the girls were imagining themselves with red afros and dancing around their very own Daddy Warbucks, I was pretending to find an alien in my closet and eating a shitload of Reese's Pieces. I even made my very own E.T. pajamas when the official Steven Spielberg endorsed pajamas at Target proved to be too expensive for my mother. Instead, she gave me some two-dollar fabric crayons and the license to go crazy:

You can see that the iron-on crayon transfer wasn't completely successful, but it's really not bad work for a seven year old, if I do say so myself. I remember the initial design took some pretty intense deliberation. I wasn't sure if I should title it "E.T. Phone Home" or "E.T. Ouch" or if I should just leave it blank and rely solely on solid visuals. If you look closely, you can see I eventually settled on "E.T. Elliott", which was the option that made the least amount of sense. I wore those pajamas proudly, well beyond the growth spurts that should have forced us apart. At the bitter end, the cuffs of the sleeves came to a rest at my elbows. You see, my dedication to E.T. was as strong as Elliott's. Nothing could tear us apart. Until the pajamas literally tore apart.

Did you know that the E.T. video game cartridge for the Atari 2600 has been blamed for single-handedly causing the Great Video Game Crash of 1983? And that millions of them are buried in a landfill in New Mexico? Well it's an interesting story if you're a former E.T. fetishist/nerd like me.

::: posted by dan at 5:56 PM :: [ link ] :: (29) comments

Comments are Closed On this Post

29 previous comments:

Yes I did know that. I also had the game. It did suck. My wife had an E.T. floatie.

By

stapler, at 6:45 PM

I was 16 during this phase. Is this also the time when you would steal my underwear for whatever reason?

You are so talented. That was a fabulous drawing for your age.

Break down already and draw mom a picture for her birthday! She would be in heaven.

By

Colleen, at 7:30 PM

Cripes! Colleen realizes her error too late as she hits the publish button...

I was just kidding about the underwear! Just in case some annoying jerk wants to comment about it.

By

Colleen, at 7:32 PM

I almost just wet myself at the absurdity of that comment. Good thing I have some extra panties lying around. Er, I mean...

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dan, at 7:40 PM

I know this information means nothing to anyone (and rightfully so) but my brother went through a pretty intense ET phase in the early nineties (when he was about 3), and my mother went out and bought him some thermal underwear sets to wear to bed, like Elliot wore. He called them his "elliots". He wore them all the time, for a very long time.

The End.

By

Elle Marie, at 9:10 PM

Mostly off-topic but sorta related:
I had a Gizmo Gremlin doll that I took everywhere when I was about 5. I left him in the booth of a restaurant and they threw him out. I cried for days. ET never did it for me. He wasn't furry enough...

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Miss Celaneous, at 9:38 PM

You said the Target PJ's were too expensive. I wasn't aware Target was around at that time. I'm not trying to call you out, just trying to clarify.

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Anonymous, at 10:10 PM

I had a gizmo gremlin doll, I LOVED that movie! My cat's name was Gizmo. I loved ET too, but not as much. I am a little too young for that phase...

I love that picture... wittle dan is soo cute!

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the other sarah, at 11:05 PM

"Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1902."

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clara, at 11:51 PM

Somehow I left out ET as a kid. But I was crazy about Star Wars.

By

Georg, at 8:21 AM

Dan, Dan, Dan...maybe it is time for you to join us at AA~ Aliens Anonymous, that is. We can help you overcome these latent alien fetishes and accept your life as an earthling who will not find another life form in your closet. Remember: Mork loves you and lay off the Reese's Pieces. Do you have any idea how long you have to stay on the treadmill to burn off one bag???

By

Anonymous, at 8:58 AM

Just get lost.

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Georg, at 9:36 AM

Ouch, in that, it hurts to look at that wallpaper pattern against your pillow pattern against your (adorable and very well drawn!) ET pajamas. Awww...

By

esssss, at 12:28 PM

my original atari 2600 AND the ET game is sitting in a box downstairs. so they aren't all in a landfill :)

i loved and hated that game. it was impossible to play, yet i spent hours sitting in front of it. oh, to be 6 again!

nice jammies. cute.

By

Honey Bunny, at 3:03 PM

sigh, oh those ET memories...

I think I was maybe 16. It was the last movie I went to as a family with my family. It was a drive-in theatre, too - pre-over-the-radio days. sigh

I remember all of us crying - even my dad, and he didn't want to admit it. So, using the best defense is a good offense tactic, he instead screamed at us all to smarten up - we were fogging up the windows.

memories....

By

Anonymous, at 4:44 PM

OMG - you were such a cute kid... guess that is why you ended up such a handsome man...

By

Spider, at 5:39 PM

http://www.keithschofield.com/et/

the story of the e.t. cartridges set to a funky song by wintergreen.

By

Anonymous, at 9:55 PM

Ahhh the memories of being a child growing up in the 80´s... And what a cool idea for a music video. Do you think that Wintergreen actually found the site? I mean they were digging up alot of Atari games there...

By

Richard, at 4:02 AM

Why did you have to mention that game??? Mentioning this made me think back to my NES! Now, I have to try and find an original NES (hopefully, my mom still has mine)! Thanks Dan!

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duane, at 1:29 PM

Did you kiss a girl in science lab, too?

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Anonymous, at 4:16 PM

That's a really great likeness of ET, Dan. What a cute pic.

I remember my twin sis and I having ET dolls, made out of what I can only assume was pleather. I loved that thing. Loved it til the stuffing fell out. I've been trying to find one on Ebay but all I can find are fuzzy ones. And ET wasn't fuzzy. He was made of pleather. :P lol I was also a huge Gremlins fan but either I don't remember having any Gremlins merchandise or my parents were too cheap to buy it.

By

Darcy's Twin, at 4:37 PM

Yeah... you should be really proud of that shirt! It was super-cute.

I also have my own little-kid picture of me in my E.T. underoos (remember those?) holding my brand new E.T. doll on Christmas morning. I remember that I always cried when I watched E.T. ...just like I always did when I watched that movie Harry and the Hendersons. (Do you remember that one?) Why did they have to throw the hamburgers at him?? He had feelings too!!! :-P

--Dena Marie

http://spaces.msn.com/divineid/

By

Dena Marie, at 6:15 PM

It is good to see that even an alcoholic queer had a happy childhood. Do you still wear panties for your boyfriends?

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Anonymous, at 7:05 PM

We are watching, and loving it!
Design Studio, Melbourne, Australia.

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Enie, at 12:49 AM

We are watching, and loving it!
Design Studio, Melbourne, Australia.

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Enie, at 1:02 AM

My younger sister had one of those pleather Et's and it used to scared the crap out of me and I am 7 years older than she. But that thing was freaky, it had this long limbs that I was sure were going to strangle me at night. I was glad when that thing was thrown out at some point in our lives.

By

I, at 12:01 PM

I totally remember that pleather ET! And you are spot on - it was one of the scariest kid toys to date!

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elizabeth, at 1:37 PM

While all the girls were imagining themselves with red afros and dancing around their very own Daddy Warbucks

What do you mean? Only girls were doing this? Some future queer boys, I think, might had some Daddy visions. I am not saying, I am just saying.

By

GayProf, at 3:14 PM

How cute were you. Lovin' the pj's!
I was a massive fan of E.T but all I ever had was a few second hand figurines which my dog ended up eating.
They had a good life though.
When the movie came out mum took me and some of my mates to see it for my birthday. I think she ended up regretting that desision 'cause by the end of it she was stuck in the cinema with 5 crying little girls.

By

MischievousFairy, at 7:26 PM

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