Your first time seeing E.T. Where, when, what was it like?

I saw it when it came out in June, 1982. I was 17. My mother, my much older sister, my 7 year old nephew and I went to the Auto-Sky Drive-In in Ottawa, Ontario to see it, crowded into in my sister's bright orange '73 Super Beetle. We bought a big bag of Harvey's hamburgers and fries to eat while we watched. It was on a double bill with "The Great Muppet Caper". My favorite part of ET was the scene where the kids were playing Dungeons and Dragons at the beginning. My mom and sis and nephew really loved the whole movie. I liked ET but at the time I was more into Conan The Barbarian and violent Sam Peckinpah westerns and Dirty Harry movies on TV. Now that I think of it, I am sure that was the only time I have ever seen ET, but I recall it very well. I don't remember one scene of "The Great Muppet Caper".

Saw E.T. for the first time at home on the tele when I was 5 (1983) with my family. I was scared of the scene where E.T. is hiding in the shed at night and throws the ball to Elliot. Then when I saw him for the first time, I immediately loved him.

I cried when he was found dying by the river stream. I cried when we thought he died and I cried a lot when he said goodbye and flew off.

To this day, I still cry at the river scene and goodbye scene. No matter which point I catch the film on TV, the emotions are still there.

Spielberg films were a huge part of my childhood and E.T. was my favourite of all.

I first watched it on a summer vacation with my parents and a couple of friends in an improvised movie theatre on a camping ground in communist East Germany. Must've been around 1984 or 1985 (i.e. several years before the wall came down). I was maybe 7 years old. I'm pretty sure it wasn't "illegal" or anything -- the hype around the movie had basically swept over the iron curtain, and there was so much demand for it that some theatres (mostly obscure ones) basically gave in and showed it. I'm not sure how they obtained their copy of the film roll. Practically everyone on the camping ground wanted to see it, and the cinema was packed. It was quite emotional, many people cried afterwards (I did not, I think). It was a great experience.

Disappointing. I was 14 and it had been so hyped that I just didn't see what was so great. It was OK, but I'd seen Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. The lost dog story with alien substitute didn't really resonate.

It was a nice experience.

I watched it with my dad in the late 80's ish, I was probably 8, I remember we had a top loader video recorder and the remote control had a wire.

I thought it was a great film still do even tho iv not seen it for years, I can also remember collecting the E.T. stickers from the weetabix cereal box's.

You can't beat the 80's.

Saw a scene of it as a kid on tv like in the 90s and was super scared because ET was so creepy and realistic.

Also like another poster said I had seen Star Wars, Terminator, Back to the Future, etc. at that point, the story wasn't that appealing to me.

Eventually watched the whole thing many years later as an adult and I think it's a great film but I don't have this connection to it most people have.

The time: the summer of 1982.

The place: the Silver Lane Movie theater in East Hartford, Connecticut.

Overall experience: MAGNIFICENT!!!