Reviewing Fanhome’s ‘E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial’ Build-Up Subscription Stages 100-105

The second to last box has arrived for my E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial Build-Up Subscription from Fanhome.* After these six build stages only five remain before my little Asogian botanist is complete. The remaining stages will be fitting skin over the armature, with the exception of a neck spring that takes some of the load off the motor that raises and lowers Zrek’s head, which is actually pretty heavy.

Build Stage 100

This stage was actually part of last month’s box, but I had to wait a couple weeks to get a replacement, so I’m going to include it with this batch. 

The articles in this stage’s magazine deal with fan interpretation of the film’s message, a piece on Jim Henson, and one on ’80s pop divas. The first article is pretty interesting. If the whole point of art is evoking viewers’ emotions, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial certainly did its job. My favorite fan interpretation of the film is that Zrek came to Earth on a messianic mission. Something about The Church of E.T. is hilarious to me, especially since there are three completely unrelated organizations that use that name, and none of them has anything to do with this film, or anything remotely extra-terrestrial. 

The actual build stage involves attaching E.T.’s pecs and upper back to his torso. I used cyanoacrylate again for this stage. It grabs quickly, and it turns out it’s just flexible enough to do the job. There were a couple slight gaps between the pieces, which I will address and correct later.

Build Stage 101 

This stage’s magazine features a piece on the worldwide release of the film, one on Chris Walas, a contemporary of Carlo Rombaldi who was responsible for Gizmo and Brundle-fly, and another on the rise of boy bands.

The build stage attaches Zrek’s neck skin to the top of the torso. This is also where we’re going to test all the functions of the touch controls and the remote control, because once this torso is attached, there will be no way to access the internal parts or circuit board for adjustments or repair. 

Build Stage 102

The articles in this stage’s magazine are some of my favorites thus far. There’s another piece on the worldwide impact of E.T., one on the practical effects and puppets in Gremlins, and a piece on Quincy Jones, who had 73 soundtrack credits to his name. 

And now, it’s time to yank off E.T.’s head and arms. In order to fit the spring over the neck rod, I taped the head wiring harness to the top of the rod. Once the spring was in place, it was a game of push and pull until the abdomen piece lined up with the hip and leg pieces. Again with the CA glue, and again, a few small gaps that I will address at the end of this month’s stages. 

Build Stage 103

This stage’s magazine covers friendship and symbiosis, the movie puppets from Critters, and classic ’80s albums.

The build stage includes the middle section of E.T.’s head skin, so there isn’t anything to actually “build” in this stage without the parts from the next stage, so… moving on!

Build Stage 104

This magazine covers the death and resurrection of E.T. (which spurred that whole “messiah” theory mentioned earlier), Yoda, and the advent of Dungeons & Dragons and similar role-playing games. 

For the build, this stage has the rear piece of E.T.’s head skin, which gets attached to the piece from stage 103. The whole thing slips over E.T.’s head, and then gets glued to the face to enclose the entire head. After reconnecting the wiring harness, I removed the tape I used to keep the wires from slipping into the chest cavity, tucked those wires into the back of Zrek’s head, and mounted the base of the skull to the neck rod. 

The connection between the neck skin and head skin is actually pretty genius. It’s not attached. The neck skin is slightly overlapped by the head skin, so that when the neck contracts, some of the neck skin tucks into the head itself, while the rest of the piece compresses onto itself.

Build Stage 105

Articles for this stage are on the iconic “flying across the moon” scene, Falkor the wish dragon, and sci-fi novels of the ’80s.

The final build stage in this box involves reattaching the arms and removing the left hand to slide E.T.’s left upper arm skin up over the arm to attach to the torso. And this is where we talk about those gaps.

I noticed pretty early into the skin stages of this build that there are slight, unavoidable imperfections in the skin fit and finish. That, coupled with the fact that it is incredibly difficult to line everything up perfectly from the outside, means there will be little spots between the skin pieces that need a little love.

I’m sure there are loads of ways that builders deal with stuff like this. Here’s what I came up with. In another life, I was a flooring contractor. I specialized in custom hardwood flooring. Slight gaps between planks happen. Sometimes it’s a milling issue. Sometimes the expansion and contraction of wood from temperature and humidity causes joints in the most perfectly fitted floors to open up slightly. Because of that natural expansion and contraction, those gaps need filling with a flexible compound, which is color matched to the tones of wood. 

What has no thumbs (yet) and shares a palette with hardwood flooring? E.T.

This is what I grabbed today at a local hardware/building supply store for $8. It’s a perfect tone, is flexible, and has a 2-3 minute open time to work with. I also bought a craft spatula to help shape the filler.

And this is that shoulder gap, filled. The filler will shrink up just a little, as you can see in the photo. Once it’s cured for a day or so, I’ll hit it again, but you can already see that the gap is much less noticeable. After the second application, it’ll be barely noticeable, and will look more like a natural crease or wrinkle in E.T.’s skin.

At this point, I’ve tested all the functions already. I have some notes on the movement, light, and sounds, but I’m going to sit on that until next month for the finale.

*Fanhome provides this subscription to me free of charge for the purposes of review.