Steven Spielberg was extremely nervous... this was the most personal project he had ever created, and he wondered if he had made a huge mistake. That project was E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, a movie that, at its core, is about a child dealing with divorce and loneliness.

The movie had come together well, but was anyone going to see it, especially since it featured unknown actors, and no one had any idea what the alien even looked like?

Not only did people show up, but they showed up in historic numbers. ET not only touched an entire generation, but quickly became the most successful movie in history. A title it would hold for more than a decade.

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Before the internet could fact-check anything, the 1980s were a golden age for famous hoaxes, pranks, and April Fool's jokes. And a lot of people fell for them.

Today, we look back at 10 notable 1980s pranks and hoaxes that range from very amusing all the way to ones that created sheer panic.

They include April Fool's day pranks involving three different iconic landmarks, one of the biggest sporting pranks of all time, one of the first internet hoaxes, and a fake natural disaster that set off a real-life panic...

• Terminator movie review: patreon.com/80s

It should have been just another regular journey... but in the early morning hours of March 24th, 1989, the Exxon Valdez was about to embark on a fateful voyage

This is a look back on the accident that not only decimated the Alaskan coastline and its wildlife but also led to a two-decade-long court battle -- a battle that led to sweeping changes, and historic fines...

• Terminator movie review: Patreon.com/80s