In Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, E.T. uses a Speak & Spell to help communicate with home.
The scene combines several household objects into an improvised communication device. E.T. recognizes the electronic learning toy and uses its synthesized speech, while Elliott and his friends add components such as a record player and a toy microphone. The device is meant to amplify E.T.’s attempt to contact his distant spacecraft.
Speak & Spell was an educational electronic toy made by Texas Instruments. Introduced in 1978, it used speech-synthesis technology to quiz children on spelling. Its distinctive robotic voice made it visually and audibly memorable, which helped the prop become strongly associated with the film.
A common mix-up is calling the whole apparatus a Speak & Spell. The toy is only one component; the finished machine is an improvised collection of electronics. The famous phrase “phone home” describes E.T.’s goal, not the name of the device.