Explorers is a 1985 science fiction, fantasy film targeted at a family audience. It was the first feature film for both River Phoenix and Ethan Hawke. The story was written by Eric Luke and the film was directed by Joe Dante.
It was filmed in 70mm color with 6-track sound, and runs for 109 minutes. The special effects in the movie were produced by Industrial Light & Magic, with makeup effects by Rob Bottin.
The film did not do well at the box office, owing in large part to being released on the same weekend that the Live Aid concert occurred, although it did better in video rentals and DVD sales. It has gained a cult following among fans of Dante's work, as well as science fiction fans and those who feel it is an overall family friendly movie.
Plot
This film blends some elements of E.T. with The Goonies and classic sci-fi films, as three young friends are drawn into a space fantasy adventure. The protagonists of this film are three neighborhood kids, Ben Crandall (Hawke), Wolfgang Müller (Phoenix), and Darren Woods (Presson). The main 'human' characters in the film attend Charles M Jones Junior High School. This is the full name of Chuck Jones, a famous figure in the annals of animation's golden age. Dante has referenced or alluded to classic Warner Bros' cartoons in many of his films. Jones made cameo appearances in Gremlins (1984) and in Innerspace (1987); both of these films were directed by
Ben is obsessed with aliens, and one night he has a dream about a circuit board. He proceeds to draw out the board; with the aid of the brainy Wolfgang, the two friends begin to assemble the device. After a fight at school, Ben meets Darren, a new kid in the neighborhood that appears to be tough. The three continue working on the circuit board. All three have a recurring dream which includes seeing each other and flying about a giant version of the circuit board.
During the movie they go to a drive in movie. The sound effects of the drive in movie were actually the sound effects from the Atari 2600 game Yar's Revenge.
They quickly discover that the circuit board enables the creation of a sealed bubble that can be remotely steered. Its force can push through the ground and allows space travel.
The first bubble is made in their workshop, and is about 3 inches diameter, and makes holes in anything that it goes through. Their next experiment is away from town. The bubble is about 5 feet diameter and forms around one of the boys and gives him a scary unexpected flight.
The three build a home-made spacecraft out of an amusement ride seat (a "Tilt-A-Whirl"), with windows from washing machines and televisions. As the boys look through the junkyard for the pieces for the ship, the sled rosebud from Citizen Kane can be seen sitting at the top of a pile. Darren names it the Thunder Road, after the Bruce Springsteen song. They install three breathing apparatuses. Two of these apparatuses are each a small medical mouth-and-nose transparent oxygen mask coupled to the air supply by a thin transparent hose. The other is a wider single corrugated black hose linked to a scuba diving full face mask of the type with two flat eye windows and an inner mouth-and-nose mask.
Their first flight results in property damage and a close call with the police, and a UFO report in a newspaper. They do not want to finish where the program is taking them, so they reverse an axis (shutting the bubble off, which allows in a fresh supply of air) and return to the ground.
Another dream occurs that all the boys share. It is of the circuit board again, and Wolfgang is able to recall the details Ben forgot in the first dream. The addition results in a device that creates oxygen, so they no longer need an oxygen tank and masks in the craft.
They embark on an adventure deep into outer space. An alien spaceship shows up and scoops up the boys' spaceship. Ben and Wolfgang get separated from Darren. They end up meeting an intimidating spider-like robot that proceeds to smell and frisk them. They then come across Wak (Robert Picardo), a friendly but odd alien. They set out to look for Wolfgang, who is lounging under a window with Neek (Leslie Rickert), a female alien. Both of the aliens are enamored with TV and radio signals they can pick up; Wak mimics sounds and voices perfectly and proceeds to entertain them. The film includes several segments from the George Pál version of The War of the Worlds. The boys discover that the aliens have been sending the circuit schematics to Ben's dreams in order to meet some of the people who have been beaming the signals into space.
A bigger spaceship shows up and scoops up the aliens' ship. Wak suggests to the boys that they are space pirates and tries to get the boys to leave quickly. Before they reach the boys' ship, it proves to be carrying the aliens' father and that Wak and Neek are errant children who stole one of the family cars. The father alien reprimands the alien children, visibly angry at the theft as well as the presence of the Earthlings. Neek gives Ben a flat round device about 4 inches diameter. When asking what it is, Ben is told "The stuff that dreams are made of". The boys are quickly sent home by the father alien. Although Robert Picardo received the actor credit for the father alien, his voice was actually provided by Frank Welker. Wak can be heard uttering a line of dialogue from The Maltese Falcon in response to Darren's question about the crystal gift given at the end of the film. The line is "The uhh... Stuff that dreams are made of."
After the flight, the boys' spaceship lands in a harbor and sinks, but the boys swim to land safely. Lori Swenson (Amanda Peterson), a girl in Ben's class that he has a crush on, has a dream involving the three boys and wakes up to see the crash of the ship.
At the end of the film, the three boys experience another dream. Ben is in class when the communication device starts glowing. Writer Eric Luke has a cameo as a schoolteacher. The students disappear, to be replaced by the Thunder Road. Ben goes to touch the ship, and the dream moves to the three boys flying towards a more complicated circuit board. This time Lori shares the dream, Ben finally kisses her, and the four children begin to fly through clouds, wondering what the next adventure will be.
DVD special
Amongst the special features present on the DVD release of the film is a short scene, cut from the theatrical version, that shows the boys pushing the Tilt-A-Whirl ride, that gets away from the boys once they start going down a hill.
Use in other media
- During the first season of the TV show Sliders, the Fox network used Jerry Goldsmith's theme for this movie during its promos at the end of the program ("Next week on Sliders..."). The series already had connections to the film in two former River Phoenix co-stars; Jerry O'Connell; from 1986's Stand By Me, and John Rhys-Davies from 1989's Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade.
- A second Explorers connection to both Stand By Me and Last Crusade came in the form of Bradley Gregg. Gregg, best known as Chris Chambers' older brother Eyeball in Stand By Me, had a bit part as a member of bully Steve Jackson's gang in the movie. Gregg was also later seen again along side Phoenix in another small part in Last Crusade.
- The Nostalgia Critic placed Explorers as Number 7 on his list of The Top 11 Underrated Nostalgic Classics.[1]
Adaptations
A novelization was written by George Gipe.
References
External links
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Films directed by Joe Dante |
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