Explorers (1985)

A boy obsessed with 50s sci-fi movies about aliens has a recurring dream about a blueprint of some kind, which he draws for his inventor friend. With the help of a third kid, they follow it and build themselves a spaceship. Now what?

Director:

Joe Dante

Writer:

Eric Luke

Stars:

Ethan Hawke, River Phoenix, Bobby Fite

1 win & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ethan Hawke	...	Ben Crandall
River Phoenix	...	Wolfgang Müller
Bobby Fite	...	Steve Jackson
Bradley Gregg	...	Steve Jackson's Gang
Georg Olden	...	Steve Jackson's Gang
Chance Schwass	...	Steve Jackson's Gang
Amanda Peterson	...	Lori Swenson
Danny Nucci	...	Nasty Kid at School
Jason Presson	...	Darren Woods
Dana Ivey	...	Mrs. Müller
Taliesin Jaffe	...	Ludwig Müller
James Cromwell	...	Mr. Müller
Brooke Bundy	...	Science Teacher
Tricia Bartholome	...	Girl in Classroom
Eric Luke	...	Darren's Teacher

Storyline

Ben Crandall, an alien-obsessed kid, dreams one night of a circuit board. Drawing out the circuit, he and his friends Wolfgang and Darren set it up, and discover they have been given the basis for a starship. Setting off in the ThunderRoad, as they name their ship, they find the aliens Ben hopes they would find... but are they what they seem?

---

Plot Keywords:

child flying spacecraft | dream | circuit board | alien | boy | 

---

Taglines:

You don't need a driver's license to reach the stars.

---

Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Family | Romance | Sci-Fi

---

Certificate:

MG6

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

12 July 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Istraživači

Filming Locations:

Aviation High School - 2025 Manhattan Beach Boulevard, Redondo Beach, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Wolfgang's "talking" rat is named Heinlein, after science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein, who wrote many stories about young boys experimenting with spaceflight.

---

Goofs

During the hill scene, Wolfgang creates 2 holes in the ground. One leading downward while the other ends going up exploding a large hole near Darren and Ben. At the end of the film they are back at the same hill and there is no sign of the hole near the tree trunk Wolgang came out of.

---

Quotes

Wak: Look, I know I must look weird to you but how do you think you look to me? Listen, I watched four episodes of "Lassie" before I figured out why the little hairy kid never spoke. I mean, he rolled over, sure, he did that fine but, I don't think he deserved a series for that.

---

Connections

References Gremlins (1984)

---

Soundtracks

All Around the World
by Robert 'Bumps' Blackwell (as R. Blackwell) and Monica Millet (as M. Millet)
Performed by Little Richard
Courtesy of Speciality Records, Inc.

User Reviews

Fantastic, imaginative, entertaining--halfway through.

Watching Explorers as a kid, sparked all the things I loved about freedom, and adventure. I was always into space, sci-fi, computers, and aliens even at a young age, and this film does a great job geeking any kid out when it comes to science, space, and adventure. I love how one of the kids had a dream about designing a circuit board, and after creating it realizes it creates a spherical force field that has virtually no speed limit, and is impossible to slow down (blasting through an entire stack of books with ease, leaving a perfect hole).

Although, once the kids get through the testing phase of the force field, and build the ship from old carnival rides (tea-cup thingie)--the movie takes another turn. Although still fun, the writer and/or director seem to lose track of the original flare, and the movie begins to wander off into a more childish, meaningless Hollywood push-out.

Over all, the film is very entertaining. I just Netflixed it so that my girlfriend could see it, and I could reminisce. It is one of my favorite childhood movies (along side the original Neverending Story).

--MR