Explorers (1985)
Explorers is an American science fantasy film from 1985 directed by Joe Dante. Starring Ethan Hawke, River Phoenix and Jason Presson.
Plot Explorers
Ben is a young visionary who dreams of space travel while watching late-night B monster movies, reading comics.
He plays Galaga in the confines of his bedroom. But one night he has a dream of flying over a space-like circuit board. He shares his visions with his best friend Wolfgang, a young scientific genius who is able to translate his dreams into a computer program that works. 
With the help of their friend Darren, they create a homemade spacecraft. They embark on a secret adventure to another galaxy where they find that things are not always as different as they seem.
Notable scenes
The scenes with Ethan Hawk and the late River Phoenix.
Making of Explorers
Rushed into production, the film was never properly finished. Dante revealed that the studio demanded that he stop editing and rush for a July release where it was overshadowed by the Live Aid concert, which was held one day after the film’s release and stiff competition from Back to the Future, which opened nine days prior. It was a box office failure upon its release, but it attracted a cult following with its VHS release.
The film was in a prolonged editing phase when the studio moved up the release date. The theatrical release was the result of accelerated editing and was not finished to the director’s satisfaction. The studio told the director Joe Dante that he was finished and they were going to go ahead and release what he had at that point.
When the helicopter pilot looks at the newspaper, one of the headlines says “Kingston Falls ‘Riot’ Still Unexplained”. Kingston Falls was the town where the events in Gremlins (1984) (also directed by Joe Dante), took place.
The sound effects from the movie at the drive-in were taken directly from the original 1982 Atari 2600 video game Yars’ Revenge (1981).
The actual computer that was used to make the screen display for Wolfgang’s computer was not an Apple IIc, it was an SGI Iris 1400 Workstation that cost $35,000. It contained a 73 megabyte hard drive, 1.5 megabytes of memory, weighed 130 lbs and required a custom portable wooden crate to house it on set. The movie needed a program written in C language that could redraw a 3D wire-frame scene in real-time, a feat not possible before SGI produced this specialized hardware. The workstation used a UNIX-based operating system.
Our view on Explorers
There are lots of eighties movies with kids going on adventure but Explorers is a real unknown gem. On the surface, it seems like any other movie, but the aliens aren’t what anyone is expecting.
With director Joe Dante (known for Gremlins and Piranha) in the directors seat the movie becomes a magical feel good adventure that is unforgettable. And Dante has many references to ’50s B-movies. Exploitflix must see!
Trailer
Where to buy
DVD/VHS/Betamax/VCC LP
Watch on Dailymotion
Details
Genre: scifi
Released in: 1985
Era: eighties
Actors: Ethan Hawk, River Phoenix
Director: Joe Dante
SFX: Industrial Light & Magic, Rob Bottin
Poster artist: Unknown
Country: USA
