- published: 12 Jun 2011
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Explorers is a 1985 family-oriented science-fiction fantasy film written by Eric Luke and directed by Joe Dante. It was the first feature film for both Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix.
The special effects in the movie were produced by Industrial Light & Magic, with makeup effects by Rob Bottin.
Three young friends are drawn into a space fantasy adventure. Ben Crandall (Ethan Hawke) is a young visionary who dreams of space travel while watching late-night monster movies, poring over comic books, and playing Galaga in the confines of his bedroom. One night he has a vivid dream of flying over a space-like circuit board and shares his visions with his best friend Wolfgang (River Phoenix), a young scientific genius who is able to translate his dreams into a complex circuit board that actually works.
With the help of their new friend Darren (Jason Presson), they create a homemade spacecraft and embark on a secret adventure to another galaxy where they find that things are not always as different as they seem.
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?
Keywords: adolescence, adolescent-romance, alien, alien-contact, boy, boy-genius, boy-with-glasses, bully, bullying, cat
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.
Ben Crandall: [to Steve Jackson, a school bully] Elephantitis is when something gets bloated and ugly like your ASS.
Ben Crandall: [stuttering, astounded at the violent film footage] But thi - see, this isn't real! A-a-and we don't really kill people! Well, we do, b-but n-not aliens, 'cause we haven't met any!
Ben Crandall: He's about to say something.::Wak: [in Bugs Bunny's voice] Ehhhhhhhhhhh, what's up doc?::Ben Crandall: [long pause] What?
Darren Woods: [about "beings" on other planets] Maybe it's a bunch of Amazon rainforest women that wanna breed a new race.::Wolfgang Müller: You pervert.
Ben Crandall: I've waited all my life to say this.::Darren Woods: Be my guest.::Ben Crandall: We come in peace.
Wak: Way to go, stupid!
Starkiller: Bloodshed is my life.
[last lines in the film]::Ben Crandall: If this is all a dream, what's gonna happen when we wake up?::Wolfgang Müller: I don't know, but I can't wait to find out.
Mr. Müller: [to his son's "talking" rat] "Shut up, Heinlein!"
This old mountain side
Where we used to reside
Is slowly recalling
The things we discovered inside
Oh the crystal caves
We shed both our jackets
And I hammered brackets
From old metal chairs
To the walls, a crude set of stairs
To lead us down
And you tied a rope
To the steepening slope
A jerry rigged harness
So we could descend in the dark
But the tide came in
And we found ourselves in the sea
Deep under water
We both found that we could still breathe
So we spent the day submerged
And we swam the evening away
The water was clear
Like the pure atmosphere
As we kicked and fluttered
Through caverns all cluttered with age
In the afterglow
We swim hand and hand
Over white satin sand
And you left a ribbon
To honor the pale gibbon moon
But that was years ago
And we never came up for air
Down there
We can go anywhere
The old world was dying
While we took our flying
Like peregrine falcons
Beneath the transparent blue waves
Far below the surf
And we spent the hours
With submarine flowers
I knew I'd remember
That day in November
As we
Felt alive again
Cuz we found ourselves in the sea
Deep underwater
We both found that we could still breathe
So we spent the day submerged
And we swam the evening away